Does this count characters or bytes?

Characters, counted as Unicode code points, not UTF-8 bytes. Emoji and accented letters each count as one character here even though they take multiple bytes when encoded. Use String Length Counter if you need the byte size too.

What counts as whitespace when excluding spaces?

Any Unicode whitespace character: regular spaces, tabs, and line breaks are all removed before the 'without spaces' total is calculated.

How is this different from String Length Counter?

String Length Counter reports four measurements at once (characters, UTF-8 bytes, words, lines). This tool is a focused, single-purpose character count, with and without spaces, alongside the standalone Word Counter and Line Counter tools.

What does the tool report for empty input?

Empty input has nothing to count, so the tool reports an error rather than a count of zero.

Character Counter Online - Count Characters With and Without Spaces

Overview

Introduction

Character limits show up everywhere, social media posts, form fields, meta descriptions, but they're not always defined the same way, since some count every space and some don't.

This tool reports both totals at once so you don't have to guess which one applies.

What Is Character Counter?

A focused counter that reports how many characters your text contains, both including and excluding whitespace.

It runs entirely client-side as part of this site's String Tools collection, so nothing you paste is ever uploaded to a server.

How Character Counter Works

Characters are counted via code-point-aware iteration so multi-byte characters like emoji aren't split into extra units, first over the raw text and then again after stripping all whitespace.

The transformation happens synchronously in JavaScript the moment you type, with no network round trip involved.

When To Use Character Counter

Use it whenever a platform or form enforces a character limit, a tweet, a title tag, an SMS message, and you need to check your text against it precisely.

It's a fast way to get the answer without opening a code editor, a REPL, or writing a one-off script just to check.

Often used alongside Word Counter, Line Counter and String Length Counter.

Features

Advantages

Reports both the with-spaces and without-spaces totals at once instead of requiring two separate checks.
Character count is code-point-aware, not skewed by surrogate pairs for emoji or other multi-byte characters.
Updates instantly as you type, with no submit button or network delay.

Limitations

Only measures character count; it doesn't report UTF-8 byte size, word count, or line count (use String Length Counter for all four at once).
Reports one figure for the whole input, so it cannot show which part of a longer text is pushing a total past a limit.

Examples

Counting a short sentence

Input

Hello world

Output

Characters (with spaces): 11
Characters (without spaces): 10

The single space between the two words is included in the first total and excluded from the second.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Check the 'without spaces' total specifically when a limit is defined that way, some SMS and legacy database character limits are.
Measure the exact text you intend to submit, since trailing whitespace and line breaks both count towards the with-spaces total.
Use String Length Counter instead if you also need the UTF-8 byte size, word count, or line count in one view.

Developer Notes

Character count uses `[...input].length` (code-point aware) rather than `input.length` (UTF-16 code units), and the without-spaces total re-runs the same count after `input.replace(/\s/g, "")` strips all Unicode whitespace.

Character Counter Use Cases

Checking text against a character-limited field like a tweet, title, or meta description
Verifying a value fits a character-limited form field or database column defined without spaces
Getting a quick character count for a piece of writing

Common Mistakes

Assuming a platform's stated character limit always includes spaces; some count only non-space characters.
Forgetting that leading and trailing whitespace in pasted text still counts towards the with-spaces total.

Tips

If your character count is lower than expected, check for extra whitespace, it's included in the with-spaces total but easy to miss visually.
Pair with Word Counter and Line Counter for a complete picture, or use String Length Counter to see all the related figures together.

Character Counter