Two numbers matter for every platform, and most guides only publish the first
one. There is the limit – how much you can type before the field
stops you – and the truncation point, how much anyone actually
sees before your text collapses behind a “more” link. The second number is the
one that decides whether your caption works.
Instagram lets you write 2,200 characters. It shows about 125. On Reels it
shows about 55. If your point arrives in character 300, almost nobody reaches it.
Bios
| Platform | Bio limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 150 | Line breaks work, but each one costs a character | |
| X (Twitter) | 160 | Display name is capped separately at 50 |
| TikTok | 80 | The tightest of the major platforms by a wide margin |
| LinkedIn headline | 220 | The “About” section is separate, at 2,600 |
| Threads | 150 | Tied to your Instagram bio |
| 160 | Pin titles are 100 |
Posts and captions
| Platform | Limit | Visible before “more” |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram feed | 2,200 | ~125 |
| Instagram Reels | 2,200 | ~55 |
| TikTok | 4,000 | ~100-150 |
| X (free) | 280 | All of it |
| X (Premium) | 25,000 | Collapses into “Show more” |
| 3,000 | ~210 on desktop | |
| Threads | 500 | All of it |
| Pinterest pin description | 500 | Varies by layout |
Three things that catch people out
Emoji are not one character. Most emoji occupy two character
slots, and the family and profession emoji built from joined sequences
(👨👩👧, 👩💻) can cost seven or more. A bio that fits with the emoji removed may not
fit with them in.
Instagram hashtags come out of nowhere useful. You can use up
to 30, and they count toward the same 2,200. Thirty hashtags averaging 12
characters is 360 characters of your caption gone.
TikTok’s limit changed. It was 2,200 for years and is now
4,000. Guides that have not been updated are still repeating the old number.
What to do about it
Write for the truncation point, not the limit. Put the line
that has to land in the first 125 characters on Instagram, the first 55 on Reels,
the first 210 on LinkedIn. Everything after that is for people who already decided
to keep reading.
Put hashtags last, or in a comment. They eat your caption
budget and nobody reads them as text. In a first comment they do the same job
without spending your visible characters.
Count the bio before you write it. TikTok’s 80 characters is
roughly one short sentence. Writing a bio and then cutting it to fit produces
worse results than writing to the limit from the start – which is why our
bio collections are grouped by length.
How current this is
Last checked: 30 August 2026. These change without
announcement – the TikTok increase above is a recent example. If you find one of
these numbers is wrong, [email protected] and we will check and correct it. Truncation
points in particular shift with app versions and screen sizes, so treat the “~”
figures as reliable working numbers rather than exact ones.