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, charging the numbering against the budget rather than adding it afterwards. The splitting is Postey’s own — X does none, and neither does Postey’s backend outside this feature.
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.