Social Media Character Limits: The Cheat Sheet
Every Documented Text Limit by Platform, How Each One Counts, and Which Are Only Recommendations
Short answer
X allows 280 weighted characters, Bluesky 300 and Threads 500, the strictest text limits as of September 2026. Instagram captions allow 2,200 with up to five hashtags, TikTok captions 2,200 through its posting API, and LinkedIn posts 3,000. YouTube titles stop at 100, Pinterest titles at 100 and descriptions at 800.
1. What are the character limits on each social platform?
The table lists every text limit we could verify in official documentation today, with its source. Where a platform publishes a recommendation instead of a limit, the type column says so.
| Platform | Field | Limit | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| X | Post | 280 weighted characters | Hard limit | X Developer Platform [s1] |
| X | Longer post (Premium) | 25,000 characters | Hard limit, Premium only | X Help Center [s2] |
| Bluesky | Post | 300 characters (graphemes), max 3,000 bytes | Hard limit | AT Protocol schema [s3] |
| Threads | Post | 500 characters | Hard limit | Meta for Developers [s4] |
| Threads | Text attachment | 10,000 characters | Hard limit | Meta Newsroom [s5] |
| Caption | 2,200 characters | Hard limit | Meta for Developers [s6] | |
| Hashtags | Up to 5 per post | Hard limit | Instagram Help Center [s7] | |
| Mentions | Up to 20 @ tags per caption | Hard limit (API) | Meta for Developers [s6] | |
| TikTok | Video caption via posting API | 2,200 characters (UTF-16) | Hard limit (API) | TikTok for Developers [s8] |
| Post | 3,000 characters | Hard limit | LinkedIn Help [s9] | |
| Article | 125,000 characters | Hard limit | LinkedIn Help [s10] | |
| YouTube | Video or Short title | 100 characters | Hard limit | YouTube Help [s11] |
| YouTube | Description | 5,000 characters | Hard limit | YouTube Help [s11] |
| Pin title | 100 characters (first 40 most likely shown) | Hard limit plus display guidance | Pinterest Help [s12] | |
| Pin description | 800 characters | Hard limit | Pinterest Help [s12] | |
| Page post | No practical limit documented in the current help center | Not applicable | Meta Business Help Center |
2. Which text lengths are recommendations rather than limits?
Ad copy guidance and visibility cut-offs. Meta recommends 125 characters of primary text for Instagram ads and 50 to 150 for Facebook feed ads, and Pinterest says the first 40 characters of a title are most likely to show.
| Platform and placement | Field | Recommendation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook Feed ads | Primary text | 50 to 150 characters | Meta Ads Guide [s14] |
| Facebook Feed ads | Headline | 27 characters | Meta Ads Guide [s14] |
| Instagram Feed ads | Primary text | 125 characters | Meta Ads Guide [s13] |
| Instagram Feed ads | Headline | 40 characters | Meta Ads Guide [s13] |
| Pin title | First 40 characters most likely to appear | Pinterest Help [s12] |
For organic posts, the practical constraint is not the limit but the fold: most feeds show only the first line or two before the reader has to expand. On LinkedIn with 3,000 characters available, the first line still decides whether the other 2,900 get read.
3. How do platforms count characters differently?
X weights characters: emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters count double and links count as 23. Bluesky counts graphemes, so an emoji counts once. TikTok's API counts UTF-16 units.
| Platform | Rule | Effect on a real post |
|---|---|---|
| X | Emoji count as 2, CJK characters as 2, most other text as 1 [s1] | A post with ten emoji has 20 characters less room |
| X | Every URL counts as 23 characters [s1] | Long UTM-tagged links cost the same as short ones |
| X | Attached media counts as 0 [s1] | Images do not reduce text space |
| Bluesky | 300 graphemes, and no more than 3,000 bytes [s3] | An emoji counts once; the byte cap rarely matters |
| TikTok (API) | 2,200 UTF-16 units [s8] | Many emoji use two units, so emoji-heavy captions run out sooner |
Do links count toward character limits?
On X, every link counts as a fixed 23 characters because it is wrapped in the t.co shortener. On other platforms, links generally count as their visible length within the post text. Bluesky and Threads posts often show a link as a preview card instead, which saves space compared with pasting a long URL.
4. How do you write one post that fits every platform?
Write the core message short enough for the strictest network you use, then expand it where there is room. Around 250 characters, including a link, fits X, Bluesky and Threads without editing.
- Write the core in about 250 characters. State the point, the proof and the ask. That fits X with a 23-character link, Bluesky's 300 and Threads' 500 with room to spare.
- Expand for LinkedIn and Instagram. Add context, a short story or a list. LinkedIn allows 3,000 characters and Instagram 2,200, but the first line must still work on its own.
- Trim hashtags per platform. Five at most on Instagram, few or none on LinkedIn and X, and keyword-rich descriptions rather than hashtags on Pinterest.
- Write titles for YouTube and Pinterest separately. Titles are search surfaces. Keep YouTube titles under 100 characters and put the searchable words in the first 40 characters of a Pin title.
The shortening is the useful part. If the core message does not survive 250 characters, it is probably two messages, and the guide on social media hooks covers the opening line in more depth.
5. What should you check before publishing?
Count with the platform's rules, not a word processor. Then check the fold, the hashtag count and anything that only works in the first part of the post.
- Counted in the platform's own composer or with its rules: weighted on X, graphemes on Bluesky.
- The first line states the point before any fold.
- Instagram posts carry five hashtags or fewer.
- On X, anyone you want notified is mentioned in the first 280 characters of a longer post [s2].
- Long Premium posts on X are published live, since they cannot be scheduled on the web [s2].
- Pinterest and YouTube titles lead with the words people search.
6. Where does Oppira fit?
Oppira Studio drafts a version of each post for every channel you publish to, inside that channel's limits and in your brand voice, and publishes on schedule after you approve.
Studio publishes to X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest and more from one calendar, so the 280-character version and the 3,000-character version of an idea are written together rather than trimmed by hand at the last minute.
Key Takeaways
The strict ones are X, Bluesky and Threads
280 weighted characters, 300 graphemes and 500 characters. Write the core message for these first.
Instagram now allows five hashtags
The Help Center states up to 5 per post. Documents still saying 30 are out of step with the app.
X counts emoji and links differently
Emoji and CJK characters count as two, and every link as 23, whatever its length.
Threads has a 10,000-character attachment
Keep the post to 500 and put longer text in an attachment rather than a reply chain.
Recommendations are not limits
Meta's ad text lengths and Pinterest's 40-character title guidance are about visibility, not rejection.
The fold matters more than the limit
Most feeds show a line or two before truncating, so the first line carries the post on every platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
- Counting characters X Developer Platform, September 2026.
- About different types of posts X Help Center, September 2026.Longer posts up to 25,000 characters, mentions after 280 characters not notified, no web scheduling.
- app.bsky.feed.post lexicon Bluesky (AT Protocol repository), September 2026.
- Threads API overview Meta for Developers, September 2026.
- Attach text to your Threads posts to share longer perspectives Meta Newsroom, September 4, 2025.
- IG User Media reference Meta for Developers, September 2026.
- Use hashtags on Instagram Instagram Help Center, September 2026.
- Content Posting API: Direct Post reference TikTok for Developers, September 2026.
- Post and share updates LinkedIn Help, September 2026.
- Differences between posting updates and publishing articles LinkedIn Help, September 2026.
- Add video details and settings YouTube Help, September 2026.
- Pinterest product specs Pinterest Help, September 2026.
- Instagram Feed image ad specifications Meta Ads Guide, September 2026.
- Facebook Feed image ad specifications Meta Ads Guide, September 2026.
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