How Much Does SMS Marketing Cost in 2026?

At 1,000 subscribers who each get four texts a month, SMS marketing costs $49 to $528 a month across the platforms priced in full, before carrier fees. Postscript's Starter plan is the cheapest full platform price here, and it carries a monthly minimum spend. Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on 10 October 2026.

At 10,000 subscribers, the same volume runs from $360 to $2,201.50 a month across those platforms. At that size the per-text price and the overage rule move the bill more than the plan name does.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 24 SMS marketing tools in its October 2026 ranking, and 3 of them offer a free plan. SlickText ranks first in that list and Omnisend second. The full SMS marketing ranking sits next to the Toolradar profiles for SlickText, Omnisend and SimpleTexting.

The scenario behind every number

Each figure assumes the same volume: 1,000 or 10,000 subscribers, four standard texts per subscriber per month, which makes 4,000 or 40,000 messages. Where a platform sells credits, we count one credit per standard text, the rule SimpleTexting publishes. The other vendors' pages did not print a per-message credit rule, so their credit rows assume the same rule, and you should confirm it before you sign. All figures are USD per month. Carrier fees and phone numbers are excluded, and the sections below list them.

SMS costs at a glance

Platform	How it charges	1,000 subscribers (4,000 texts)	10,000 subscribers (40,000 texts)
Postscript Starter	$0 plan, $0.009 per SMS, $49 monthly minimum spend	$49	$360
Postscript Growth	$100/mo plus $0.008 per SMS	$132	$420
EZ Texting Launch	$25/mo, 500 credits, $0.04 per extra credit	$165	$1,605
SlickText	Tier fee: $169 for 5,000 credits, $939 for 50,000	$169	$939
EZ Texting Boost	$75/mo, 500 credits, $0.035 per extra credit	$197.50	$1,457.50
SimpleTexting	$29/mo, 500 credits, $0.055 per extra credit	$221.50	$2,201.50
EZ Texting Scale	$125/mo, 500 credits, $0.03 per extra credit	$230	$1,310
Postscript Professional	$500/mo plus $0.007 per SMS	$528	$780
Omnisend	$0.007 to $0.009 per SMS, plan fee not printed at these sizes	$28 to $36 in texts, plus plan fee	$280 to $360 in texts, plus plan fee
Twilio	$0.0083 per outbound US SMS, developer API	$33.20	$332
Attentive	Quote only	No USD price	No USD price

Omnisend, Twilio and Attentive sit outside the full-price comparison. Omnisend's plan fee is not printed at these sizes, Twilio sends messages without a marketing platform, and Attentive publishes no USD price. Among the platforms with a full monthly price at both sizes, Postscript Starter is the lowest at both volumes. Postscript's page does not list message caps for Starter, so check them before you choose it.

Credit and overage platforms

SlickText: tiers with no overage rate

SlickText sells monthly credit tiers: $49 for 1,000 credits, $79 for 2,000, $129 for 3,500, $169 for 5,000, $319 for 10,000, $579 for 25,000 and $939 for 50,000. The page prints no overage rate, so a list that outgrows its tier moves up one tier. At 4,000 credits that means the 5,000-credit plan at $169 a month. At 40,000 it means the 50,000-credit plan at $939. Paying yearly gives ten monthly payments for twelve months, because the page offers two months free.

SimpleTexting: a base plan, then 5.5 cents an extra credit

The base plan is $29 a month for 500 credits. Each extra credit costs 5.5 cents. A standard text uses one credit, an extended message up to 306 characters uses two, and an MMS uses three. Incoming texts are free. A local number adds $10 a month plus a one-time $4 carrier registration. With the number included, yearly billing works out to $33.20 a month, or $398.40 a year.

At 1,000 subscribers the bill is $29 plus 3,500 extra credits at $0.055, which comes to $221.50 a month. Add the $10 number and roughly $10 in carrier fees (the page quotes about $0.0025 per US message), and the real bill is closer to $241.50. The page lists credit tiers up to 50,000 but prints no price for them. The overage math is therefore the only figure we can compute at 40,000 credits, $2,201.50 a month. The page does not price those larger tiers, so check them before you budget at that size.

EZ Texting: $25 to $125 plus an overage rate

Three EZ Texting plans include 500 monthly credits and set a price for each extra credit:

• Launch: $25 a month ($20 billed yearly), with $0.04 per extra credit and a telecom fee.
• Boost: $75 a month ($60 billed yearly), with $0.035 per extra credit and the telecom fee waived.
• Scale: $125 a month ($100 billed yearly), with $0.03 per extra credit, the telecom fee waived and an onboarding specialist.

At 4,000 credits Launch is the cheapest of the three, at $165 a month. At 40,000 credits Scale is the cheapest, at $1,310, and Launch rises to $1,605. Scale only beats Launch above 10,500 credits a month, which is about 2,625 subscribers at four texts each. The page mentions bundled credit discounts at checkout without printing them, so these are list figures.

Per-message platforms

Postscript: a plan fee plus a per-SMS rate

Postscript lists three paid plans. Starter costs $0 a month with $0.009 per SMS and a $49 monthly minimum spend. Growth costs $100 a month at $0.008 per SMS, and Professional costs $500 a month at $0.007 per SMS. Enterprise is quoted. The page does not say how many subscribers a plan covers, so we priced it on message volume.

At 4,000 texts, Starter's messages come to $36, which is under its minimum, so the minimum applies. Growth comes to $132 and Professional to $528. At 40,000 texts, Starter is $360, Growth $420 and Professional $780. Carrier fees pass through at cost on top of these rates. The page does not list message caps or included features for Starter, so check those before you pick the lowest row.

Omnisend: plan cards and volume-based SMS rates

Omnisend's printed plan cards are Standard at $11.20 a month for 500 contacts and Pro Advanced AI at $41.30 a month for 2,500 contacts. Both show 30 percent off the first three months, then monthly billing. Pro is the card the page aims at senders who add SMS.

SMS rates fall from $0.009 a text at the lowest volume bracket to $0.007 at the top one. The plan cards stop at 2,500 contacts, so the page gives no plan fee for 1,000 or 10,000 contacts. The text charges alone run $28 to $36 for 4,000 texts and $280 to $360 for 40,000. Add the plan fee for your contact count to get the full bill. Like Mailchimp's contact pricing, it charges on list size, so list size sets the bill. For a wider look at email and SMS suites, see our Mailchimp vs Klaviyo comparison.

Twilio: the developer route

Twilio charges $0.0083 per outbound US text on long-code and toll-free numbers, with the same rate for inbound texts. Its page says pricing is current as of October 2026. At that rate 4,000 texts cost $33.20 and 40,000 cost $332, before carrier fees, which Twilio bills per message on top. US 10DLC registration carries an onboarding fee, and the page does not print the amount.

Twilio is an API for developers. Its $0.0083 rate sits between Postscript's Starter and Growth rates, and the total then includes whatever you build or buy on top of the API.

Attentive: quote only

Attentive publishes no USD list price. Its page says pricing is based on list size and messages sent, with custom bundles, and that it is usage-based with no credit system. We left it out of the comparison rather than estimate it, so a quote is the only way to get its number.

Costs the pricing pages leave out

• Carrier fees. Postscript passes them through at cost. SimpleTexting quotes about $0.0025 per US message. EZ Texting's Launch plan carries a telecom fee that Boost and Scale waive. Twilio bills them per message.
• Phone numbers. SimpleTexting charges $10 a month per local number plus $4 once. Its toll-free number has no added fee, but activation time varies. A dedicated short code starts at $1,000 a month.
• Minimum spend. Postscript's Starter bills at least its monthly minimum in SMS, so a light sender pays more per text than the rate suggests.
• Introductory discounts. Omnisend's 30 percent off applies to the first three months only, so those months cost less than the months after.
• 10DLC registration. US A2P 10DLC registration carries onboarding fees, and Twilio does not print the amount.

How to estimate your own bill

For any credit-based platform, use this formula: plan fee, plus texts beyond the included credits times the overage rate, plus phone numbers, plus carrier fees.

Take SimpleTexting at 1,000 subscribers with four texts each. The 4,000 texts less 500 included credits leave 3,500 extra credits. At $0.055 each, those cost $192.50. Add the plan fee for $221.50, then the local number and carrier fees for about $241.50.

For a per-SMS platform like Postscript, skip the overage step. Use the plan fee plus texts times the per-SMS rate, and apply any minimum spend.

Which option is cheapest for your list

Among platforms with a full monthly price, and before carrier fees and numbers, the three lowest totals are:

• At 1,000 subscribers: Postscript Starter, Postscript Growth and EZ Texting Launch, in that order. Twilio's $33.20 and Omnisend's $28 to $36 in texts are lower, but they cover messages only.
• At 10,000 subscribers: Postscript Starter, Postscript Growth and Postscript Professional, in that order.

SlickText ranks first in Toolradar's list, but at $169 it is the fourth-lowest total at 1,000 subscribers. One ranking flips with volume: EZ Texting's Scale plan beats Launch only above 10,500 credits a month. Postscript Growth stays under SlickText's tiers at both volumes.

Frequently asked questions

How much does SMS marketing cost per month?

For 1,000 subscribers getting four texts a month, the platforms priced in full run from Postscript Starter, the lowest, to $528 for Postscript Professional, before carrier fees and phone numbers. At 10,000 subscribers the same volume runs from $360 to $2,201.50.

Is there a free SMS marketing plan?

Postscript's Starter plan has a $0 monthly fee, but it bills a monthly minimum in SMS spend. SlickText lists a free trial on its pricing page. Among the vendors priced here, Postscript's Starter is the only plan with a $0 monthly fee.

What does one SMS cost?

It depends on the platform. Postscript's per-SMS rate falls as the plan grows, and Omnisend's falls with its volume brackets. Twilio charges $0.0083 per outbound US text before carrier fees. SimpleTexting charges 5.5 cents for each extra credit, with one credit per standard text.

How many credits does a text use?

On SimpleTexting, a standard text uses one credit, an extended message up to 306 characters uses two, an MMS uses three, and incoming texts are free. SlickText and EZ Texting also sell credits, but their per-message credit rules were not on the pricing pages we read.

Does Postscript charge per subscriber?

Its page prices SMS per message and lists plans by a fee and a per-SMS rate. It does not state how many subscribers each plan covers, so your total depends on how many texts you send.

Does Attentive publish prices?

No. Its pricing page shows no USD figure. Pricing is based on list size and messages sent, with custom bundles, so you need a quote.

What is the 10DLC fee?

Twilio says US A2P 10DLC registration carries onboarding fees but does not print the amount. Get the figure from Twilio or your messaging provider before you budget.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "How Much Does SMS Marketing Cost in 2026?", October 2026.

How we verified this

Every price above was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 10 October 2026: Postscript, SlickText, SimpleTexting, EZ Texting, Omnisend, Attentive and Twilio's US SMS pricing, which states it is current as of October 2026. The totals are our arithmetic on those prices, using the scenario above, and they exclude carrier fees and numbers. The Toolradar figures (24 tools, 3 with a free plan, SlickText first) come from the SMS marketing ranking, updated October 2026. Attentive has no USD price and stays out of the comparison. Recheck each vendor page before you buy, since SMS rates and credit tiers change.

For the ranked list of platforms, read our best SMS marketing software guide. For one vendor in detail, see the SimpleTexting review. If you run email alongside text, compare Mailchimp pricing, Mailchimp's review and ActiveCampaign's review, then check our best marketing automation software list.

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