Requirements & Limits
Every social platform enforces its own rules on video length, caption size, file formats, and aspect ratios. Social Neuron handles most of this automatically, but understanding the constraints helps you plan better content.
Platform Content Requirements
YouTube
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Video title | 100 characters |
| Description | 5,000 characters |
| Tags | 500 characters total |
| Thumbnail | 2 MB, 1280x720 recommended |
| Video length | Up to 12 hours (Shorts: up to 60 seconds) |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9 (standard), 9:16 (Shorts) |
What this means for your strategy: YouTube rewards watch time above all. If you are creating Shorts, front-load the hook in the first 2 seconds. For long-form, use the full 5,000-character description for SEO -- Social Neuron's caption generator fills this automatically with keywords from your content brief.
TikTok
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Video length | 3 seconds to 10 minutes |
| Caption | 2,200 characters |
| Hashtags | 5-8 recommended |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 (vertical) |
| File size | 287 MB (mobile), 500 MB (desktop) |
What this means for your strategy: TikTok's algorithm favors completion rate. Shorter videos (15-30 seconds) typically outperform longer ones for new accounts. The 2,200-character caption limit is generous -- use it for searchable keywords since TikTok's search is increasingly used like a search engine.
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Caption | 2,200 characters |
| Hashtags | Up to 30 (5-10 targeted ones perform best) |
| Image ratio | 1:1 (square), 4:5 (portrait), 1.91:1 (landscape) |
| Reel length | Up to 90 seconds |
| Story length | Up to 60 seconds |
| Image size | 30 MB |
What this means for your strategy: Instagram is a visual-first platform. The 4:5 portrait ratio takes up the most screen space in the feed and consistently outperforms square. For Reels, the first 3 seconds determine whether someone keeps watching. Social Neuron's hook generator is built for exactly this.
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Post text | 3,000 characters |
| Article | 125,000 characters |
| Image | 10 MB |
| Video | 10 minutes, 5 GB |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1 or 4:5 for feed, 16:9 for video |
What this means for your strategy: LinkedIn's algorithm heavily weights early engagement (first 60-90 minutes). Posts with a strong opening line that makes people click "see more" get boosted. Social Neuron's text generation optimizes for this pattern when LinkedIn is selected as the target platform.
How Social Neuron Handles Limits Automatically
You do not need to memorize these tables. When you create and distribute content through Social Neuron, the platform handles format compliance for you:
- Character truncation -- If a caption exceeds a platform's limit, Social Neuron trims it intelligently at a sentence boundary rather than mid-word
- Aspect ratio conversion -- Content created in 16:9 gets auto-cropped to 9:16 for TikTok and 4:5 for Instagram, keeping the subject centered
- File size optimization -- Videos are compressed to meet platform upload limits without visible quality loss
- Per-platform preview -- The distribution screen shows you exactly how the content will appear on each platform before publishing
When creating content for multiple platforms at once, generate in the highest quality aspect ratio first (typically 16:9 at 1080p or 4K), then let the auto-formatting handle the rest. This gives you the most flexibility.
File Upload Limits
These apply when uploading your own files to Social Neuron (not AI-generated content, which is stored automatically):
| Type | Max Size | Accepted Formats |
|---|---|---|
| Images | 20 MB | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF |
| Videos | 500 MB | MP4, MOV, WebM |
| Audio | 50 MB | MP3, WAV, M4A |
| Documents | 10 MB | PDF, TXT, Markdown |
API Rate Limits
If you use the Social Neuron API or MCP tools, these rate limits apply per API key:
| Endpoint Type | Limit | What counts |
|---|---|---|
| Text generation | 30 requests/min | Captions, scripts, ideation calls |
| Image generation | 10 requests/min | Any image model generation |
| Video generation | 5 requests/min | Any video model generation |
| Analytics queries | 60 requests/min | Performance data, metrics |
| All other endpoints | 60 requests/min | Search, list, status checks |
Rate-limited requests return HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. The MCP server handles retry logic automatically.
Credit Usage Example
Here is what a realistic weekly content workflow looks like in credits:
Posting 5 times per week across 3 platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram):
| Step | Credits per post | Weekly total |
|---|---|---|
| Ideation (3 ideas, pick 1) | 3 | 15 |
| Image generation (Flux Pro) | 30 | 150 |
| Video generation (Veo 3 Fast) | 120 | 600 |
| Caption generation (per platform x3) | 3 | 15 |
| Hook generation | 1 | 5 |
| Weekly total | 785 |
That fits comfortably in a Starter plan (800 credits/month) if you alternate between image and video posts. A Pro plan (2,000 credits/month) gives you room for higher-quality models and more experimentation.
This estimate uses mid-range models. Using budget models like Grok Imagine (20 credits) instead of Veo 3 Fast (120 credits) for video cuts the weekly cost significantly. Easy Mode optimizes for your remaining credit balance.
Tier-Based Feature Availability
| Feature | Free | Starter | Pro | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credits per month | 100 | 800 | 2,000 | 6,500 |
| Spending cap | 100 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 16,250 |
| Brand profiles | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Projects | 2 | 3 | 10 | 50 |
| Team members | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Connected accounts | 2 | 3 | All | All |
| Scheduled posts | 5/mo | 50/mo | 200/mo | Unlimited |
| API access | None | Read + Analytics | Full | Full + Multi-user |
| Autopilot | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Flow Builder | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Priority support | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Spending caps prevent runaway costs. If you hit your cap, generation pauses until the next billing cycle or until you purchase a credit add-on. Your work in progress is always saved.
Ready to try this? Sign up free and get 100 credits to start.