Instagram DM character counter
Automated Instagram DMs have a limit of 1,000 bytes, not 1,000 letters. Paste a message to see how much room it takes and whether it fits.
Fits in one plain message sent through Instagram’s messaging API.
Instagram counts bytes, not letters
Messages sent through Instagram’s messaging API, which every comment-to-DM tool uses, must be UTF-8 text of 1,000 bytes or less. A byte isn’t a letter:
| What you type | Bytes each |
|---|---|
| English letters, numbers, spaces, basic punctuation | 1 |
| Accented letters (é, ñ, ü) | 2 |
| Hindi, Tamil and most other Indian scripts; curly quotes and the â‚ą sign | 3 |
| Most emoji | 4, and some combined emoji take far more |
So a 600-letter message in Hindi is at least 1,800 bytes: well over the limit, even though it looks shorter than 1,000 characters. That’s why this counter shows both numbers.
Messages with buttons have a different limit
A DM with link buttons is sent as Instagram’s button template, which allows up to 640 characters of text. Tick “This DM has link buttons” above to check against that limit.
Keeping DMs short enough
- Say the one thing they asked for, then give them the link.
- Keep emoji for emphasis; a row of them costs a lot of bytes.
- Put the details on the page you link to, not in the message.
The linkpls builder counts bytes as you type and won’t save a message over 1,000 bytes. With buttons, it shortens longer text to fit and keeps your links. See how comment-to-DM works.
Questions
What is the length limit for an automated Instagram DM?
Meta’s messaging API accepts text messages of up to 1,000 bytes of UTF-8. That’s the API every comment-to-DM tool, linkpls included, sends through.
Why bytes and not characters?
Instagram counts the encoded size of the text. A plain English letter is one byte, but an emoji is usually four bytes, and letters in scripts such as Hindi take three each. A message can look short and still be over.
What about messages with buttons?
A message with buttons is sent as Instagram’s button template, which allows up to 640 characters of text. Tick “This DM has link buttons” to check against that limit instead.
What should I do if my message is too long?
Cut it down to the one thing they asked for and put the details behind a link. In linkpls, a DM can carry up to three link buttons.
Is the text I paste saved anywhere?
No. The count happens in your browser; nothing is sent to linkpls.
Pick the word you’re tired of typing.
Connect Instagram, choose a keyword, and let your next post answer itself.
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