# How much does business texting cost? Every line on the bill

> Business texting has four costs: a platform fee, a fee per number, a price per segment and carrier registration. How each works, with a worked example.

Updated 2026-10-17. https://usetextually.com/guides/business-texting-costs

Business texting costs come in four parts: a platform or seat fee for the software, a monthly fee for each phone number, a price for every segment you send, and one-time and monthly fees for carrier registration. The per-segment price is the part that grows with use, and message length decides how many segments each text uses.

This guide explains each part, what drives it up or down, how segments work, and the questions to ask before you compare price lists. It ends with a worked example at Textually's own prices. It is part of our [rules and registration guides](/guides/business-texting-rules-us-canada); prices for Textually are as listed on our [pricing](/pricing) page on 2026-10-17.

## What are the parts of a business texting bill?

Every business texting service charges for the same four things in some form, even when a price list bundles them:

| Part | What it pays for | How it's usually charged | What makes it go up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform or seat fee | The software: sending, the inbox, sequences, users | Monthly, flat or per user | More users on per-seat plans; higher tiers |
| Phone numbers | Each number you text from | Monthly, per number | More numbers; local and toll-free are priced separately |
| Messages | Each segment you send | Per segment, often cheaper in volume | Longer texts, emoji, more people, more steps |
| Carrier registration | Registering your business and use case with the carriers | One-time fees, plus a monthly campaign fee | Resubmissions after a send-back; extra campaigns |

Two smaller items can also apply: number lookups that check whether a number is a mobile or a landline, and picture messages. Ask about both if you plan to use them.

## How does a platform or seat fee work?

It is the monthly price of the software itself. Some services charge per user, so a team of eight pays eight times what one person pays. Others charge one flat fee for the workspace with any number of users.

The difference matters most for teams where several people answer replies. A shared inbox only works if everyone who answers has access, and per-seat pricing can push teams to share logins or leave people out. When you compare, price the plan for everyone who will read or answer texts, including managers who only look.

Also check what the fee includes: the shared inbox, multi-step sequences, CRM integrations and an API may be included or charged as extras.

## What do phone numbers cost?

A monthly fee per number, whether or not you send from it that month. Local 10-digit numbers and toll-free numbers are usually priced separately.

How many you need depends on where you text and how you work:

- **One local number** is enough to start texting US recipients from a registered 10DLC campaign.
- **A verified toll-free number** is the usual way to text Canadian mobiles, and can text US mobiles too. Our guide to [toll-free vs 10DLC](/guides/toll-free-vs-10dlc) compares the two.
- **More numbers** spread new conversations across your team or regions. They don't raise your carrier limits: T-Mobile's daily allowance under 10DLC is "allocated to each Brand and tied to the Brand's EIN" and "shared across all campaigns" ([The Campaign Registry CSP User Guide, August 2025](https://www.campaignregistry.com/wp-content/uploads/CSP-User-Guide_Aug-21-2025-v8.pdf), read 2026-10-17).

Each extra number is a monthly cost, so add numbers for a reason, such as a second region or a separate team.

## How is the per-message price worked out?

Per segment, the unit the network carries a text in. One segment holds up to 160 characters when every character is in the basic GSM-7 alphabet, or 70 when the text has an emoji, a curly quote or another character outside it ([3GPP TS 23.038, 2026](https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.038/)). Longer texts split into parts of 153 or 67 characters ([3GPP TS 23.040, 2026](https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.040/)), and each part is billed as a segment.

| Text | Alphabet | Segments | Cost at 4 cents a segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 plain characters | GSM-7 | 1 | 4 cents |
| 120 characters with one emoji | UCS-2 | 2 | 8 cents |
| 200 plain characters | GSM-7 | 2 | 8 cents |
| 200 characters with a curly apostrophe | UCS-2 | 3 | 12 cents |

Two things push texts over the line without anyone noticing:

1. **The opt-out line.** Carriers expect opt-out instructions, and a line such as "Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help." takes 87 characters plus a line break. On a first text, it leaves 71 characters for your own words in one segment.
2. **Pasted characters.** A curly apostrophe copied from a document switches the whole text to the 70-character format.

Paste your text into the [SMS segment counter](/tools/sms-segment-counter) to see the count, and read [what an SMS segment is](/guides/text-message-segments) for the full rules. Length is the part of the bill you control most directly: before a reply, one emoji can turn a one-segment text into two or three.

## What does carrier registration cost?

US texting from local numbers needs a registered brand and campaign under 10DLC, and the carriers and the registry set the fees for it. Texting providers pass them on, either as their own line or inside another price. Expect two kinds:

- **One-time fees** when your brand and campaign are registered and reviewed.
- **A monthly campaign fee** for as long as the campaign is active. The registry's guide for providers says "All campaigns have a minimum 3 month commitment", except political campaigns ([The Campaign Registry CSP User Guide, August 2025](https://www.campaignregistry.com/wp-content/uploads/CSP-User-Guide_Aug-21-2025-v8.pdf)).

Send-backs add cost. The same guide says that when a brand is resubmitted for verification, "Each resubmission incurs a fee". A registration that goes through the first time is cheaper than one that comes back. Our [10DLC registration guide](/guides/how-to-register-10dlc) lists what reviewers check, and the [10DLC checklist](/tools/10dlc-checklist) helps you prepare.

Toll-free numbers go through toll-free verification for each number instead of a brand and campaign. Ask your provider whether it charges for verification.

## Which questions should you ask before comparing prices?

Price lists bundle the four parts in different ways, so compare the total for your own use. These questions get you there:

1. **Is the platform fee per user or per workspace?** Count everyone who will answer texts.
2. **Is a number included, and what does each extra one cost?** Local and toll-free separately.
3. **Is the price per message or per segment?** A "message" price that counts a two-segment text as two messages is a segment price.
4. **Is every carrier charge included in the per-segment price, or billed as its own line?** Ask for the full per-segment cost.
5. **Do replies you receive cost anything?** Ask whether inbound texts are charged.
6. **Do prepaid messages expire?** If you buy in bulk, find out when unused messages run out.
7. **What do registration and resubmissions cost, and who fills in the forms?** A rejected registration costs money and weeks.
8. **Are number lookups, picture messages or extra campaigns charged?** Only if you plan to use them.

Then price one real month: your team size, your numbers, and the segments your sequences will send.

## How do you estimate how many segments you'll send?

Multiply the people you text by the texts each one gets, then by the segments per text, then subtract the texts that never go out because people replied.

A simple way to work it out for a drip campaign:

1. **People a month.** New leads or customers who join a sequence.
2. **Texts per person, at most.** The number of Text steps.
3. **Segments per text.** Usually 1 if you write to one segment; 2 if your texts run long.
4. **Your team's own replies.** Answers sent from the inbox use segments too.

The result is a ceiling. Replies end sequences early, so real totals come in lower, and the more people answer, the fewer follow-ups you send.

## What does business texting cost with Textually?

One package with three parts, all listed on the [pricing](/pricing) page: Canadian numbers cost the same per text as US ones; the [Texting Canada](/features/texting-canada) page covers the toll-free numbers Canadian recipients get.

| Part | Price |
|---|---|
| Platform fee | $49 a month, locked for your first 12 months, the founding price for the first 1,000 teams. Standard price $99 a month. Unlimited seats, the shared inbox, compliance checks and registration upkeep |
| Numbers | $10 a month for each local number, $12 a month for each toll-free number |
| Texts | Bought up front in buckets, from 5 cents down to 2.5 cents each. One text is one segment to a US or Canadian number |
| Replies you receive | Free |
| Carrier registration | A one-time fee set by the carriers, charged at cost before we submit. The monthly campaign fee is included in the platform fee. Canadian toll-free verification is free |

The text buckets:

| Bucket | Price | Per text |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 texts | $50 | 5 cents |
| 2,500 texts | $100 | 4 cents |
| 7,500 texts | $260 | 3.5 cents |
| 25,000 texts | $750 | 3 cents |
| 50,000 texts | $1,375 | 2.75 cents |
| 100,000 or more | $2,500 per 100,000 | 2.5 cents |

Texts last 12 months from the day you buy them, and your oldest texts are always used first. Billing starts when your first number goes live. A number lookup that our free rules can't settle uses 1 text, and a text you send from the inbox uses texts the same way a campaign text does.

## A worked example at Textually's prices

A team of four follows up with 400 new leads a month. Each lead gets a three-text sequence, every text written to fit one segment with the opt-out line, from one local number. The team buys the 2,500-text bucket.

The assumptions are ours, for this example only: the budget covers the most the sequence can send, as if no lead replied, plus 240 texts a month the team sends from the inbox to people who answer.

| Line | Working | A month |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee, founding price | Flat, any number of seats | $49 |
| One local number | $10 each | $10 |
| Sequence texts | 400 leads x 3 texts x 1 segment = 1,200 | 1,200 texts |
| Inbox answers | Assumed | 240 texts |
| Texts used | 1,440 texts at 4 cents (2,500 bucket) | $57.60 |
| Total | | $116.60 |

At the standard price of $99, the same month is $166.60. Up front, the first month's platform fee and number plus the 2,500-text bucket come to $159 at the founding price, and the bucket covers a little over seven weeks at this pace. The one-time carrier registration fee is added at cost, and the setup form shows it before you agree to it.

Two changes move the total most:

- **Length.** If every sequence text ran to two segments, the sequence would use 2,400 texts instead of 1,200, adding $48 a month at 4 cents.
- **Replies.** Each lead who answers the first text skips the other two. If a quarter of the 400 replied to the first text, the sequence would use 1,000 texts instead of 1,200, and those 100 people would be talking to your team.

A larger team sending 20,000 texts a month would buy the 25,000 bucket at 3 cents, or 50,000 at 2.75 cents, and the platform fee stays the same however many people use it.

## Where does Textually fit?

Textually runs multi-step text sequences and a shared inbox for teams that text leads and customers in the US and Canada, with one price list: a flat platform fee with unlimited seats, $10 or $12 a month per number, and texts from 5 cents down to 2.5 cents a segment, with replies free. We register your brand and campaign for 10DLC and verify toll-free numbers for Canada, and the composer shows the segment count of every text as you write, both before and after a reply, so you can see what a step will use. See [pricing](/pricing), how [10DLC registration](/features/10dlc-registration) works, or [apply for access](/apply).

## Questions

### How much does business texting cost per month for a small team?

It depends on the platform fee, the numbers and the texts you send. At Textually's prices, a small team with one local number sending about 1,440 one-segment texts a month pays the $49 founding platform fee, $10 for the number and $57.60 in texts at 4 cents each, about $117 a month, plus the one-time registration fee.

### What is the cost per text message for business texting?

Most services charge per segment, the 160-character unit (70 with an emoji) that the network carries. On Textually, each segment uses one text, at 5 cents down to 2.5 cents depending on the bucket, the same for US and Canadian numbers. A two-segment text costs twice a one-segment text.

### Are incoming texts free?

On Textually, replies you receive are free. Ask any service you compare whether it charges for texts you receive.

### Why does my text cost two credits?

Because it ran to two segments. A text over 160 plain characters, or over 70 with an emoji or a curly quote, is split, and each part is charged. The opt-out line on a first text takes 89 characters, which leaves 71 for your own words in one segment.

### How much does 10DLC registration cost?

The carriers and the registry set the fees: one-time fees when the brand and campaign are registered, and a monthly campaign fee. With Textually, the one-time fee is charged at cost and shown before you agree, and the monthly campaign fee is included in the platform fee.

### Do prepaid texts expire?

It depends on the service. On Textually, texts last 12 months from the day you buy them, and the oldest are used first.