SMS Message Counter
Count SMS characters with GSM-7 and Unicode auto-detection. See exactly how many message segments your text will use.
Multi-part: 153 chars/segment
Multi-part: 67 chars/segment
About SMS Character Counting
GSM-7 Encoding
The standard encoding for SMS messages. Supports 128 characters including basic Latin letters, numbers, and common symbols. A single SMS can contain up to 160 GSM-7 characters. When sending longer messages, each segment holds 153 characters (7 are used for the concatenation header).
Unicode (UCS-2) Encoding
Used when your message contains characters outside the GSM-7 set, such as emojis, Chinese, Arabic, or special symbols. Unicode SMS is limited to 70 characters per single message, or 67 per segment for multi-part messages. One emoji can reduce your capacity significantly.
Extended GSM-7 Characters
Characters like [ ] { } | ^ ~ \ € are part of the GSM-7 extended set. They require an escape sequence, so each one counts as 2 characters toward your limit. This tool automatically detects and accounts for them.
Why Segment Count Matters
Most SMS providers charge per segment. A 161-character GSM-7 message costs twice as much as a 160-character one because it requires 2 segments. Understanding encoding helps you optimize costs when sending bulk SMS through APIs like Twilio, Vonage, or AWS SNS.