Social Media Character Limits in 2026: Every Network in One Table

Every social network has a hard character limit, and almost all of them have a second, softer limit that matters more: the point where your post gets cut off behind a 'more' link. Here are both for every major network, checked against each platform's current documentation. To test a specific post, paste it into our free character counter.

Character limits by network

Visible lengths are approximate. They depend on device, screen width and line breaks, so treat them as a design target rather than an exact rule.

The limit that actually matters: the cut-off

On Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook, most people never tap 'more'. Whatever sits before the cut-off is effectively your whole post for most of your audience. Put the hook, the point or the question there, and save context, links and hashtags for after.

Line breaks count against the cut-off on mobile too. A caption that opens with a blank line or an emoji row wastes the most valuable space you have.

Network-by-network notes

Instagram

2,200 characters, but the first ~125 do the work. Hashtags count toward the limit. Stories have no caption at all, so the text lives in the media. More in our guide to scheduling Instagram posts.

YouTube

Titles cap at 100 characters, and descriptions at 5,000 bytes, not characters. Plain English is one byte per character, but emoji and many non-Latin scripts use three or four. A description that looks like 3,000 characters can be over the limit. See our YouTube scheduling guide for chapters and hashtags too.

Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon

These three show the whole post, so there's no cut-off to design around, just the hard limit. Bluesky's 300 is the tightest of any major network. For longer ideas on any of the three, chain replies into a thread rather than cramming. Guides: Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon.

Telegram

A text message can run to 4,096 characters, but a caption on a photo or video stops at 1,024. If a channel post with an image needs more room, send the text as its own message, or put the image after the text.

Facebook

63,206 characters is effectively unlimited. Short still tends to win, because a post that fits above the cut-off is read in full. Save long posts for stories that earn the tap.

Writing one post for every network

The trap with cross-posting is writing for the longest limit and pasting it everywhere. Bluesky and Threads cut it off, and Instagram buries it. Work the other way round:

1. Write the 300-character version first. If the idea doesn't fit, it isn't sharp enough yet.
2. Expand to 500 for Threads and Mastodon with one supporting detail.
3. Expand to the full Instagram or LinkedIn caption with context, a story and a call to action.
4. Check each version against its limit before scheduling.

Tesselith's composer is built around exactly this: one draft, per-network overrides, and a live counter for every connected network, so nothing overflows at publish time. The AI assistant can draft the shorter versions from your long one.