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Character Counter

Count characters with and without spaces, words, bytes and lines, and check your text against KDP metadata limits.

Your Text

Counts update as you type.

Your text is processed locally in your browser. It is never uploaded or stored.

Your Results

Characters
0
Including spaces
Without spaces
0
Words
0
Bytes (UTF-8)
0
Accents and emoji use more than 1 byte
Lines
0

Limit check

Pass: Within limit4,000 of 4,000 characters remaining (0% used).

About the Character Counter

KDP metadata fields have hard character limits, and going over means your text is cut off or rejected. This counter checks your book description, title and subtitle, or a keyword field as you type, and tells you exactly how many characters you have left or how many to cut.

Choose a preset limit for the KDP field you are writing, or set a custom limit for anything else: an Amazon Ads headline, a newsletter subject line or a social post. The status badge shows whether you are within the limit, close to it (90% or more used) or over it.

Characters are counted the way a reader sees them, so an accented letter or an emoji counts as one character. The byte count is shown separately, because some systems measure limits in bytes and non-English text often uses more than one byte per character. To check all seven keyword boxes at once, use the Keyword Character Counter. To format a description with bold and lists, use the Book Description Formatter.

How It Works

Characters count every visible character, space and line break. The figure without spaces removes spaces, tabs and line breaks.

Words are runs of letters or numbers. Hyphenated words and contractions count as one word.

Bytes are counted in UTF-8, the encoding used on the web. Lines count each line break plus one.

The limit check compares the character count with the limit you chose. All counting happens in your browser.

Formula

Remaining
Remaining = Limit − Characters
Over by
Over = Characters − Limit (when positive)

Example

Checking a title and subtitle against the KDP limit

  1. Text: "The Quiet Orchard: A Novel of Two Sisters, One Farm and the Summer Everything Changed".
  2. Characters: 85. Without spaces: 71. Words: 15.
  3. Limit: KDP title and subtitle, 200 characters.
  4. Remaining: 200 − 85 = 115 characters.

The title and subtitle use 85 of 200 characters, well within the limit.

Important Notes

  • Limits come from KDP's published metadata guidelines and are reviewed periodically. KDP's own form is the final check.
  • KDP may count HTML formatting tags in a book description, so a formatted description can use more of the limit than the visible text.
  • The title limit covers the title and subtitle together.
  • Your text is never uploaded or stored.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the character limit for a KDP book description?

The preset uses the limit in our KDP configuration, shown in the dropdown. Paste your description to see how many characters you have left.

Do spaces count toward KDP limits?

Yes. Spaces and punctuation count as characters in KDP fields, so use the main character count, not the figure without spaces.

Why is the byte count higher than the character count?

Letters outside basic English, such as é, ü or Japanese characters, use two to four bytes each in UTF-8. Emoji usually use four.

Does an emoji count as one character?

Here, yes. The counter groups characters the way they appear on screen, so a single emoji, even one made of several code points, counts once.

How is this different from the Keyword Character Counter?

This tool checks one piece of text against one limit. The [Keyword Character Counter](/tools/keyword-character-counter) checks all seven KDP keyword boxes side by side.

When does the badge say Close to limit?

When you have used 90% or more of the limit. That leaves room for a last-minute edit without going over.

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