A post on X can be 280 characters, but X does not count every character as one. A link counts as 23 however long it is, an emoji counts as 2, and so does each Chinese, Japanese or Korean character. Paste a post above and the X post row shows how many of the 280 are left.
How X counts a post
| What you type | Counts as |
|---|---|
| Letters, numbers and punctuation | 1 each |
| A link of any length | 23 |
| An emoji | 2 |
| A Chinese, Japanese or Korean character | 2 |
X does not count the @mentions it adds by itself at the start of a reply. Every @mention you paste counts here, so a reply may have slightly more room on X than this shows.
Why the two numbers differ
Characters is the plain count, where each letter, space and emoji is one. The X post row is weighted, so the two match until a link or an emoji goes in.
This character counter is free with no signup. SearchBlueprint, who make it, sell SEO planning: a plan that shows the searches your customers type and the page that should answer each one.