Instagram Caption and Hashtag Checker: limits, repeats and a clean copy
Check a caption against Instagram's limits, fix repeated and broken hashtags and copy a clean version.
For Instagram
- Free to use
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
Paste a caption to start
The checks appear as you type: characters and hashtags against Instagram's limits, repeated and broken hashtags, a phone preview cut where "more" falls, hashtag groups and a clean caption to copy.
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How it works
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Paste your caption as you would post it, with its line breaks, emoji and hashtags. Add your first comment if your hashtags go there, and your username for the preview. Or try the example.
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Read the checks, starting with "Do these first": the caption length, the number of hashtags and mentions, repeats, broken tags and hashtags in the first lines, each with how to fix it.
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Choose where the hashtags go and the size of the hashtag groups, then copy the clean caption, the first comment or a group of hashtags.
About the Instagram Caption and Hashtag Checker
Paste your caption, and the first comment if your hashtags go there. You get the characters used of the 2,200 a caption can have, the hashtags against the limit of 5 on a post, the mentions, repeated hashtags, hashtags broken by a space or symbol, and hashtags that show before "more". A phone preview shows where the feed cuts the caption (our estimate). Then copy your hashtags in groups, and a clean caption with repeats removed, broken tags fixed and the hashtags moved to the end or to the first comment. It runs in your browser and never signs in to Instagram.
The limits it checks
Meta's developer documentation gives a caption up to 2,200 characters and 20 @ mentions. Instagram Help says you can use up to 5 hashtags on a post, that a comment with more than 5 hashtags or more than 5 @ mentions won't post, and that spaces and special characters such as $ or % don't work in hashtags, while numbers do. Instagram cut the hashtag limit from 30 to 5 in December 2025, for posts and Reels, carousels included. It has not said whether the caption and the comments share the 5, so more than 5 across both is a warning (our suggestion). The tool counts characters as you see them, so an emoji or a Hindi syllable counts as one.
How the clean caption is made
Broken hashtags are joined into one word, so #smile-studio becomes #smilestudio, and each hashtag is kept once, compared without capitals. Hashtags at the end of lines and on lines of their own move to the end of the caption or to the first comment. With the option ticked, a hashtag inside a sentence becomes plain words and its tag moves with the others. Only the first 5 are kept; the rest stay in the hashtag groups for another post. Your words, emoji and line breaks are not changed.
What this tool cannot do
It does not sign in to Instagram, post for you, or tell you which hashtags people search for or how a post will do. Where the feed cuts a caption with "more" is our estimate and changes with screen size, text size and app version. Instagram's own counter is final, and it may count a Hindi letter with a vowel sign as more than one character. Instagram changes its limits from time to time, so if the app says something different, the app is right.
Frequently asked questions
How many hashtags can I use on an Instagram post?
Instagram Help says you can use up to 5 hashtags on a post, and that a comment with more than 5 won't post. Instagram cut the limit from 30 to 5 in December 2025, for posts and Reels, carousels included. It has not said whether the caption and the comments share the 5, so the tool counts both, suggests 5 or fewer across them (our suggestion), and keeps the first 5 in the clean caption.
How long can an Instagram caption be?
Meta's developer documentation gives 2,200 characters as the most for a caption, with up to 20 @ mentions. Instagram's Help Center gives no separate figure for characters, and allows up to 5 hashtags on a post. The tool counts characters as you see them, so an emoji counts as one; the app's own counter is final.
Why does my hashtag stop at a hyphen?
Instagram Help says spaces and special characters, such as $ or %, don't work in hashtags, while numbers do. So the tag stops at the hyphen: #smile-studio links only #smile, and the rest is plain text. Join the words instead, as in #smilestudio. The tool finds these and fixes them in the clean caption.
Should hashtags go in the caption or the first comment?
Instagram Help says you can add hashtags in the caption or the comments of your post, so both work, and the tool can put them in either place for you. If you use the first comment, change it from post to post: Instagram Help also says you can't post the same comment more than once.
Where does Instagram cut a caption with "more"?
Instagram does not publish an exact point. By our estimate, about two lines show in the feed, with your username at the start of the first. It changes with screen size, text size and app version. The preview shows our estimate, so you can keep the point of the post in the opening and the hashtags lower down.
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