Stefan SchulzTextmagic is a business texting platform that bills by the message instead of by the month. US texts start at 4.9 cents and fall to 2 cents at high volume, with no subscription, no contract and no per-seat charges.
Two things its pricing page does not make obvious, and both change the real number.
A phone number is not optional. Texting US numbers requires a registered toll-free number at $10 a month, or a local 10DLC number at $20 a month once campaign registration is added. Your first 500 texts cost $34.50, not $24.50.
The advertised rate is only one of three ways to buy. Textmagic also sells a monthly Professional plan with discounted rates and a free number, and a Connect plan that charges 1 cent a message on top of your own Twilio or Vonage account. It publishes the price of neither any more, though Professional was $42 a month for 1,000 US texts as recently as November 2024.
We ran Textmagic against the rest of the SMS field. Here is what it actually costs, what it does well, and the volume at which it stops making sense.
Textmagic is the cheapest option in this category below roughly 300 texts a month, and one of the most expensive above 2,000. You are paying for flexibility and unlimited seats, not for the rate.
Note: this review previously described Textmagic as flat rate with no volume tiers. That is no longer true. The rate now steps down at 2,000, 5,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 texts. Textmagic has also added email campaigns with the first 10,000 emails free, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram messaging, and a chat widget, so it is no longer an SMS-only tool.
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Key Takeaways
- Real entry cost is $34.50 for 500 texts, not $24.50. The 4.9 cent rate covers the messages. The number you have to send them from is $10 a month on top.
- The rate is set by the bundle you buy, not by what you send. It falls to 4 cents at 2,000, 3.5 cents at 5,000, 3 cents at 20,000, 2.5 cents at 50,000 and 2 cents at 100,000.
- There are three ways to buy and only one is advertised. Essential is the pay-as-you-go rate above. Professional is a monthly plan with discounted rates, a free number and free inbound SMS. Connect charges 1 cent a message on top of your own Twilio, Vonage, Sinch or Bandwidth account.
- Unlimited users and unlimited contacts on every account, plus the first 10,000 emails free. Most competitors include one to three seats and bill for the rest.
- You are billed for every message sent, delivered or not. Only messages rejected before sending are free.
- A local number costs twice a toll-free one. Both numbers are $10 a month, but 10DLC adds a $10 monthly campaign registration fee while toll-free verification is free. Registration takes 2 to 7 business days either way.
What Is Textmagic?
Textmagic is a business text messaging service for notifications, alerts, reminders and permission-based marketing campaigns. You buy credit, you spend it on whatever you send, and you top up again when it runs low.
It is run by Textmagic Ltd, a UK company based in Romford, Essex, with support numbers in the US, UK, Australia and Estonia. The company says it powers more than 20,000 businesses a month.
The important thing to understand about Textmagic is what kind of tool it is. It is a sending and conversation platform first, and a marketing suite second. That shapes both the price and the gaps.
How Does Textmagic Work?
You create an account, get a free test balance, buy a number, add credit and send. There is no plan to choose unless you ask for one.
Sending happens through the web app, the desktop app, the mobile apps or the API. A few of the parts you will actually use:
- Compose – Build and schedule a bulk send, with tags, attachments and saved templates.
- Messenger – A shared two-way inbox where replies and inbound texts land.
- Contacts – Unlimited contacts, sorted into lists and segments.
- Automation workflows – Trigger messages from inbound texts, form fills or API events.
- SMS surveys – Auto-responder polls built from templates.
- 10DLC and toll-free registration – Register the number US carriers require before anything will deliver.
- Reports – Delivery and engagement reporting on each campaign.
Once you are logged in, composing a message takes a few clicks. Select a list, type the message, insert tags or a template, send. Contacts can be typed in or imported from a file or another app.
Inboxes and contact lists are shared across the team through subaccounts, and every team member can schedule sends and watch delivery rates. Because seats are unlimited, there is no reason to share one login.
Who Uses Textmagic?
Textmagic suits smaller teams that need reliable operational texting rather than a campaign machine. Its published customer stories are dominated by local and mid-sized businesses: insurance agencies, real estate offices, healthcare and dental practices, lumber and food producers, and charities running event campaigns.
The common pattern is a team sending reminders, alerts and updates to a list it already owns, with a few staff sharing one inbox. If you need to build that list from scratch with opt-in keywords and signup widgets, this is not the tool.
What Does Textmagic Cost? (Textmagic Pricing)
There is no signup fee and no account fee. You buy credit up front and spend it on texts, emails or connected-carrier messages.
How Much Does Textmagic Cost Per Text?
The US rate depends on the size of the bundle you buy. These are the published rates from Textmagic's own pricing calculator, verified 24 August 2026.
| Bundle | Rate per SMS | Message cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500 SMS | 4.9c | $24.50 |
| 1,000 SMS | 4.9c | $49.00 |
| 2,000 SMS | 4.0c | $80.00 |
| 5,000 SMS | 3.5c | $175.00 |
| 10,000 SMS | 3.5c | $350.00 |
| 20,000 SMS | 3.0c | $600.00 |
| 50,000 SMS | 2.5c | $1,250.00 |
| 100,000 SMS and above | 2.0c | $2,000.00 |
Notice there is no discount at all between 500 and 1,000, and none again between 5,000 and 10,000. The first real saving arrives at 2,000, where the rate drops 18%.
MMS costs 8 cents a message. Rates for other countries differ, and Textmagic prices each destination separately.
We break every rate down further, including what a local number does to the total, in our Textmagic pricing guide.
The Number Fee the Rate Card Leaves Out
You cannot text a US number from a personal mobile or from thin air. Textmagic requires a registered number, and it is a monthly charge deducted from your credit.
- Toll-free number: $10 a month, first month free. Brand and use case verification is free.
- Local 10DLC number: $10 a month for the number plus $10 a month for campaign registration, so $20 in total. First month free on both.
- Alphanumeric Sender ID: $10 a month per campaign, first month free. Your business name shows as the sender, but recipients cannot reply.
Toll-free is the cheaper route by $10 a month and the faster one to approve. Take a local number only if a local area code genuinely matters to the people you are texting.
One consequence worth planning for: because the first month of the number fee is free, your second month costs more than your first.
What Textmagic Costs at 500, 5,000 and 50,000 Messages
Here is the all-in monthly cost with one toll-free number, against the platforms most people compare it with.
| Monthly volume | Textmagic | ClickSend | Mobile Text Alerts | SimpleTexting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $34.50 | $20.33 | $25.00 | $29.00 |
| 5,000 | $185.00 | $128.58 | $149.00 | $229.00 |
| 50,000 | $1,260.00 | $693.58 | from $500.00 | $899.00 |
Textmagic loses that table at every volume shown, and the gap widens as you scale. At 50,000 messages it costs roughly double what ClickSend does.
So where does it win? Below the point where a subscription starts wasting money.
Mobile Text Alerts charges $25 a month for its smallest tier of 500 credits. Textmagic charges 4.9 cents plus $10, so the two cross at about 300 texts a month. Against SlickText's $29 tier the crossover is about 390, and it lands in the same place against SimpleTexting, whose 500-credit plan is also $29 once you take the toll-free number it gives you free.
Under those numbers, Textmagic is cheaper and nothing is wasted in a quiet month. Over them, you are paying a premium for a flexibility you are no longer using.
Work out your own number below, or read the full breakdown in our guide to SMS marketing costs and ROI.
What will SMS marketing actually cost you?
These six platforms charge for completely different things. Three sell message credits, one bills by the size of your list, one sells prepaid credit up front, and one is pure pay as you go. Set your numbers below and see all six ranked on what you would actually pay.
Our other top picks
The Plans Textmagic Does Not Put a Price On
The 4.9 cent rate is the Essential plan, and it is the only one on the pricing page. There are two others.
Professional is a monthly plan available in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, the UK and Australia. It carries discounted outbound rates, one free virtual number, free inbound SMS, and unused credits that roll over for up to two months. Textmagic does not publish what it costs today, but it did until at least November 2024: $42 a month for 1,000 US texts, against $49 of pay-as-you-go credit plus the $10 number. That is about $17 a month cheaper at the same volume, before free inbound texts are counted. Ask for the current Professional rate before you top up credit, and see our Textmagic pricing breakdown for the rest of the old plan table.
Connect is the bring-your-own-carrier route. If you already have an account with Twilio, Vonage, Sinch or Bandwidth, you keep your numbers and their rates and pay Textmagic a flat 1 cent per message part for the software. For a team already paying carrier rates, that is the cheapest way to use this platform by a wide margin.
If you send more than a few thousand texts a month, ask about Professional before you accept the published rate. If you already run Twilio, price Connect first, and if you would rather leave Twilio altogether, compare the best Twilio alternatives.
What It Takes to Start Sending in the US
The software is ready in minutes. The carriers are not.
Every US sender has to complete brand and use case registration before anything will deliver, and Textmagic says that typically takes 2 to 7 business days. Personal mobile numbers are not supported for US or Canadian messaging.
There is no free shared number to fall back on. Receiving replies requires a dedicated number, and a Sender ID cannot receive them at all.
| Detail | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Free trial | No time limit. New accounts get a free test balance instead |
| Credit expiry | Pay-as-you-go credit never expires. Professional plan credits roll over two months |
| Time to first US send | 2 to 7 business days for brand and campaign registration |
| Failed messages | Billed. You pay for every SMS sent whether or not it is delivered |
| Seats and contacts | Unlimited, on every plan, at no extra cost |
Textmagic Review
Overall Rating: 4/5
Price: 3.5/5 | Ease of Use: 5/5 | Features: 4.5/5 | Integrations: 4.5/5 | Customer Support: 4/5
Textmagic is one of the easier platforms in this category to actually use. It needs no programming knowledge, and it took us only a few minutes to import contacts and send a first batch.
The shared inbox is the part that earns its keep. Two-way conversations land in one place, the whole team can work them, and nobody is billed per seat for the privilege.
The pricing model is built for smaller senders. Because you pay per message, there is no plan sitting idle in a slow month, which is the single most common way businesses waste money on SMS software.
That same model is the problem at scale. At 5,000 texts a month you are paying $185 for what Mobile Text Alerts sells for $149 and ClickSend delivers for about $129, and the gap only grows from there.
Support is good but not the round-the-clock operation this review used to claim. Phone support runs 06:00 to 00:00 UTC on weekdays and 09:00 to 17:00 UTC at weekends, with email and live chat alongside it.
Send your first text in minutes with no plan to sign. Check out Textmagic.
Visit Textmagic
Pros
- Genuinely pay-as-you-go. No plan, no contract, no minimum. Pay-as-you-go credit never expires, so a quiet month costs you nothing but the number fee.
- Cheapest option below about 300 texts a month, where every subscription platform is charging you for capacity you are not using.
- Unlimited users and unlimited contacts on every account. Competitors that include one to three seats often charge $20 a month for each extra login.
- Toll-free verification is free, which makes the toll-free route $10 a month cheaper than 10DLC rather than the usual toss-up.
- More than SMS now. Email campaigns with the first 10,000 emails free, plus WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram messaging with no Textmagic markup, though Meta's own fees still apply.
- Bring your own carrier. If you already run Twilio, Vonage, Sinch or Bandwidth, Connect charges 1 cent a message part for the software and leaves your carrier rates alone.
- A free test balance at signup, so you can check delivery before spending anything.
- Easy to learn. Importing contacts, building templates and scheduling a bulk send took us minutes, not an afternoon.
- Deep API and Zapier support, with wrappers in about a dozen languages and no development experience needed for the Zapier route.
Cons
- Expensive at volume. At 5,000 texts a month it is $185 against $149 for Mobile Text Alerts, and at 50,000 it is roughly double ClickSend.
- The number fee is not in the headline rate. Budget $10 a month for toll-free or $20 for a local 10DLC number before you compare anything.
- The cheaper plans are unpublished. Professional and Connect both beat the advertised rate for the right sender, and neither has a printed price.
- You pay for undelivered messages. Every SMS sent is billed whether it lands or not. Only pre-send rejections are free.
- No list-growth tooling. No opt-in keywords, no signup widgets, no landing pages. You bring the contacts.
- Sender IDs cannot receive replies, so the cheapest-looking sender option kills two-way conversation.
- No free shared number for US senders. A registered dedicated number is required to send or receive, and registration runs 2 to 7 business days.
- Coverage is narrower than it looks. Dedicated numbers are available in about 20 countries, and there is no single number that texts the whole world.
- Support is not 24/7 by phone, despite what a lot of reviews still say. Weekend phone hours are 09:00 to 17:00 UTC.
What Real Users Say About Textmagic [Video]
Textmagic Integrations
Textmagic connects to the rest of your stack three ways: directly, through Zapier, or through the API.
- Email to SMS gateway – Send a text by emailing an address, and forward inbound replies to email.
- SMS distribution lists – Anything emailed to a list address goes out as a text to every number on it.
- Single sign-on – Simplifies staff management across tools.
- Inbound automation – Auto-replies, list management and built-in opt-out handling.
- Bring your own carrier – Twilio, Vonage, Sinch and Bandwidth, with Infobip listed as coming soon.
API Integrations
- Wrappers for Java, Ruby, PHP, Python and Perl
- Send directly from your own app
- Schedule messages in advance
- Check delivery status programmatically
Zapier Integrations
These need no code at all. Common ones include Facebook Lead Ads, Pipedrive, Mailchimp, Gmail, ActiveCampaign and ClickFunnels, plus:
- Appointments and events – Calendly and Google Calendar for automatic reminders.
- Feedback – Typeform, to text an offer or thank you when someone completes a form.
- Team collaboration – Trello, Zendesk and Slack.
For more on wiring texts into your workflow, see our guide to SMS marketing automation.
Is Textmagic Worth It?
It depends almost entirely on how much you send.
If you text a few hundred people a month, Textmagic is the cheapest honest answer in this category. There is no plan to outgrow, no wasted capacity, no seat charges, and your credit does not evaporate if you skip a month.
If you send thousands, the arithmetic turns against it fast. At that point either negotiate the Professional plan, move to a credit-tier platform, or use Connect on top of a carrier account you already pay for.
And if list growth is the job, this is the wrong tool at any volume. Textmagic will deliver messages to a list. It will not build you one.
Textmagic Alternatives
Still weighing it up?
Compare Textmagic with other providers. Check out our detailed guide and get our recommendation on the best SMS marketing software.
Which alternative fits depends on what Textmagic is missing for you.
- You want the cheapest per message: ClickSend – Read our review
- You want the cheapest monthly plan at volume: Mobile Text Alerts – Read our review
- You want a campaign builder and included seats: SimpleTexting – Read our review, or compare it head to head in SimpleTexting vs EZ Texting
- You want list growth and keywords: SlickText – Read our review
- You are building on an API: Twilio – Read our review
- You want to start without paying: see our roundup of free SMS software
- Other options worth a look: Salesmsg, Heymarket, Textedly and EZ Texting
Before committing to any of them, price your actual monthly volume on each. Headline rates in this category are almost never comparable without doing the arithmetic yourself.
Summary
Textmagic is the right choice for a small team that sends a modest number of texts and wants nobody billing them for seats or idle capacity. Under roughly 300 messages a month, nothing beats it.
Above that it becomes a convenience purchase. The platform is easy, the inbox is genuinely good, and you are paying a few cents a message for the privilege of never signing a plan.
Whatever volume you are at, start the number registration before the week you want to send. Two to seven business days is the part no software can speed up.
Our Favorite SMS Marketing Software
- No development experience required
- 2-way communication and mass texting
- Import contacts in seconds
- Pay as you go pricing
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Textmagic worth it?
It is worth it below roughly 300 texts a month, where paying 4.9 cents a message plus $10 for a number beats every subscription plan in the category. Above about 2,000 texts a month it is one of the more expensive options, and either the unpublished Professional plan or a credit-tier competitor will cost you less.
Is Textmagic legit?
Yes. Textmagic Ltd is a UK-registered company based in Romford, Essex, that says it powers more than 20,000 businesses a month, with published customer stories and support numbers in the US, UK, Australia and Estonia.
Do I need a dedicated number to text US customers with Textmagic?
Yes. Personal mobile numbers are not supported for US or Canadian messaging, and you have to complete brand and use case registration before anything will deliver. A toll-free number is $10 a month, a local 10DLC number is $20 once campaign registration is added, and approval typically takes 2 to 7 business days.
Does Textmagic have monthly plans?
Yes, though it does not advertise them. The Professional plan is available in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, the UK and Australia, and includes discounted outbound rates, one free virtual number, free inbound SMS and credits that roll over for up to two months. Textmagic does not publish the price, so you have to ask for a quote.
Can I use my own Twilio or Vonage account with Textmagic?
Yes, through the Connect plan. You keep your existing numbers and carrier rates and pay Textmagic a flat 1 cent per message part for the software. Twilio, Vonage, Sinch and Bandwidth are supported, with Infobip listed as coming soon.
Does Textmagic credit expire?
Pay-as-you-go credit never expires. Credits on the monthly Professional plan roll over for up to two months before they lapse, so the flexible option is the pay-as-you-go one.
Is Textmagic cheaper than SimpleTexting?
Only below about 390 texts a month. Textmagic costs $10 for a toll-free number plus 4.9 cents a message, so 500 texts is $34.50 against SimpleTexting's $29, and SimpleTexting is already the cheaper of the two at that volume. At 5,000 texts Textmagic is $185 and SimpleTexting is $229, and SimpleTexting also includes three seats, opt-in keywords and a campaign builder that Textmagic does not.
Can Textmagic send WhatsApp and email as well as SMS?
Yes. Email campaigns are included with the first 10,000 emails free, and WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram messages carry no additional Textmagic fee, though Meta's own fees still apply. There is also an omnichannel chat widget for your website.
Can I receive replies with Textmagic?
Only on a dedicated number. Replies and inbound texts land in the shared Messenger inbox, but an alphanumeric Sender ID cannot receive anything, and there is no free shared number for US senders to fall back on.
Which countries does Textmagic cover?
Dedicated numbers are available in about 20 countries, with the US, UK, Canada and Australia as the main markets, and Textmagic does not offer a single number that sends worldwide. Check your destination on its pricing calculator before signing up, because rates and availability vary by country.
How long is a single text message?
A standard SMS holds 160 plain text characters. Going over splits the message into multiple parts and you are billed for each one, and a single emoji switches the whole message to Unicode and shortens the limit, which is the most common way people accidentally double a send's cost.
TextMagic Pros + Cons Video
