Facebook ad character limits by placement: primary text, headline and description

What is the one number to remember?

125. Meta’s page Creative best practices for text in ads gives one set of figures for most placements: 125 characters of primary text, 40 for the headline and 25 for the description.^[1] The same page explains what the number means: “Text in your ad may be truncated if it exceeds the character limitation”, and “your text may be further truncated across various placements and devices”.^[1] Meta’s lead ad specs put it more plainly: the recommended length “refers to how many characters of ad copy may be displayed on smaller screens”.^[11]

So 125 is not a limit on what you can type. It is roughly how much primary text a phone shows before the “See more” link, and the placement decides the exact cut, by lines rather than by characters. A sentence that runs past it is still delivered; it is just hidden until someone taps. Meta’s own advice follows from that: “Keep ad copy short: Primary text should span 1-3 lines at most.”^[1]

What does Meta recommend for each placement?

It depends on the placement, and sometimes on the objective. The Meta Ads Guide has one page per format, placement and objective, each with a “Text recommendations” list; the figures below come from the image ad pages linked in the sources.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} “Not listed” means the page gives no figure for that field, usually because the placement does not show it.

Two things stand out. Facebook Feed is the only placement with a range for primary text and a headline shorter than 40.^[2] And the description is not a universal field: Feed, Stories and Reels pages do not list it, while Marketplace and search results do, at 30 characters.^[9] For pixel sizes by placement, see the Meta static ad sizes guide.

How are carousel and Reels ads different?

Carousel ads get less room per card, and Reels ads flip the usual order of the fields. On Facebook Feed, the carousel page for the Awareness objective recommends 80 characters of primary text, a 20-character headline and an 18-character description per card, and the same placement’s Traffic, Sales and Leads pages recommend 80, 45 and 18.^[10] On Instagram Feed, the carousel page recommends 125 characters of primary text and up to 30 hashtags, with no headline listed.^[3]

Reels is where the headline recommendation is longer than the primary text. The Facebook Reels image page recommends 40 characters of primary text and 55 for the headline^[6]: the caption sits in one collapsed line at the bottom of the screen, while the headline runs beside the call to action. Instagram Reels lists 44 characters of primary text and no headline at all.^[7] The overlay ad on Facebook Reels, a static banner or sticker laid over someone else’s Reel, has the tightest headline on the platform: 10 characters, with 72 of primary text on the image version and 50 to 60 on the carousel version.^[8]

Which Facebook ad text limits are myths?

Three figures travel from blog to blog without a Meta page behind them. The first is a 63,206-character maximum for primary text, which third-party spec sheets present as the “technical max” next to the 125 recommendation.^[12] It is the character limit of an ordinary Facebook post, and none of the Ads Guide or Help Center pages we read states any maximum for ad primary text.^[1][2] The second is a 255-character maximum for the headline, quoted on the same pages^[12] and also absent from Meta’s guidance. Both may describe what the input field accepts, but Meta does not publish them, and neither changes what a phone shows.

The third is the 20% text rule, which limited how much of an ad image could be covered by words. It ended in September 2020; Does the Facebook 20% text rule still exist? goes through it in full. The three share a pattern: a real number from somewhere else on Facebook, applied to a field it never governed.

What happens when text runs past the recommendation?

Nothing is rejected, and nothing is cut from the ad itself; the placement folds the rest away. For primary text, Facebook and Instagram feeds show the opening lines and add “See more”, and Meta says the cut moves with the device and placement.^[1] For the headline, placements that show one line truncate with an ellipsis, so a 60-character headline on Facebook Feed loses its second half on most phones.^[2] The description, where it appears, is a single short line under the headline.^[9]

Meta also notes two cases where the text you wrote is not the text that runs. If you leave a field blank, “text may be pulled from the website URL that you added as your ad destination and you may not be able to edit it.”^[1] And if Advantage+ creative enhancements such as text improvements are on, “the text you upload may be adjusted.”^[1] Both are worth checking in the ad preview, placement by placement, before the ad goes live. The preview shows the fold on each placement; the character counter in Ads Manager does not.

How do you write the first 125 characters?

Treat the first sentence as the whole ad, because on a phone it is. The picture and headline carry the offer; the primary text has one job, to earn the next tap before the fold.

1. 1

   Lead with the result or the offer

   Meta’s advice: “communicating what you want people to do at a glance is the most important goal of your ad.”^[1] Put what the reader gets, or the price, in the first clause.
2. 2

   Finish the sentence before 125

   A sentence that ends inside the recommendation reads as complete even when nothing follows it. One that breaks mid-clause at “See more” reads as cut off.^[1]
3. 3

   Keep the headline to 27 on Facebook Feed, 40 elsewhere

   The headline is the line next to the button and the one most often truncated. Write it to the shortest placement you run, or customize it per placement.^[2][3]
4. 4

   Use the description only where it shows

   Marketplace and search results show a 30-character description.^[9] On Feed, Stories and Reels it is not listed, so do not put anything there you need people to read.
5. 5

   Check every placement in the preview

   The same copy folds in different places on Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed and Reels, and only the preview shows where.

Showfolk writes the primary text, headline and description to Meta’s recommended lengths for the placement, so nothing is cut off at See more. How the Facebook ad generator does it.

Questions people ask

What is the Facebook ad primary text character limit?

Meta recommends 125 characters for most placements, and 50 to 150 on Facebook Feed. There is no published maximum; longer text is accepted and hidden behind See more on phones. The 63,206 figure quoted on some sites is the ordinary Facebook post limit, not an ad rule from Meta.

What is the Facebook ad headline character limit?

Meta recommends 27 characters on Facebook Feed and 40 on Instagram Feed, Stories, Marketplace and search results. Facebook Reels recommends 55 and the overlay ad on Reels 10. Longer headlines run, but are truncated with an ellipsis where the placement shows a single line.

How many characters show before See more on a Facebook ad?

About 125 on a phone, which is why Meta recommends that figure for most placements. Meta says the exact cut varies by placement and device and is a matter of lines rather than characters, so finish the first sentence well inside 125.

How long should an Instagram ad caption be?

Meta’s Ads Guide recommends 125 characters of primary text for Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories ads, with up to 30 hashtags on Feed, and 44 characters for Instagram Reels. The Instagram Feed headline recommendation is 40 characters.

What are the text limits for carousel ads?

On Facebook Feed, Meta recommends 80 characters of primary text per card, a headline of 20 characters for Awareness or 45 for Traffic, Sales and Leads, and an 18-character description. Instagram Feed carousels get 125 characters of primary text and up to 30 hashtags.

Does the description field show on every placement?

No. Meta lists a description for Facebook Marketplace and search results, at 30 characters, and for Facebook Feed carousel cards at 18. The image ad pages for Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Stories and Reels do not list one, so write nothing there that people must read.

Sources

Every figure above points at one of these. Facts were last checked on October 7, 2026.

1. [1]Meta Business Help Center: Creative best practices for text in ads. The 125 / 40 / 25 recommendation for most placements, the truncation note, 1 to 3 lines of primary text, text pulled from the URL, and Advantage+ text adjustments
2. [2]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Facebook Feed (Traffic). Primary text 50 to 150 characters, headline 27
3. [3]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Instagram Feed. Primary text 125, headline 40, up to 30 hashtags; the Instagram Feed carousel page gives 125 and 30 hashtags with no headline
4. [4]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Facebook Stories. Primary text 125, headline 40
5. [5]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Instagram Stories. Primary text 125; no headline or description listed
6. [6]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Facebook Reels. Primary text 40, headline 55, and the recommendation not to add text on the image
7. [7]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Instagram Reels. Primary text 44; no headline listed
8. [8]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Ads on Facebook Reels (overlay). Primary text 72, headline 10; the carousel overlay pages give 50 to 60 and 10
9. [9]Meta Ads Guide: Image ad specs for Facebook Marketplace. Primary text 125, headline 40, description 30; the Facebook search results page carries the same three figures
10. [10]Meta Ads Guide: Carousel ad specs for Facebook Feed. Awareness: 80 / 20 / 18 per card; the Traffic, Sales and Leads pages for the same placement give 80 / 45 / 18
11. [11]Meta Business Help Center: Design specifications for lead ads with instant form. “The recommended text length refers to how many characters of ad copy may be displayed on smaller screens”
12. [12]AdsPreview: Facebook ads character limits 2026. An example of a third-party page presenting 63,206 and 255 as technical maximums