Counts your tweet exactly the way X does — every URL counts as 23 chars regardless of length, and emoji are weighted correctly.
280 chars left
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How X really counts characters
Twitter / X allows up to 280 characters per tweet, but the count differs from a naive character count in three important ways:
URLs are 23 characters, always. A 200-character link counts as 23 because X auto-shortens URLs to t.co. A 12-character link still counts as 23.
Some characters count as 2. Most CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) characters and many emoji are weighted as 2. ASCII Latin letters are 1.
Hashtags and mentions count as their full length. No discount applies; @longusername is 13 characters.
This counter mirrors X's official twitter-text rules so what you see is what X will see.
Tips for great tweets
Front-load your hook. The first 80 characters are what shows in feed previews. Anything after that requires a click.
Use 1-2 hashtags max. Studies consistently show 1-2 hashtag tweets out-perform 3+ hashtag tweets in engagement.
Leave headroom for replies. Aim for 240-260 chars on tweets you expect to be quote-tweeted; the quoter wants room to comment.
Threads beat long single tweets. If you have more to say, use our Tweet Thread Splitter to break it into ready-to-post chunks.
X tweet limits at a glance
Limit
Value
Standard tweet
280 chars
X Premium tweet
25,000 chars
URL count (any length)
23 chars
DM length
10,000 chars
Bio length
160 chars
Display name
50 chars
Username (@handle)
15 chars
Frequently asked questions
Why are emoji sometimes counted as 2?
Many emoji are made of multiple Unicode code points joined together (e.g., a flag emoji is two regional-indicator characters). X counts the total weighted code points. The counter mirrors this exactly.
Does my tweet's URL get shortened automatically?
Yes — every URL you paste is auto-shortened by X's t.co system. The displayed link still shows the original URL preview, but the link itself goes through t.co. It always counts as 23 characters.
How do I write a tweet longer than 280 chars?
Either subscribe to X Premium (which raises the limit to 25,000), or use a thread. Our Tweet Thread Splitter breaks long content into ready-to-post tweet-sized chunks at word boundaries.
Does this work for Mastodon (500 chars) or Bluesky (300 chars)?
For Twitter/X-specific URL counting, use this tool. For straight character-counting against any limit, use our standard Character Counter — it shows multiple platform limits side by side.
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