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SMS pricing

How SMS credits and segments work, and the per-country credit cost for sending SMS with Spoks.

Written by David Isak Hansen

SMS in Spoks is billed in credits, drawn from your SMS Wallet. The number of credits a message costs depends on two things: the destination country and the number of segments the message uses.

How credits and segments work

An SMS is measured in segments. A single-segment message holds up to 160 characters of standard (GSM-7) text; longer messages are split into multiple segments, and special characters or emoji reduce the per-segment character limit. Credits are consumed per segment, so a 2-segment message costs twice the per-segment rate shown below. You can set a default segment limit under Settings > Email & SMS > SMS to help control cost.

The credit cost per segment also varies by country and by the type of sender used (a dedicated toll-free number in the US and Canada, or an alphanumeric sender internationally).

Buying credits

You add credits to your wallet by purchasing a top-up pack. Each credit costs $0.01, and larger packs come with a volume discount, lowering the effective per-credit price.

Pack

Price

Per credit

Discount

1,000 credits

$10.00

$0.0100

5,000 credits

$50.00

$0.0100

25,000 credits (Most Popular)

$237.50

$0.0095

5% off

50,000 credits

$465.00

$0.0093

7% off

100,000 credits

$900.00

$0.0090

10% off

Funding your wallet: manual top-ups vs. auto top-up

There are two ways to keep your wallet funded:

Manual top-up. Click Add Funds, choose a top-up pack in the Add SMS Credits dialog, and purchase. The credits are added to your wallet immediately. This is a one-off purchase — nothing happens automatically afterwards.

Automatic top-up (minimum balance). In Wallet Settings you set two values: a Top-up amount (the pack to buy automatically) and a Minimum balance (a threshold). Whenever your wallet balance falls below the minimum balance, Spoks automatically purchases the top-up amount so you never run out of credits mid-send. For example, with a top-up amount of 1,000 credits and a minimum balance of 5,000 credits, your wallet is automatically refilled by 1,000 credits each time it drops below 5,000. Leave auto top-up off if you prefer to add credits manually.

Do credits expire?

No. Credits do not expire at the end of the month — any unused balance rolls over to the next month and stays in your wallet until you use it.

US & Canada

Standard pricing for US and Canadian SMS, sent via toll-free numbers.

Country

Sender

Cost

United States

Toll-free number

1 credit / segment

Canada

Toll-free number

1 credit / segment

Europe

Sent using an alphanumeric sender.

Country

Sender

Cost

Denmark

Alphanumeric sender

6 credits / segment

Finland

Alphanumeric sender

8 credits / segment

Ireland

Alphanumeric sender

8 credits / segment

Norway

Alphanumeric sender

6 credits / segment

Sweden

Alphanumeric sender

6 credits / segment

United Kingdom

Alphanumeric sender

6 credits / segment

Oceania

Sent using an alphanumeric sender.

Country

Sender

Cost

Australia

Alphanumeric sender

4 credits / segment

New Zealand

Alphanumeric sender

6 credits / segment

Credit costs are set per destination and sender type and may change as carrier rates change. Always check the in-app International SMS Pricing dialog for the most up-to-date rates.

Related articles

To activate SMS and fund your wallet, see How to send SMS. To manage billing, sender configuration and default segment length, see SMS settings.

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