Help center
Questions about sending SMS online, answered
37 answers about sending, prices, top-ups, delivery and the API. Members can also open a ticket from Support in the workspace.
Getting started
6 questions
What is SendSMSOnline?
SendSMSOnline is a web service for sending SMS online to 227 countries: paste or upload phone numbers, write one message, see the exact price per country and send it from your browser, paying per message from prepaid credit.
How do I send my first SMS online?
Create an account, open New campaign in the workspace and follow the three steps: Recipients (paste numbers or upload a CSV file), Message (write the text, add names if you like) and Review (check the price per country and the total). Add funds when the review shows the total, then send now or schedule it. Most people send a test to their own phone first.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Everything runs in your web browser on a computer, tablet or phone. Developers who want to send from their own systems can use the REST API with the same account and credit.
What do I need to create an account?
Your browser makes an account key for you. Copy it or save it as a text file, confirm that you saved it, and the account is ready. That key is the only way to sign in, so keep it somewhere safe, like a password manager.
Can I see prices before I sign up?
Yes. Every country page and the pricing page show the price per message for all 227 destinations, and the calculator works out the cost of a campaign. Inside the workspace the composer shows the exact total for your own list before you send.
Is there a monthly fee or a contract?
No. You add credit when you need it and pay per message sent. Credit does not expire, and there is no fee for the account, the API or the reports.
Sending messages
10 questions
How many people can I text in one campaign?
Up to 30,000 recipients per campaign from the browser and up to 5,000 numbers per API request. For bigger lists, split them into several campaigns; each one shows its own total.
What number formats can I paste?
International numbers with a plus sign (+44 7700 900123), numbers starting with 00, and local numbers without a country code when you pick the default country above the box. Spaces, dots, dashes and brackets are removed for you. You can paste one number per line or several separated by commas or semicolons.
What happens to numbers that cannot be sent?
They are left out before you pay, and the workspace shows each one with its line number and the reason in plain words, such as no country code, too short, duplicate or on your do-not-send list. You can download the left-out lines as a CSV file and fix them.
Can I upload a CSV file?
Yes. CSV and TXT files up to 5 MB work. The workspace reads the first rows, finds the column with phone numbers by its header (phone, mobile, number and similar) and turns the other columns into merge fields like {{first_name}}. You can change the mapping before you continue.
How do merge fields work?
Put a field name in double curly brackets, for example Hi {{first_name}}, and each recipient gets their own value from your file or pasted line. When some recipients have no value for a field, the workspace tells you how many and shows them, and the price is worked out from each person's own message length.
Can I schedule a campaign?
Yes, from 10 minutes to 30 days ahead. You pick the date and time in your own time zone and the review shows the same moment in UTC. A scheduled campaign can be canceled with a full refund until it starts.
How fast do messages leave?
Campaigns start as soon as you confirm them (or at the scheduled time) and leave at up to 300 messages a minute. A list of 3,000 numbers is handed to the networks in about 10 minutes.
Can I send a test before the real campaign?
Yes. The Delivery step has a test box that sends the current text, with the first recipient's merge values, to one number such as your own. A test is charged like any message to that country and appears in Campaigns with a Test label.
Can recipients reply to my messages?
These are one-way messages: they deliver your information, reminders and offers. Put a phone number, website or address in the text when you want people to contact you.
How do I let people opt out?
Write your opt-out wording in Settings, for example "To stop these texts, call 555 0100", and switch on the opt-out line in the composer to add it to the end of a campaign. When someone asks to stop, add their number to your do-not-send list and every campaign will leave it out.
Prices and credit
6 questions
How much does it cost to send an SMS?
Each country has its own price per message, from $0.00278 (Brazil). Texts to the United States cost $0.00558 each and to the United Kingdom $0.00868. The full list is on the pricing page.
What is a segment and how does it change the price?
One SMS holds 160 plain characters, or 70 when the text contains emoji or letters outside the basic GSM alphabet. Longer texts are split into segments of 153 (or 67) characters that the phone joins back together. Each segment is billed at the country price, so a 300-character plain message costs two segments.
Why did my message switch to Unicode?
One character outside the GSM-7 alphabet, such as a curly quote, a long dash, an emoji or a non-Latin letter, switches the whole message to Unicode with 70 characters per segment. The composer lists those characters and can replace quotes, dashes and special spaces with plain ones in one click.
Do I pay for messages that fail?
No. When a message fails, its price goes back to your credit automatically, and the refund appears as its own line in your billing history. Canceled scheduled campaigns are refunded in full.
Does my credit expire?
No. Credit stays in your account until you use it. It is used only for messages and cannot be withdrawn.
Are the prices the same for every kind of message?
Yes. A reminder, a promotion and an alert to the same country cost the same per segment. There is no extra charge for scheduling, merge fields, reports or the API.
Top-ups and payments
5 questions
What is the minimum top-up?
Top-ups start at $40 and go up to $5,000 at a time. You can top up as often as you like.
Is there a bonus?
Yes, on your first top-up: +10% from $40, +20% from $100, +25% from $200, +30% from $300, +35% from $500, +40% from $1,000. The bonus is added as its own line in your billing history when the top-up is credited; later top-ups are credited at face value.
How do I pay?
Add funds opens our secure checkout in a window on the same page. You choose the amount and a coin, such as USDT or USDC on several networks, Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, Solana or Litecoin, and send the exact amount shown to the address shown. The checkout shows each step until the payment is confirmed.
When does a top-up appear in my credit?
As soon as the payment is confirmed on the network, the top-up appears in Billing with its status. If the screen shows a network error, check that you sent the exact amount shown, to 6 decimals, to the address shown.
Can I get a receipt?
Yes. Every credited top-up has a printable receipt in Billing with your account code, amount, bonus, network and transaction link, and you can download a monthly statement of your credit history as CSV.
Delivery and reports
4 questions
How do I know a message was delivered?
Each message shows a status in plain words: Queued (waiting to leave our queue), Sent (handed to the network), Delivered (the network confirmed the phone received it) or Failed with the reason. Most delivery reports arrive within minutes; some networks take up to 24 hours.
Why would a message fail?
Common reasons are a phone that is switched off or out of coverage, a number that is not in service, a landline, or a block by the network or the recipient. The message log shows the reason for each one, and failed messages are refunded.
Can I download my reports?
Yes. Every campaign has an Export CSV button, and the message log exports any filtered set of messages with code, campaign, number, country, segments, price, status, reason and times in UTC.
Can I resend to the numbers that failed?
Yes. Open the campaign and choose Resend to failed: the composer opens with the same text and only the failed numbers, so you can fix the text or the time and send again.
Account and safety
3 questions
How does sign-in work?
You sign in with your account key, a 32-character code made in your browser when you created the account. We store only a fingerprint of it, so keep the key safe: it is the only way into the account. Settings can sign out every other browser at once.
What kind of messages can I send?
Messages people expect from you: reminders, order and delivery updates, opening hours, offers to customers who gave you their number, school and club notices. Spam, deceptive messages and anything illegal are not allowed; the acceptable use policy has the details.
How do I get help?
Open a ticket from Support in the workspace and choose the campaign or top-up it is about. We reply in the same thread and you see a dot on Support when an answer arrives. Before your first top-up, tickets are open for payment questions.
For developers
3 questions
Is there an SMS API?
Yes. The REST API at https://sendsmsonline.cc/api/v1 sends single messages and batches of up to 5,000 numbers, estimates costs, returns your credit and message status, and lists prices. It uses JSON over HTTPS with a Bearer key.
How do I get an API key?
API keys open after your first credited top-up. Create one under API and webhooks in the workspace; it is shown once, so copy it or save it as a text file. You can have up to 5 keys and revoke any of them.
Do you send delivery webhooks?
Yes. Set an https URL in the workspace and we POST message.delivered and message.failed events, signed with your own secret (HMAC-SHA256 in the X-SSO-Signature header). Each event is tried up to 7 times: right away, then after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours.
Prices for every country are on the pricing page; developers can read the API documentation.
Still curious? Try it with your own list
Writing a campaign and seeing its price costs nothing. Create an account and look around the workspace.