Best Australian SMS Providers for 2024

The top SMS providers based on our analysis were:

Best SMS Provider

From a vast review of numerous high-quality SMS providers in Australia, Cellcast is assessed to be the best SMS provider, offering a wide range of SMS messaging services in the communication and marketing arena for Australian and overseas businesses. This reputable gateway provider provides seamless integration from any web-enabled computer with no setup or software requirements the client needs. Sending text messages has been made simple by Cellcast’s powerful and flexible set of SMS API software and network systems. Some of the outstanding features include:

  • Low pricing from 7.0c per SMS message.
  • Sophisticated API (Application Programming Interface) system.
  • There are no monthly fees or contract requirements.
  • Reliability with a 100% uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA).
  • National and global network for campaigns.
  • 24/7 support based in Australia and overseas.

Popular SMS Marketing Provider

Cellcast is a popular SMS marketing provider in Australia that offers a range of features, including bulk messaging, SMS automation, and mobile landing pages. It provides advanced and seamless SMS marketing solutions and competitive pricing based on advanced software to automate marketing functions. It has an extensive global footprint and a range of medium—to large-sized clients.

When comparing pricing schedules presented by different SMS providers that service Australian businesses, Cellcast offers the most cost-effective prices for distributing bulk SMS messages. Another strong bulk SMS provider is Chatti, and we made an exclusive Cellcast vs. Chatti comparison based on prices, reliability, and customer service.

When comparing pricing between its competitors in the bulk SMS delivery service, its outbound messaging service is the cheapest for distribution, whether for small, medium, or large volumes of monthly text messages.

There are no setup fees or contracts, and multiple users can access the account. Before engaging this provider, you can have a free trial. Chatti states that it offers a price-beat guarantee.

Top SMS API Functionality

Cellcast offers the best functionality from its API (Application Programming Interface) system. It provides a sophisticated API platform with limited resources, fewer security requirements, browser compatibility, and scalability, all desired for web services.

It seamlessly integrates with any email software, allowing developers to promptly send and receive SMS text messages within their software, websites, or mobile applications. This way, it can save, store and manage client contacts efficiently. So, sending a text message must be disseminated; it is only a matter of a short period before the distribution happens.

Best SMS Marketing Software

Podium is a marketing platform with advanced solutions for customer reviews, visual marketing, loyalty, referrals, and SMS mobile marketing. It is a cloud-based content marketing platform for businesses that enables users to collect user-generated content and use it to build a brand and manage the customer experience. The integrated solution lets brands collect, curate, manage, and respond to user-generated content.

It has an engine platform that can create hyper-targeted segments to engage subscribers based on advanced data points, including customer behaviour, attributes, and SMS data. It allows you to leverage data to target customers or subscribers down to their personalised path to purchase in the moments that matter most with tailored SMS & MMS messages that drive revenue and foster relationships.

Great Premium Service

One clear distinction between Cellcast and comparable Australian SMS gateway providers is the high online review rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 142 reviews (TrustIndex). That tells a lot about this SMS provider’s premium capability and service.

Cellcast provides extensive text messaging services for large, medium, and even small businesses, including SMS marketing campaigns, communications, promotions, SMS reminders, and customer notifications. Its network can manage, support, and provide 24/7 service.

Having high throughput capability, this SMS distributor delivers text messages to mobile phone numbers over a month to over nine million end users sent in a day. That’s the versatility of this gateway provider. One of the most attractive features of Cellcast is its uptime and latency time. For full delivery time, including processing, it can provide a 97% delivery within two seconds and 99% delivery within ten seconds.

Founded in 2008, Twilio has grown into a leading global SMS company, boasting sixteen offices in ten countries. Its robust infrastructure supports the worldwide distribution of communication messages.

Twilio sends and receives text messages with APIs powering 66+ billion messages a year. It reaches customers around the world on any channel like Meta (Facebook) Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, Voice, Email, and more so clients can reach their end-users. It is considered the top global SMS gateway provider.

Its IT platform allows it to deliver SMS regardless of the challenges of scale, with configurable software powering phone number management, sender selection, compliance, content, and replies.

Twilio SMS Review >>

Excellent SMS Provider Integration

Telstra offers an SMS Access Manager, allowing customers to effortlessly send and receive large messages in near real-time through a straightforward application interface. This service provides a dependable direct link to Telstra’s Next G network and other domestic and international mobile networks.

This provider can customise SMS Access Manager to suit clients’ business needs by choosing wireless, dial-up, and short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) access. It can track well messages through registered message functionality to provide delivery reports.

Telstra can send large volumes of SMS and MMS messages quickly, safely, and efficiently using an app tailored to the client’s needs while benefiting from competitive volume-based pricing.

View Telstra Review >>

Good Appointment Reminder Service

The capability to effortlessly create, save, and modify templates on a platform underscores why Yotpo is highly recommended as the preferred provider for SMS reminders.

SMS Broadcast simplifies the task of dispatching essential and timely reminders, thanks to its intuitive interface and the facility for instant customer feedback.

Here are compelling reasons to choose SMS Broadcast for your SMS reminder needs:

  • Conveniently dispatch text messages to clients using your personal or business email, their API, or the Web SMS platform.
  • Utilize saved templates for regular SMS reminder dispatches.
  • Enhance reminders by automatically incorporating the names of your customers.
  • Access to live chat and phone support ensures professional assistance is always available.

SMS Broadcast simplifies the task of dispatching essential and timely reminders, thanks to its intuitive interface and the facility for instant customer feedback.

View SMS Broadcast Review >>

2024 Australian SMS Provider Pricing Comparison

Monthly SMS Volume
3.70 3.10 2.90 2.80
6.90 6.50 5.90 5.50
7.00 6.50 6.00 5.50
7.00 6.00 5.80 5.80
6.50 6.00 5.00 5.50
6.60 6.60 6.60 6.60
7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00
5.60 5.40 5.40 5.40
7.90 7.90 7.90 7.90
8.50 8.00 7.60 7.00
8.20 7.50 7.00 7.00
11.90 8.00 8.00 8.00
9.80 9.60 8.60 8.20
4.90 4.57 4.45 4.33
25.00 21.00 20.00 19.00

Updated on 30-09-2024. Currency is in AUD $

As can be seen from the pricing table, CellCast is the cheapest SMS provider for a low, medium and high volume of SMS distributed monthly.

On the other end of the pricing spectrum, SMS Global, Telstra and Essendex charge significantly more than their competitors for distributing SMS in all ranges of volume numbers.

Other Australian SMS Providers

Esendex

Esendex offers a straightforward range of text messaging services for businesses and organizations, acting as a one-stop SMS communication and marketing solution. With a global presence, including offices in Australia, France, Germany, Spain, and a main office in Nottingham, UK, Esendex provides extensive telecommunication networks and expert API development, ensuring efficient SMS delivery.

Key features of Esendex include:

ISO 27001 certification for top-notch information security across all offices.

Commitment to processing 90% of SMS messages within 5 seconds and 95% within 20 seconds.

The ability to communicate in real-time through their reliable and user-friendly API platform.

View Esendex Review >>

Bird (previously named MessageBird)

MessageBird operates from a Sydney office and has its main headquarters in Amsterdam. Thanks to its network of over 900 carrier connections worldwide, it claims its API, dashboard, and integrations can reach up to seven billion mobile phones globally. MessageBird serves various industries, including healthcare, transportation, logistics, and retail.

MessageBird has a powerful messaging API platform that offers effective outbound and inbound text message distribution. Its innovative features, such as its Chat and Voice messaging platforms, make it one step simpler to improve message awareness and notification between the sender and the individual through any mobile phone anywhere in the world.

Bird Review >>

TextIt

Australian small and medium-sized businesses require a user-friendly SMS gateway, and TextIt stands out. It offers an intuitive platform, customer support, and even a managed services option, where it handles all setup tasks for the client.

TextIt facilitates two-way communication and features an address book. It enables the sending of personalized messages and allows recipients to reply.

View Textit Review >>

SMS Global

There is good value in SMS Global as an SMS Gateway provider to Australian enterprises. This is based on its ability to competitively distribute bulk at a reasonable price to service mid-size and large companies and organisations. It shows a high 99.99% uptime reliability using its flexible API platforms to disseminate a text messaging service globally. SMSGlobal began in 2007 and now has five overseas offices (Croatia, Dubai, the UK, New Zealand and the USA).

SMS Global offers MXT, a cloud-based and intuitive web SMS platform that provides businesses and organizations access to their SMS gateway. Compatible with any web browser, it enables the easy sending and receiving of text messages nationally and internationally from any device connected to the internet.

View SMS Global Review >>

Vonage (ex Nexmo)

Vonage Communications, previously Nexmo, has been chosen as a suitable SMS gateway for businesses in the USA. Its extensive local and international network, high delivery success rates in bulk text messaging, and ability to scale messaging APIs for global reach have made it popular.

Vonage’s direct-to-carrier network enhances security by preventing bulk messages from passing through numerous systems before arriving at the recipient’s phone. Additionally, it handles global regulatory requirements, eliminating the need for businesses to spend time on programming and compliance for each country.

View Vonage Review >>

SMS Solutions

SMS Solutions was established over ten years ago in Australia by a team of individuals with a strong technical background and a deep understanding of marketing and promotions. They knew exactly what customers needed from the information they were given.

The company tailors specific plans to meet each client’s unique needs, supported by reliable SMS software that is easy to use across various devices, including MAC/PC, iPad/Tablet, or smartphone.

They provide extensive customer support services for current and prospective clients, emphasizing the importance of quick setup and technical assistance in case of system issues. Unlike many competitors in the SMS gateway industry, they offer 24/7 support through a 1 800 number, ensuring superior service availability.

View SMS Solution Review >>

Wholesale SMS

Wholesale SMS delivers a comprehensive and integrated text messaging service, enabling efficient SMS sending from computers. Their SMS gateway is designed for rapid delivery, boasting an average send time of approximately 12 seconds from initiation to the recipient’s mobile phone.

Given that SMS messages have an estimated 92% read rate, with most texts read within three minutes of delivery, the effectiveness of text messaging as a powerful tool for communication and marketing is evident.

The evaluation of Wholesale SMS highlights its provision of a wide array of features and services that meet potential clients’ needs.

View Wholesale SMS Review >>

TextMagic

TextMagic is a Cambridge, UK-based bulk SMS service provider. It offers a good range of features and templates with an Application-to-Person messaging service that provides a secure, reliable means of reaching almost anyone with access to a mobile or the internet. With over 10,000 active business clients sending 2.5 million SMS each month, it has successfully assisted companies in connecting with their clients.

It integrates its SMS gateway with any website or software using its API platform tools and adds text messaging to business workflow. This can be extended to social media platforms. It has worldwide access to over 1,000 mobile networks across 200+ countries.

View TextMagic Review >>

Trumpia

Trumpia is a California, USA-based SMS provider that has been offering global text messaging services for enterprises since 2006. This provider is not suited for Australian businesses due to its lack of local customer service, no Australian pricing schedule available, and poor reviews by past Australian customers.

View Trumpia Review >>

SMS Provider FAQs

The easiest text message provider is Cellcast. Its website is easy to access and is supported by a 24/7 customer service centre based in Australia and overseas.

It offers one of the cheapest pricing schedules for small, medium, or large SMS volumes, with excellent distribution reliability supported by a 100% Service Level Agreement (SLA).

 

One clear distinction between Cellcast and comparable Australian SMS gateway providers is its high service quality. Its online review rating of 4.9 out of 142 reviews (Trustindex) is high, which tells a lot about this provider’s premium capability and service.

Cellcast provides extensive text messaging services for large, medium, and even small businesses, including SMS marketing, communications, promotions, SMS reminders, and customer notifications.

 

Things you need to consider in choosing an SMS service provider:
  • Need to offer a range of features such as ease of use of the website and well-developed API Platform, the versatility of offers, contracts, free trials, security and privacy policies.
  • The transparent pricing schedule for low, medium and high volume SMS distribution.
  • Reliability of the SMS service provider, e.g. Does it offer a Service Level Agreement?
  • SMS service scalability – the ability to adapt, particularly regarding growth and increased demand.
  • 24/7 customer support.
  • Provision of analytics and reporting system.
  • User-friendly experience through legitimate reviews.

There are 5 benefits of an SMS provider:

  1. Speed – Using the provider’s web SMS platform will allow you to promptly create and send SMS to thousands of contacts in seconds.
  2. Cost-effective—An online SMS platform allows you to send SMS messages for just a few cents. The rates will vary depending on the monthly SMS volume sent.
  3. Reliability—SMS remains a direct and consistent platform for communicating with end users. It is the most reliable way to create a true two-way conversation.
  4. Universal platform—Provide a sophisticated IT platform that can format your message as a text message accessible to mobile phones.
  5. Integration—By integrating SMS providers’ API (Application Programming Interface), businesses can seamlessly introduce SMS into their existing CRM tools and infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology

Our team assessed and ranked over 20 Australian SMS providers in July 2024. Each SMS provider was graded based on 21 variables with over 234 hours of research based on the provider’s website and third-party customer review sites.

SMS Comparison has taken provider feedback into account to make the review as accurate as possible and asked questions when elements such as pricing were unclear. All data provided was double-checked to ensure it was accurate, and a manual review occurs monthly.

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