--- title: "X Character Counter: Count a Post the Way X Does | Ravenpost" description: "Free X (Twitter) character counter that counts the way X does: every link is 23, emoji and many symbols are 2, and X Premium gets 25,000. Paste a post and see what X sees." url: https://ravenpo.st/tools/x-character-counter/ --- Free tool # X character counter X does not count characters the way your editor does. Every link costs 23 however long it is, an emoji costs 2, and a post X finds too long comes back from its API as a refusal that never mentions length. This counter uses Xโ€™s own rules. Runs in your browser โ€” nothing you type or drop is uploaded. Your postWe just shipped dark mode ๐ŸŒ™ Every screen, every theme. Try it tonight โ†’ ravenpo.st/changelog 97 / 280 183 left X Premium (25,000) - **Characters you see:** 92 - **What X counts:** 97 - **Links (23 each):** 1 - **Cashtags ยท mentions:** 0 ยท 0 ## How X counts a post - **Every link is 23**, however long it is โ€” X wraps it in t.co. A bare domain like example.com counts as a link too. - **Emoji and many symbols are 2** โ€” โ†’ โ€ข โ€ฆ among them โ€” and so are Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters. - **Letters, accented ones included, spaces and line breaks are 1.** - **The limit is 280, or 25,000 with X Premium** on every tier. Through Xโ€™s API, a post over the limit comes back as a bare refusal that never mentions length. - **Apps get two extra rules**: one cashtag ($SYMBOL) per post, and a thread reply may @mention only people already in the conversation. ## Questions Why does X say my post is too long when my editor says it is under 280? Because X does not count characters one by one. Every link is 23, and emoji and many symbols are 2, so a 272-character post with a long link and a few emoji can be over 280 to X. This counter uses Xโ€™s own rules โ€” the same ones Ravenpost checks a post against before it is sent. Does every link really count as 23? Yes. Short or long, X wraps every link in its t.co shortener and charges 23 for it. A bare domain such as example.com is a link too. How long can a post be with X Premium? 25,000 characters, on every Premium tier including Basic, counted the same way. In a thread, each reply is a post of its own with its own limit. Why would X refuse a post that fits? Apps that post through Xโ€™s API are held to rules Xโ€™s own app is not: one cashtag ($SYMBOL) per post, and in a thread reply, @mentions only of people already in the conversation. The counter flags a second cashtag. Is my text sent anywhere? No. It is counted in your browser, and nothing you type leaves the page. ## More free tools [ ### Caption length checker โ†’ Paste one caption and see how it fits every network we publish to, each counted the way that network counts. ](https://ravenpo.st/tools/caption-length-checker/)[ ### Social media image resizer โ†’ Cut one image to 4:5, 1:1, 1.91:1 and 9:16 around the point you pick, and download all four. Nothing is uploaded. ](https://ravenpo.st/tools/social-image-resizer/) ## Then post it everywhere Ravenpost checks every post against these same rules before it goes out, and publishes it to 9 networks with a caption written for each. One connected account and ten posts a month, free. No card. [Start free](https://ravenpo.st/sign-up)