You can create your own custom fields so you can save information that’s unique to your business. But while you’re dreaming up all the ways you can customize your account with new fields, there are some space parameters to keep in mind. If you exceed these limits, you can create or use a separate custom object to store your extra fields.

The limits that apply to your account are:

1. Each custom object can have up to 1600 fields. This includes the existing default fields and any custom fields the user has created.
2. While field types vary in size, each field value can have up to 8192 bytes.
   • You will likely exceed this limit before going over 1600 fields.

In this article you can find the number of bytes each custom field type requires. You’ll also learn how to estimate how much space you’re using and how to make more space for custom fields.

Table of Contents

What are bytes?
• Variable bytes and how they work
Custom field types reference chart
Estimating your remaining space
Making space for custom fields

What are bytes?

A byte is a unit of digital information storage. Bytes are used to represent characters, numbers, and other types of data in a computer’s memory and storage systems. When referring to the size of text fields in a database, a byte typically represents the amount of storage required to store a single character of text.

A single byte equates to one character in the Latin alphabet. Emojis or alphabets with different characters may vary from 2-4 bytes per character.

This means if you had only text fields in your account, you could exceed your custom field limits well before adding 1600 fields.

You can roughly add 373 text fields, or 840 other field types, but note that this is an estimation. You also need to account for the amount of data stored in each field you add.

Variable bytes and how they work

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Every custom field you create uses up bytes, so the number of custom fields you can create depends on the types of fields you add. You could have thousands of checkbox fields that take up one byte each. Or you could have around 50 image fields that use 8192 bytes each, and add up to the same number of bytes.

If you exceed the byte limit, you must remove some of your custom fields from the Contacts object’s Field Editor. Refer to making space for custom fields below for more details.

Custom field types reference chart

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Below are the types of custom fields you can create and the number of bytes required for each:

Estimating your remaining space

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To figure out how much space you have left for custom fields, navigate to your profile icon, then click Account. Locate the Account Usage section under the Current Billing section. The custom fields for each object will be displayed so you can see how many fields you’ve added, the percent of the object’s space being used, and the total number of fields per object. 

You can also reach out to our support team to find out how much space you’ve used in each object.

Making space for custom fields

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If you run out of space for custom fields, we recommend using a separate custom object to store those extra fields. You can create a new object or use an existing one. Create a relationship between your Contacts object and the other object. Then add the new custom fields using the object’s Field Editor.

1. Follow the steps here to create a new custom object.
2. Follow the steps here to add new custom fields.
3. Follow the steps here to relate that object to your Contacts object.