X character limits and posting rules
Last reviewed: 29 August 2026
280 characters per post. A link always costs 23 of them and an emoji costs 2. A longer draft is split into a numbered thread rather than rejected.
What are X's limits at a glance?
The table gives the figure Postey applies for X, the field it applies to, the unit it is counted in, and whether X enforces it when a post is published.
| Field | Maximum | Counted in | Enforced at publish? |
|---|---|---|---|
| post | 280 | Weighted (link 23, emoji 2) | Yes, at publish time |
How long can a X post be?
X caps a post at 280 characters, and Postey checks a draft against that cap before it publishes.
Postey models X’s free tier. X sells a premium tier that raises the cap, and Postey does not implement it, so the figure on this page is the one a free account hits.
How does X count a character?
X counts a link as 23 characters however long the link really is, and an emoji as 2. Everything else counts as one.
What happens to a X draft that is over the limit?
Postey splits it into numbered posts that each fit 280 characters, including the numbering in that limit. The splitting is Postey’s own. X does none, and neither does Postey’s publishing backend.
How does X compare with the other platforms?
Postey publishes the same draft to every platform below, reshaping it against each one's own limit rather than against X's.
| Platform | Field | Limit | Counted in | Enforced at publish? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| post | 3,000 characters | Code points | Yes, at publish time | |
| Threads | post | 500 characters | Code points | Yes, at publish time |
| Bluesky | post | 300 graphemes | Graphemes | Yes, by the protocol |
| caption | 2,200 characters | Code points | Yes, at publish time | |
| TikTok | caption | 2,200 characters | Code points | Yes, at publish time |
| YouTube | description | 5,000 characters | Code points | Field maximum only |
| post | 63,206 characters | Code points | Yes, at publish time | |
| description | 500 characters | Code points | Field maximum only |
Read the full reference for every platform Postey publishes to.