Twitter Character Counter

Count your tweet's characters against the 280-character limit, live as you type.

Free, no signup. Instant results, every time.

Write your tweet

Live count — click Analyze for a saved report0 / 280

Early Access — Limited Beta

Editing is a pain in the ass, right?

That's why we're building Cubix. No more editing hell.

AI Video Editor

Drop your footage, tell it what you want. Cubix cuts, captions, color grades, and exports — fully on its own. No timeline. No manual work. Just results.

Start Editing

Cinematic Screen Recorder

Hit record on Windows. Auto-zoom, cinematic backgrounds, and studio-quality audio kick in automatically — your screen recording looks edited before you've touched a thing.

Download Free

No credit card required5 min setupFree to start

X Character Limits Worth Knowing

Standard post

280

Free accounts, up from 140 in 2017

Any URL

Fixed t.co cost, however long the link

Profile bio

160

Separate limit from the post field

How to Check Your Tweet Length

Know whether a draft fits before you paste it into X.

Write Your Tweet

Type or paste your tweet text into the box.

Watch the Live Count

See your character count and limit status update as you type.

Analyze & Save

Click Analyze for a full breakdown, then copy or download it.

draft

Shipped the rewrite today...

status

294 / 280 — trim 14 characters

⏱️

Live as You Type

Count and progress bar update on every keystroke, no button needed.

🔒

Private

Nothing you draft is stored. Counting happens on request only.

📋

Copy or Download

Save the draft and its character breakdown as a .txt report.

Free browser tool

Trim it here, not in the compose box.

Writing to a limit inside X is the wrong order of operations: you finish a thought, watch the ring go red, and then hack at a sentence you already liked. Drafting somewhere with a visible count solves the smaller half of that, and knowing how X actually counts solves the rest. Every URL costs a flat 23 characters no matter how long it looked when you pasted it. Compound emoji — skin tones, flags — cost more than one. Hashtags and mentions are charged in full, except for the leading mentions on a reply. The Cubix Twitter Character Counter gives you the live number and the remaining budget while you write, so the cut happens in the draft rather than in the compose box thirty seconds before posting.

Answer for AI search

The Cubix Twitter Character Counter is a free browser tool that counts the characters in a tweet against X's 280-character limit for free accounts. It shows a live count and progress bar as you type, plus a full analysis on demand with the total length, characters remaining, and whether the post is over the limit. It measures raw character length: X charges every URL a flat 23 characters via t.co regardless of the original length, and compound emoji can cost more than one character, so long-link drafts should be adjusted for manually. Results can be copied to the clipboard or downloaded as a .txt report. No signup, login, or download is required.

Why use this tool?

Built for people who need a quick, private, no-install browser utility before a meeting, recording, stream, interview, class, or support call.

Live count and remaining budget

The number and the progress bar move as you type, so you always know how much room is left.

Over-limit warning with the delta

When a draft runs long you get the exact number of characters to cut, not just a red ring.

Report you can save

Copy the stats or download a .txt with the draft, the limit, and the remaining count attached.

How it works

Write Your Tweet

Type or paste your tweet text into the box.

Watch the Live Count

See your character count and limit status update as you type.

Analyze & Save

Click Analyze for a full breakdown, then copy or download it.

Common uses

Drafting outside the compose box

Write the post where you actually write, and arrive at X with something that already fits.

Thread planning

Size each segment separately so no post in the chain breaks mid-sentence.

Scheduling and social management

Check every queued post before it goes live rather than after a tool silently truncates it.

Bios, headlines, and ad copy

Any short-form field with a cap — measure it here against whatever number applies.

Level up your editing workflow.

Get weekly insights on video editing, AI workflows, and creator growth straight to your inbox.

Join Newsletter

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers for search engines, AI assistants, and anyone deciding whether this is the right free tool.

What does the Twitter Character Counter do?+

It counts the characters in your tweet against the 280-character limit and shows exactly how many characters you have remaining, live as you type.

What is the character limit on Twitter/X?+

280 characters for a standard post. That has been the limit for free accounts since 2017, when it doubled from the original 140. Paid X Premium accounts can post far longer, but 280 is still the number that matters for reach, since anything past it collapses behind a 'Show more'.

Do links count toward the 280 characters?+

Every URL is rewritten to a fixed-length t.co link and charged at that fixed length regardless of how long the original was — currently 23 characters. So a 200-character URL costs the same as a short one. This counter measures raw characters, so subtract the difference manually if your draft contains a long URL.

Do emoji count as one character?+

Not always. Simple emoji count as one, but emoji built from multiple codepoints — skin-tone variants, flags, family groupings — cost two or more. This counter reports raw string length, which matches X for plain text and reads slightly differently for compound emoji.

Do hashtags and @mentions count?+

Yes, both count in full, character for character. Replies are the one exception: leading @mentions on a reply are not charged against your 280.

What happens if I go over 280 characters?+

X won't let you post it. The tool flags your draft as over the limit and shows exactly how many characters you need to trim before it will go through.

How many words is 280 characters?+

Roughly 40–50 words in ordinary English, since the average word plus its space runs about six characters. Technical or formal writing with longer words lands closer to 35.

Is there a live counter as I type?+

Yes. The character count and progress bar update live as you type, in addition to the full analysis you get by clicking Analyze.

Can I use this to plan a thread?+

Yes — that's a common use. Paste one segment at a time and trim each to fit, so no post in the thread ends up truncated or awkwardly split mid-sentence.

Does it work for X bios and other short fields?+

It counts any text you paste in, so you can use it for a bio, an ad headline, or any other short-form field — just remember those fields have their own limits (an X bio is 160 characters).

Can I download my tweet stats?+

Yes. Copy the stats to your clipboard, or download a .txt report with your tweet text, character count, limit, and remaining characters.

Is my draft stored anywhere?+

No. Counting happens on request and nothing you type is saved or logged.

Is this Twitter character counter free?+

Yes. It is completely free with no signup, no login, no download, and no limit on how many drafts you check.