SMS Length Calculator
Type or paste your message below — see the encoding, character count and exactly how many SMS parts you’ll be billed for, live.
Single SMS: 160 characters (GSM-7). Your message fits in one SMS.
How SMS length actually works
A standard SMS carries 140 bytes. With the default GSM-7 encoding (basic English letters, digits and common symbols) that means 160 characters in a single message. If your text contains even one character outside that set — Hindi or Odia script, emoji, smart quotes pasted from Word — the whole message switches to Unicode, and the limit drops to 70 characters.
Longer messages are split into parts and rejoined on the phone. Each part reserves a little space for stitching data, so multi-part messages fit 153 characters per part in GSM-7 and 67 per part in Unicode. Since bulk SMS is billed per part, a 200-character English message costs 2 SMS — and a 200-character Hindi message costs 3.
A few GSM-7 symbols — { } [ ] ~ ^ | \ and € — need an escape code and count as two characters. This calculator handles all of these rules automatically and flags the exact characters that push you into Unicode.
Sending campaigns at scale? Our bulk SMS service supports both encodings with full DLT compliance, and our SMS API reports parts and delivery for every message.
SMS Length — FAQs
Why is my SMS limit 160 characters sometimes and 70 at other times?
Plain English messages use GSM-7 encoding, which fits 160 characters in one SMS. The moment your text contains a character outside the GSM-7 set — like Hindi or Odia script, or symbols such as smart quotes and most emoji — the whole message switches to Unicode encoding, which fits only 70 characters per SMS.
What happens when my message is longer than one SMS?
It is split into parts and rejoined on the handset. Because each part reserves space for stitching data, long GSM-7 messages fit 153 characters per part and Unicode messages fit 67 per part. You are billed per part, so a 200-character English message costs 2 SMS.
Which characters silently push an SMS into Unicode?
Common culprits are smart quotes pasted from Word, em dashes, the rupee symbol in some contexts, emoji, and any Indic script. This calculator highlights the exact characters responsible so you can swap them and stay within 160.
Do spaces and line breaks count as characters?
Yes. Every space counts as one character. A line break counts as one character in GSM-7, and a few symbols like { } [ ] ~ ^ | and the euro sign count as two because they need an escape code.
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