Character Limits Cheat Sheet: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok

Every social platform caps how much you can say. The hard limit matters less than the “see more” threshold — the point where the post truncates and most readers bounce. Here’s the full cheat sheet plus the soft limits that actually move engagement.

Quick reference table

Platform	Post / Caption	Bio	Headline / Title
Twitter / X	280 (free) / 25,000 (Premium)	160	—
LinkedIn (post)	3,000	2,600 (About)	220 (Headline)
Instagram (caption)	2,200	150	—
TikTok (caption)	4,000	80	—
Facebook (post)	63,206	101	—
YouTube (description)	5,000	1,000 (channel desc.)	100 (title)
Threads	500	150	—
Bluesky	300	256	—

Twitter / X

Post: 280 characters for free accounts, 25,000 for X Premium. URLs count as 23 characters regardless of actual length.
Bio: 160 characters.
DM: 10,000 characters.
Alt text: 1,000 characters.
List name: 25 characters.

The real limit: the first ~140 characters of a long post, before “Show more.” Front-load the hook.

Post: 3,000 characters.
“See more” threshold: ~210 characters on desktop, ~140 on mobile. Hook in the first two lines.
Comment: 1,250 characters.
Headline: 220 characters (recently raised from 120).
About section: 2,600 characters.
Article: 110,000 characters.

Instagram

Caption: 2,200 characters with up to 30 hashtags.
“See more” threshold: ~125 characters. Hook in the first sentence.
Bio: 150 characters.
Comment: 2,200 characters.
Username: 30 characters.
Story text: No hard limit, but practical limit ~250 before it gets unreadable.

TikTok

Caption: 4,000 characters (raised from 2,200 in 2023).
“See more” threshold: ~100 characters. Most TikTok captions read for one line.
Bio: 80 characters.
Username: 24 characters.
Comment: 150 characters.

YouTube

Title: 100 characters.
Description: 5,000 characters.
“See more” threshold: first 3 lines of the description (~150 characters).
Channel description: 1,000 characters.
Comment: 10,000 characters.
Tags total: 500 characters across all tags.
Hashtags: First 3 in description show above the title.

Threads (Meta)

Post: 500 characters.
Bio: 150 characters.
Username: 30 characters.

Bluesky

Post: 300 characters.
Bio: 256 characters.
Display name: 64 characters.

Facebook

Post: 63,206 characters (basically unlimited).
“See more” threshold: ~480 characters on desktop, ~250 on mobile.
Bio: 101 characters.
Page description: 255 characters.

The real metric: hook before the cut

Hard limits matter for compliance. Soft limits (the “see more” threshold) decide whether anyone reads past the first line. Optimize for the soft limit:

LinkedIn: hook in first 140 characters.
Instagram: hook in first 125 characters.
TikTok: hook in first 100 characters.
Twitter/X: hook in the whole 280, no cut.

Common mistakes

Counting bytes instead of characters. Emojis, accented letters, and CJK characters count as 1 character on most platforms now (Twitter/X excepted: emojis are 2).
Forgetting URL handling. X counts every URL as 23 characters. Other platforms count actual length.
Cramming. Hitting the limit looks desperate. Aim for 70% of the cap as a sweet spot.
Ignoring mobile. All “see more” thresholds are tighter on mobile. Optimize for mobile first.

FAQ

Do hashtags count toward the character limit?

Yes, on every platform. Heavy hashtag use eats into your message space.

Do mentions count?

Yes. @username counts as the full string of characters.

Are emojis 1 or 2 characters?

On most platforms, 1 character. Twitter/X is the exception — emojis count as 2.

Where can I count characters fast?

Use the character counter on LinkMyPrompt. Live counts plus a “see more” warning for each platform.

Do these limits change?

Yes — platforms tweak limits regularly. TikTok went from 100 → 300 → 2,200 → 4,000 in two years. Bookmark this page; we update it.

Count and split posts in one tool

The character counter shows your count against every platform’s limit in real time, with the “see more” threshold flagged so you don’t bury the hook.