<link href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" id="bootstrap-css"> <script src="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.0/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script> <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.1.min.js"></script> <!------ Include the above in your HEAD tag ----------> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.5.js"></script> <script> function countChar(val) { var len = val.value.length; if (len >= 1000) { val.value = val.value.substring(0, 1000); } else { $('#charNum').text(len); } }; </script> <textarea id="field" onkeyup="countChar(this)"></textarea> <div id="charNum"></div> </html> </div> </div>