Send SMS from a computer

Three ways to text from a computer

Sending SMS from a computer is a choice of three methods, and each method suits a different person in the business.

The web app. You log in through any current browser, with nothing to install. Upload a list or type numbers, then send now or schedule.

Email to SMS. You write an email in Outlook or Gmail, addressed to the recipient's mobile number at the provider's domain, and the provider sends it as a text. The email to SMS page on this site compares how each provider's version works.

Your own software. A CRM, booking or practice system sends texts through a built-in integration or through the provider's SMS API. This way suits the person who works in that system all day.

Whichever way you send, the next question is what each text costs.

What 1,000 texts from a computer cost

At 1,000 texts a month the bill runs from $30 at Texto, the cheapest among providers billing in Australian dollars, to $160 at eNudge, with $69 at the median. Every rate in the table above excludes GST, as the providers' pricing pages state.

A rate does not always transfer between products. Check the named product and the sending method you have selected, rather than assuming the rate carries over. The Telstra row in the table is SMS Access Manager, with volume prices published in section 3 of the customer terms. Telstra Messaging API charges come from the application form, and the customer terms price the two products separately.

On top of the per-message bill, most providers charge a monthly fee for a dedicated reply number. 3 of the 26 providers in the table above include the first dedicated number free. Budget for the fee at the others.

That number matters for more than the bill, because it is also where the answers come back.

Seeing replies on the computer

A sender ID cannot receive replies, ACMA says, so every reply needs a number to land on.

Each provider's help page tells you where its replies land. SMS Broadcast shows replies in its web inbox and in the inbox of the email that sent the text. Cellcast and ClickSend return a reply to the email inbox that sent it. Textmagic shows replies in its Messenger and delivers them as emails.

Test the workflow you intend to use before the first real send. An SMS character counter shows what a filled template does to message length.

• Send a test through the actual method to your own consenting contact, within the trial or account limits.
• Check the sender shown on the recipient's phone, and the parts the message splits into after your template substitutions.
• Where replies matter, trace the reply route and name the staff member who owns it. For marketing, test the configured unsubscribe action and check a stored opt-out or suppression record for that contact.

One group of senders has extra reason to settle this now, and it is the group still on Telstra Desktop Messaging.

If you used Telstra Desktop Messaging

Telstra's current customer terms and its withdrawal notice record the end of Desktop Messaging, which sends SMS and MMS from a PC. The service closed to new customers on 30 June 2025, and the small business service was withdrawn on 10 November 2025. Existing enterprise customers have been unable to add or change services since 6 August 2026. The enterprise service itself will be withdrawn on 9 November 2026, so anyone still sending on it needs a replacement in place before that date.

A replacement needs a web app or the email method, replies that land on the computer, and a number or a registered sender name. Since 1 July 2026, a sender ID not registered on the SMS Sender ID Register shows "Unverified" in place of the name, ACMA says. The message is still delivered, and registration goes through each telco or message provider you send with.

Whatever replaces it will be a business service, and a business service is not a copy of your phone on a bigger screen.

A business service, not your phone

Apps that mirror a phone's texts on a computer send from that phone's number and plan. A business SMS service sends from a business number or sender name. Before you use one, check which number or name it sends from, the message records it keeps, and how opt-outs are configured.

The Spam Act 2003 requires consent and a working unsubscribe for every marketing text, whichever tool sends it, and ACMA says the duty sits with your business.