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TextArray1.41.0
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SMS message counter

Count how many characters and text messages your text takes up.

Input
Output
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SMS message counter
Paste a text message and this tool tells you exactly how it will be billed: which character encoding it needs, how many characters it uses, and how many SMS messages it will split into. Use it before sending an appointment reminder, a marketing blast or a two-factor code, so you know in advance whether it fits one message or silently becomes three.
The result depends on encoding. Plain Latin text — letters, digits and common punctuation — fits GSM-7, which allows 160 characters per message, or 153 per part once a message needs to be split across several. Anything outside that set, from accented letters like č and ñ to emoji, forces UCS-2, which drops the limit to 70 characters per message (67 per part when concatenated). A handful of characters — curly brackets, the square brackets, the tilde, the pipe and the euro sign — sit in the GSM-7 extension table and cost two characters each rather than one.
Auto-detect picks the right encoding for you, or you can force GSM-7 or UCS-2 to see how a specific gateway would count it. When your text needs UCS-2, the tool lists exactly which characters are responsible and, if you turn on suggested replacements, offers a GSM-7-safe rewrite with diacritics stripped — often enough to bring a message back under the 160-character limit. Turn on message parts to see the text split exactly as a carrier would send it, part by part.
Everything runs locally in your browser; the message you're counting is never uploaded anywhere. Copy the report, download it as a .txt file, or send the output back into the input to keep refining your message.
FAQ
Why does adding one accented letter suddenly triple my message count?
A single character outside the GSM-7 alphabet forces the whole message into UCS-2, which cuts the per-message limit from 160 to 70 characters — that alone can push a message that fit into one part into two or three.
What counts as a GSM-7 character?
The GSM 03.38 basic Latin alphabet: unaccented A–Z, digits, common punctuation and a handful of accented letters (à, é, ñ, ü and similar). Curly brackets, square brackets, tilde, pipe and the euro sign are also GSM-7, but cost two characters each.
How is the limit different for a multi-part message?
A single SMS holds 160 GSM-7 characters (70 for UCS-2). Once a message needs to be split, each part reserves a few characters for the header that reassembles them on the receiving phone, dropping the usable limit to 153 (67 for UCS-2) per part.
Does the suggested replacement always keep the meaning intact?
It removes diacritics and swaps a few letters and punctuation marks that have no direct GSM-7 equivalent (like ß or curly quotes). It is a best-effort suggestion — review it before sending, especially for names.
Is my message text uploaded anywhere?
No. The counter runs entirely in your browser — the text you paste never leaves your device.