A Quick Note About SMS Costs

There are many factors impacting SMS Costs. Such as the per-segment SMS cost, direction (inbound or outbound), attaching an image (MMS), emojis, carrier fees, and more.

The Steps to Estimating Outbound 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.

There are four steps to estimating the cost of an outbound SMS...

1. Find the Number of Segments in your Text

2. Lookup Per-Segment Cost

3. Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005)

4. Calculate

Below we will walk through each of them to estimate the cost of an SMS before we send it. As we go to calculate the cost of an SMS, we use our Outbound SMS Cost Equation to estimate the cost of our SMS:

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

Please Note:

This estimation is for a single outbound SMS sent from a US number to another US number. There are many factors that can change the final cost of an SMS.

Step 1: Find the Number of Segments in your Text

After writing the message you want to send, we copy the text message. Then open 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. Keep this available as we continue. 

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

Example:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(5)(Carrier Fees)]

Step 2: Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005)

In the US and Canada, carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon charge you for inbound messages sent to their end users. Prices vary by carrier and change from time to time. To locate the Carrier Fees by carrier, see the SMS Pricing page. Scroll down to the "Carrier Fees" section and see the inbound SMS column for a specific carrier.

Please Note:

Carrier fee prices vary based on the type of number (long code, toll-free, and shortcode).

Due to carrier fees being unique to the end user's number, we cannot calculate the cost until we know what carrier we are sending to. To overcome this barrier we can estimate. We suggest using the amount of ≈$0.005 as this is currently the highest carrier charge (as of the last edit to this article). The "≈" symbol stands for approximation, which is an estimated number for this exercise.

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

Example:
Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)(≈$0.005)]

IMPORTANT: Carrier fees can change from time to time so always check the SMS Pricing. As of the last time this article was created approximately ≈$0.005 was a good estimator. However, it is always important to check the SMS Pricing for any changes to Carrier fees to better adjust your SMS cost estimations.

Step 3: Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005)

In the US and Canada, carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon charge you for inbound messages sent to their end users. Prices vary by carrier and change from time to time.

Due to carrier fees being unique to the end user's number, we cannot calculate the cost until we know what carrier we are sending to. To overcome this barrier we can estimate. We suggest using the amount of ≈$0.005 as this is currently the highest carrier charge (as of the last edit to this article). The "≈" symbol stands for approximation, which is an estimated number for this exercise.

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

Example:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)(≈$0.005)]

IMPORTANT: Carrier fees can change from time to time so always check the SMS Pricing. As of the last time this article was created approximately ≈$0.005 was a good estimator. However, it is always important to check the SMS Pricing for any changes to Carrier fees to better adjust your SMS cost estimations.

Step 4: Calculate

We are now ready to calculate the estimated cost of our text message. Let's walk you step by step through the process.

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)($0.005)]

First, let's multiply the "number of segments" (found in Step 1) by the "per-segment costs" (found in Step 2).

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [$0.0395] + [(5)($0.005)]

Now we need to multiply the "Number of Segments" (found in Step 1) by the estimated "Carrier Fees" (found in Step 3).

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [$0.0395] + [$0.025]

Lastly, we add the two sums together to finish our estimation.

[$0.0395] + [$0.025] = $0.0595

We finally arrived at the final cost of 5.95 cents for this text.

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = $0.0595 or 5.95 cents

IMPORTANT: This is an estimation. Final price can only be known after sending. Adding an image, hidden characters, emojis and other factors can impact the cost of an SMS.

Make a Copy of Our SMS Cost Estimator Sheet

Now that we understand how to properly estimate the cost of an SMS, we can check out this SMS Cost Estimator Sheet we made for you. The SMS Cost Estimator Sheet enables you to "Make a Copy" of a Google Sheet we created to help you calculate the estimated cost of your SMS. We use the same SMS Cost Equestion we explained above in this sheet, the best part is you can plug in the information and we will calculate it for you on the sheet.

Open the sheet from the link below and "Make a Copy" of it.

SMS Cost Estimator Sheet