Social Media Character Limits for Every Platform (2026 Reference)

Every platform lets you write a different amount — and the difference is not small. A post that fits comfortably on LinkedIn is more than six times too long for X, and a caption that fits Instagram may still hide its best line behind a “more” link. If you write one message and paste it everywhere, something will get cut off, rejected, or buried.

This reference puts the main limits in one place, and separates three numbers people usually mix up: the maximum accepted, the amount the feed shows, and how the platform counts. Figures are the commonly published limits checked in October 2026; platforms change them without notice, so confirm a borderline post in the platform’s own composer.

The short answer

The pattern is clear: the platforms with the most room are also the ones that hide most of it. A limit tells you what a platform will accept. It does not tell you what a reader will actually see.

Three different numbers — don’t mix them up

Most confusion comes from treating three different things as one number.

The hard maximum is what the platform refuses to go past: X stops a standard post at 280 characters, LinkedIn a post at 3,000. Past that point, you must cut or split.

The visible cut-off is where the feed folds text behind “more” or “see more”. The text survives, but most readers never tap to expand it — Instagram shows about 125 characters before “more”, LinkedIn about 210 on desktop and about 140 on mobile. Writing to the maximum while ignoring the cut-off means most readers never reach your point.

The counting rule is how the platform turns text into a number. Most count letters, spaces, line breaks, hashtags and mentions. X is the exception: it weights some characters differently, so a plain count can say you fit when X says you do not — most dangerously when you are close to the limit.

X: 280 characters, counted the platform’s way

A standard X post allows 280 characters, including spaces, mentions and hashtags. Two counting rules catch people out: every link counts as 23 characters, whatever its real length — X runs links through its own shortener, so shortening a link elsewhere first saves nothing; and emoji and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2 each under X’s weighted counting, not 1, so an emoji-heavy post runs out of room faster than it looks.

X Premium raises the maximum to 25,000 characters, but the feed still shows only about the first 280 before “Show more”. Premium buys room, not attention. For a standard account, 280 is both the maximum and the visible amount, which is why X posts reward one idea, stated plainly.

Instagram: 2,200 characters, but only about 125 on show

An Instagram caption — feed post, carousel or Reel — allows 2,200 characters, including spaces, line breaks, mentions and hashtags. But the feed shows only about the first 125 characters before “more”, so the opening line does nearly all the work: hook, offer or question first; background, credit and hashtag block after.

Hashtags sit inside the same 2,200 characters, and Instagram allows up to 30 per post in total, counting caption and first-comment hashtags together. A 31st hashtag buys no extra reach; it risks the post or comment being blocked or the extra tags stripped. A caption close to the limit can be pushed over it by the hashtag block alone.

For example, this 212-character caption fits easily — but only its first line is visible in the feed:

Free tools for everyday work — no sign-up, no install. Our post-length checker counts your draft against the platform limit before you publish, so you can trim the middle, keep the hook, and post with confidence.

The first sentence states the offer; the rest is bonus for readers who tap “more”. Instagram’s other caps: a bio allows 150 characters, a comment 2,200. An over-long bio needs rewriting, not just cutting — 150 characters leaves room for one clear line about who you help and what to do next.

LinkedIn: 3,000 characters, with the first two lines doing the work

A LinkedIn post allows 3,000 characters, including spaces, line breaks, hashtags and emoji — generous, since most posts never get near it — but the feed shows only about 210 characters on desktop and about 140 on mobile before “see more”: roughly the first two lines on a phone.

So LinkedIn writing is two jobs: a hook of about 140 characters that earns the tap, then the full post for readers who expand it. This paragraph, at 132 characters, fits in full before the mobile cut-off:

Most readers never get past the first two lines. Put the point of your LinkedIn post up front, then earn the click to read the rest.

If the point sits in the third paragraph, most feed readers will never know it is there. Beyond 3,000 characters, LinkedIn’s own answer is an article in its long-form editor, not a stretched post. Its headline field allows 220 characters — a separate, tighter field.

Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, TikTok and YouTube

Facebook allows posts of up to 63,206 characters — effectively no limit for ordinary writing. The practical constraint is the cut-off: the feed shows only the opening portion, roughly the first few hundred characters, before hiding the rest.

Threads allows 500 characters per post: two or three short paragraphs, not an essay. A LinkedIn message needs real editing, not just trimming, to land there.

Bluesky allows 300 characters per post, counted in graphemes — the units a reader perceives as single characters. An emoji counts as one grapheme there, where X’s weighting counts most emoji as two. Two close limits, different counting.

TikTok is the one platform here where sources disagree, so the disagreement is stated, not hidden: captions are listed at 2,200 characters through the publishing API and up to 4,000 in the app. Check the limit in the app or tool you publish from, and keep the hook in the first one or two lines either way.

YouTube allows descriptions of up to 5,000 characters and titles of up to 100. The title is the tight field, appearing in search and suggestions; the description can carry links and detail.

For comparison, profile fields: Instagram bio 150 characters, X bio 160, LinkedIn headline 220, YouTube title 100. If a bio or headline is over, choose one line rather than squeezing a paragraph smaller.

One message, five platforms: a fitting workflow

Writing one message for several platforms is a fitting problem:

1. Write the short version first — to fit the tightest destination you need, usually X at 280 or Threads at 500. If the idea cannot survive at that length, it is probably two messages.
2. Put the hook in the first 125–140 characters, covering Instagram’s cut-off and LinkedIn’s mobile cut-off at once.
3. Expand, don’t just paste, for the long platforms — LinkedIn and Facebook take the full version; Instagram takes the medium version with its hashtag block counted in.
4. Count hashtags inside the total before declaring an Instagram caption fits.
5. Check the draft against each destination before publishing. Limits change, paid tiers differ, and a plain count does not reproduce X’s weighting.

Three worked checks

Check 1 — X’s weighting changes the answer. A 200-character draft body, plus a space and a 49-character link, is 250 characters by plain counting. On X the link costs 23, so the weighted count is 200 + 1 + 23 = 224 — leaving 56 spare out of 280, not 30. The reverse trap is emoji: a short-looking draft can cost double per emoji, so confirm a borderline draft in the X composer, not a plain counter alone.

Check 2 — the hashtag block pushes a caption over. A 1,950-character caption body plus a 320-character hashtag block totals 2,270 — 70 over Instagram’s 2,200 limit. The caption did not grow; the hashtags finished it off. Trim at least 70 characters, usually from the least specific hashtags at the end of the block.

Check 3 — one announcement, three different fates. An 1,800-character announcement fits Instagram with 400 to spare and LinkedIn with 1,200 to spare, but is 1,520 over X’s limit, 1,300 over Threads’ and 1,500 over Bluesky’s. That needs a second, short version for the tight platforms, with a link to the full announcement — not abbreviation.

Check your draft before you publish

The cheapest time to find a limit problem is before you press publish. The free Social Media Character Counter checks a draft against the commonly published per-platform limits: paste or type the draft, choose the platform, and read the count, the limit and the room remaining. The check runs in your browser, so the draft is not uploaded, published or stored.

Two caveats from the tool’s own page: platforms can change these limits without notice, and free and paid accounts can be treated differently. If a post that fits the checker is rejected, the platform’s current rules win. For X drafts right on the edge, confirm the weighted count in the X composer, since a general counter does not reproduce X’s link and emoji weighting.

For other pre-publish checks in the same family, browse the Social Media Tools category page, or see everything on the all tools page.

FAQ

Do hashtags count toward the character limit?

On Instagram, yes — hashtags are ordinary text inside the 2,200-character caption, and the 30-hashtag cap applies on top, counting caption and first-comment hashtags together. On X and LinkedIn, hashtags also count, including the “#” itself.

Do spaces and line breaks count?

Yes. Spaces, line breaks, mentions and hashtags all count. Line breaks help readability, but blank-line padding spends the limit on empty space.

What happens if my post is over the limit?

X and LinkedIn refuse the post until it fits; Instagram may block it or strip extra hashtags. Trim from the middle, keep the hook, drop the least specific hashtags first — or split the message and link to the full version.

Does X Premium change what readers see?

Only the maximum, not the first impression. Premium posts can run to 25,000 characters, but the feed still shows about the first 280 before “Show more” — so the point still belongs in the first 280.

Can these limits change?

Yes. Platforms adjust limits and counting rules without notice, and guides disagree on fast-moving fields such as TikTok captions. Last checked October 2026; for a mission-critical post, verify in the platform’s own help pages or composer.

The one-sentence version

Know three numbers for each platform — the maximum it accepts, the amount the feed shows before “more”, and how it counts — write the hook inside the visible window, and check the draft against each destination before you publish.

Try it on your own draft with the free Social Media Character Counter — paste the post, pick the platform, and see the count, the limit and the room remaining before anything goes live.