Which SMS marketing platform should you pick in 2026?
Pick a platform whose price you can read before you sign. Then match the plan to your real monthly volume, carrier fees included.
You want to text a flash sale, recover abandoned carts or remind customers of an appointment. Texts get opened. But SMS pricing in the US is a maze: credits, segments, carrier fees, number registration, monthly minimums, and plans that only show a price after a sales call.
The short answer: Postscript if you run an online store and want a clear per-text price with no contract ($0.009 per SMS, $49 monthly minimum). EZ Texting for the cheapest fixed bill at a few hundred texts, with A2P registration included. SlickText for a flat plan that scales cleanly, $49 for 1,000 texts and $319 for 10,000. SimpleTexting if ease matters more than price. Twilio if a developer wires texts into your app at $0.0083 per segment plus carrier fees.
Every price is brought back to two volumes: 1,000 texts a month, a small store or a busy salon, and 10,000, a growing brand. Klaviyo, Attentive and Brevo are covered too, outside the ranking, because their US per-text price isn't on a public grid. Looking for two-way texting with your team from a shared inbox instead? That's a different job, covered in our ranking of business texting platforms.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always flagged on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Best SMS marketing platform by use case
The 5 best SMS marketing platforms compared
The full ranking. The cost column shows what 1,000 and then 10,000 plain texts a month cost you, as listed on each vendor's official pricing page, before carrier fees unless stated. Carrier fees run from about $0.0025 to $0.005 per text depending on the platform and carrier: add $3 to $5 per 1,000 texts.
| Best for | 1,000 texts ; 10,000 texts a month | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Postscript | Best pay-per-text pricing | $49 (minimum) ; $90 plus carrier fees | 3.9/5 | $0 plan, $49 monthly minimum | — | Online stores texting every week | Visit → |
| 2 | EZ Texting | Cheapest small plan | $50 on Launch with overage ; quote the higher plans | 3.8/5 | $20/mo billed yearly | — | Local business, church, school | Visit → |
| 3 | SlickText | Best flat plan at volume | $49 ; $319 | 3.8/5 | $29/mo for 500 credits | — | Retail, restaurants, growing brands | Visit → |
| 4 | SimpleTexting | Easiest to set up | $66.50 billed yearly ; check the plan grid | 3.7/5 | $39/mo billed yearly | — | Salons, gyms, local services | Visit → |
| 5 | Twilio | Best for developers | $8.30 ; $83, plus carrier fees | 3.7/5 | $0.0083 per segment | — | Apps and sites with a developer | Visit → |
Prices read on the vendors' official pricing pages in 2026, before sales tax. SimpleTexting and Twilio keep the scores published on their other Labs pages.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
Most pages ranking for this search are written by SMS vendors who put themselves first, or by software directories that sort by review count. None of them works out what 1,000 or 10,000 texts actually cost once carrier fees, number fees and minimums are added, and few warn you about annual contracts.
We read each vendor's official pricing page and plan terms, then user reviews on forums and review sites, the bad ones first: surprise bills, contracts that renew on their own, support that disappears after onboarding. Our reader: an online store or a local business sending a few hundred to ten thousand marketing texts a month in the US.
Our rule: no platform enters the ranking without a per-text or per-plan price we could read on its official page. That keeps three big names out. Klaviyo includes $5 of mobile messages a month on its free plan, then prices texts in a calculator by region and carrier. Attentive shows no public price at all: you get a quote after a sales call. Brevo sells SMS as separate credits, without a US per-text rate on its public grid. All three are covered in the buying guide below, and Brevo keeps the 4.1 score from our full Brevo review.
Team texting apps like Textline and Salesmsg answer a different need, covered in our business texting ranking. Value for money weighs the most, because the same 1,000 texts can cost $8 through an API or $66 on a flat plan. Features come next: segmentation, automated flows and compliance tools are what turn a text into revenue.
- Value for moneyMonthly cost at 1,000 and 10,000 texts, carrier and number fees, minimums, contracts.30 %
- Features and depthSegmentation, automated flows, MMS, keywords, compliance tools.25 %
- Ease of useFirst campaign without help, readable bill, guided number registration.20 %
- Customer supportChannels and response on the plan a small business actually buys.15 %
- IntegrationsStore platforms, CRMs, Zapier and API access.10 %
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
Postscript
Postscript publishes what most SMS marketing vendors hide: a per-message price. On Starter, there's no plan fee, a $49 monthly minimum, and each SMS costs $0.009 (MMS $0.045). Growth at $100 a month drops the SMS to $0.008, Professional at $500 to $0.007. No contract on any of them.
Run the numbers. At 1,000 texts a month, messages cost $9, so the $49 minimum is your bill, plus about $3.30 in carrier fees (Postscript lists an average of $0.0033 per SMS). At 10,000 texts, messages cost $90, plus about $33 in carrier fees: roughly $123 a month. The minimum stops mattering past about 5,400 texts a month on Starter. That's the trap for a small list: the per-text price looks tiny, but the minimum sets the bill.
Watch MMS. A picture message costs five times a plain SMS on Starter ($0.045 against $0.009). A weekly MMS blast to 10,000 people would cost $450 in messages alone, against $90 in plain text. Use images for launches, not for every reminder.
The trial gives you $100 of credit for 30 days, enough to send about 11,000 plain texts and see what your list really does before you pay anything.
Tip: if you send more than about 25,000 texts a month, compare Growth. At $100 a month and $0.008 per SMS, the per-text saving starts to cover the plan fee.
- Public per-message price
- No contract
- $100 trial credit
- ✓$0.009 per SMS on Starter
- ✓About $123 a month for 10,000 texts
- ✓Real trial with credit
- ✗$49 minimum sets the bill for small lists
- ✗Carrier fees on top
- ✗MMS five times the SMS price
The clearest pricing for a store sending thousands of texts. Under about 1,000 texts a month, the $49 minimum makes EZ Texting cheaper.
EZ Texting
EZ Texting is the cheapest entry in the ranking for a small sender. Launch costs $25 a month, or $20 billed yearly, for 500 credits. Add $5 a month in telecom fees and 500 texts cost you $25 to $30.
At 1,000 texts, Launch plus overage works out to $25, plus 500 extra credits at $0.04 ($20), plus $5 in fees: about $50 a month. Past that, overage at $0.04 a text gets expensive fast, so move to Boost ($75) or Scale ($125). The credits included in those plans weren't on the part of the page we read: check them before you pick, because at 10,000 texts the right plan matters more than the sticker.
A detail that saves real hassle: A2P registration is included. In the US, businesses texting from a regular 10-digit number must register their brand and campaign with the carriers (that's 10DLC). EZ Texting handles it in the plan, where others charge for it or leave you to fill in the forms.
The 14-day trial needs no card. The limits show as you grow: automation and integrations are lighter than Postscript's, and the jump from Launch to Boost is steep.
- $20 a month billed yearly
- A2P registration included
- Trial with no card
- ✓Lowest fixed bill at 500 texts
- ✓Number registration handled for you
- ✓Simple to start
- ✗$5 monthly telecom fee on top
- ✗$0.04 overage adds up past 500
- ✗Big jump to the next plan
The best value for a local business sending a few hundred texts. At several thousand texts a month, SlickText or Postscript give you a lower cost per text.
SlickText
SlickText has the most complete public grid in the ranking. Every tier is listed: $29 for 500 credits, $49 for 1,000, $169 for 5,000, $319 for 10,000, up to $939 for 50,000. Carrier fees come on top, passed through without markup.
That grid makes the math easy. At 1,000 texts you pay $49, about $0.049 a text. At 10,000 texts you pay $319, about $0.032 a text. Postscript is cheaper at 10,000 (about $123 with carrier fees), but SlickText gives you a fixed number you can budget, and pay yearly to get two months free.
Unused credits roll over for one month on monthly plans and for a year on annual plans. That's useful for a seasonal business: a quiet month doesn't burn your credits. The page also promises a warning when credits run low rather than surprise overage charges.
The 14-day trial opens every feature, no card needed. RCS (rich messages with images and buttons) is an add-on with a $500 setup fee and $200 a year: skip it unless you have a clear use.
- Full price grid up to 50,000 texts
- Credits roll over
- Trial with no card
- ✓$319 for 10,000 texts, fixed
- ✓Two months free when paid yearly
- ✓Low-credit warning instead of overage
- ✗Carrier fees on top
- ✗Pricier than Postscript at high volume
- ✗RCS add-on costs $500 to set up
The best flat plan if you want a bill you can predict. If every cent counts at 10,000 texts, Postscript's per-message pricing is cheaper.
SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting lives up to its name: campaigns, keyword sign-ups, drip autoresponders and a shared inbox sit in one clean interface. A non-technical marketer can send a first campaign the same day, and contacts and keywords are unlimited on every plan.
The bill is less simple. The entry plan is $39 a month billed yearly for 500 credits. At 1,000 texts, the 500 extra credits at $0.055 add $27.50: about $66.50, plus carrier fees of about $2.50. That's more than SlickText's $49 for the same volume. An extra local number costs $10 a month plus $4 to register, and an MMS uses 3 credits.
Where it earns its price is the inbox. Customers reply to your promos, and SimpleTexting lets your team answer from the same tool. If that two-way side matters more than the campaigns, our business texting ranking compares it with Textline and Salesmsg.
Read our SimpleTexting review and the full pricing breakdown before you pick a tier.
- Same-day setup
- Unlimited contacts and keywords
- Shared inbox included
- ✓Easiest interface in the ranking
- ✓Carrier fees passed through, no markup
- ✓Two-way texting built in
- ✗About $66.50 for 1,000 texts
- ✗MMS eats 3 credits
- ✗Integrations are basic
Pick it for ease and replies, not for price. If cost matters most, SlickText or EZ Texting are cheaper. If SimpleTexting isn't the fit, see its alternatives.
Twilio
Twilio isn't a campaign platform: it's an API (a programming interface) that sends texts when your code tells it to. No ready-made campaign editor, no list management out of the box. You call it from your app or an automation tool, and each text goes out.
It's also the cheapest per text by far. Each outbound segment costs $0.0083, then carrier fees are added by carrier: $0.0035 at AT&T, $0.0045 at T-Mobile, $0.005 at Verizon. At 1,000 texts, that's about $8.30 plus $4 to $5 in carrier fees. At 10,000, about $83 plus $35 to $50. On top come the 10DLC registration fees, which Twilio's pricing page mentions without listing an amount.
The catch is everything around the send: opt-in tracking, STOP handling in your own logic, segmentation, reporting. You build it or you pay someone to. For a store owner alone, that cost wipes out the saving.
Tip: if you already send through Twilio and the setup weighs on your team, our switch from Twilio page compares the alternatives.
- $0.0083 per segment
- Plugs into any app
- Inbound texts and automations
- ✓Lowest per-text cost in the ranking
- ✓Most flexible for a developer
- ✓Pay as you go
- ✗No campaign editor
- ✗Carrier and registration fees on top
- ✗Compliance logic is yours to build
Only if a developer builds texting into your product. For marketing campaigns, Postscript or SlickText give you the tools without the code.
What SMS marketing really costs, and what carriers require
Two plans with the same sticker price can end up miles apart. Four things matter more than the headline: your real monthly volume, the fees added on top, whether you're locked in, and whether your number is registered with the carriers.
The cost of 1,000 and 10,000 texts
Minimums and contracts
Number registration (10DLC)
Klaviyo, Attentive, Brevo: what we couldn't price
Email platform or SMS specialist?
Consent and opt-out
- Work out your real monthly volume before picking a plan.
- Add carrier, number and telecom fees to the sticker price.
- Check for minimums and contract length in writing.
- Make sure your number registration is handled.
- Write every campaign under 160 characters, opt-out included.
Six steps to a text campaign that lands and sells
A bad SMS campaign costs you three times: the credits, the opt-outs, and sometimes a carrier block. These steps avoid the most common mistakes.
Start from a clean, opted-in list
BeforeImport only numbers that opted in to marketing texts, with the date and source of consent. Drop duplicates and old numbers. A clean list keeps complaint rates low, which protects your number and your account.
- Keep for every contact
- Date and source of consent
Get your number registered
CarriersRegister your brand and campaign before your first send if you text from a 10-digit number. EZ Texting includes this; elsewhere, budget the fees and the waiting time. Unregistered traffic gets filtered by carriers.
- Included at
- EZ Texting
Write under 160 characters
CostLead with the offer, then the deadline, then the link, then the opt-out. Each extra segment adds to the bill: on Postscript Starter, a second segment doubles the cost from $0.009 a text, and on a credit plan it uses a second credit.
- One standard text
- 160 characters
Automate one flow before any blast
RevenueSet up an abandoned cart or welcome flow first. It texts people who just showed intent, so it usually pays for itself faster than a blast to the whole list. Our abandoned cart recovery guide compares the sequences that work.
- First flow
- Abandoned cart
Test on several carriers
DeliveryA text marked delivered isn't always received: carriers can filter messages without reporting a failure. Send each campaign to a few phones on different carriers first. Use the trials: $100 of credit at Postscript, 14 days at EZ Texting and SlickText.
- Postscript trial
- $100 of credit
Track revenue per campaign
AfterUse a tracked link or a campaign-specific discount code in every text. Then compare revenue with the cost of the send: 10,000 texts cost about $123 at Postscript or $319 at SlickText. If a campaign doesn't cover its cost, cut the audience before you cut the channel.
- Track with
- Link or code per campaign
Your SMS platform is picked, now the rest
SMS marketing is one channel among others. These pages cover what sits around it.
Shared inbox, replies, local numbers.
You sell onlineBest SMS for ecommerceOrders, shipping and cart recovery.
You run a small businessBest SMS for small businessPlans built for low volume.
You lose carts on your storeAbandoned cart recoveryEmail and SMS sequences that work.
Your store runs on ShopifyEmail marketing for ShopifyKlaviyo, Brevo and the rest.
You send through Twilio todaySwitch from TwilioAlternatives with simpler setup.
SMS marketing platforms · FAQ
What is the cheapest SMS marketing platform?
For about 500 texts a month, EZ Texting: $20 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) for 500 credits, plus $5 in telecom fees. Per text, Twilio is cheapest at $0.0083 plus carrier fees, but you need a developer. Among campaign tools, Postscript has the lowest rate at $0.009, with a $49 monthly minimum.How much does SMS marketing cost per month?
About $25 to $66 a month for 500 to 1,000 texts on the platforms that publish prices, and about $123 to $319 for 10,000. Add carrier fees of roughly $0.0025 to $0.005 per text and any number fees, like $10 a month per extra local number at SimpleTexting.Do I need 10DLC registration to send marketing texts?
Yes, if you text from a regular 10-digit number in the US. Carriers require your brand and campaign to be registered, and they filter unregistered traffic. EZ Texting includes A2P registration in its plans; Twilio charges registration fees on top.Why isn't Klaviyo in the ranking?
Because we only rank platforms whose SMS price we could read on an official page. Klaviyo's free plan includes $5 of mobile messages a month, then texts are priced in a calculator by region and carrier. It's still a strong pick for an online store already using Klaviyo email: run your volume through the calculator and compare.Is SMS marketing worth it for a small business?
Yes, if you have an opted-in list and a reason to text: a sale, a reminder, a back-in-stock alert. At $25 to $50 a month for 500 to 1,000 texts, one or two extra sales usually cover the bill. Start with one automated flow and track revenue per campaign.Do unused SMS credits roll over?
It depends on the platform. SlickText rolls unused credits over for one month on monthly plans and for a year on annual plans. Postscript bills per message with a monthly minimum, so there's nothing to roll over. Check the rule before buying a large plan for a seasonal peak.What's the difference between SMS marketing and business texting?
SMS marketing sends campaigns and automated flows to a list; business texting is one-to-one conversations from a shared inbox. If you mainly reply to customers as a team, see our business texting ranking: Textline, Salesmsg and SimpleTexting are built for that.Why are my texts marked delivered but not received?
Because carriers can filter a message without returning a failure. Common causes: an unregistered number, spammy wording, shortened links. Register your number, avoid all-caps promos and suspicious links, and test each campaign on several carriers.
