The Best Text Message Marketing Services of 2024

Textedly offers the lowest per-text price of any full-featured text messaging platform. The price is its chief selling point, but please don’t mistake cheap for substandard. With Textedly, you can easily build lists, have two-way conversations with clients, run bulk campaigns, and link up to dozens of popular apps like Salesforce. It’s also one of the few platforms that allow you to text your customers directly from your Instagram business profile.

On Textedly’s cheapest service plan, the price per text is just 2.4 cents. It’s still cheap if you intend to use SMS marketing a lot – you’ll pay just $140 a month for 10,000 texts. You have the option to pay monthly or annually. Unlike other providers, Textedly doesn’t offer a per-month discount for annual plans; instead, it offers 20% more texts. So, if you pay for a year of the $140 plan upfront, your cost per message goes down to 1.17 cents. Be careful, though – unused texts don’t roll over from month to month, and while you can upgrade your plan, you can’t downgrade it.

We love that the company’s resources section gives you 65 templates to choose from – far more than most competitors offer. Textedly does charge extra for text personalization, drip campaigns, and automatic replies, but the actual charges are low and one-off. There is a slight learning curve to some of the more advanced features, but the standard functions are simple to operate for novice as well as experienced text marketers.

Textedly has also incorporated a new artificial intelligence copywriting tool into its platform, making it even easier for brands to interact with customers. With SimpleTexting’s AI Assist, users can write a short prompt that includes all the relevant information they want in the text, then click “generate message” and watch as the tool drafts numerous original message suggestions suited for their target audience. From there, users can choose the message they want to send and customize it to their needs, adding links, photos, emojis or additional information.

EZ Texting is an exceptionally intuitive text messaging platform full of useful features. Nontechnical business owners and those with little or no marketing experience should have little trouble with the software, because it’s so easy to use.

An aspect of EZ Texting that we particularly like is its vast array of industry-specific content to give you marketing ideas that prompt you to action. Additionally, the template library is superbly integrated into the messaging apps within EZ Texting. Competitors should follow its lead with this, because most make using templates much harder than it needs to be. EZ Texting has 49 built-in templates, and you can connect it to more than 3,000 apps through Zapier.

EZ Texting has partnered with photo library Shutterstock, which provides access to 20 million images that you can use for MMS business messages. There is also an intuitive Canva-like feature built in to help you create branded announcements, invitations and promotions. It has plenty of design templates too, in case you’re not familiar with graphics packages. For those who need help (although the platform is so easy to use that not many will), the EZ Texting website is full of guidance and helpful information.

The platform’s three main pricing plans range from $19 to $49 per month, and each includes 200 outgoing texts and free incoming texts. If you need to send a lot of messages, EZ Texting is expensive compared to other platforms. Unfortunately, your expensive unused text credits don’t roll over from month to month.

There are four plans, which are flexible for any size or type of business. EZ Texting uses a credit system for messages, so you are in control of the volume of messages you want to send and your budget. The Value plan is $24 a month and offers 200 credits at a rate of 4 cents per additional credit. The Custom package costs $374 per month, and while it also includes 200 credits, the rate is only 1 cent per additional credit. Annual plans offer savings of up to 20% per package.

In early March, EZ Texting and Shutterstock announced a partnership that allows EZ Texting users to send MMS picture messages. For no extra cost, EZ Texting customers can now choose from Shutterstock’s collection of millions of royalty-free images to create promotions, announcements and invitations. Users also gain access to an image editor and hundreds of design templates to quickly design an MMS marketing campaign to boost sales, drive engagement and promote their product or service.

SlickText is an easy-to-use, feature-packed service. What makes it stand out from the crowd is its onboarding approach. When you sign up for paid plans over $139, for any of its paid plans, you get a free onboarding session with a member of SlickText’s client success team. In addition, all users, regardless of plans, have access to product consultants for free.

As well as showing you how to use the system, the client success agents help you develop a text message marketing strategy for your business and optimize your account settings to help you achieve your goals. You get your own client success rep to be your main point of contact, but the SlickText website contains extensive videos and guides to help and inspire you when you need it.

The platform is easy to use and has many useful features. Want to customize how SlickText works for your business? With the no-code automation tool on the site, you can build a more personalized texting experience for your subscribers. We like the custom integration with Shopify, and you can connect SlickText to over 1,100 other apps and software platforms via Zapier.

SlickText’s service plans range from $29 per month for 500 texts to $1,999 per month for 100,000. Though not the cheapest, its pricing is competitive, especially given the number of features it includes – and its free mobile app allows you to do almost everything you can do on the central dashboard while on the move.

Textline is our best pick for large businesses and teams because it has the advanced features required to address multiple audiences at scale. Tools like group messaging and mass surveys make it easy to engage widespread audiences that include a variety of segments and demographics. Moreover, marketing automation tools help you get the most out of your text message marketing campaigns without the need to micromanage.

Textline offers three pricing plans and starts at a somewhat higher rate than many of the other text message marketing services we reviewed. However, the value you get for the money is clear, especially if you’re managing a large audience. Textline also offers an intuitive, user-friendly experience, helping streamline the demanding task of crafting text message marketing campaigns for a large, diverse audience.

We recommend Textline for big businesses and those sending text messages to sizable audiences. We don’t recommend it for small businesses on a tight marketing budget, who could likely achieve their text message marketing goals from a lighter weight platform.

Thryv is a productivity, communications, and payment platform that can help you make your service-based business more profitable, efficient, and streamlined. The company wants its software to be the core of all your business activities, from winning and managing orders to taking payment. Text message marketing is one of Thryv’s core features, letting you run keyword-driven marketing campaigns to drive up your subscription numbers.

You can send messages to your subscribers, inviting them to book an appointment, visit your client portal, or view your social media pages, for example. Well-written templates are built into the messaging function, offering inspiration for the types of campaigns and promotions you might like to run.

We like the built-in and programmable appointment reminder service, which is often missing or too difficult to use on other SMS platforms. Your clients can also log on to Thryv and book their own appointments.

Thryv recently introduced its comprehensive command center with new features including WebChat and unlimited-use SMS options. The Thryv Command Center is a free-to-use communication hub that provides a centralized platform for all communication between small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their customers. With the Thryv Command Center, all customer communications from previously separate channels, including texts, emails, phone calls and video, are consolidated into a single conversation. Providing a seamless experience for business owners, the Thryv Command Center enables SMBs to adopt a client-focused strategy while minimizing the need for extra resources and time.

You can perform many other business tasks with Thryv, such as managing your social media and Google Business Profile (which includes building citations). It even offers merchant services – allowing you to accept credit and debit card payments – and online video marketing services. Additionally, Thryv recently introduced ThryvPay, a mobile card reader with tap-to-pay integrations using Apple or Google Android operating systems. This new service will allow customers to pay online rather than meeting with business owners in person.

Text message marketing teams can use this new technology to their advantage by communicating with buyers and directing them to the new online payment portal. ThryvPay also allows users to schedule payments online, decreasing the likelihood of forgetting to make a payment. All this makes Thryv a great option for companies that want to run their customer communications, marketing campaigns and management functions from the same platform.

SimpleTexting offers six service plans, ranging from $29 per month (500 included texts) to $899 per month (50,000 texts). The platform has all of the features that most small businesses need to grow. The software is superbly thought out and executed, but some of the features are harder to use than others.

The analytics are in-depth, but easy for a new user to understand. Launching campaigns, adding custom fields to your subscriber lists, and segmenting clients for better-targeted marketing campaigns are all easy to do. The inbox is a pleasure to use, as it allows instant two-way conversations with customers.

SimpleTexting SMS Template Generator helps small businesses hit the ground running with text marketing campaigns. With over 100 curated templates, users can quickly and easily customize messages, and even customize templates for frequently-sent messages. The feature allows users to send bespoke messages to multiple recipients and engage in two-way texting to follow up with leads and increase reply rates.

Through Zapier, SimpleTexting can connect to thousands of software programs, including the best CRM platforms and top email marketing software. It also offers something that no other text message marketing provider does: It will create free integrations that connect the texting platform to the software packages and apps you use (depending on their complexity) if you are on the $229 monthly service plan or higher.

Recently, Simple Texting unveiled contact cards — also called virtual business cards — that enable companies to text their contact information to customers. Businesses can create contact cards for each phone number it has, allowing those with multiple numbers to have a distinct card for each one. Cards are delivered to customers via MMS messages and can be programmed to send automatically once a customer opts in.

For us, this makes the $229 plan a hard proposition to turn down, particularly if your business is growing. Growing businesses need seamless integration between the apps and software they use to better meet customers’ demands.

Podium is an all-in-one text message marketing platform and an online review management system that starts at $289 a month. It’s also the texting platform of choice for over 100,000 U.S. businesses that serve their local communities. From restaurants and plumbers to car dealerships and retail stores, Podium brings businesses closer to their customers. You can use it to leverage the goodwill of your client base by encouraging them to write positive online reviews of your business.

Podium makes building and segmenting your subscriber lists easy. The service provides various list-building tools, from QR codes to webpage pop-ups that you can use on your site and social media.

Podium ensures you can launch new text campaigns quickly. You simply choose the list of subscribers you want to get in touch with, create a message for them, and press “send.” Handily, Podium has built templates into the messaging feature that you can use if you prefer. The platform’s tidy and uncluttered layout makes Podium easy to use out of the box. Clearly, an optimal user experience was paramount during the design and development of the service. In case you do need help, though, a link to the Podium website’s knowledge base is permanently placed in the top navigation bar.

The Podium inbox is a central location for all your text, email, Facebook, Instagram and webchat conversations. We like that when you click on a subscriber’s name, you caan see your entire conversation history with them at a glance.

You can also use Podium to ask customers and subscribers to leave reviews of your business. You can even reach out to someone who has left a Google review to thank them directly and ask them to join your mailing list. Podium integrates with most major review platforms.

Podium also offers several marketing automation options, which are available via a newly designed automation dashboard that allows users to browse through a portfolio of prebuilt automation templates. These templates — such as review referral automation and website retargeting automation — quickly and efficiently send relevant marketing messages to customers based on how they interact with a business. In doing so, customers can present their issues and needs without speaking to a real representative. Setting up automation templates is easy, requiring nothing more than selecting automation, customizing it and turning it on with the click of a button.

ProTexting is a popular choice for businesses, charities, and schools that want to communicate individually and en masse with customers, donors, students, and parents. You can send individual or group text messages to your subscribers immediately or at a scheduled time and date you set from your desktop or the mobile app. You can also segment your subscribers easily into smaller, more niche groups thanks to ProTexting’s keyword and custom field functions.

ProTexting allows Shopify users the ability to send customers an SMS reminder when they have abandoned their shopping cart. Through ProTexting, Shopify businesses can send their customers an alert if they have an incomplete shopping cart. Texts can be up to 480 characters and sent as soon as 15 minutes after the cart is abandoned.

ProTexting also offers holiday and after-hours SMS auto-replies. Your business can use this to disconnect over the holiday season without leaving your customers hanging. The text messaging service provides options to customize your messages and let people know when you’ll open back up and what they can do in the meantime. With this autoresponder, businesses can choose the date range the responses will arrive, use this feature in conjunction with other automated messages, and share alternative contact information.

An integration with Hubspot allows users to send various image types to their customers. With the addition of MMS (multimedia messaging service) through the HubSpot integration, Protexting users can now add videos or photos to customer messages. MMS enhances the customer experience by adding a visual dimension to the interaction.

We also like that there is an “additional users” feature so teams can easily add sub-users to their accounts. Collaboration is key for text message marketing, and this new feature will allow employees to connect and work together from anywhere. To add a user, you’ll first need to designate a “master user.” All added users will be given their own toll-free number (TFN). If a user is removed, the TFN is returned to the master.

There is a learning curve, however. While some of the features are easy to master, others don’t provide enough on-screen prompts to show new clients how to use them. For those who do run into problems, though, ProTexting offers great customer service. Its customer support is so good that it should give business owners who lack tech savvy or experience in SMS marketing the confidence they need to press ahead. [Take a leaf out of ProTexting’s book with these seven ways to use text messaging for customer service.]

ProTexting offers seven service plans ranging from $49 to $1,119 per month, and you can take advantage of a free trial if you want to test out the features for yourself first. The platform has 19 built-in apps, with 42 add-ons for you to choose from. Most are free, but some cost extra. ProTexting also offers integrations with VerticalResponse, Mailchimp, Amazon ($49 a month), Shopify and Constant Contact.

Twilio is the most developer-friendly text messaging platform we found in our research. It’s the type of platform that fast-scaling businesses will appreciate, because it gives developers the tools they need to integrate the messaging platform with your company’s software ecosystem.

A new partnership with Google Cloud incorporates its generative AI into Twilio’s customer engagement products to enhance customer experiences. The strengths of Twilio’s customer engagement platform data and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI models allow businesses to benefit from generative AI capabilities, improving contact center experiences and marketing automation. Additionally, the affiliation includes integration between Google Cloud Contact Center AI and Twilio Flex, allowing the deployment of AI-powered virtual assistance for conversational self-service interactions.

Twilio recently integrated AI into its platform to create personalized experiences at scale centered around individual customers. Through the use oChat GPT-4’s model, businesses can harness the rich customer data they have on the Segment Customer Data platform, combine it with the generative capabilities of AI to execute more tailored marketing strategies across various channels. With this, businesses can gain a unique understanding of their customers to enhance engagement and offer deeper personalization in customer interactions.

Twilio’s pricing is by far the most competitive we’ve seen. This is a pay-as-you-go service, with SMS texts costing less than a penny each (0.75 cents, to be exact) to send and receive. You can build up your texting platform with extras like clean local numbers for $1 per month, toll-free numbers for $2, and high-volume shortcodes for $1,000. The analytics are second to none, letting you measure your campaign’s performance trends by country, carrier, channel and sender.

Twilio is not ideal for small businesses or growing businesses that can’t afford a development team. It’s best for a business that wants to get big fast (or is already big) and needs a reliable text messaging component to plug directly into the software used to run the company and automate its workflows. [Related article: How Does Workflow Automation Help a Business?]

Tatango’s target markets are nonprofits, charities and political campaigns that need to text in large volumes quickly. The sophisticated back-end platform enables Tatango to send up to 6 million texts per hour. This capacity is one reason it has become the leading SMS marketing platform in the United States when measured by fundraising potential and voter drives.

Rather than offering a selection of service packages like most providers do, Tatango requires you to call so it can create a custom pricing plan for you, based on the volume of texts you want to send and the functionality you need from the system. The platform links natively to over 20 popular CRM and email marketing services, allowing easy and instant sharing of donor and supporter names between apps.

If your organization has no contact list to start with, Tatango will help you collect phone numbers from other software you may use, including Salesforce, HubSpot, WinRed, Anedot, ActBlue and NationBuilder.

Tatango’s analytics tool is impressively sophisticated. You can see how many people received a particular message, clicked on an embedded link, or made a donation. The platform allows for detailed subscriber segmentation and message automation, and the REST API gives your organization’s developers the tools they need to integrate Tatango with your existing software.

Although originally designed for client-facing businesses, Zingle has become popular among hotels and other hospitality venues. The core of the system is its inbox, which brings many different communication channels to the same interface, including SMS, webchat, Facebook Messenger, and other messenger apps. You can carry out conversations with customers on the desktop control panel or mobile app (iOS and Android).

Zingle has an impressive ability to enable fluid, two-way communication with a customer, no matter which channel is the source of their original message. It also offers built-in sentiment analysis to help you understand the intent of your inbound messages. When programmed correctly, Zingle can direct a message to the appropriate person based on whether it contains a question, complaint or booking request. The analytics feature will soon also allow you to monitor how quickly your team members are resolving customer issues and other performance factors.

You can load your existing and potential customers’ contact details into Zingle from leading hotel and hospitality platforms you may already use, such as Opera, Springer-Miller, Amadeus, Megasys and Maestro. You can also create service tickets through its integrations with HotSOS and Quore and include message histories in Mindbody customer profiles.

Zingle offers a three-day free trial, during which you can send up to 1,000 messages to test the system.

TextMagic is a specialist text message marketing platform with pay-as-you-go plans starting at 4 cents per message, as well as monthly service plans that range from $99 per month (2,500 texts) to $1,999 per month (66,600 texts). It offers a free trial with enough preloaded credit for you to send 10 text messages. The company provides services to the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia.

TextMagic uses keywords – like most other platforms do, but differently. You still create a keyword that you ask new subscribers to put in at the start of their opt-in text, but you then program a rule into TextMagic to send a keyword-specific auto-response and to add that number to a specific list (whether a new or existing one). The platform supports MMS messages, letting you schedule both SMS and MMS messages for the times of your choice. Custom fields allow you to personalize messages and to create more detailed segments for your marketing contact lists.

The TextMagic interface is fluid, clean, and easy to use – but in case you do need help navigating the platform, its website has a generous selection of support articles and videos, and the customer service team is available 18 hours a day on weekdays. TextMagic is built upon a solid REST API framework, meaning that integrations with thousands of other apps and software platforms are available through Zapier.

TextMagic recently rolled out several new valuable features, including a Chat AI assistant. This tool The Best Email Marketing Services and Survey Software of 2024 the content of lengthy text threads and offers relevant response drafts. Another new feature is the sub-account switcher, which allows seamless switching between sub-accounts without interrupting workflows.

The intuitive analytics tool provides in-depth analysis of your campaigns’ performance. You can even monitor individual team members’ use of the platform and download reports as CSV or Excel files.

Salesmsg is a feature-rich, user-friendly text message marketing service. It offers its best value to businesses that want to send 5,000 to 25,000 text messages a month. Although it’s slightly more expensive for this range of messages than other providers, we chose Salesmsg as the best for high-volume communications because of how many features you get for the price.

Salesmsg’s standout features include shared inboxes, custom and merge fields, conversation archives, private conversation between team members, video messages, dynamic segmentation, contact notes, and integrations with more than 1,500 apps via Zapier. It also has custom integrations for ActiveCampaign, Keap, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Aircall, Marketo, and CRM systems like HubSpot. The platform even has built-in ticketing and quote funnels – something we didn’t find with most competitors.

Salesmsg also offers a streamlined inbox navigation system, with an alphabetical organization as well as the ability to search inboxes by name or pin them at the top for easy access. Users can also reply to customers’ text messages via email or a shared inbox. In addition to text messaging, Salesmsg recently added an audio and video messaging functionality, allowing users to record and send audio messages and videos that will render directly in the message timeline.

We were pleased with recent updates made to the platform, including the Salesmsg Widget, Messages Analytics, Duplicate Message Check and Ringless Voicemail within HubSpot Workflows. The Ringless Voicemail enables marketers to reach out to clients without interrupting calls by seamlessly delivering important messages via notifications. The Smart Inbox now restricts group chats with toll-free numbers and notifies users of this restriction. Messages Analytics offers detailed reports on outbound messages, distinguishing delivered and undelivered counts for insightful data. The Duplicate Message Check prevents repetitive messages by flagging identical workflow messages sent through Salesforce and HubSpot to a single user.

Customers can use the smart conversation assignment tool to delegate conversations based on message mood and tone, enabling businesses to provide individualized attention to customers for a faster resolution. With the export option, users can save closed conversations for future analysis and recordkeeping purposes.

Salesmsg’s service plans start at $25 per month for 500 credits, ranging up to $249 per month for 7,500 credits. If you want to send more than 10,000 a month, the company will create a custom quote for you.