Free tool
What does bulk texting actually cost?
Put in your list size and how often you send. The figures are the real credit bundles, not a sample rate. Rates start at 1.99¢ a text. Nothing is emailed to you and nothing is stored.
Your numbers
- Messages per month
- 4,000
- Bundle that covers it
- –
- Effective rate per text
- –
- Cost per month with Pony Express
- –
Against a monthly plan
- Their platform fee, 12 months
- –
- What that fee costs in a month you send nothing
- –
- Our cost in that same quiet month
- $0.00
Their fee is whatever you entered, before their message charges. We charge for messages and nothing else.
How this is calculated
Messages per month is your list size multiplied by how often you send. Each SMS draws one credit and each MMS draws two. A text longer than 160 characters is split into segments, and every segment draws a credit, so if you write long messages, add roughly one credit per extra 153 characters. Special characters and emoji shorten that limit further.
The bundle shown is the smallest one that covers your monthly volume, and the effective rate is that bundle's price divided by its credits. Buying a larger bundle lowers the rate, and credits stay while your account is active*, so nothing is lost by buying ahead.
What is not in the number
One dedicated local or toll-free number is included. Additional local numbers are $1.25 a month each. Carrier registration for A2P 10DLC has its own one-off and recurring fees set by the carriers rather than by us. See 10DLC approval. Receiving replies is free.
Why the second column exists
Most platforms in this category charge a monthly fee before a single message is sent. That is fine if you send every week and expensive if your activity is seasonal: a school over summer, a nonprofit between campaigns, a tax preparer in July. The point of the comparison is not that per-message rates differ much. It is that a quiet month costs you the fee anyway.