How much does mass texting cost?
Mass texting pricing looks simple — cents per message — until you add the monthly floor, the extra users, the long messages that count double, and the registration fees. Here’s how the pricing models actually work.
The four pricing models
| Model | How it works | Example | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message credits | Monthly plan includes a credit allowance | Textedly: $29/mo for 500 messages | Steady marketing volume |
| Contact tiers | Price set by list size | Text-Em-All: $19/mo for up to 50 contacts | Fixed-size groups |
| Per employee | Price set by confirmed roster | Airhorn: $5/mo + $0.75 per employee | Small staff rosters |
| Pay-as-you-go API | Per text, plus number and registration fees | Twilio: $0.0083 per segment plus carrier fees | Developers, high volume |
Third-party prices reflect each company’s published pricing as of October 2026 and change often — check their sites before deciding.
What typical plans cost
- SMS marketing platforms (SimpleTexting, EZ Texting, Textedly, SlickText): entry plans around $25–$39 a month for a few hundred messages, rising with volume.
- Broadcast services (Text-Em-All): monthly plans from $19 by group size, or credits from about 6–9¢ each.
- Staff tools (Airhorn): $5 base plus $0.75 per employee — about $12.50 a month for ten people.
- APIs (Twilio): well under 2¢ per text all-in at volume, but you build and run everything yourself.
The costs that aren’t on the pricing page
- Segments. A text over 160 characters is billed as two or more. Emoji or certain accented characters drop the limit to 70 per segment.
- Picture messages. MMS commonly costs several credits per message.
- Extra users. Many platforms charge $10–$20 per month for each additional teammate who can send.
- Registration. Business texting in the US requires A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration. Some platforms include it; APIs pass the fees to you.
- Numbers. Dedicated numbers carry a monthly fee; short codes run into hundreds or thousands per month.
- Overages. Going over your credits can mean automatic top-ups at a higher rate.
Estimate your real monthly cost
- Count recipients and how many messages each gets a month.
- Multiply for total messages, and double it if your messages run long.
- Find the cheapest plan that covers that total — then add any per-user fees.
- Compare that to the plan’s floor price. For small lists, the floor is usually what you’ll actually pay.
What staff texting costs on Airhorn
Airhorn’s price follows your confirmed roster, includes unlimited managers, and has no overage charges — if you use your monthly pool, further sends just don’t go out until it resets. Broadcast text is capped at 150 standard characters, so every message costs the same.
Simple pricing for staff texting
$5/mo plus $0.75 per confirmed employee. Unlimited managers, no overages, no per-message math.
Free for 7 days and 60 messages — no credit card. Your trial starts when you send your first broadcast, not when you sign up.