CalcWhenCharacter Counter
A standard social post limit is 280 characters: plenty for “Shipping Friday: the new everyday tools are live, and the word counter you asked for is first in the drawer.” — 108 characters, with 172 to spare.
How it works
Set your limit — 280 for a post, 160 for a meta description, 75 for a headline field — and type: the counter tracks characters used, the percentage of the limit, and how many remain, flipping to an overflow warning the moment you cross it. Characters without spaces are counted too, for the systems that measure that way.
The limit field takes any number, so one tool covers posts, bios, ad headlines, product titles and every other box that has ever rudely cut you off mid-sentence.
The method
Characters are counted as Unicode code points as typed (the .length convention forms themselves use), including spaces and line breaks. The no-spaces count removes all whitespace. Remaining = limit − characters, shown as an overage when negative.
Frequently asked questions
Do line breaks count as characters?
Yes — a line break is a character in nearly every form and platform limit. The no-spaces figure removes line breaks and spaces if your platform counts differently.
What limit should I use for a meta description?
Around 155–160 characters is the common target: search engines typically display roughly that much before truncating with an ellipsis.
Do emojis count as one character?
Most emoji are stored as two code units, and some (flags, skin tones, joined figures) as more — this counter reports what your browser's forms measure, which is what limits are enforced against.