Social media character limits in 2026: the complete cheat sheet

Every network sets its own ceiling on how long a post can be, and they range from 280 characters on X to more than 63,000 on Facebook. Hitting the limit mid-sentence is annoying; finding out after a scheduled post fails is worse. This cheat sheet collects the limits for the networks most teams publish to, along with the length that tends to read well on each.

Two numbers matter for every network: the hard limit, which the platform enforces, and the useful length, which is how much people will actually read before they scroll on. The second one is almost always much shorter.

Quick reference: character limits by network

• X (Twitter): 280 characters for standard accounts. Links always count as 23, and most emoji count as 2.
• Instagram: 2,200 characters per caption. Only the first 125 or so show before “more”.
• LinkedIn: 3,000 characters per post. Roughly the first 200 show before “see more”.
• Facebook: 63,206 characters per post — effectively unlimited.
• TikTok: 2,200 characters for captions published through TikTok's API, which is how scheduling tools post.
• Threads: 500 characters per post.
• Bluesky: 300 characters per post.
• YouTube: 100 characters for a title and 5,000 for a description.
• Pinterest: 100 characters for a Pin title and 500 for its description.
• Mastodon: 500 characters on most servers, though each server can set its own limit.
• Reddit: 300 characters for a title and 40,000 for a text post.
• Google Business Profile: 1,500 characters per update.
• Telegram: 4,096 characters per message, or 1,024 for a caption under media.
• Discord: 2,000 characters per message.

X (Twitter): 280 characters

X is the network where the limit shapes the writing most. Standard accounts get 280 characters; paid accounts can post far longer, but the timeline still truncates long posts, so the first 280 characters do the work either way.

X doesn't count characters the way a word processor does. Every link counts as 23 characters no matter how long or short the URL really is, and most emoji and characters from Chinese, Japanese and Korean count as two. A post that looks like 270 characters in a notes app can be over the limit once a link is added.

• Aim for 240 characters or fewer to leave room for a link or a quote-post.
• Put the point in the first line — replies and reposts quote the opening, not the ending.
• Use one or two hashtags at most; more reads as spam on X.

Instagram: 2,200 characters

Instagram allows 2,200 characters per caption, but the feed shows only the first line or two before cutting to “more”. That opening is the hook. Everything after it is for the people who were already interested.

Long captions work on Instagram when they're doing a job — a recipe, a story, a step-by-step — and the first line earns the tap. For most brand posts, a few short paragraphs is plenty. Hashtags count toward the 2,200, and a small set of specific, relevant tags will serve you better than a block of 30 generic ones.

LinkedIn: 3,000 characters

LinkedIn gives you 3,000 characters for a post, and long-form posts are common there. What matters is the first two or three lines, which are all people see before “see more”. Write those as if they're the whole post.

• Open with the claim or the result, not the backstory.
• Break text into short paragraphs — dense blocks get skipped on mobile.
• Keep hashtags to three to five, placed at the end.
• Links in the post body are fine, but the post should make sense without clicking them.

Facebook: 63,206 characters

Facebook's limit is so high it rarely matters. The practical limit is attention: posts longer than a few lines are truncated in the feed, so the opening sentence carries the post. Short updates with a clear image or link usually outperform long text posts for business pages.

TikTok: 2,200 characters

On TikTok the video is the content and the caption supports it. Captions published through TikTok's API — which is how scheduling tools publish — can be up to 2,200 characters, but most effective captions are a sentence or two with a few hashtags that describe the video. Keep the caption short enough to read while the video is already playing.

Threads and Bluesky: 500 and 300 characters

Threads allows 500 characters and Bluesky 300. Both reward a conversational, X-like style. If an idea needs more room, split it into a short thread of connected posts rather than cramming it into one.

YouTube: 100-character titles, 5,000-character descriptions

A YouTube title can be 100 characters, but search results and suggested videos often cut it at around 60, so put the searchable words first. The description can run to 5,000 characters; the first two lines appear above the fold and in search snippets, so lead with what the video covers and why someone should watch.

Pinterest: 100-character titles, 500-character descriptions

Pinterest works more like a search engine than a feed. Write the title and description with the words people would type to find the Pin — “small balcony garden ideas” beats “Our spring project”. Use the full 500 characters if the extra words are genuinely descriptive.

How to write one post for networks with different limits

The hard part isn't knowing the limits; it's publishing the same idea to networks whose limits differ by a factor of ten. Trimming a LinkedIn post down to fit X usually removes the best part, and padding an X post for LinkedIn makes it read thin.

1. Write the core idea in one sentence first. That sentence becomes your X post and the opening line everywhere else.
2. Expand it for the long-form networks — LinkedIn and Facebook — with the context and detail.
3. Rewrite rather than trim for the short networks, so the shortest version still sounds intentional.
4. Check each version against its own limit before scheduling, not after.

Postreo keeps a separate version of the caption for every network inside one post and counts characters the way each network does — including X's 23-character links — so you see a version is over the limit while you're writing it, not when it fails to publish. The AI rewrite can also shorten a long version to fit without you starting again.

Frequently asked questions

Do hashtags and mentions count toward the character limit?

Yes. On every major network, hashtags, @mentions and emoji count toward the caption's character limit. On X, emoji usually count as two characters each.

Do spaces and line breaks count as characters?

Yes. Spaces, line breaks and punctuation all count. A caption broken into many short paragraphs uses a few more characters than the same text as one block.

What happens if a scheduled post is over the limit?

The network rejects it, and depending on the tool you use, the post either fails silently or you get an error after the scheduled time has passed. Checking the length per network before you schedule avoids both.