Twitter Character Counter
Check a draft against a simple 280-character post limit.
Measure a draft against a familiar post limit
A short-post counter provides immediate feedback while a message is being drafted. This page measures Unicode code points rather than JavaScript UTF-16 code units, which keeps a basic emoji from being counted as two characters. It displays the current total, the number remaining below 280, and the amount over the limit. Negative remaining space is intentionally visible so editing decisions are clear.
A draft containing 281 ordinary letters reports a count of 281, remaining space of negative 1, and an excess of 1. A capital A followed by one basic emoji reports two code points. The default sentence starts below the limit and updates with every input event, so trimming a phrase or adding a mention changes all three values immediately without requiring a submit button.
Keep platform-specific weighting in mind
Draft text remains entirely in your browser. This is a transparent general character count, not a replacement for the platform's production parser. Twitter or X may apply special weighting to URLs, complex emoji sequences, combining marks, or other text categories, and platform rules can change. Use the live composer as the final authority before publishing, especially for posts close to the boundary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What limit does this counter use?
It compares the draft with a simple limit of 280 Unicode characters.
How are emoji counted?
The counter uses Unicode code points, so a basic emoji counts once even though it may use two JavaScript code units.
Does this exactly match platform weighting?
No. URLs and some combined Unicode sequences may be weighted differently by the live platform.
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