Bulk SMS, priced per message and reported per message
Text messages to UK mobiles cost 7.23p each including VAT on our 2,000 credit bundle, converted from the 10.71 credits a message uses at that bundle's credit rate, and 5.34p each on our 200,000 credit bundle. Prepay accounts are charged in credits from their credit balance; postpaid accounts are invoiced in GBP. A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part. Every submission returns a state, and every receipt is reported back to you.
What bulk SMS costs, in pence per message
Text messages to UK mobiles cost 7.23p each including VAT on our 2,000 credit bundle, converted from the 10.71 credits a message uses at that bundle's credit rate, falling to 5.34p each on our 200,000 credit bundle. Prepay accounts are charged in credits from their credit balance; postpaid accounts are invoiced in GBP. A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part. Bundle prices are in GBP. The column marked inc VAT is the price as sold, and the ex VAT column is derived by dividing by 1.2.
| Bundle | Price inc VAT | Single-part messages | Per message inc VAT | Per message ex VAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 credits | £13.50 | 186 | 7.23p | 6.02p |
| 5,000 credits | £33.00 | 466 | 7.07p | 5.89p |
| 10,000 credits | £64.00 | 933 | 6.85p | 5.71p |
| 20,000 credits | £120.00 | 1,867 | 6.43p | 5.36p |
| 50,000 credits | £280.00 | 4,668 | 6.00p | 5.00p |
| 75,000 credits | £399.00 | 7,002 | 5.70p | 4.75p |
| 100,000 credits | £499.00 | 9,337 | 5.34p | 4.45p |
| 200,000 credits | £998.00 | 18,674 | 5.34p | 4.45p |
A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part. Rates for other destinations are on the coverage page .
The eight things that decide what a bulk SMS provider is like
Price is the first question, and it is not the only one. These are the criteria we would use to compare two providers, with our own answer and the page where we publish it. The right hand column is the question to put to anyone else you are quoting.
| What decides it | Our position | Where | Ask any provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per message, in money | 7.23p each including VAT on our 2,000 credit bundle, converted from the 10.71 credits a message uses at that bundle's rate, falling to 5.34p on our 200,000 credit bundle. Prepay accounts pay in credits from their credit balance; postpaid accounts are invoiced in GBP. A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part. | Pricing ladder | What does one text message cost, in pence, at the volume I will buy? |
| How a long message is charged | Per part. 160 GSM or 70 Unicode characters in a single part, 153 and 67 once split, and each part billed. | Length reference | Is a two-part message charged once or twice? |
| What happens past the concatenation limit | Our API concatenates up to nine parts. Anything beyond that limit is discarded by the gateway without an error, so check before you send a long template. | UK rules | Where is the part limit, and does it error or truncate? |
| Sender identity in the UK | Alphanumeric sender IDs up to 11 characters, checked against the reserved and restricted lists UK networks keep, typically in one working day. | Sender ID rules | Who checks my sender ID against the networks, and when? |
| Delivery reporting | Every submission returns a state and every receipt carries a final state, with the gateway error code where one exists. Nine states are documented, including the one that means no receipt will ever arrive. | States and errors | Show me the state table and the receipt callback contract. |
| Routing claims | We say what the route is: most UK traffic reaches the networks through aggregators, including the networks' own, and we hold a direct connection to one UK network. We publish no delivery percentage. | UK API | Is the delivery rate measured, or asserted? |
| How you submit the traffic | HTTP API with per-account credentials and a documented OpenAPI specification, SMPP v3.3 or v3.4 on request, and SMTP for systems that can only send email. A free SMSC simulator is included for testing. | Integrations | Which interfaces, and can I test without spending credits? |
| Inbound and replies | Inbound SMS is free and does not require outbound traffic on the same account. Replies arrive over webhook, SMPP or email, and alphanumeric senders cannot receive them, so two-way traffic needs a number. | Two-way SMS | What does receiving cost, and what happens to replies to a brand name? |
What you get on the account
Send and receive
Send bulk traffic and receive replies on the same account. Inbound SMS is free and does not require outbound traffic.
Communicator Pro
Free cloud app for sending, scheduling and managing SMS.
Secure and reliable
UK hosted SMSC with maintenance and monitoring, and delivery receipts on every message.
Global coverage
200+ countries supported, with every destination and network listed on the coverage page .
Support without a premium
Premium support is not charged separately. A free SMSC simulator is included for testing.
Sending business messages, not campaigns?
If your traffic is one-time passwords, notifications, reminders and alerts, see how we treat transactional and business SMS differently from marketing blasts.
Bulk SMS questions
How much does bulk SMS cost in the UK?
Text messages to UK mobiles cost 7.23p each including VAT on our 2,000 credit bundle (£13.50), converted from the 10.71 credits a message uses at that bundle's credit rate, and 5.34p each on our 200,000 credit bundle (£998.00). Prepay accounts are charged in credits from their credit balance; postpaid accounts are invoiced in GBP. Excluding VAT those are 6.02p and 4.45p. A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part.
Is bulk SMS charged per message or per part?
A single-part message is charged as one message. A longer message is sent in several parts and charged per part, at the same rate per part. The split is decided by the encoding and the character count, so an apostrophe or a symbol outside the GSM set can turn a 160 character message into two parts.
Can I get delivery receipts for bulk traffic?
Yes. Receipts are posted to a callback URL configured in the portal, and every state and error code is documented on our message state reference. One state, accepted, is terminal and means the network returned no receipt, so treat a high accepted count as unknown rather than delivered.
Do I need to register a sender ID for UK bulk SMS?
There is no national register of sender IDs in the UK. What exists is a set of reserved and restricted IDs maintained by the networks, plus per-network requirements where an operator wants an originator registered before it will carry it. We check your ID against those lists and register it where required, typically within one working day.
How many messages can one bundle send?
Depends on the bundle and the destination. The 2,000 credit bundle buys about 186 single-part messages to UK numbers, and the 200,000 credit bundle about 18,674. Multipart messages consume one part of the bundle for each part sent.
Is bulk SMS the same as marketing SMS?
No. Bulk SMS describes volume, not purpose. Most UK business traffic is service messages: one-time codes, order updates, appointment reminders and alerts. Marketing messages fall under PECR and need consent or the soft opt-in, while service messages do not need marketing consent though UK GDPR still applies to their data.
Transform Messaging with World-Text
Send SMS messages from one platform. Use the HTTP API for alerts and notifications, or two-way messaging for conversations. Volume pricing and delivery reporting included.