Cellcast vs Notifyre for Australian SMS

Cellcast scores 8.2 against Notifyre at 7.8 out of 10. Cellcast is the cheaper published rate at 15K, 3.10c per SMS. The higher score and the lower rate are the same provider here.

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Cellcast

8.2out of 10

2.83c at 125,000, bundles not volume tiers

3.10c at 15K

versus

Notifyre

7.8out of 10

One SMS price, $0.05 a part, no volume ladder

5.00c at 15K

At a glance

Every figure below comes from the Cellcast review and the Notifyre review, each of which carries the dated read behind it; this page only sets the two side by side.

MeasureCellcastNotifyre
Overall out of 10 8.2 7.8
Rate at 1K 3.70c 5.00c
Rate at 15K 3.10c 5.00c
Rate at 125K 2.83c not published
Rate at 250K 2.83c not published
Email to SMSYesYes
SMPPnot publishednot published
Sender IDYesYes
Head officeSouth Melbourne, VictoriaAlexandra Headland, Queensland
Public reviews4.2/5 from 6 reviews on Trustpilot4.3/5 from 12 reviews on Trustpilot

What each costs at your volume

Monthly cost on each provider's published rate
Messages a month Cellcast Notifyre Cheaper
1,000 $37 $50 Cellcast
15,000 $465 $750 Cellcast
125,000 $3,538 not published no like-for-like price
250,000 $7,075 not published no like-for-like price

Notifyre does not publish a per-message rate at every volume this site prices, so a calculator here would have to invent one side of the sum. "Not published" means the provider has no rate at that volume, not a price of zero. Notifyre prices on a flat pay-as-you-go rate to 20,000 parts a month; larger senders quoted.

01Price

Published rate at 15,000 messages a month.

Cellcast3.10c
Notifyre5.00c

Cellcast on this criterion.

02Carrier routes

What each provider states about its connections to Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.

Cellcast"Local carriers best in class messaging for single messages & bulk messaging"; no Australian carrier is named.
Notifyre"Notifyre's Australian SMS gateway connects your business to local carriers with 99.99% uptime." No carrier is named.

Neither provider is ahead here on what each publishes.

03Uptime

The uptime or service level each provider publishes.

Cellcast"100% uptime SLA" and a "100% delivery rate guarantee"; no SLA document, credit schedule or remedy is published behind either
Notifyre99.99% uptime claimed; no SLA document, credit schedule or remedy is published

Neither provider is ahead here on what each publishes.

04Support

Channels and hours, as published.

Cellcast8am to 8pm AEST staffed, with 24/7 emergency tickets; phone, email and SMS
NotifyreMonday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm AEST; phone, live chat and email

Neither provider is ahead here on what each publishes.

05Sending methods

How you can hand a message to each provider.

CellcastAPI, Email to SMS, Two way
NotifyreAPI, Email to SMS, Two way

Neither provider is ahead here on what each publishes.

06Sender types

What a message can be sent from.

CellcastDedicated number, Shared number, Sender ID
NotifyreDedicated number, Shared number, Sender ID

Neither provider is ahead here on what each publishes.

How Cellcast and Notifyre price SMS

Cellcast sells fixed prepaid bundles, and the comparison figures on this page show the cheapest bundle combination that covers each benchmark month exactly. Those figures are not automatic monthly-volume thresholds. Credits do not expire, though a month that does not match a bundle combination neatly can leave you with unused credits. Notifyre publishes one flat pay-as-you-go rate per SMS part. Its public estimator stops at a certain volume, so high-volume senders need to request a quote.

For a worked benchmark at fifteen thousand messages a month, Cellcast charges 3.10c, which comes to $465. Notifyre charges 5.00c for the same volume, or $750. Both amounts are in AUD excluding GST. Our Cellcast review and Notifyre review cover the current bundle menus and estimator behaviour in more detail.

Shared and dedicated reply numbers

Both providers publish free shared reply numbers, but the reply handling differs. Cellcast states that its shared numbers are free and that replies cost you nothing. Notifyre receives shared-number replies within a limited window, while a purchased virtual number has no reply time limit on inbound messages. Two-way service is available from both providers either way.

That reply window should shape your choice when a campaign runs over several days or responses arrive late. Do not read a limited shared-number window as an absence of two-way service. Both providers also support API sending, email-to-SMS, dedicated numbers and alphanumeric sender IDs, so these shared features do not separate them.

How to shortlist and check length

Draft a shortlist from the rates and scores above, then test each candidate against your own list before committing. Check three things:

  • Message length in parts, since one text can span several billed SMS parts and a recipient count alone does not set the bill
  • Reply handling, including any time limit on shared numbers
  • Whether your monthly volume suits bundles or a flat per-part rate

Run your draft copy through an SMS character counter to get a true part count. Longer messages or certain characters can result in additional billed parts, and both providers bill in AUD excluding GST.

Part counts sway the bill, so browse the wider set of Australian bulk SMS providers once your counter shows how many parts your draft needs.

About the author

Alain Grossbard

Head of Strategy

Alain compiles the Australian provider data and writes the reviews behind the rate panel and the price tables.

Checked by Justin Grossbard, who owns the scoring method. How we rate.