Twitter character limit
on a free account
with X Premium
Every X limit in one table
| What | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard post (free account) | 280 | Weighted characters; emoji and CJK count 2, links count 23 |
| Post with X Premium | 25,000 | Only the first 280 show before “Show more” |
| Reply | 280 | The automatic @username at the start doesn’t count |
| Direct message | 10,000 | Per message |
| Profile bio | 160 | |
| Display name | 50 | |
| Username (@handle) | 15 | Letters, numbers and underscores only |
| Profile location | 30 | |
| Link in a post | 23 | Every URL, whatever its real length |
| Poll option | 25 | Up to 4 options |
| Image alt text | 1,000 | Per image |
Limits as documented in X’s Help Center and developer documentation; X occasionally changes them.
How X counts a character
X uses a weighted count. Each character gets a weight based on its Unicode range, and your post can weigh up to 280.
- Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, Devanagari, Thai and similar scripts weigh 1.
- Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and most symbols weigh 2, so a Japanese post fits about 140 characters.
- Emoji weigh 2, even when one emoji is secretly five code points glued together.
- Links weigh 23, because X swaps them for a t.co short link.
Try the builder to feel it. Then measure your own text with the character counter, which applies the same rules.
Try it: build a post and watch the tape
Tap pieces to add them. Each shows what it really costs.
Your post is empty.
A short history of the limit
2006: 140 characters. Twitter launched as an SMS service. A text message holds 160 characters, and Twitter kept 20 for the username.
2016: media and quoted posts stop counting. Photos, GIFs, polls and quoted posts no longer ate into the 140.
November 2017: 280 characters. Twitter doubled the limit for languages where it was tight, but kept CJK at 140 effective by weighting those characters 2.
2023: long posts. After the rebrand to X, paying subscribers got longer posts, now up to 25,000 characters.
Over the limit? Make it a thread
A long post collapses behind “Show more”, and free accounts can’t post it at all. A thread lets each idea stand on its own and gives readers a reason to keep tapping. Paste your text into the tweet splitter or the thread maker, and it will be cut at sentence boundaries into posts that fit.
Questions
What is the Twitter character limit in 2026?
A standard post on X is limited to 280 weighted characters. X Premium subscribers can write posts of up to 25,000 characters.
When did Twitter change from 140 to 280 characters?
Twitter doubled the limit from 140 to 280 characters for most languages in November 2017. Chinese, Japanese and Korean kept an effective 140 because their characters count double.
How long can a tweet be with X Premium?
Up to 25,000 characters, with bold and italic formatting. In the timeline only the first 280 characters are shown before a “Show more” link.
Do emoji count as two characters on Twitter?
Yes. Every emoji counts as 2, including combined emoji like flags, skin tones and family emoji that are built from several code points.
How many characters is a link on X?
Every link counts as 23 characters because X shortens it with its t.co service, regardless of how long the original address is.
How long can a thread be?
There’s no practical cap on the number of posts in a thread; each post has its own 280-character limit. Most well-read threads run 4 to 12 posts.