X limits: characters, posts, follows and DMs
Updated
A post on X can be 280 characters, or up to 25,000 with Premium. A bio can be 160, a display name 50 and a username 15. Daily limits include 400 follows and 500 DMs, and X lists 50 original posts and 200 replies a day for unverified accounts. We checked these against X's own pages on November 3, 2026, and X can change them.
Length limits
| What | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Post | 280 characters | Counting characters |
| Post with Premium | 25,000 characters | About X Premium |
| Bio | 160 characters | Customize your profile |
| Username (@handle) | 15 characters | Username rules |
| Display name | 50 characters | Username rules |
Usernames can only use letters, numbers and underscores. They also can't contain "X" or "Admin" unless they're official accounts, according to the same page.
How X counts characters
A character isn't always one character. X's counting rules say:
- Links count as 23, however long they are.
- Emoji count as 2, even a family emoji built from several parts.
- Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as 2, so those posts fit about 140 characters.
- Most Latin letters, numbers and punctuation count as 1.
- Attached photos and videos count as 0 when added through X's own apps.
- @mentions added automatically at the start of a reply don't count. Ones you type yourself do.
Our X character counter follows these rules. To break long text into posts, use the thread splitter. For bio ideas that fit, see these examples. For image sizes, see the profile checklist.
Daily limits
These come from X's limits page, which counts actions from all devices and apps.
| Action | Limit |
|---|---|
| Direct Messages | 500 sent a day |
| Follows | 400 a day |
| Following over 5,000 accounts | Limited by account-specific ratios |
| Posts, unverified accounts | 50 original posts and 200 replies a day |
| Changes to account email | 4 an hour |
One thing to note: that same page also refers to "the post limit of 2,400 updates per day." It doesn't say how this fits with the 50 and 200 figures, or what applies to verified accounts. So we can't give you one number for those. The page also says limits are split into half-hour windows and can drop temporarily during heavy use.
What happens when you hit a limit
X says you'll get an error message naming the limit. For time-based limits, you can try again once the period has passed, and for posts it suggests trying again in a few hours.
A limit isn't a target
These numbers are technical caps. They don't tell you what's safe or useful.
X's follow limit, for example, comes with additional rules against aggressive following. Its authenticity policy also prohibits bulk following and unfollowing to raise your count. So staying under 400 follows doesn't protect you if the pattern looks like follow churn.
The same goes for posting. Few people get close to the post limit by writing by hand, and quality usually falls well before that. Our guide on how often to post looks at what the evidence does and doesn't show, and the reply guy strategy suggests a sensible daily number of replies.
Other limits worth knowing
- Edit window: X Premium subscribers get one hour to edit a published post, with a limited number of changes. It applies to original posts and quotes.
- Who can reply: you can restrict replies to accounts you follow, accounts you mention or verified accounts.
- Reply mentions: up to 50 people in a conversation are shown on the reply screen.