Social Media Character Limits 2026: Complete Guide for Every Platform

The Complete Cheat Sheet

Here's every major platform's character limit in one table. Below the table, each platform gets a detailed breakdown with tips, hidden limits, and display-truncation points.

X / Twitter Character Limits

The standard tweet limit remains 280 characters for free accounts. X Premium subscribers get up to 25,000 characters, but anything over 280 is collapsed behind a "Show more" tap — meaning your first 280 characters still need to hook the reader.

Key counting rules that trip people up:

• Links always count as 23 characters, regardless of actual URL length (X uses t.co shortening).
• Emojis count as 2 characters each.
• @mentions in replies no longer count against the 280 limit.
• Hashtags count as full characters including the # symbol.
• CJK characters (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) count as 2 characters each.

If you regularly write long-form content and need to split it into a thread, a tweet splitter handles the character counting and sentence-aware splitting automatically.

Instagram Character Limits

Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters — generous compared to Twitter — but the feed only previews roughly 125 characters before the "…more" truncation. Your first sentence is your hook.

• Bio: 150 characters
• Comments: 2,200 characters
• Hashtags: Max 30 per post (each counts toward the 2,200 limit)
• Reels captions: Same 2,200-character limit

Pro tip: Instagram engagement peaks with captions between 138–150 characters, so front-load your message even if the limit lets you write more.

TikTok Character Limits

TikTok increased its caption limit to 4,000 characters in 2024, up from the original 150. This was a major shift toward SEO-friendly, searchable captions.

• Captions: 4,000 characters
• Bio: 80 characters
• Comments: 150 characters
• Username: 24 characters

The feed preview truncates at about 150 characters, so treat the first line as a headline. Hashtags count toward the 4,000 limit.

LinkedIn Character Limits

LinkedIn posts max out at 3,000 characters. The mobile feed truncates after roughly 140 characters, showing a "…see more" link. Desktop shows slightly more.

• Posts: 3,000 characters
• Articles (long-form): 120,000 characters
• Comments: 1,250 characters
• Headline: 220 characters
• About/Summary: 2,600 characters

LinkedIn's algorithm favours posts that generate engagement, and the "see more" click itself counts as engagement. Many creators deliberately write hooks that end just before the fold.

Threads Character Limits

Meta's Threads app caps standard posts at 500 characters. However, you can attach up to 10,000 additional characters via text attachments. Links do not count against the 500-character limit.

Bluesky Character Limits

Bluesky enforces the tightest limit among text-first platforms at 300 characters per post. Bluesky counts graphemes (visible characters), not bytes — so most emoji count as 1 character, unlike Twitter's 2-character emoji rule.

• Posts: 300 graphemes
• Bio: 256 characters
• Alt text: 2,000 characters

Facebook Character Limits

Facebook allows up to 63,206 characters per post — far more than most people ever use. The practical limit is the "See more" fold at ~480 characters. Posts between 40–80 characters get 66% higher engagement according to multiple studies.

• Posts: 63,206 characters
• Comments: 8,000 characters
• Bio (About): 101 characters
• Page description: 255 characters
• Ad primary text: 125 characters (recommended)

YouTube Character Limits

YouTube has separate limits for each content field. The most important to remember: titles truncate at 70 characters in search results, even though the hard limit is 100.

• Title: 100 characters (70 visible in search)
• Description: 5,000 characters
• Comments: 10,000 characters
• Channel bio: 1,000 characters
• Shorts title: 100 characters

Reddit Character Limits

Reddit is one of the most generous platforms for text content.

• Post titles: 300 characters
• Text posts (body): 40,000 characters
• Comments: 10,000 characters

Reddit supports full Markdown formatting in post bodies and comments. No truncation in feed — the title is always fully visible.

Discord Character Limits

• Messages: 2,000 characters (4,000 with Nitro)
• Bio (About Me): 190 characters
• Server description: 1,024 characters
• Embed description: 4,096 characters

Mastodon Character Limits

The default Mastodon post limit is 500 characters, but individual instance administrators can configure a higher limit. Some instances allow 5,000 or even 10,000 characters. Check your instance's limit before assuming it's 500.

What to Do When Your Text is Too Long

You've written your content and it exceeds the limit. Here's the decision tree:

1. Edit it down. Most text can lose 20% without losing meaning. Cut filler phrases like "in order to" → "to", "the fact that" → remove entirely.
2. Split it into a thread. On X, Threads, or Bluesky, thread your content into multiple connected posts. A tweet splitter handles the splitting at natural sentence breaks.
3. Move detail to a link. Put the full version on your blog or in a doc, and summarize in the post with a link.
4. Use platform-specific features. LinkedIn Articles for long-form. Threads text attachments for extra content. Instagram carousel slides for segmented info.

Frequently Asked Questions

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