By considering all factors in addition to the cost per message, you can ensure you’re choosing the best SMS gateway provider for your needs and budget.
An SMS gateway price comparison assessed that ClickSend and Cellcast offer the best overall price per SMS.
The latest update is on 4 January 2024.
Several SMS gateway providers claim to have the lowest price for SMS distribution in both Australia and overseas. However one must be cautious about the additional charges not included in their simple pricing schedule. This refers to set-up fees, monthly charges, payment modes as well as contractual arrangements that may be difficult to analyse should the business not be satisfied with the service provided.
Updated on 23-04-2024. Currency is in AUD $
It’s important to keep in mind that while SMS providers may offer low prices, it’s also important to consider other factors such as delivery reliability, API documentation, and customer support when choosing an SMS gateway provider.
In addition, many SMS gateway providers offer discounts and promotions, so be sure to check their websites for current offers and deals.
Making the reader aware of these factors, this SMS Comparison Site reviews several reputable SMS gateway providers who provided an outright fee schedule with minimal or no additional charges. As a result, this has led to the selection of four reputable Australian SMS gateway companies and one overseas provider as a comparison. They are MessageBird from the Netherlands and the Australian companies ClickSend, CellCast, SMS Global, BurstSMS, SMS Solutions, Nexmo and Textit.
The low-price SMS gateway offered is based on an average overall fee whether it is for a small, medium or large volume of text messages sent monthly. It is assessed that the Cellcast charge on average offers the lowest cost per SMS on a monthly basis. MessageBird has the same SMS charge but will depend on the Australian currency exchange rate. If the Australian drops then the overseas MessageBird fee is higher and obviously if the Australian dollar rises, the reverse will be the case. The other companies selected have a reasonable comparative rate but are not as low as Cellcast or ClickSend.
The price of using an SMS gateway provider typically varies based on the volume of SMS messages sent. Many SMS gateway providers offer discounts for large volume customers, so the cost per SMS message can be lower when sending a large number of messages.
Additionally, the cost per SMS message can vary based on the destination country or region. Some countries may have higher SMS costs due to network fees, taxes, and other charges. It’s important to check with the SMS gateway provider for a complete breakdown of the costs involved in sending SMS messages to specific countries or regions.
When looking further at the pricing schedule, it should be noted that the price will vary depending on the volume of SMS that is sent at any one time over a monthly period.
When comparing SMS gateway providers, it’s important to consider not just the cost per message, but also other factors such as reliability, API documentation, and customer support, to ensure you’re getting the best overall value for your money.
ClickSend and Cellcast like many other SMS gateway price comparison options show that the lower volumes charge has a significantly higher charge per SMS than the large volumes of SMS monthly. It’s all about the economies of scale concept. This is no different to the other Australian gateway providers presented. However, MessageBird does not provide the details on volumes to be distributed rather they just state the pricing schedules.
ClickSend and Cellcast have an exclusive pricing schedule for Australian businesses. All inbound SMS is not charged to the client and the charges that are presented are for outbound SMS. The only charge for bulk distribution is with the allocation of a dedicated number but there are no setup charges.
Therefore reviewing all the reputable bulk SMS gateway prices of different SMS providers, it can be seen that the price may vary by up to 60%. This can be due to the type of network carrier engaged, whether it is a premium or a hybrid telecommunication carrier. The premium gateway is more expensive using Australian carriers while the hybrid may use a combination of Australian and overseas carriers. The latter is cheaper but not as reliable and may take longer for the SMS to be distributed to recipient mobile phones.
The other matter that may be considered by a business is that when large volumes of text messages need to be distributed, the business has the possibility of negotiating a price per SMS or asking bulk gateway SMS providers to match against the cheapest quote provided. This is a personal view and may or may not be accepted by the SMS provider. Of course, the cheaper price needs to be based on a large number of SMS to be distributed.
ClickSend has a policy, probably like some other SMS gateway providers, to check their competitors’ pricing schedules regularly and adjust the pricing to meet the client’s expectations.
When discussing a low-cost SMS gateway provider one is referring to a business strategy developed by the company of selling SMS at a lower price than its SMS competitors to attract businesses. This has the effect of being a price advantage. Those providers who use this type of strategy will likely earn low margins but achieve a large number of sales.
This type of company is very much focused on a price advantage in a specific market niche of text messaging, offering products, features and customer care to a narrow market segment instead of the broader SMS market. The provider intends to be the cheapest supplier in the gateway SMS niche but not necessarily in the overall market of bulk, marketing, cheap or SMS to computer range.
So which one to use? The low-cost SMS gateway provider is usually only engaged by large companies that have the economies of scale to provide SMS in bulk at a cheaper rate. Small to medium-sized businesses usually cannot have economies of scale and therefore are not able to use the low-cost SMS gateway provider.
Taking the range of SMS gateway providers assessed to provide a reliable and efficient service it can be seen that all the companies covered are considered to be low-cost SMS gateway providers with MessageBird mainly suited to larger companies. The other SMS mentioned is suitable for large companies as well as small to medium-sized companies.
This site and the associated SMS gateway price comparison table have been prepared and presented for your information and use, at no cost to you. It was formulated as a result of the number of enquiries and lack of understanding as to the different features and services offered by an SMS gateway provider.
The table and site were developed by authors who previously worked in the SMS field but have moved to other IT areas and therefore felt they could provide an independent view of what SMS companies have to offer you or your business. Should there be any information provided that may be different from what is presented in the table or site, please let the authors know and the changes will be made as soon as possible.
Should you use the information provided and as a result, decide to engage one of the SMS companies covered, the author will request a commission from the provider but, please be assured, will not ask you for any fee.
It is hoped that this information is useful and will assist you in making whatever decision you wish to make based on the above background information.
Updated on 4 January 2024.