Count characters, calculate SMS segments, and auto-detect GSM-7 vs Unicode encoding. Know exactly how many messages you will send.
| Encoding | Chars / SMS | Multipart Chars / SMS |
|---|---|---|
| GSM-7 (standard) | 160 | 153 |
| Unicode (UCS-2) | 70 | 67 |
GSM-7 supports: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and these special characters:
@ £ $ ¥ è é ù ì ò Ç Ø ø Å å Δ _ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ ! " # ¤ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? ¡ § ¿ ä ö ñ ü à { } [ ] ~ \ | ^ €
Characters { } [ ] ~ \ | ^ € count as 2 characters in GSM-7 (they use the extension table).
A single SMS can hold 160 characters using GSM-7 encoding (standard Latin characters) or 70 characters using Unicode encoding (emojis, Chinese, Arabic, etc.).
When a message exceeds the single-SMS limit, it is split into multiple segments. Each segment of a multipart SMS holds 153 characters (GSM-7) or 67 characters (Unicode), because 7 characters are reserved for the concatenation header.
Any character outside the GSM-7 character set triggers Unicode encoding. This includes emojis, accented characters not in GSM-7 (like á, ç), Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters, Arabic, and many symbols.
Most SMS providers charge per segment. A 161-character GSM-7 message uses 2 segments. A message with even one emoji switches to Unicode, meaning 70 characters per segment instead of 160 — potentially doubling or tripling cost.
No. All analysis runs entirely in your browser. Your text never leaves your device.