How to count characters for X
- Write or paste your post. The X card is highlighted first and shows your weighted count out of 280.
- Watch the remaining characters as you edit. The bar turns red when you go over.
- Check the other platforms if you are cross-posting to Threads, Bluesky or LinkedIn.
How X counts characters
X does not simply count letters. It uses a weighted system from its open-source twitter-text library:
- Every URL counts as 23 characters, however long or short it is, because X shortens all links with t.co.
- Each emoji counts as 2 characters, even complex ones made of several code points such as flags or family emoji.
- Characters from Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts, and most other characters outside Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and similar ranges, count as 2.
- Ordinary letters, digits, punctuation and spaces count as 1.
That is why a post that looks short can still hit the limit when it contains a couple of links and emoji, and why posts in Japanese are effectively limited to 140 characters. Mentions and hashtags count normally. Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, but the timeline shows only the first 280 before "Show more", so the limit still matters for reach.
Counting happens in your browser; your draft is never sent to X or anyone else.
FAQ
Do spaces count in a tweet?
Yes. Spaces and line breaks count as one character each.
Do @mentions count toward 280?
Yes, mentions within the text count. Replies no longer count the @usernames that are added automatically at the start.
Why does my link count as 23?
X wraps every link in a t.co short URL, so all links count as 23 characters regardless of their real length.