Free tool
Caption character counter for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
By the KeyMo team · Updated
Paste your text and the counter shows characters, words, lines, hashtags and mentions, then checks them against the limits each platform publishes: Instagram 2,200 characters, YouTube Shorts titles 100. We could not confirm a number for ordinary TikTok captions on TikTok's own pages, so the tool shows none and lets you set your own. It runs in your browser.
Your caption
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved.
- Characters
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- Hashtags
- 0
- @ mentions
- 0
0 characters, 0 words, 0 lines.
Other ways to count
- Visible characters (emoji as one)
- 0
- UTF-16 units
- 0
- UTF-8 bytes
- 0
Platforms do not say how they count emoji or accented letters. When the answer changes with the method, the result says so.
TikTok caption (posts)
The caption on a normal TikTok post.
No official number to check against.
- TikTok's help pages that we could read do not state a maximum caption length or hashtag count for posts, so this tool shows no number for it.
- Use the custom limit box to check against a number you have seen in the app.
TikTok ad caption (Spark Ads)
The caption shown on a Spark Ad, which is copied from the organic post.
Before "See more"Suggested
0 / 100
100 ad-count characters left
TikTok suggests 100 characters for most languages (50 for Chinese, Japanese and Korean) so "See more" does not cover the text.
Spark Ads maximumLimit
0 / 150
150 ad-count characters left
One TikTok ad page gives 150 characters. Another passage on the same page says there is no caption limit, so treat 150 as unclear.
- This is an ad rule, not the limit for an organic post.
- The ad count treats full-width characters as 2 and ignores leading and trailing spaces. Which characters count as full-width is not published, so the count is an approximation.
Source: TikTok reservation in-feed ad specifications. Read 2026-10-11.
Instagram caption (Reels)
The caption on an Instagram post or Reel.
Caption lengthLimit
0 / 2,200
2,200 characters left
Maximum caption length in Instagram's publishing API.
HashtagsLimit
0 / 30
30 hashtags left
Maximum hashtags in the same API caption.
@ mentionsLimit
0 / 20
20 @ mentions left
Maximum @ tags in the same API caption.
- These numbers come from Meta's developer documentation for publishing through the API. The Instagram Help Center pages we could read do not state a caption length for Reels, so the in-app limit is not confirmed here.
Source: IG User Media, Meta for Developers. Read 2026-10-11.
YouTube Shorts title
The title field when you upload or record a Short.
Title lengthLimit
0 / 100
100 characters left
YouTube Help and the YouTube Data API both give 100 characters.
Source: Upload YouTube videos, YouTube Help, Videos, YouTube Data API. Read 2026-10-11.
YouTube Shorts description
The description field of a Short.
Description lengthLimit
0 / 5,000
5,000 characters left
YouTube Help gives 5,000 characters.
Description size (API)Limit
0 / 5,000
5,000 bytes left
The YouTube Data API states 5,000 bytes, which is smaller than 5,000 characters for emoji and most non-English text. It matters if you upload through the API.
HashtagsLimit
0 / 60
60 hashtags left
If a video has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores all of them. The count covers the title and description together.
Source: Upload YouTube videos, YouTube Help, Videos, YouTube Data API, Find playlists and videos using hashtags, YouTube Help. Read 2026-10-11.
Your own limit
For a number you saw in the app, or a platform not listed.
How to use the counter
- Paste or type your caption, title or description into the box. The counts update as you type, and nothing is sent anywhere.
- Read the card for the platform you are posting to. Each limit shows how much you have used, how much is left and where the number comes from.
- If a card says you are over, open "See where it would be cut". It shows your text with everything past the limit highlighted, so you can decide what to trim.
- For a number the tool does not list, type your own maximum into the last card. It checks your text against it the same way.
What the tool checks, and where each number comes from
Every figure below was read from the platform's own page on 11 October 2026. Where a platform publishes no number, the tool says so instead of filling the gap.
| Field | Limit the tool applies | Source and caveat |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok caption on a post | None. No number confirmed | TikTok's support pages would not load for us, so we could not read an organic limit. We show counts only. |
| TikTok Spark Ads caption | 100 before "See more" (suggested), 150 maximum | TikTok's ad specifications. The same page also says there is no caption limit, so treat 150 as unclear. This is an ad rule. |
| Instagram caption | 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags, 20 @ mentions | Meta's developer documentation for publishing through the API. Instagram's Help Center pages we read give no Reels caption length. |
| YouTube Shorts title | 100 characters, no < or > | YouTube Help and the YouTube Data API agree on 100. |
| YouTube Shorts description | 5,000 characters, 5,000 bytes in the API, 60 hashtags | YouTube Help says characters. The API says bytes. Over 60 hashtags and YouTube ignores all of them. |
The TikTok ad count follows the rule on TikTok's ad page: Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2, other characters as 1, and spaces at the start and end are ignored. TikTok does not publish which characters it treats as full-width, so the tool's count for those scripts is an approximation.
Why one caption can have several lengths
Platforms say "characters" and do not say how they count emoji or letters with accents. A flame emoji is one character to a person, two units in UTF-16 (how JavaScript counts) and four bytes in UTF-8. A letter e followed by a combining accent is two code points that look like one letter.
| Text | Visible characters | Code points | UTF-16 units | UTF-8 bytes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hello | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| the flame emoji | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| e plus a combining accent | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| one Devanagari letter such as the Hindi letter ka | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
The tool's main number is code points. When the text passes a limit under one way of counting and fits under another, the badge reads "Depends on how it is counted" instead of a flat pass or fail. If you see that badge, shorten the text a little so it fits under every count.
Three worked examples
Example 1, a Spark Ads caption. An English caption of 120 characters is under the 150 maximum but 20 past the 100-character suggestion, so "See more" may cover the end of it. Cut it to 100 and the whole caption is visible before the fold.
Example 2, a Hindi YouTube description. 1,700 Devanagari characters is under the 5,000-character figure in YouTube Help. In UTF-8 each of those letters takes 3 bytes, so the text is 5,100 bytes, which is over the 5,000-byte figure in the API. Pasted into Studio it may be fine. Sent through the API it may not. The tool shows both rows so you can see which applies to you.
Example 3, an Instagram caption with too many tags. A 900-character caption with 31 hashtags passes the length limit and fails the hashtag limit by one. The card flags the hashtag row, and you can drop one tag without touching the text.
Where KeyMo fits
This counter is for the words you post next to a clip: the caption, title or description. KeyMo works on the clip itself. It cuts a long video or podcast into vertical 9:16 clips, scores each one and adds word-by-word captions in one of 12 styles. The text you publish with the clip is still yours to write, and this page helps you keep it inside the limits.
If you are also checking where on-screen captions sit in the frame, the safe zone checker covers that, and the aspect ratio calculator covers frame size. See KeyMo pricing for plans.
- Counts, hashtags and mentions are found by pattern. Platforms may treat an unusual tag differently.
- The hashtag total for YouTube covers the title and description together. Paste both into the box to see the full count.
- A limit in this tool is what a platform's page states. It is not a promise that a post will perform.
Sources: TikTok reservation in-feed ad specifications (TikTok Ads Manager) (checked 11 October 2026); IG User Media (Meta for Developers) (checked 11 October 2026); Upload YouTube videos, Computer (YouTube Help) (checked 11 October 2026); Get started creating YouTube Shorts (YouTube Help) (checked 11 October 2026); Videos (YouTube Data API, Google for Developers) (checked 11 October 2026); Find playlists and videos using hashtags (YouTube Help) (checked 11 October 2026).