Most SMS platforms quote a monthly plan. Few show what a text costs once carrier surcharges, 10DLC fees, number rental and MMS multipliers reach the invoice. This page adds up the full SMS marketing cost, arithmetic shown, with BestText's per-segment price next to five vendors' entry plans.
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As of October 17, 2026, SMS marketing platforms charge $0.040 to $0.058 per text on entry plans (about 500 texts for $20 to $29 a month). Their largest tiers run $0.014 to $0.025. Carrier surcharges, 10DLC and number fees come on top. BestText charges a flat $0.022 per SMS segment, pay as you go, with no monthly plan.
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Last reviewed: October 2026.
The plan price is the layer every vendor advertises. Three more decide what a text costs you.
Most platforms sell a monthly plan with a message allowance: $20 to $29 for about 500 texts at entry (October 17, 2026). BestText has no plan; you buy credits and spend them.
Divide the plan by its allowance: entry tiers cost $0.040 to $0.058 per text, the largest published tiers $0.014 to $0.025. BestText is $0.022 per segment at every package size.
Carriers add a per-segment fee on registered 10DLC traffic. AT&T has charged $0.0035 per SMS and $0.009 per MMS since April 1, 2026, and T-Mobile $0.0045 per SMS since January 19, 2026. Verizon publishes its own figure, and sources disagree. The Campaign Registry's July 2026 guide lists a $4.50 brand fee and $10 a month per standard campaign. Both are charged to providers, who add their own fees.
A sending number is its own line: $10 a month for a local number at SimpleTexting and on Textmagic's pay-as-you-go plan. Textedly, SlickText, EZ Texting, Mobile Text Alerts and Textmagic Professional include a number in the plan. BestText numbers carry a monthly fee too, quoted on the demo.
A segment is 160 characters in the standard GSM-7 alphabet. One emoji, accented letter or curly quote switches the whole message to Unicode, where a segment holds 70. Longer messages split into parts of 153 GSM-7 or 67 Unicode characters, so a 161-character text costs two segments.
On BestText, 1 segment = 1 credit = $0.022, so a two-part text is $0.044. The editor counts segments and shows the encoding as you type. It keeps a small safety margin (159 single, 152 per part in GSM-7), and those are the segments you are billed.
A picture costs 3 credits ($0.066). Caption text is billed as SMS segments on top, so a picture with a one-segment caption is 4 credits, about $0.09. Keep media under about 600 KB for reliable delivery.
One price per credit on every package, so the $100 and $11,000 packages cost the same per text. A 3% card processing fee is added as its own line when you buy credits (about $0.0227 per credit all in); credit packages carry no sales tax.
| Package | Credits | Per credit | Image MMS (3 credits each) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | 4,545 | $0.022 | 1,515 |
| $220 | 10,000 | $0.022 | 3,333 |
| $550 | 25,000 | $0.022 | 8,333 |
| $1,100 | 50,000 | $0.022 | 16,666 |
| $2,200 | 100,000 | $0.022 | 33,333 |
| $4,400 | 200,000 | $0.022 | 66,666 |
| $11,000 | 500,000 | $0.022 | 166,666 |
No monthly plan, and no card to start. Our team registers your brand and campaigns for 10DLC; 10DLC fee questions and the monthly number fee are covered on the demo. There are no free SMS credits, so $100 is the smallest real test.
Read from each vendor's pricing page on October 17, 2026; prices change, so check before you buy. Per text is plan price divided by included one-segment messages, before taxes, number and carrier fees.
| Platform | Entry plan (monthly billing) | Per text | MMS | 10DLC fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Textedly | $29 for 500 messages, plus $8 a month telecom surcharge (FAQ data only) | $29 ÷ 500 = $0.058 ($0.074 with surcharge) | Not stated | Stated two ways: first number covered, or $4 to $44 |
| SlickText | $29 for 500 credits; carrier fees billed separately | $29 ÷ 500 = $0.058 ($0.062 with $0.0042 carrier fee) | 3 credits | Not stated |
| SimpleTexting | $29 for 500 credits, plus $10 a month local number and $4 one-time | $29 ÷ 500 = $0.058 ($0.078 with local number) | 3 credits | $4 one-time, $10 a month, $40 optional vetting |
| EZ Texting | Launch $25 for 500 credits, plus $5 monthly telecom fee | $25 ÷ 500 = $0.050 ($0.060 with fee) | 3 credits | Included |
| Textmagic | Professional $20 for 500 SMS, number included (pay-as-you-go $0.049) | $20 ÷ 500 = $0.040 ($0.060 with $10 campaign fee) | Flat $0.08 | $10 a month per campaign after month one |
| BestText | No plan; $100 buys 4,545 credits | $0.022 per segment, every package | 3 credits per image plus caption | Registered for you; fees on the demo |
Sources: vendor pricing pages and help centers, accessed October 17, 2026 (Textedly, SlickText, SimpleTexting, EZ Texting and Textmagic); messaging-provider carrier fee schedules; The Campaign Registry CSP User Guide, July 2026; BestText price list, October 2026. Teardowns: Textedly pricing and SimpleTexting pricing. Registry fees: 10DLC fees.
Same budget, three price models, assuming every included message gets used.
$100 buys 4,545 credits at $0.022: 4,545 one-segment texts, or 1,515 image MMS before captions. The 3% card fee adds $3. Sending numbers carry a separate monthly fee from the cash balance; that fee and any 10DLC fee questions are covered on the demo.
Textmagic Professional is $20 a month for 500 SMS, number included. Plan price only: $100 buys 5 months at $20, and 5 × 500 = 2,500 texts. With the $10 monthly 10DLC campaign fee from month two: $20 + $30 + $30 = $80 buys three months, 1,500 texts, $20 left over. Unused Professional credit expires after about two months.
Textedly's Business plan is $299 a month for 10,000 messages: $299 ÷ 10,000 = $0.0299 per text, so $100 ÷ $0.0299 ≈ 3,344 texts. The plan does not sell in $100 pieces, though: you pay $299 plus the $8 surcharge whether you send 10,000 or 2,000.
You buy a package from $100 to $11,000, every credit costs $0.022 whatever the size, and each SMS segment or MMS image draws from that balance. Auto top-up can buy your chosen package when credits fall below a threshold you set. The account starts without a card, and there is no monthly plan to outgrow.
You submit the brand and campaign details once; BestText registers them with The Campaign Registry. Registration fees come up on the demo, with current figures.
SMS credits pay for texts and MMS; a separate cash balance pays for ringless voicemail, scrubbing and number fees. Both channels run from one account and the same lists. See ringless voicemail pricing and SMS vs ringless voicemail.
Entry plans run $20 to $29 a month for about 500 texts (October 17, 2026). Number, telecom and 10DLC fees add $5 to $20 a month at several vendors. BestText has no monthly plan: 1,000 one-segment texts cost $22 in credits, and 10,000 cost $220.
Do the arithmetic on your own numbers. At BestText's rate, 1,000 one-segment texts cost $22. Decide what one reply, booking or payment is worth, then work out how many you need from 1,000 texts to cover $22. If that number is believable for your list, the channel pays; if not, fix the list first.
On October 17, 2026, Textmagic Professional had the lowest entry price, $20 for 500 SMS; EZ Texting and Mobile Text Alerts were $25, and Textedly, SlickText and SimpleTexting $29. With mandatory fees added, those entry plans run $0.050 to $0.078 per text. BestText is $0.022 per segment with no plan.
$0.022 per SMS segment. Credits cost $0.022 on every package, from $100 for 4,545 credits to $11,000 for 500,000, with no volume discount. An MMS is 3 credits per image ($0.066) plus the caption's segments. A 3% card processing fee is added when you buy credits.
On registered 10DLC traffic, carriers charge per segment. AT&T has charged $0.0035 per SMS and $0.009 per MMS since April 1, 2026, and T-Mobile $0.0045 per SMS since January 19, 2026. Verizon publishes its own figure, and sources disagree. Ask every vendor, BestText included, where surcharges sit.
Yes. SlickText, SimpleTexting, EZ Texting and Mobile Text Alerts charge 3 credits per MMS, so a picture costs 3 × $0.058 = $0.174 on their $29 entry plans. BestText charges 3 credits per image, $0.066, plus caption segments, about $0.09 with a short caption. Textmagic bills a flat $0.08. Keep media under about 600 KB.
Bring your list size and a sample message to a free 30-minute demo. We will count the segments, price the campaign at $0.022 a segment, and give you the current 10DLC and number-fee figures.