Twitter Character Limit: X, Threads, Instagram and More
The Twitter character limit, now the X character limit, is 280 characters per post for free accounts. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, though the feed shows only the opening before a “Show more” link. X bios are 160 characters on every account. Below are the limits for X, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Facebook in one table, plus the counting rules that catch people out.
Why do posts get cut off or rejected?
You write a post in your notes app, paste it into X and the counter goes red. You trim it, and now the punchline is gone. Or you paste the same caption into Threads and it’s over 500. Each platform counts differently, and the limits change often enough that old cheat sheets mislead.
What does guessing the limit cost?
Time, mostly: rewriting the same post three times to fit three platforms. Sometimes it’s worse. A caption that runs long gets cut at “more” right before the point, and a scheduled post fails at publishing time because one version was over the limit.
What are the character limits for each platform?
| Platform | Field | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) | Post, free account | 280 characters |
| X (Twitter) | Post, X Premium | 25,000 characters |
| X (Twitter) | Bio | 160 characters |
| Threads | Post | 500 characters |
| Threads | Text attachment | Up to 10,000 characters |
| Caption | 2,200 characters (about 125 show before “more”) | |
| Bio | 150 characters | |
| Hashtags per post | 5 | |
| YouTube | Video title | 100 characters |
| YouTube | Description | 5,000 characters |
| Pin title | 100 characters | |
| Pin description | 500 characters | |
| Post | 3,000 characters | |
| Post | 63,206 characters |
Limits change. Instagram, for example, cut hashtags from 30 to 5 per post in December 2025 (its Help Center now says “You can use up to 5 tags on a post”), and Meta added text attachments to Threads in September 2025. Check the app’s own counter when a number matters.
How does X count characters?
Not one by one. X uses a weighted count:
- Links count as 23 characters, whatever their real length.
- Most emojis and characters from languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean count as 2.
- Usernames at the start of a reply don’t count toward the limit.
So a post with a link and two emojis has less room than it looks. A plain character counter will tell you a post fits when X says it doesn’t.
How long should posts be, not just how long can they be?
The limit is the ceiling, not the target.
| Platform | What tends to work | Why |
|---|---|---|
| X | One sharp idea, often well under 280 | The timeline moves fast |
| Threads | Short posts; a chain for longer ideas | Text-first, conversational |
| Hook inside the first 125 characters | The rest hides behind “more” | |
| YouTube title | Main point in the first ~60 characters | Long titles get cut in many views |
| Keyword early in the title | Search reads the start first |
For the hook that fills those first characters, see hooks for social media. If you’re choosing between the two text networks, Threads vs X compares them.
How do you fit one idea to every platform?
Write the long version first, then cut. A blog post or YouTube script holds the full idea; the carousel takes the steps; the X post takes the sharpest line; the Threads post takes the conversation starter; the pin takes the searchable promise. Content repurposing walks through it, and Threads post ideas has formats that fit 500 characters.
How does Nexin check character limits?
Nexin is a content assistant inside Claude and ChatGPT, and every post she helps write goes through her check tool before you get it. check counts the way each platform counts: graphemes for Instagram and Threads, and X’s weighted count with links at 23 and wide characters at 2. It blocks anything over a hard limit (500 for a Threads post, 280 for an X post, 2,200 for an Instagram caption, 150 for an Instagram bio, 100 for a YouTube or pin title, 500 for a pin description). It also flags house limits, like the 125-character fold on Instagram captions.
check also flags hashtags where they don’t belong, links in the wrong place and phrases that make text read machine-written. Each channel module, from X and Threads to Instagram and Pinterest, runs it before handing a post over.
FAQ
Is the Twitter character limit still 280?
Yes, for free accounts. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters.
Do spaces count as characters?
Yes, on every platform in the table.
Do links count toward the X limit?
Yes. Every link counts as 23 characters, however long or short it is.
What’s the character limit on Threads?
500 characters per post. You can add a text attachment of up to 10,000 characters for longer pieces.
Why does my counter disagree with the app?
Most counters count plain characters. X weights links and some characters differently, and emojis can count as more than one. Trust the platform’s counter, or a tool that counts the same way.
Every post counted the way the platform counts it. Nexin checks each post against its platform’s limits before you see it, inside Claude or ChatGPT.
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