Social Media Character Limits: X 280, Threads 500, Instagram 2,200
X allows 280 characters (25,000 with Premium), Threads 500, Instagram captions 2,200 with up to 5 hashtags, LinkedIn 3,000 and YouTube descriptions 5,000.
On this page
X allows 280 characters in a post, or up to 25,000 with a paid X Premium subscription.[1][2] Threads allows 500, plus a text attachment of up to 10,000 characters.[3][4] An Instagram caption can have 2,200 characters and up to 5 hashtags.[5][6] A LinkedIn post can have 3,000,[7] and YouTube allows 100 characters in a title and 5,000 in a description.[8] Through TikTok's API, a video caption can have 2,200 characters and a photo post description 4,000.[9][10] Facebook doesn't publish a limit.
Not every character counts as one, though. X counts each Korean, Chinese or Japanese character as two, so a post written only in those scripts stops at 140 characters.[1] Some platforms have their own rules for emoji and links, too.
Key takeaways
- X: 280 characters. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000, also in quotes and replies.[2]
- X counts some characters as two. Korean, Chinese and Japanese characters and emoji count as 2, and every link counts as 23.[1]
- Threads: 500 characters. A text attachment holds up to 10,000 more.[4]
- Instagram: 2,200 characters and 5 hashtags. Instagram's Help Center allows up to 5 hashtags on a post. Meta's API docs still say 30.[6][5]
- YouTube: 100 for titles, 5,000 for descriptions. The YouTube Data API measures descriptions in bytes, not characters.[11]
- Facebook: no published limit. The 63,206 figure you'll see comes from a 2011 news report.[12]
Social media character limits at a glance
| Platform | Post text | Other limits | How characters are counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| X (Twitter) | 280 (25,000 with Premium) | — | Korean, Chinese, Japanese and emoji count as 2. Each link counts as 23 |
| Threads | 500 | Text attachment: 10,000. Topic tag: 50. Links: 5 per post | Through the API, an emoji counts as its UTF-8 bytes |
| 2,200 (caption) | Hashtags: 5 (Help Center; the API docs say 30). @ tags: 20 | Not documented | |
| 3,000 | For longer text, write an article | Not documented | |
| TikTok (API) | 2,200 (video caption) | Photo post: 90 (title), 4,000 (description) | UTF-16 |
| YouTube | 5,000 (description) | Title: 100. Tags: 500 in total | The Data API counts descriptions in bytes |
| Not published (63,206 reported in 2011) | — | Not documented |
Last reviewed: November 6, 2026. Platforms change these limits from time to time, so check the sources at the end of this post.
X (Twitter) character limit
A post on X can have up to 280 characters.[1] With any X Premium plan, including Basic, you can write posts of up to 25,000 characters. You can also write long posts as quotes and replies.[2] Everyone can read long posts, but only subscribers can write them.
X doesn't count every character as one. It uses a weighted count:[1]
- Latin letters, numbers, punctuation and common symbols count as 1.
- Korean, Chinese and Japanese characters count as 2. A post written only in those scripts tops out at 140 characters.
- Every emoji counts as 2, even an emoji made of several joined emoji, like a family emoji.
- Every link counts as 23, however long or short it is, because X wraps all links in its t.co link shortener.
Threads character limit
A Threads post can have up to 500 characters.[3] For longer writing, you can attach up to 10,000 characters of text to a post or a reply.[13][4]
If you post through a scheduling tool, Meta's API documentation adds a few rules:[3][4]
- A text attachment works only on a text-only post, and not on a post with a poll.
- A post can have up to 5 links. Since December 22, 2025, posts with more links fail to post.
- A topic tag can be 1 to 50 characters long, and a post can have one.
- Each emoji counts as its size in UTF-8 bytes toward the 500-character limit. For most emoji, that's 4.
Instagram caption character limit
An Instagram caption can have up to 2,200 characters.[5]
For hashtags, the limit is now much lower. In December 2025, Instagram began limiting post and reel captions to five hashtags.[14] Its Help Center now says, "You can use up to 5 tags on a post. If you include more than 5 tags on a single photo/video, your comment won't post."[6]
Meta's API documentation hasn't caught up. It still says a caption can have up to "2200 characters, 30 hashtags, and 20 @ tags."[5] Some scheduling tools follow the API documentation and may let you add more than five hashtags. To be safe, use five or fewer.
If you post carousels, see Instagram carousel size. To schedule Stories, see how to schedule Instagram Stories.
LinkedIn character limit
A LinkedIn post can have up to 3,000 characters.[7] If you need more room, LinkedIn suggests writing an article on its publishing platform instead.[7]
TikTok caption limit
TikTok's developer documentation gives these limits for posts made through its API, which is how scheduling tools post:[9][10]
- Video caption: up to 2,200
- Photo post title: up to 90
- Photo post description: up to 4,000
TikTok measures these limits in "UTF-16 runes," so an emoji can count as more than one. We couldn't find an official limit for captions written in the TikTok app.
YouTube title and description limits
A YouTube video title can have up to 100 characters, and a description up to 5,000 characters.[8]
The YouTube Data API, which scheduling tools use, sets the description limit at "5000 bytes" instead.[11] In UTF-8, a Korean, Chinese or Japanese character takes 3 bytes. So if the API enforces bytes, a description written only in those scripts fits about 1,666 characters. We haven't tested where the API cuts it off.
The API also says titles and descriptions can't include < or >, and that tags can total 500 characters, counting the commas between them.[11]
Facebook character limit
Facebook doesn't publish a character limit for posts. The number you'll often see, 63,206, comes from 2011: TechCrunch reported that a longer status update got a "Status Update Too Long" message.[12] We couldn't find a current official number.
How Posteady helps
Posteady is our social media scheduling and analytics tool for marketers, creators and agencies. You write a post once and schedule it to X, Threads, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook Pages and TikTok, tailoring the caption for each channel.
While you write, the composer shows a count next to each channel's icon, such as 120/280 for X and 120/500 for Threads. The count turns yellow at 80% of a channel's limit, orange at 90%, and red when you reach it. For X, Korean, Chinese and Japanese characters and emoji count as 2, as they do on X. If a post is too long for X, you can turn it into a thread.
See multi-channel scheduling for posting to several channels at once, and X scheduling for threads.
Frequently asked questions
What is the character limit on X (Twitter)?
280 characters per post. X Premium subscribers can post up to 25,000.
Does a link count toward X's character limit?
Yes. Every link counts as 23 characters, whether the link is shorter or longer than that.
Why do Korean, Chinese and Japanese posts max out at 140 characters on X?
Because X counts each of those characters as 2, and 140 × 2 = 280.
How many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
Up to 5 per post, according to Instagram's Help Center as of November 2026. Meta's API documentation still says 30.
Can you go past 500 characters on Threads?
Yes. You can attach up to 10,000 characters of text to a post or a reply.
Do emojis count as more than one character?
Often, yes. X counts every emoji as 2. Through the Threads API, an emoji counts as its size in UTF-8 bytes, usually 4. TikTok's API measures in UTF-16, where an emoji can take two units.
Does Facebook have a character limit?
Facebook doesn't publish one. The often-quoted 63,206 comes from a 2011 news report.
Sources
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X Developer Platform, Counting characters. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Meta for Developers, Threads API: Posts. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Meta for Developers, Threads API: Text Attachments. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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Meta for Developers, IG User Media reference. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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LinkedIn Help, Post and share updates. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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YouTube Help, Upload YouTube videos. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎
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TikTok for Developers, Content Posting API reference: Direct Post (updated October 27, 2026). Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎
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TikTok for Developers, Content Posting API reference: Photo Post (updated October 27, 2026). Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Google for Developers, YouTube Data API: Videos. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
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TechCrunch, Facebook Ups Character Limit to 60,000, Google+'s Is Still Bigger, November 30, 2011. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎ ↩︎
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Meta, Attach Text to Your Threads Posts and Share Longer Perspectives, September 4, 2025. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎
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Social Samosa, Instagram limits number of hashtags to five per post, December 19, 2025. Checked November 6, 2026. ↩︎
Written by
Ryan Han · Founder
Ryan Han is the founder of Posteady, a social media scheduling and analytics tool for marketers, creators, and agencies. He builds the product hands-on, checks each platform's scheduling rules and limits against official docs and real posts, and writes up what he finds.
