What is the character limit on X?
Standard accounts have a 280 character limit per post. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, though the longer the post, the more it gets clipped in the feed.
Free tool for Creation
X Character Counter
Draft the post, watch the counter, and see exactly how X will count it. URLs collapse to 23 characters, mentions stay full, and the limit is still 280 for everyone except Premium accounts.
Preview
Start typing to see your post render here.
0of 280
Limit280 characters
Used0
Remaining280
Raw length0
URLs0 (each 23 chars)
Emojis0 (each 2 chars)
X character limits at a glance
X has different limits depending on the account type. The standard 280 character limit applies to most accounts.
| Tier | Range |
|---|---|
| Standard X account | 280 characters per post |
| X Premium account | Up to 25,000 characters per post |
| URLs | Count as 23 characters regardless of length |
| Mentions and hashtags | Counted at their actual length |
| Emojis | Count as 2 characters each |
How X counts characters
X uses a weighted character count, not a raw string length. URLs collapse to 23 characters regardless of how long the original link is, since X automatically shortens them. Emojis count as 2 characters because they are multi byte. Mentions and hashtags count at their full visible length. The 280 character limit applies to free and most paid accounts. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, but the long form posts are visually clipped in the feed and require a tap to expand, so the strongest content still tends to live inside 280.
Questions and answers
How does X count URLs?
X counts every URL as 23 characters regardless of length because the platform automatically shortens links through t.co. A 100 character link and a 5 character link both count as 23.
Do emojis count as one character or two?
Most emojis count as 2 characters because they are encoded with multiple bytes. Compound emojis like skin tone variants or family combinations can count for more.
Should I use the full 280 characters?
No. Most strong X posts come in well under the limit. Tighter writing tends to outperform longer writing because the feed rewards posts that can be read in a glance.
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Counting characters is the easy part.
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