The bio character limit is 80 characters on TikTok, 150 on Instagram, 160 on X and 500 on Pinterest. On YouTube, a channel description gets 1,000 and a video description 5,000. Threads, LinkedIn and Facebook don't publish a bio limit at all. Where a platform says nothing, the table below says so rather than repeating a number from somewhere else.
Checked October 2026: every bio, name and username figure was read on 2 October 2026 from the platform's own help center, or for YouTube's channel description from Google's own developer reference. Each source is linked under the table.
TikTok is the tightest at 80: every limit side by side
| Platform | Bio | Name | Username | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 80 | 30 | 2–24 | 1 website field* |
| 150 | Not published | Not published | Up to 5 | |
| X | 160 | 50 | 15 | 1 website field |
| YouTube | 1,000 (channel description) | Not published | Handle: 3–30 | Up to 14 |
| 500 (About) | Not published | 3–30 | 1 website field | |
| Threads | Not published | Not published | Not published | Up to 5 |
| Headline, About: not published | Not published | Profile URL: 3–100 | 3, in Contact info | |
| Intro: not published | Not published | Letters, numbers, full stop | Page Links field |
*TikTok shows the Website field at 1,000 followers, or straight away for a Verified Business Account; a plain Business account still needs the followers.
Links column checked September 2026, in our bio link rules for every platform, which also covers which links are clickable and what gates them.
"Not published" means we read the platform's help page for that field and it gives no length. The section on numbers no platform publishes, below, covers the figures other sites quote for those cells.
YouTube's two limits are easy to confuse. The channel description, on your channel's profile, is 1,000 characters. A video description allows 5,000 (YouTube Help: tips for video descriptions).
Where each number comes from:
- TikTok: "Bios cannot exceed 80 characters" (TikTok Support: changing account bio); nickname "up to 30 characters" (changing your nickname); username "2 to 24 characters", letters, numbers, underscores and periods (changing your username).
- Instagram: "a bio of up to 150 characters" (Instagram Help: add a bio); up to five websites under Edit profile → Links (add a website).
- X: "Bio (maximum 160 characters)" (X Help: customize your profile); username no longer than 15 characters, name up to 50 (X Help: username rules).
- YouTube: the channel description has "a maximum length of 1000 characters" in Google's YouTube Data API reference; the help center gives the path but no number. Handles run 3–30 characters, with different ranges for some non-Latin scripts (YouTube Help: handles). Up to 14 links (YouTube Help: manage your channel's profile).
- Pinterest: About "up to 500 characters", username "between three and 30 characters" (Pinterest Help: edit your profile).
- LinkedIn: custom profile URL "3-100 characters" (LinkedIn Help: manage your public profile URL).
Edit the right field: where each one lives
- TikTok: profile → Edit profile → Bio (or Name, Username).
- Instagram: profile → Edit profile → the text box next to Bio.
- X: profile → Edit profile → Name, Bio, Website.
- YouTube: YouTube Studio → Customization → Profile.
- Pinterest: Settings → Edit profile → About.
- Threads: profile → Edit profile → Bio or Link → Done.
- LinkedIn: Me → View profile → edit icon in the introduction → Headline; About has its own edit icon further down.
- Facebook: your profile → Intro → Edit details.
Numbers you'll see elsewhere that no platform publishes
Search any of these and you'll get a confident number. Here is what the platforms themselves say.
Instagram name and username: widely quoted as 30 each. Instagram's article on changing your name and username gives the path and the review rules, but no length. The field may well stop at 30. We just can't point you to Instagram saying so.
LinkedIn headline 220, About 2,600. These figures come from third-party guides. LinkedIn's own help articles for the headline (marked last updated five years ago, as of October 2026) and the About section (two years ago) say where to type and stop there.
Threads and Facebook. Threads lets you edit your bio, links and picture, and gives no length. Facebook calls the Intro "a bio or brief description of yourself or your Page", also with no length.
Where no number is published, the edit field is the only authority. Type to the end; if it stops accepting characters or refuses to save, that's the limit for your account today.
Emoji and line breaks: budget 2 per emoji
A line break is one character. Spaces are characters. Emoji are where counters disagree.
Many emoji are stored as two units of text, and some are several emoji joined into one. A counter that counts those units sees this:
| Emoji | Looks like | Units counted |
|---|---|---|
| Thumbs up | 👍 | 2 |
| Thumbs up, skin tone | 👍🏽 | 4 |
| Flag | 🇺🇸 | 4 |
| Family | 👨👩👧 | 8 |
None of the help pages we read say how their bio field counts emoji. So budget 2 characters per plain emoji, more for flags, skin tones and combined emoji. Three flags in an 80-character TikTok bio can cost twelve.
When you hit the limit, cut from the middle
The help pages state the cap and stop. They don't say whether the field cuts off pasted text or refuses the save. So protect the end of your bio:
- Draft outside the app, count with emoji at 2, and leave a few characters spare.
- Paste, save, then read the bio back on your profile. If the last word is gone or Save won't take, you're over.
- Cut from the middle, not the end. The last line is usually the pointer to your link, and it's the one that earns the tap.
Names and usernames are rationed, so get them right once
The bio can change any time. Some name fields can't:
- TikTok: nickname once every 7 days, username once every 30 days, and a new username means a new profile link (TikTok Support).
- YouTube: channel name twice within 14 days, and changing it removes a verification badge.
- Instagram: no waiting period is published, but a username change on an account that reaches a lot of people may be reviewed first, and followers may be notified (Instagram Help).
- X, Pinterest, Threads: their help pages publish no waiting period.
Count before you save. A typo in a TikTok username is yours for a month.
Spend the budget on three jobs
A bio has room for three jobs: what you do and for whom, one reason to care, and a pointer to the link. The TikTok bio formula shows what fits in 80, with examples by niche, and the Instagram business bio guide does the same for 150. The rest of the bio and profile ideas guides work the same way, platform by platform.
Leave the URL out of the bio text. Every platform in the table gives the link its own field.
When the bio is full, link out
Most bios run out of room for the second offer, the booking link, the newsletter. That's the job of the link field: one URL to a page that holds everything the bio can't. An InBio page takes a minute to set up. Free covers the page and basic analytics; every theme starts on Beginner at $4 a month (checked October 2026).
Write the bio to the number in the table, create your InBio page for the link field, and spend the last line telling people to tap it.
