Geoff CuddSimpleTexting sells credits, not texts. That distinction is the whole story of its pricing, and it is why a 500-credit plan is rarely 500 messages.
A plain text under 160 characters costs 1 credit. Go over that and it costs 2. Attach a picture and it costs 3.
So the $39 entry plan is 500 short plain texts, or 250 longer ones, or about 167 picture messages. Same plan, same price, three very different results.
The $39 itself splits in two as well: $29 of credits plus $10 for the local number. SimpleTexting shows both lines in its own cost breakdown, but the headline is the number people quote.
And you do not have to pay the second line. Switch the number type to toll-free on SimpleTexting's own pricing page and the estimate drops from $39.00 to $29.00, the number bills at $0, and the one-time $4 registration disappears with it. Carrier fees are near-identical on both. The only real cost is patience: a toll-free number takes 1 to 3 days to clear carrier approval, where a local number works the same afternoon.
The short answer
- Entry plan: $29 a month of credits, plus $10 only if you want a local number
- Credits are not texts: 1 for a short SMS, 2 for a long one, 3 for a picture
- Three user seats included, where most rivals give you one
- Annual billing saves 20%, and there is a $4 one-time carrier registration
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What a SimpleTexting Credit Actually Buys
Work this out before you pick a plan. It changes which tier you need more than anything else on this page.
| Message | Credits | On a 500-credit plan |
|---|---|---|
| Text under 160 characters | 1 | 500 messages |
| Text up to 306 characters | 2 | 250 messages |
| Picture message (MMS) | 3 | 166 messages |
| Incoming text | Free | Unlimited |
| Incoming picture message | 1 | 500 messages |
Run your own mix before choosing a tier. A retailer sending weekly photo promotions burns credits three times faster than one sending plain reminders, on the identical plan.
Unused credits roll over to the end of the following month, so a quiet month is not wasted outright, but it does not bank indefinitely either.
SimpleTexting Plans, Prices and Cost per Month in 2026
Eight tiers on monthly billing. The credits line and the number are billed separately. The monthly total column below assumes a local number, which is the $10 line; on a toll-free number your bill is the credits cost on its own.
| Credits | Credits cost | Number | Monthly total | Extra credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $29 | $10 | $39 | 5.5c |
| 1,000 | $49 | $10 | $59 | 5c |
| 2,000 | $79 | $10 | $89 | 4c |
| 3,000 | $109 | $10 | $119 | 4c |
| 7,500 | $229 | $10 | $239 | 3.5c |
| 15,000 | $399 | $10 | $409 | 3c |
| 25,000 | $549 | $10 | $559 | 2.5c |
| 50,000 | $899 | $10 | $909 | 2c |
Annual billing takes 20% off the credits, but not the number. That is worth getting right, because 20% of $39 is not the answer. The 500-credit plan with a local number becomes $33.20 a month, billed at $398.40 for the year. On a toll-free number it is $23.20 a month, or $278.40 for the year. Nonprofits get 15% off monthly plans.
The overage rate matters if your volume is uneven, and it cuts both ways. Below 2,000 credits the overage rate is slightly under what you already pay inside your plan, so a small account that occasionally spikes can stay put. From 7,500 up it flips: at 15,000 you pay 2.7 cents a credit but 3 cents for anything extra, and at 25,000 it is 2.2 against 2.5. At that size, buying the tier above is cheaper than habitual overage.
The free trial needs no card, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee after that.
Has SimpleTexting Raised Its Prices?
No. The credit prices have not moved in three years. SimpleTexting builds its pricing table from a script on its own site, and the eight tiers in the August 2023 version are identical to the version running today: $29, $49, $79, $109, $229, $399, $549 and $899, with the same per-credit overage rates attached to each.
What changed is the number, and that is where the $39 came from. Before October 2023 there was no number line on the pricing page at all. The 500-credit plan billed $278.40 for a year and that was the whole bill. The October 2023 rebuild added the local-versus-toll-free choice and put $10 a month against a local number, which is the line that turned a $29 headline into the $39 nearly every comparison site now quotes.
The practical version: a local number costs you $120 a year that nobody paid before late 2023, and a toll-free number puts you back on the 2023 bill. Same credits, same features, same platform.
Stable pricing is worth something in this category, where rates move often and usually upward. If you are watching for an increase at SimpleTexting, the thing to watch is not the rate card but which number type gets picked for you at signup.
The Add-Ons That Change Your Bill
- Extra user seats: $20 a month each. Three come included, which is the most generous allowance in this category.
- Extra numbers: $10 a month each. Useful for multiple locations or agents, and priced the same as your first number.
- Carrier registration: $4, once. A one-time charge, not recurring, and only on local numbers.
- Toll-free number: free. The $10 local-number line is optional, and dropping it takes $120 a year off every tier.
- Short code: from $1,000 a month for a random code, or $1,500 for a vanity one where the digits spell a word. Standard for the industry and unnecessary for most businesses.
- Carrier fees: roughly $0.004 a message, passed through with no markup. SimpleTexting's pricing page quotes $0.0025 as a US average, but its own published fee schedule charges more than that for the four carriers that carry most of your list: AT&T $0.0035, and Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint $0.0045 each. On 15,000 messages that is about $60 a month on top of the $399 plan.
- Vetting: $40, if you need higher throughput than your registration allows. It can be resubmitted after 45 days for another $40.
Those three included seats are worth real money. On a platform charging $20 a seat, a team of three costs $40 a month more than a team of one. That closes most of the gap between SimpleTexting and cheaper rivals for any business with a few people answering texts.
How SimpleTexting Compares on Price
Monthly billing, each platform on its cheapest number option, against the others we track. SimpleTexting is priced here on a toll-free number, so these are $10 below the totals in the table above.
| 1,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleTexting | $49 | $229 | $549 |
| ClickSend | $29 | $129 | $358 |
| Mobile Text Alerts | $44 | $149 | $499 |
| SlickText | $49 | $169 | $579 |
| Textmagic | $59 | $185 | $610 |
SimpleTexting sits mid-table, and at 5,000 it is the most expensive option here. That is the honest reading of the raw numbers.
Two things move it back. Three seats are included rather than one, which is $40 a month of value against a platform charging per user. And at 20,000 it overtakes both SlickText and Textmagic, because its per-credit rate keeps falling while theirs flattens out.
Price your own volume against all six in our SMS marketing cost guide, or see the head-to-head in SimpleTexting vs EZ Texting.
Is SimpleTexting Worth the Price?
Where it makes sense: teams of two or three sharing an inbox, businesses that want opt-in keywords and a real campaign builder rather than a sending API, and anyone who values rollover credits. Our SimpleTexting review covers how it performs in practice.
Where it does not: a solo operator sending plain reminders is paying for seats and tooling they will not use, and ClickSend does the same job for $29 at 1,000 messages. Heavy picture messaging also gets expensive fast at 3 credits each.
Worth knowing: SimpleTexting is owned by Sinch, which also owns ClickSend. The two are priced for completely different buyers despite the shared parent.
Work out your credit mix first, then pick the tier. Guessing on message count is what makes the bill jump.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does SimpleTexting cost?
Plans start at $29 a month for 500 credits on a toll-free number. Add a local number and it is $39, which is the figure usually quoted. From there the credits run $49, $79, $109, $229, $399, $549 and $899 for 1,000 up to 50,000, with $10 a month on top for a local number. Annual billing takes 20% off the credits.
Is a SimpleTexting credit the same as a text?
Not always. A text under 160 characters costs 1 credit, a text up to 306 characters costs 2, and a picture message costs 3. Incoming texts are free and incoming picture messages cost 1 credit. A 500-credit plan is 500 short texts or about 166 picture messages.
Does SimpleTexting include a phone number?
Yes, and the type you pick changes the bill. A toll-free number is free, so the entry plan is $29. A local number is a separate $10 line plus a one-time $4 registration, which is what makes the widely quoted entry price $39. Extra numbers cost $10 a month each either way.
How many users does SimpleTexting include?
Three user seats on every paid plan, which is the most generous allowance among the platforms we track. Additional seats cost $20 a month each.
Do SimpleTexting credits roll over?
Yes. Unused credits carry over to the end of the following month, so one quiet month is not lost. They do not accumulate indefinitely, so a plan you consistently underuse is still worth downgrading.
Does SimpleTexting have a free trial?
Yes. It runs 14 days and does not require a credit card, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee after that, so you can leave within the first month and get refunded. Messages sent during the trial carry a “SimpleTexting” prefix, which comes off once you upgrade and register your business.
What extra fees does SimpleTexting charge?
A one-time $4 carrier registration on local numbers, $20 a month per additional user, $10 a month per additional number, and carrier fees of roughly $0.004 a message passed through with no markup. There is also a $40 vetting fee if you need higher throughput than your registration allows. A dedicated short code starts at $1,000 a month, or $1,500 for a vanity code.
Has SimpleTexting raised its prices?
Not since at least August 2023. The eight credit tiers in SimpleTexting's own pricing script have been $29, $49, $79, $109, $229, $399, $549 and $899 that whole time. What changed was the phone number: before October 2023 there was no number charge, and the 500-credit plan billed $278.40 a year. The local-number option added $10 a month, which is where the widely quoted $39 entry price comes from. A toll-free number still costs nothing.
Why do other sites say SimpleTexting starts at $39?
Because SimpleTexting's pricing page defaults to a local number and labels it “most popular”. That adds a separate $10 a month line, plus a one-time $4 carrier registration. Switch the control to toll-free and the estimate drops to $29.00 with the number at $0 and the registration fee gone. Every tier is $10 a month lower than the figure usually published.
Is SimpleTexting cheaper than ClickSend?
No. At 1,000 messages SimpleTexting is $49 against ClickSend's $29, and at 20,000 it is $549 against $358. SimpleTexting includes three seats, opt-in keywords and a campaign builder, so the extra buys tooling rather than messages. Both are owned by Sinch.
