Free tool

SMS character and segment counter

Paste a text message to see how many characters it uses, how many segments carriers will bill for, and which characters push it into Unicode. Fix those characters in one click and estimate what a send to your list will cost.

How SMS length works

Text messages use one of two encodings. GSM-7 covers English letters, digits, common punctuation and a few accented letters, and fits 160 characters in one message. Unicode (UCS-2) covers every language and emoji but fits only 70. When a message is longer than one part, it is split into 153 or 67 character parts, and each part is billed as a separate message.

A single emoji or a curly apostrophe copied from a word processor can turn a 150 character message into three billed parts. Checking before you send a campaign is the easiest way to keep the cost down.

Questions

How many characters fit in one SMS?

A single text holds 160 characters when every character is in the standard GSM-7 set. If the message contains any other character, such as an emoji or a curly quote, it is sent as Unicode and one text holds 70 characters.

Why does a long SMS count as several messages?

Longer texts are split into parts and joined again on the phone. Each part carries a small header, so a part holds 153 GSM-7 characters or 67 Unicode characters. Carriers and SMS providers bill every part as one message.

Why did my message switch to Unicode?

One character outside the GSM-7 set is enough to switch the whole message. The usual causes are emoji, curly quotes and long dashes pasted from a document, and invisible spaces. The counter lists the characters and can replace the common ones for you.

Do characters like { } [ ] and the euro sign count double?

Yes. They belong to the GSM-7 extension table and take two characters each, but they do not force Unicode.

Is my message stored anywhere?

No. The counter runs in your browser and does not send the text anywhere.