How each app counts
X counts every link as 23 characters whatever its length, because it shortens links, and counts an emoji or a Chinese, Japanese or Korean character as 2. So "Read this" and a 56-character link is 33 on X and 66 on Threads. Bluesky counts characters as you see them, so an emoji is 1. The others count each character once.
The limits
X post 280, Threads post 500, Bluesky post 300, Instagram caption 2,200, TikTok caption 4,000, LinkedIn post 3,000, Facebook post 63,206, YouTube title 100, YouTube description 5,000. Each bar fills as you type, and a post past a limit says by how many characters, so you know how much to cut.
Before “more” on Instagram
Instagram shows the first 125 characters of a caption, then “more”, so the preview shows what people see without tapping. Put the point of the post there. The hashtag count warns past 30, the most Instagram allows on a post.
Questions
Why does my post count differently in the app?
Each app has its own rules, and some change them. Emoji made of several parts (a family, a skin tone, a flag) are where counts differ most. The numbers here follow each platform's published rules; leave a few characters spare if you are close to a limit.
How many hashtags can I use?
Instagram allows up to 30 on a post. The other platforms set no hard limit, but a few relevant ones usually do better than many.
How is this different from the Word Counter?
The Word Counter counts any text plainly: words, characters, sentences and reading time. This page counts the way each app does, with links shortened on X and emoji counted double.