The cost of sending and receiving a text message is determined by a couple of factors. You’ll need to purchase credits according to the number of texts you want to send each month, the content of those messages, and their length.

Text credits are billed on a monthly basis through prepaid plans. You select a plan according to the anticipated number of credits you will need, and any associated charges will be documented on your invoice.

A segment is a unit of a text message. While most modern carriers now automatically stitch longer text messages together into a cohesive block of text, an SMS message still technically spans multiple segments once it exceeds a certain number of characters.

As you write your text message, you'll see the number of credits used per recipient increase in the control panel.

The total number of credits used by a text blast is equal to the number of recipients in the blast times the number of segments within the message. For example, if you write a text message that is 200 characters long, it will be a 2-segment message. This message will cost 2 credits per recipient. If you send this text message to 100 recipients, it will cost 200 credits in total.

If you add an emoji to this text message, it will become a 3 segment message. This message will cost 3 credits per recipient. If you send this text message to 100 recipients, it will cost 300 credits in total.

When your text blast includes one or more smart fields, billing does not use the actual length of the data inserted for each recipient. Every smart field bills at a fixed standard length instead, regardless of how long the real value turns out to be for any given person.

For example, the First name smart field always bills as 8 characters, whether the recipient's actual name is "Jo" or "Maximilian." This keeps your credit cost predictable at the time you write the message, since you won't know every recipient's exact data in advance — and it's shown live in the credit counter as you build your message.

Standard lengths by smart field:

Your total message length — and therefore your segment and credit count — is your plain text plus the standard length of every smart field you've used, added together. For the full list of available smart fields and where to insert them, see Smart Fields in Email and Text Blasts.

A 1:1 text message (sent or received) can only be 1 segment long, and will therefore cost 1 credit per message.

One single letter or number = 1 character

An emoji (😊) or special character (€) = 2 characters

Your credits are used each time you:

If you exceed your text limit, you will be automatically upgraded to the next pricing tier in your following billing period.
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Your text capacity will reset each month, even if you are paying on a non-monthly frequency. To check your text credit balance, log into the control panel, go to the "Text Blast" section, and open or create a draft message to view your remaining credits for the month. Unused credits do not roll over to the next month, so it is crucial to select a plan that aligns closely with your needs.

You've created an event and are using text keywords to collect RSVPs. You draft a 2-segment text blast asking supporters to reply "attend." When a supporter replies, you send a confirmation text and prompt them for their name and email.

Total: 6 credits for this interaction.

To send an image in a text, create a new text message from your broadcaster and select Add image after the body of the text. Images can be GIF (static or animated), PNG, or JPG, and must be under 1MB file size.

If you add an image to your text message, it automatically becomes an MMS message, charged at 3 credits per recipient. From there, you can add up to 1,600 standard characters in addition to the image. MMS are charged at 3 credits each regardless of length, and no SMS or MMS will cost more than that.

MMS texts are not supported in 1:1 messages at this time.