# SMS character counter

> Paste a message to see how many characters it has, how many SMS parts it will be billed as, and which characters push it from 160 to 70 characters per part.

Source: https://getoxtro.com/character-counter

This is an interactive tool. Use it at https://getoxtro.com/character-counter; it runs in the browser.

## How to use the counter

1. Type or paste your message in the box. The counts update as you type.
2. Check **SMS parts**. Each part is billed as a separate message by most SMS providers.
3. If the encoding shows **UCS-2**, look at the highlighted characters. Smart quotes, long dashes and emojis are the usual culprits.
4. Click **Replace with GSM characters** to swap typographic punctuation for plain equivalents, then check the count again.

## How SMS length works

An SMS can carry 140 bytes. How many characters fit in those bytes depends on the encoding the phone network uses.

| Encoding | Used when | One SMS | Each part of a longer SMS |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GSM-7 | Every character is in the GSM alphabet | 160 characters | 153 characters |
| UCS-2 (Unicode) | Any character is outside it, such as an emoji | 70 characters | 67 characters |

Longer messages are split into parts and joined again on the phone. Each part loses a few characters to the header that tells the phone how to join them, which is why the limits drop from 160 to 153 and from 70 to 67.

## Characters that count twice

The GSM alphabet has an extension table for a few characters: `€`, `[`, `]`, `{`, `}`, `\`, `^`, `~` and `|`. Each of them takes the space of two characters. They also never split across two parts, so a long message can have a part one character short.

## Why one emoji can triple the cost

A single character outside the GSM alphabet switches the **whole** message to UCS-2. A 150-character message that fits in one SMS becomes three parts once you add an emoji or paste a curly apostrophe from a word processor. Emojis also count as two characters in UCS-2, because they are stored as two 16-bit units.

The most common accidental culprits are curly quotes (`’` and `“”`), long dashes (`–` and `—`), the ellipsis character (`…`) and non-breaking spaces copied from documents or websites. The replace button swaps these for plain equivalents.

## Frequently asked questions

### How many characters are in one SMS?

160 characters if every character is in the GSM alphabet, or 70 if the message contains any other character, such as an emoji or many accented letters. Longer messages are split into parts of 153 or 67 characters.

### Do spaces and line breaks count?

Yes. Every space and line break counts as one character in GSM-7 and in UCS-2.

### Why is my message more expensive than its length suggests?

It probably contains a character outside the GSM alphabet, which switches the whole message to UCS-2 and cuts each part to 70 characters. Look at the highlighted characters in the counter and replace them.

### Does WhatsApp have a character limit?

WhatsApp does not split messages into billed parts. The WhatsApp Business Platform accepts up to 4,096 characters in a text message, and the WhatsApp apps allow longer messages than that.

### Is my text sent anywhere?

No. The counter runs in your browser and nothing you type leaves your device.