What mass texting costs
What you pay for, what pushes the bill up, and how to calculate what a year would cost from the size of your list.
Last reviewed September 2026.
How much does mass texting cost?
Whether you call it SMS marketing or mass texting, you pay per message, and what you pay depends on how many people you text, how often, and how long each message is. Credits start at 9¢, and monthly plans start at $19. One credit sends one text of up to 160 characters, or one 30-second voice message, to one person. The table below works out a list of 300 and one of 3,000.
What are you actually paying for?
Four things go into the number, and only one of them is the message itself.
The messages. Every text to every person counts as one. Send a message to 400 people and you've sent 400 texts, not one. This is the part people underestimate, and it's why list size matters more than how much you write.
How you pay for them. Credits are bought up front and spent as you send, from 9¢ each. A monthly plan is priced on how many different people you reach in the month, from $19. A monthly plan suits a list that stays about the same size. Credits usually cost less if your list is different every month.
Message length and what's in it. One credit covers 160 characters, and most messages are longer than that without anyone noticing. A picture, an emoji or a special character costs more again. Why the carriers charge more for some texts covers what sits behind that.
Carrier registration. Every organization that sends texts in the US registers once with the carriers. We cover the cost of it. It's a real step with a real wait, and it happens before your first text goes out.
Most SMS marketing pricing works this way, ours included. Automated calls are priced the same: one credit reaches one person with a 30-second recorded message. For what texting does beyond the bill, start at the texting overview. A call reaches people who never open a text, and it costs the same credit to send.
Longer messages cost more
One credit covers 160 characters. We measured the length of every bulk text sent through Text-Em-All over a year, and the median came out at 213. So the average message costs two credits, not one. The shortest kind surprises people: urgent messages are brief, and the ones written carefully are the long ones.
- Shift requests153
- Emergency alerts169
- Closures and delays231
- Sales and discounts257
- HR and benefits281
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The median bulk text is 213 characters, and 64% of them are longer than 160. All bulk text broadcasts over a one-year window. It's at least 64%, and probably more: 160 is the plain-text limit, and a message that has an emoji reaches its limit at 70 characters. By use case the median runs from 153 characters on shift requests to 281 on HR and benefits, with emergency alerts second-shortest at 169, closures and delays at 231 and sales and discounts at 257. The category labels come from a classifier reading the message, not from anything the sender picked. 12% of messages have a link and 40% have a time word in them. Copy link to this statistic
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12% of bulk texts have a link, and 40% have a time word in them. Same window and same set of broadcasts. A time word is a date, a day name or a clock time. Both are reasons a message outgrows 160 characters, and both are cheaper to plan for than to discover on the bill. Copy link to this statistic
What does carrier registration cost?
If you're using Text-Em-All, it doesn't cost you anything. The carriers require every organization sending texts in the US to register once, and we cover the fee and walk you through the form. We've been building our carrier relationships for the past twenty-one years so that we can get your registration moving quickly.
Registration takes time you should build into your schedule
Most registrations are approved in 1 to 2 business days. That's carrier registration specifically, not the whole setup. If you're planning to start sending around a certain date, leave room. You don't need to be registered to send automated calls, so you can start sending those the day you sign up.
What would a year of texting cost you?
Three numbers give you a rough total: how many people, how often you text them, and how long each message is.
Multiply your list by how many times you text them a month, then by the credits each message uses. A message over 160 characters uses two credits, and the average message is 213 characters, so plan on two. Here's what that comes to for three list sizes, texting twice a month.
| Your list | Times a month | Credits a month | A year, at most |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 people | 2 | 1,200 | $1,296 |
| 1,000 people | 2 | 4,000 | $4,320 |
| 3,000 people | 2 | 12,000 | $12,960 |
The last column is the most it could cost, not a quote. It uses 9¢, the starting price, and credits get cheaper the more you buy, so the real cost for the biggest list is well under $12,960. Take these numbers to your budget meeting and you'll be covered.
Two things change these numbers most: how often you text, and how long your messages are. There are also two ways to pay for it, and which one costs less comes down to whether your list stays about the same size from month to month.
| How it works | Credits | Monthly plan |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 9¢ a credit | $19 a month |
| What you're charged for | Each message to each person | How many different people you reach that month |
| Characters one credit covers | 160 | 160 |
| A picture, an emoji or a special character | Costs more per person, per message | Costs more per person, per message |
| Suits you if | Your list is different every month, or you send in bursts | You text roughly the same people every month |
| Unused balance | Stays yours | Resets with the month |
Today's prices for both, including what a picture or an emoji costs, are on the pricing page, which also has a calculator that does this math with your own numbers.
Is free SMS marketing real?
Partly. Nothing sends thousands of texts for free, because the carriers charge for every one of them and somebody pays that. What's genuinely free is trying it: you can set up an account, build a list and send to a small group without paying, which is enough to find out whether the thing works for you.
What to watch for in anything advertised as free: a cap low enough that you'll cross it in your first real send, a number shared with other senders, or a requirement to run ads in your message. What our own free version includes is on the mass texting service page.
What did one real campaign cost?
Morton's Gourmet Market sent one offer to the customers who'd shopped with them in the last month. Here's what it cost and what came back.
Loyalty customers who had shopped in the previous 30 days. One text, 15% off prepared meals, good for three days.
At that account's rate. Your own rate depends on which way you're paying and how long your messages are.
Fourteen customers redeemed, buying fifteen prepared meals, with $49.09 given away in discount.
Fourteen out of 721 is about 2%, which sounds low until you put it next to what the text cost. That's how it usually works out: texting is cheap enough that a small response still pays for it.
The costs people don't plan for
Lengthening your message
A message drafted at 140 characters goes out at 240 once somebody adds the address and the deadline. 64% of real messages are longer than 160, so budget for the longer one, not the draft.
Growing your list
Lists grow faster than anyone budgets for, because adding people is the easiest thing to do. A monthly plan charges on how many different people you text, so a bigger list costs more.
Adding a picture
An image, an emoji or a special character costs more per person per message, every time. One emoji in a message to 2,000 people is a real line on the bill, and the trigger is often a curly apostrophe nobody typed on purpose.
Using text during an emergency
Emergencies, weather and closures don't spread evenly across a year. Closure and delay messages peak in January at 6.3 times a normal month, and emergency alerts at 2.4 times, so a flat monthly figure understates a year with a hard winter in it. The messages themselves are cheap: emergency alerts are the second-shortest kind at 169 characters.
Questions people ask about the bill
Is there a contract?
No. Credits are bought when you want them and monthly plans can be left. Nothing here requires a year's commitment or a sales call to get out of.
Do unused credits expire?
No. Credits you've bought stay on the account. A monthly plan works the other way: it resets each month, so an unused month isn't carried forward.
Which is cheaper, credits or a monthly plan?
It depends on whether your list stays the same. If you text roughly the same people every month, a monthly plan usually costs less. If your list is different every month, or you text in bursts around an event or a season, credits usually do.
Do I pay for replies?
No. People replying to you costs nothing, and neither does someone texting STOP to opt out.
What does a phone call cost compared with a text?
The same as a text: one credit reaches one person with a recorded message of up to 30 seconds. A longer call uses more. Organizations sending both often find the calls are the better value, because a call reaches people who never open a text.
Is there a setup fee?
No, and there's no fee for carrier registration either. We cover that one.
What happens if I send more than I planned?
On credits you buy more, and nothing stops mid-send. On a monthly plan, texting more people than your plan covers costs more that month.
Can I send promotional messages?
Yes, to people who've agreed to hear from you, and the rules are stricter for promotions than for operational messages. Most organizations find sales messages draw more opt-outs than a closure notice does, which is worth knowing before you plan a campaign around them.
How accurate is the estimate on this page?
Close enough to take to a budget meeting, and not a quote. The two things that change it most are how long your messages are and how much your list grows. The calculator on the pricing page does the same math with your real numbers.
Read next
What credits and monthly plans cost today
The current prices for both, and a calculator that does the math on your own list size and sending schedule.
See the pricesWhat small organizations actually send
Announcements, shift openings, reminders, closings. The five things a small team sends most, and what each one is for.
Texting for a small organizationMass texting, and what the free version covers
How sending to a whole list works, what you can do without paying, and where the free version stops.
Mass texting serviceCarrier registration, step by step
What the carriers ask for, what we fill in for you, and what happens while you wait for approval.
Carrier registrationWork out your own number
The pricing page has both prices and a calculator that takes your list size, how often you text, and how long your messages are.
16,000+ organizations send with us.