Free SMS length calculator
Count characters, detect encoding (GSM-7 or Unicode), and see exactly how your message splits into segments — before you send a single SMS.
Type your message — every character is analyzed in real time
Standard GSM-7 characters fit 160 per single SMS. A single emoji or non-Latin letter forces the message to UCS-2 (Unicode), where the limit drops to 70.nnThis calculator shows you exactly how many segments will be sent, how many bytes go on the wire, and where your text gets split.
- Encoding
- GSM-7
- Segments
- 0
- Characters
- 0of 160
- Bytes
- 0
Detailed view
Legend
- Standard GSM-7 character (1 septet)
- GSM-7 escape — 2 septets (€, {, }, [, ], ~, ^, |, \)
- GSM character encoded as Unicode (now 2 bytes)
- Forces Unicode encoding (UCS-2) — non-GSM character
- Line break / segment boundary
Hidden costs you should know about
A single character can double your SMS cost without you noticing.
Smart-quotes
“Curly” quotes pasted from Word or an iPhone force Unicode encoding — dropping your single-segment limit from 160 chars to 70.
A single emoji
One 👋 or 😀 forces the entire SMS into Unicode. A 160-char message is suddenly 3 segments long.
& Russian
Cyrillic and letters are always Unicode. Anything past 70 chars gets split into 67-char segments.
Hidden whitespace
Tabs, non-breaking spaces, and zero-width characters are not GSM-7 — they sneak in via copy-paste.
Ready to send SMS at scale?
VeloConnect handles GSM-7, Unicode, and segment splitting for you — across 800+ networks worldwide.