diff --git a/packages/uui-input/lib/uui-input.element.ts b/packages/uui-input/lib/uui-input.element.ts
index 238cc9252..c0e9ad7a4 100644
--- a/packages/uui-input/lib/uui-input.element.ts
+++ b/packages/uui-input/lib/uui-input.element.ts
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ export class UUIInputElement extends UUIFormControlMixin(
   maxlengthMessage: string | ((max: number, current: number) => string) = (
     max,
     current,
-  ) => `Maximum length exceeded (${current}/${max} characters)`;
+  ) => `Maximum ${max} characters, ${current - max} too many.`;
 
   /**
    * Specifies the interval between legal numbers of the input
diff --git a/packages/uui-textarea/lib/uui-textarea.element.ts b/packages/uui-textarea/lib/uui-textarea.element.ts
index 9f11a7825..3e57f6f3b 100644
--- a/packages/uui-textarea/lib/uui-textarea.element.ts
+++ b/packages/uui-textarea/lib/uui-textarea.element.ts
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ export class UUITextareaElement extends UUIFormControlMixin(LitElement, '') {
   maxlengthMessage: string | ((max: number, current: number) => string) = (
     max,
     current,
-  ) => `Maximum ${max} characters, ${current} too many.`;
+  ) => `Maximum ${max} characters, ${current - max} too many.`;
 
   @query('#textarea')
   protected _textarea!: HTMLInputElement;