Calculating SMS Costs

It is important to know all of the SMS Pricing, however, it is reasonable to assume your highest SMS costs will be related to sending outbound SMS. For this reason, we will walk you step by step through the process of estimating the cost of an outbound SMS.

This article will provide you with the most recent figures for:

• UK to UK sending
• US to US sending

For pricing relating to any other countries please contact support@thesmartgrowthco.com.

Step 1: Calculate Your SMS Segments 

SMS messages are charged per segment. An SMS segment is made up of 160 characters. Once an SMS goes above 160 characters, you will be charged in the next segment bracket. 

Example:

1 Segment = 1 - 160 characters

2 Segments = 161 - 320 characters

3 Segments = 321 - 489 characters

Please bare in mind that the use of emoji's and other SMS features will increase the character count, resulting in less characters per segment. 

Use this software to calculate your segment count before sending your SMS. 

https://twiliodeved.github.io/message-segment-calculator/

After writing the message you want to send, copy the text message into the Messaging Segment Calculator and paste the copied text message into the Messaging Segment Calculator. See the "Number of Segments" to locate the number of segments.

Step 2: Calculate Your SMS Costs

These figures are correct as of September 2024**

UK to UK:

• $0.06 per SMS segment sent
• $0.01 per SMS received
• $10 in system credit will get you approximately 166 SMS segments

US to US:

• $0.0045 per SMS segment sent
• $0.0025 per SMS received
• $10 in system credit will get you approximately 2,000 SMS segments

Costs For Sending To The Following:

Please note, these are estimates only**

Step 3: Test Your SMS

Please test before sending large campaigns. 

Send 1 SMS message to test your exact SMS costs.

Go to Setting > Company Billing > See Transactions

Go to Details Description to view a breakdown of all costs coming from your account.

Under description the system will tell you what action the cost is relating to - SMS, email etc. 

Under cost is what that action has cost.