Instagram Character Limit: Every Field
The current limits, where your text actually gets cut off, and a free tool to check your draft.
The short answer
Instagram captions can run up to 2,200 characters, on both feed posts and Reels. Your bio is far tighter at 150 characters, and you can attach at most 30 hashtags to a post before Instagram blocks the publish.
The number that matters more than the cap is 125: that's roughly where Instagram truncates captions in the feed behind the '... more' link. Everything after character ~125 is only read by people who deliberately expand the caption, so your hook has to live in the first line and a half.
Instagram character limits by field
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| Caption (post or Reel) | 2,200 characters |
| Bio | 150 characters |
| Comment | 2,200 characters |
| Username | 30 characters |
| Hashtags | 30 hashtags per post |
| Alt text | 100 characters |
Limits are set by the platform and occasionally change; figures reflect the current publicly documented caps.
Drafting a post? Paste it into our free character counter to see the exact character count as you type - including emoji and spaces - with platform limit presets built in.
Open Character Counter →Frequently Asked Questions
Writing effectively within the limit
Treat the caption as two documents: a 125-character hook that must work standalone in the feed, and the expanded body for the readers you've earned. Long, story-style captions can perform brilliantly - but only when the first sentence would survive as a post on its own. Count your hook separately with a character counter before you write the rest.
Checking limits for another platform? See our guides for Twitter (X), LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.