SMS character counter and segment calculator
Paste a text message to see how many characters it uses, whether it is sent as GSM-7 or UCS-2, how many segments it splits into, and which characters are costing you extra. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Counts the text exactly as typed. Merge fields like {first_name} are counted as written, so leave room for the longest name you will insert.
How SMS segments are counted
A text message is sent in one of two encodings. GSM-7 covers plain English letters, digits and common punctuation, and fits 160 characters in a segment. UCS-2 covers every other character, including emoji and accented letters outside GSM-7, and fits 70.
One character outside GSM-7 switches the whole message to UCS-2. Messages longer than one segment are split, and each part loses a few characters to a header that lets the phone rejoin them: 153 per part in GSM-7, 67 in UCS-2.
The usual culprits are characters you don't notice: a curly apostrophe pasted from a doc, a long dash, an ellipsis character or a single emoji. Swap them for plain versions and a three-segment message often drops back to one or two.
Cut the cost of every send
Segments are half the bill. The other half is how many numbers you send to. Landlines can't receive most texts and disconnected numbers reach no one, but a list bought or aged over a few years carries both.
Upload a CSV. Get back every number marked valid or dead, mobile, landline, VoIP or toll-free, with carrier.
Start 7-day free trial →Read the SMS list cleaning guide, check one number free with the landline checker, flag toll-free numbers with the toll-free number checker, or see when you can send with the calling hours checker.
Questions
How many characters are in one SMS?
160 characters if every character is in the GSM-7 alphabet (plain English letters, digits and common punctuation). If the message contains any character outside it, such as an emoji or a curly quote, the whole message is sent as UCS-2 and one segment holds only 70 characters.
Why is a long text split at 153 characters, not 160?
When a message is longer than one segment, each part carries a small header that tells the phone how to stitch the parts back together. That header uses 7 of the 160 GSM-7 characters, leaving 153 per segment. In UCS-2 the same header leaves 67 of 70.
Which characters count as two?
In GSM-7, the characters ^ { } \ [ ~ ] | and € are in an extension table and each takes two of the available characters. In UCS-2, most emoji take two of the 70 because they are stored as two UTF-16 units.
Why did one emoji make my message cost more?
An emoji is not in the GSM-7 alphabet, so it switches the entire message to UCS-2. A 150-character message that fit in one GSM-7 segment becomes three UCS-2 segments. Curly quotes and long dashes pasted from a word processor do the same thing; the tool can swap them for plain versions.
Does my provider bill per segment?
Most SMS providers price outbound texts per segment, per recipient, so a three-segment message to 1,000 people is billed as 3,000 segments. Check your own provider’s pricing page for its exact rules.
Is my message uploaded anywhere?
No. The counting happens in your browser. Nothing is sent to TrueSearch or anyone else.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. TrueSearch for Business checks validity, line type and carrier from licensed telecom data. It does not check the National Do Not Call Registry, state DNC lists or the FCC Reassigned Numbers Database. Not a consumer reporting agency; not for FCRA purposes.