Best SMS Marketing Platform: 7 Picks Compared on Price

How we chose

We read the pricing page of each platform, noted the entry price, the message allowance, the free plan or trial, and the fees that sit outside the headline price, then ranked them on fit for the buyer in the title rather than on features alone. Prices below are monthly-billing list prices checked on 13 November 2026, based on published pricing and documentation. No hands-on testing was done. The plan price is rarely the whole bill: a sending number, carrier fees and 10DLC registration usually sit on top, so the cost table below prices a realistic month.

1. Klaviyo: best for ecommerce brands using email too

Klaviyo is an email and SMS platform built for ecommerce, and that is why it leads this list. SMS runs on the same profiles as email, so a text can be triggered by a purchase, a browse, or an abandoned cart without a second tool. Flows cover welcome texts, back-in-stock alerts and post-purchase follow-ups, and segments can mix email engagement with SMS behaviour.

Pricing has two meters. Email is billed by active profiles: free up to 250 profiles, then $20 a month for 500 profiles. SMS is billed separately, from $15 a month for 1,250 credits, at about $0.009 per US text on a short code and $0.011 on a toll-free number, with carrier fees included where applicable. The free plan includes $5 of mobile messages a month.

Klaviyo is weaker outside ecommerce. The profile-based email pricing punishes a large list even if you email rarely, and SMS is an add-on rather than the core product, so a business that only wants texting pays for a platform built around email. Skip Klaviyo if you do not sell online, or if your list is large and your email volume is small.

2. Postscript: best for Shopify stores focused on SMS revenue

Postscript is an SMS-first platform built for Shopify, and it shows in the pricing. There is no per-contact charge and no charge for storing profiles. The Starter plan costs $0 a month with a $49 monthly minimum spend, Growth is $100 a month, and Professional is $500 a month, with SMS at $0.009, $0.008 and $0.007 per message respectively, plus carrier fees. A 45-day trial comes with a $100 usage credit.

What sets Postscript apart is how it treats SMS as a revenue channel: popups and checkout collection, two-way conversations, AI replies, and revenue attribution that ties texts to orders. It also sells an AI plan at $699 a month for teams that want AI to handle replies and campaigns. The platform is Shopify-only in practice, so a store on another platform should look elsewhere. The Starter plan is also thin on features, and the per-message rate means a high-volume sender can outgrow the cheap tiers fast. Skip Postscript if you do not run Shopify.

3. SimpleTexting: best for small businesses that want it simple

SimpleTexting runs one plan with every feature, priced only by message credits. It starts at $29 a month for 500 credits, or $23.20 a month billed annually, and scales to $899 a month for 50,000 credits. A standard SMS of up to 160 characters costs one credit, a longer message costs two, and an MMS costs three. Incoming SMS is free, contacts are unlimited, and three user seats are included.

The honest entry price is higher than $29. A local number costs $10 a month plus a $4 one-time carrier registration, so the pricing page's own default example comes to $39 a month. A toll-free number costs nothing, but activation can take up to a week. Carrier fees are passed through at cost. SimpleTexting is US and Canada only, and a dedicated short code starts at $1,000 a month. Skip it if you text outside North America, or if you need ecommerce revenue attribution like Klaviyo or Postscript offer.

4. Attentive: best for large ecommerce brands

Attentive is the enterprise SMS platform for ecommerce, with SMS, MMS, RCS, email and push in one place, plus AI products for journeys, conversational replies and message drafting. Its strengths are managed onboarding, deliverability support, and a feature set built for brands sending hundreds of thousands of texts a month.

It publishes no prices. Every account is quoted on message volume, list size, channels and AI products, under an annual contract. That is the whole pricing story, and it is the reason Attentive sits fourth rather than first: a buyer cannot budget for it without a sales conversation, and smaller brands report quarterly minimums and long commitments. Skip Attentive if you want a price you can read today, or if your list is under a few thousand subscribers. It is built for brands with the volume to justify a managed program.

5. Textedly: best for AI voice and SMS in one plan

Textedly is an AI-powered SMS platform that puts every feature on every plan, including AI voice agents that answer questions, qualify leads and book appointments, plus text-to-pay and review requests. Plans start at $29 a month for 500 messages and scale through 14 tiers to $5,520 a month for 300,000 messages. Annual billing adds 20% more messages at the same price.

The fees to watch are the $8 monthly telecom surcharge on each account, extra texts at $30 per 500, and extra keywords at $10 each. A 10DLC number carries a registration fee of $4 to $44 depending on volume, while a toll-free number is free. Textedly's breadth is also its weakness: a buyer who only wants simple campaigns pays for voice agents and payment tools they may never open. Skip it if you want the cheapest plain SMS plan, or if your team will not use the AI features.

6. SlickText: best for teams that want rollover credits

SlickText prices by message credits with every feature on every plan, starting at $29 a month for 500 credits and running to $939 a month for 50,000 credits. Annual billing gives two months free. Each plan includes unlimited contacts, unlimited users, unlimited keywords, free incoming messages and a toll-free sending number. Unused credits roll over for one term, which is the feature that earns SlickText its place: a seasonal business can bank credits in a quiet month and spend them in a busy one.

Carrier fees are passed through at cost, and SlickText publishes the effect plainly: on the $29 plan they add at most $2.10 a month for standard US texts. Plans from $129 include a free one-on-one onboarding session, and RCS messaging costs a $500 one-time setup fee plus $200 a year. Skip SlickText if you text internationally, or if you need ecommerce attribution rather than a general-purpose texter.

7. EZ Texting: best for lowest entry price

EZ Texting has the lowest entry price in this list: the Launch plan starts at $25 a month, or $20 a month billed annually, for 500 credits. Boost is $75 a month and Scale is $125, with Enterprise at $3,000 a month for a dedicated short code. Every plan includes unlimited contacts and keywords, a team inbox, scheduling, drip campaigns, AI Compose and AI Reply, and live chat support.

The add-ons matter. Overages cost $0.04 per credit on Launch, falling to $0.01 on Enterprise, and the Launch plan carries a $5 monthly telecom fee that is waived on higher plans. Each plan includes one user, with extra seats at $10 a month, and a local number is included while carrier pass-through fees are billed separately. EZ Texting is US and Canada only, and every plan starts with the same 500 credits, so the price jumps buy features and contact capacity rather than messages. Skip it if you send high volumes of MMS, since each MMS costs three credits and burns the allowance fast.

What 8,000 texts a month actually costs

Take a business with 2,000 subscribers sending four campaigns a month, one text each: 8,000 texts. The plan price alone hides the real difference:

Two lessons fall out of that table. First, credit-bundle platforms punish a sender who sits just above a tier: EZ Texting's $25 plan looks cheap until 7,500 overage credits at $0.04 each add $300. Second, per-message pricing wins at this volume: Klaviyo's $70 and Postscript's $164 are far below the bundle platforms. Run your own numbers at your volume before you choose, and remember that a long message costs two credits and an MMS three on most bundle plans.

How to choose

• You sell on Shopify and SMS is a revenue channel: Postscript, for its Shopify depth and per-message pricing.
• You already use Klaviyo for email: add Klaviyo SMS, because the profiles, flows and purchase data are already there.
• You want the cheapest start: EZ Texting at $25 a month, as long as you stay inside 500 credits.
• You want every feature on day one: SimpleTexting, SlickText or Textedly, all of which put the full toolkit on the entry plan.
• You send over 100,000 texts a month: talk to Attentive, and get quotes from Postscript Professional and SlickText's higher tiers before you sign anything.

What the free plan really allows

Free options in SMS are thin. Klaviyo's free plan is the only true free tier here, with 250 profiles, 500 emails a month and 150 SMS credits. Every other platform offers a trial instead: 14 days at SimpleTexting, Textedly, SlickText and EZ Texting, 45 days at Postscript with a $100 credit, and a sales-led trial at Attentive. A trial is enough to test sending and replies, but not enough to judge deliverability or revenue. Budget one paid month for a real test, and check the cancellation terms before the trial ends, since some plans renew automatically.

Common mistakes

• Comparing plan prices without the number and carrier fees. The $29 plan is $39 with a local number at SimpleTexting, and $34 with the telecom fee at EZ Texting.
• Ignoring message length. A 200-character message is two credits, so a 500-credit plan sends 250 long texts, not 500.
• Buying the biggest bundle to "save" per credit. Unused credits expire on most plans; only SlickText rolls them over for a term.
• Skipping registration. US carriers require 10DLC registration before marketing texts go out. Unregistered traffic can be blocked outright.
• Texting without consent. SMS is permission-based everywhere in the US and Canada. An opt-in form, a keyword, and a clear opt-out are not optional extras.

For the email side of the same job, see the best mass email service, the email marketing funnel guide, and the best email platform for nonprofits. If you want the email automations that pair with SMS, the email automations for online stores guide walks through them, and Adziq's email services cover setup and management.

Common questions

Sources

• Klaviyo pricing
• Postscript plans overview
• SimpleTexting pricing
• Attentive pricing
• Textedly pricing
• SlickText pricing
• EZ Texting pricing

Adziq sells marketing services and does not accept payment for placement in its articles. See our editorial policy.