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EZ Texting is our pick for the best overall bulk text message service
ByMichael Kurko
Updated on December 22, 2022
Fact checked byFernando Flores
We recommend the best products through an independent review process, and advertisers do not influence our picks. We may receive compensation if you visit partners we recommend. Read our advertiser disclosure for more info. Text message marketing helps small businesses engage with their customers right where they live—on their phones. From offering coupons and announcing specials to running surveys and contests, the best bulk text message services let even the smallest businesses stay current and competitive. Text message marketing works. Studies show that 75% of consumers actually want to receive texts with special offers. Text messages have a 98% open rate compared to only 20% of emails, and 19% of links in text messages are clicked vs. only 2% of links in emails. We reviewed more than a dozen bulk text message services based on ease of use, features, scalability, price, and more. Here are our top picks. Best Bulk Text Message Services Best Bulk Text Message Services Compare the Best Bulk Text Message Services Final Verdict FAQ Methodology Key Specs Why We Chose It EZ Texting tops our list of SMS marketing software providers because it offers a wide range of text message marketing tools for companies looking for new ways to increase customer engagement.Some of EZ Texting's clients include Domino's and Aeroflow Healthcare. Pros & Cons Pros Automated marketing features, including drip campaigns and text forwarding Integrates with third-party marketing tools like Constant Contact and Zendesk Cons High monthly cost if your business needs a large number of message credits Overview As its name implies, EZ Texting makes it simple for businesses to market to their customers using text messaging. Users just choose a keyword and let the software create a sharable short code. For example, a business owner chooses DEALZ as a keyword and gets the short code 313131 from EZ Texting. They can then send the following message to their customers: “Text DEALZ to 313131 to get monthly coupons." Customers who text the keyword automatically become subscribers and get added to the business’s list. EZ Texting offers many automated marketing features, including drip campaigns, text forwarding, recurring messages, reminders, and polls. Users can also personalize messages for each customer using an existing database or a list of subscribers generated by the platform. Finally, EZ Texting integrates with a number of powerful third-party marketing tools, including Constant Contact, Zendesk, Mailchimp, Hubspot, Squarespace, Salesforce, and more. Key Specs Why We Chose It SlickText counts FedEx, United Airlines, Lyft, and Hyatt among its high-profile clients, so the SMS messaging service is doing something right. It's our runner-up for best overall text message service because it offers a full suite of features in an easy-to-use platform. It offers nine plans, including these four lowest-priced options: Pros & Cons Pros Easy-to-use platform 14-day free trial Integrates with more than 4,000 third-party apps Cons Large number of subscription plans may get confusing Overview SlickText offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy for users with no text message marketing experience to quickly become adept with the platform. The company’s website also offers step-by-step instructional guides on creating an account, reserving a keyword, and setting up auto-reply. Users can get fast customer support via phone, email, or live chat. SlickText gives users many standard text message marketing features, including drip campaigns, auto-responders, scheduling, picture messaging, surveys, birthday texts, and text-to-win contests. SlickText also provides users with robust reporting, segmentation, personalization, and email capture features and integrates with over 4,000 third-party apps through Zapier, including Facebook Ads, Twitter, Mailchimp, Zoho CRM, Shopify, and more. Key Specs Why We Chose It TextMagic took our top spot as the best bulk text messaging system for quick set-up because it’s built to let anyone send their first text marketing message within minutes of setting up an account. Pros & Cons Pros Quick set-up Virtual toll-free numbers so customers can reply to texts free of charge Integrates with thousands of third-party apps Cons Pay-as-you-go pricing may get expensive for businesses that require a lot of texts Overview You can import a list of contacts, organize them, and schedule messages to be sent out, all using a simple and intuitive interface. Getting started is easy. You create a free account, set up prepaid credit payments, and start sending and receiving text messages right away. TextMagic offers virtual toll-free numbers in 25 countries, so customers don’t have to pay to reply to messages. The platform can also forward calls made to these virtual numbers to any other number the user wants. TextMagic offers many standard text messaging features, like automation rules, surveys, attachments, text-to-speech, and email-to-text. Finally, TextMagic integrates with thousands of third-party apps through Zapier to expand its marketing capabilities. It offers an API that allows developers to connect the platform to just about any type of business software. TextMagic offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model. Prices start at $0.04 per text in the U.S., with varying rates to other countries. The company also offers a 30-day free trial with a subscription fee of $4 per month after that for virtual numbers. Key Specs Why We Chose It Textedly serves thousands of business customers including Walmart, GoDaddy, Coca-Cola, JetBlue, FedEx, and Disney. We chose it as the best for small businesses because it offers a basic, no-frills set of text message marketing features to help businesses get started quickly. Pros & Cons Pros Clean, web-based interface Send texts over 300 characters long Integrates with more than 1,000 third-party apps Cons Integrates with fewer apps than many competitors Overview Textedly offers a clean web-based interface that lets users access common messaging features, including scheduled campaigns, custom subscriber data, picture messaging, email capture, and auto-responders. Textedly is also one of the only companies that can send a text message of over 300 characters. Textedly integrates with over 1,000 apps directly and can integrate with additional apps via Zapier. Textedly keeps things simple for small businesses with basic reporting that gives users real-time data such as user activity and history, interactive graphs, and performance metrics. The platform also supports an unlimited number of users, can import subscriber lists from another text messaging provider, and makes it easy to upgrade to a bigger texting plan anytime. Textedly offers 13 plans in total, but we are only showing pricing for the tiers best suited for small- to mid-sized businesses. Key Specs Why We Chose It Trumpia's customers include Costco, GM, the Baltimore Ravens, and Goodwill. We chose it as the best for scalability because it offers robust automation, targeting, and enterprise-grade messaging features to help small businesses grow. Pros & Cons Pros Lots of features, including drip campaigns, scheduled reminders, contact importing, and more Integrates with Salesforce and thousands of other third-party apps Cons 11 subscription plans that are pricey compared to competitors Overview Trumpia offers many standard text messaging features, including drip campaigns, scheduled reminders, contact importing, mobile keywords, and detailed reporting. The platform also offers advanced engagement tools, including yes/no response texts, auto-responses, SMS coupons, text-to-vote messages, and a shuffle responder for sending random fun messages. Trumpia also offers more powerful automations than most other providers we reviewed. The platform automatically captures data as subscribers respond to text prompts and filters subscribers based on their interests, characteristics, and behavior. This type of detailed tracking lets businesses segment and target their customers more accurately instead of blasting everyone with the same messages. Finally, Trumpia integrates directly with Salesforce and thousands of other third-party apps through Zapier. Developers can create nearly any software integrations using Trumpia’s APIs and pre-programmed tools. Trumpia offers 11 plans that range from $76 to $3,196 per month when billed annually based on the number of messages and emails included. Below, we provide details for the plans most suitable for small businesses. Key Specs Why We Chose It SimpleTexting supports thousands of customers from businesses including Starbucks, Cisco, Century 21, and Samsung. We chose it as the best price since it offers the lowest priced plans per text message of any service we reviewed. Pros & Cons Pros Most affordable of all the bulk text messaging services we reviewed Lets businesses use existing phone lines to receive texts 14-day free trial Cons Direct integrations with third-party apps are limited Overview In addition to letting users import a list of contacts like other text message marketing providers, SimpleTexting also lets businesses use their existing business phone line to receive texts. The company can also provide businesses with random or vanity dedicated short codes. SimpleTexting offers most typical bulk message marketing features, including custom fields, auto-responders, text-to-win, text-to-vote, scheduling, segmentation, polling, and analytics. Other features include the ability to sign up for text messages via a web form, self-cleaning lists that check for dead numbers, automated birthday texts, and more. Finally, SimpleTexting offers direct integrations with many third-party apps, including Mailchimp, Salesforce, Slack, and Twitter. Users can also choose from thousands of other integrations through Zapier or have their developers customize their own using SimpleTexting’s API. All of SimpleTexting’s plans come with a 14-day free trial and include free incoming SMS messages, unlimited contacts, support seven days a week, unlimited keywords, and rollover credit. Subscription pricing is based on the number of messages expressed as credits. Key Specs Why We Chose It Twilio is our pick as the best for customization since it’s primarily made for developers who can build it any way they want using Twilio's API. Pros & Cons Pros Designed for developers to build out a custom text messaging system Drag-and-drop features available for non-developers Cons No direct integration with third-party apps Overview Twilio stands out from the other programs on our list because it lets developers create any type of bulk messaging service they want. The platform’s Programmable Messaging API can be configured to let users send customer notifications, mass alerts, targeted marketing messages, verifications, and more via text, WhatsApp, and chat. For those who are not developers, the company offers Twilio Studio. This drag-and-drop builder lets users build a custom workflow, including surveys, appointment reminders, auto-responders, call forwarding, call center workflows, posting messages to Slack, and more. Finally, users can connect their Zapier account to Twilio to bypass coding completely. Examples include sending and receiving text messages using email or posting texts to Slack or Google Sheets. Twilio offers pay-as-you-go pricing for its SMS features. Sending and receiving messages via local or toll-free numbers or short codes costs $0.0079 to send and receive messages. Picture messages can be sent via local numbers or short codes for $0.0200 and received for $0.0100 per message in most cases. Twilio also offers dedicated local numbers and dedicated toll-free numbers. Customers can also use their existing local or toll-free numbers for $0.50 per month. EZ Texting hit the sweet spot for us because of its combination of features and integration with other third-party marketing tools. You can automate features such as text forwarding, recurring messages, reminders, polls, and more. It also works alongside popular marketing options such as Constant Contact, Zendesk, Mailchimp, and more. Even so, your company's needs may vary, so check out our full list to determine which service supplies everything you need to have a successful text messaging strategy. Bulk text messaging services let businesses send short, targeted messages to their customers about special deals and promotions right to their phone. For instance, a pizzeria might send users a message saying, “Text PIZZA to 12345 to get 10% off your next order.” Since customers are constantly tied to their phones, text messaging can actually be a more effective way to connect to them than email. Studies show that 75% of millennials actually prefer text communications for deliveries, promotions, and surveys over any other form of communication. Bulk text message services allow customers to text keywords to 5- or 6-digit short codes instead of full 10-digit phone numbers in order to opt in or out of marketing campaigns.For instance, a business can send a message to its customers that says, “Text DEALS to 76543 to get monthly coupons.” When customers text DEALS to 76543, they will automatically be added to a list and get coupons texted to them every month. Bulk text message services typically offer monthly pricing based on the number of messages the business can send out each month. Pricing generally starts around $25 for 500 messages to between about $39 to $79 for 2,000 messages. Other services offer a pay-as-you-go pricing with fees starting at $0.04 per text. Bulk text messaging services work well for businesses that offer rotating discounts, specials, and promotions. Businesses that use the service only once or twice per year won’t benefit as much from text message marketing as those with frequent promotions. Bulk text messaging is also ideal for businesses with a younger customer base. As noted earlier, 75% of millennials prefer text messages for deliveries, promotions, and surveys over phone or email communications. We looked at over a dozen service providers for this review. Because text message marketing is still new to most businesses, we sought out companies that make it easy to get started and offer an intuitive dashboard for managing campaigns. We also made sure to choose providers that offer integrations with other marketing tools to help businesses build on their existing systems. Finally, we made sure to choose text message providers with flexible pricing plans. As businesses learn how text message marketing can create loyal customers and increase their sales, they will need to have a platform that will scale with them as they grow. Article SourcesBest Bulk Text Message Services of 2023
Best Overall : EZ Texting
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Plan Starting Cost Users Features Value $20/month 1 1 keyword, 1 textable number, $25/month for high-volume textable number upgrade, 200 message credits (higher pricing for more message credits), free two-way texting Essentials $29/month 2 3 keywords, 2 textable numbers, $25/month for high-volume textable number upgrade, 200 message credits (higher pricing for more message credits), free two-way texting Premium $49/month 3 6 keywords, 3 textable numbers, 1 high-volume number upgraded included, 200 message credits (higher pricing for more message credits), free two-way texting Custom $299/month Custom Unlimited keywords, custom textable numbers, custom high-volume number upgrades, free two-way texting Runner-Up, Best Overall : SlickText
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Plan Cost Features Basic $29/month 500 texts/month, 2 text words, unlimited contacts, picture messaging, rollover texts, live chat support Step Up $49/month All Basic plan features, 1,000 texts/month, 4 text words Lil Bro $79/month All Step Up plan features, 2,000 texts/month, 6 text words Big Bro $139/month All Lil Bro plan features, 3,600 texts/month, 8 text words, one-on-one onboarding Best for Quick Set-Up : TextMagic
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Best for Small Businesses : Textedly
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Plan Cost, Billed Annually Features Starter Free for 14 days 50 messages, 1 custom keyword Bronze $24/month 1,200 messages/month, 1 custom keyword Plus $39/month 2,400 messages/month, 2 custom keywords Enterprise $50/month 4,200 messages/month, 3 custom keywords Best for Scalability : Trumpia
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Plan Cost, Billed Annually Features Core Plan 3,000 $76/month 3,000 SMS messages a month; 15,000 emails; unlimited keywords Core Plan 5,000 $100/month 5,000 SMS messages a month; 25,000 emails; unlimited keywords, onboarding Core Plan 7,500 $116/month 7,500 SMS messages a month; 37,500 emails; unlimited keywords; onboarding Best Price : SimpleTexting
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Credits Cost Cost/Additional Credit 500 $29/month 5.5¢ 1,000 $49/month 5¢ 2,000 $79/month 4¢ 3,000 $109/month 4¢ 7,500 $229/month 3.5¢ 25,000 $549/month 2.5¢ 50,000 $899/month 2¢ Best for Customization : Twilio
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Pros & Cons
Compare the Best Bulk Text Message Services
Company Cost Free Trial Plans EX Texting
Best OverallStarts at $20/month Yes 4 SlickText
Runner-Up, Best OverallStarts at $29/month Yes 9 TextMagic
Best for Quick Set-UpStarts at $0.04/text Yes 1 Textedly
Best for Small BusinessesStarts at $24/month Yes 13 Trumpia
Best for ScalabilityStarts at $76/month Yes 11 SimpleTexting
Best PriceStarts at $29/month Yes 7 Twilio
Best for CustomizationStarts at $0.0079/message No 1 Final Verdict
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Bulk Text Message Service?
How Does a Bulk Text Message Service Work?
How Much Do Bulk Text Message Services Cost?
Are Bulk Text Message Services Worth the Cost?
Methodology
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FAQs
What is the best app to send mass texts? ›
...
Let's take a look at some of the best bulk SMS apps that let you send messages to a bigger audience with your Android device.
- Multi SMS Sender. 2 Images. ...
- Bulk SMS Plans. 3 Images. ...
- Group Messaging. ...
- Hit Em Up. ...
- Multi SMS & Group SMS.
Does a Free Mass Texting App Exist? The short answer is no. Sending mass text messages has an associated cost that comes from telecommunication companies. Mass texting apps, like TextSpot, pass on those costs to their users.
What is the best SMS marketing provider? ›- Sender. If you run a small business, opting for services provided by Sender might be the ideal choice. ...
- SimpleTexting. SimpleTexting is among the most popular text message marketing services today. ...
- Mobile Text Alerts. ...
- TextMagic. ...
- EZ Texting. ...
- Textedly. ...
- SlickText. ...
- ClickSend.
- Open the WhatsApp Business App.
- Go to the Chat screen> Menu button> New List.
- Type the names of the contacts you want to send the message to or press the + button to select them directly from your contact list.
- Press OK.
- Press Create.
Google-owned SMS, RCS and instant messaging service allows users to send mass text messages. Users can even access the Google Messages app to send a text message to multiple recipients at once.
What is the easiest way to send a mass text? ›Sending a mass text message is as simple as logging in to a platform like EZ Texting, choosing a group of contacts you'd like to send to, composing your message, and scheduling it to be sent. One of the distinguishing factors of text messaging compared to other marketing channels is the extraordinary open rates.
How much does mass texting cost? ›How Much Do Bulk Text Message Services Cost? Bulk text message services typically offer monthly pricing based on the number of messages the business can send out each month. Pricing generally starts around $25 for 500 messages to between about $39 to $79 for 2,000 messages.
How much does simple bulk SMS cost? ›₹449/month for 12 months (₹599 monthly).
What is SMS sendout? ›The SMS Sendout feature allows you to create and send SMS campaigns directly from our CDP, if you do not already have another Marketing Automation tool and want to create SMS campaigns in an easy and user-friendly way.
How can I send bulk SMS to all contacts? ›- Tap Android Messages.
- Tap Menu (3 dots in the top right corner)
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Advanced.
- Tap Group Messaging.
- Tap "Send an SMS reply to all recipients and get individual replies (mass text)"
Can I send bulk SMS with TextNow? ›
What's group messaging? Group messaging is a way to have more than one person involved in your Conversations. With TextNow, you can add one or more people to the same message thread and talk to all of them together.
Which SMS Gateway is best in USA? ›- Twilio.
- Telesign.
- Vonage (Nexmo)
- MessageBird.
- Text Local.
- D7 Networks.
- Telnyx.
- ClickSend.
RCS stands for “Rich Communications Services” and experts predict it will replace SMS in the near future. Think of it as an evolution of text messaging. It incorporates many of the features of popular messaging apps like iMessage or WeChat while still operating on a telecom network.
What is the future of SMS marketing? ›Welcome to the Future of SMS Marketing
The future of SMS marketing is gearing up to be more personalized to the consumer, to offer more engagement between the brand and its consumers, and be a more seamless interaction in your everyday life.
It was designed to “fit in between” other signalling protocols, which is why SMS message length is limited to 160 7-bit characters, i.e., 1120 bits, or 140 bytes. SMS was first standardized as part of the 1985 GSM protocol and was subsequently codified into the SMPP signalling protocol that transmits SMS.
How many bulk SMS can be send? ›How many contacts can I send the same SMS message to? The BulkSMS system allows you to send an SMS message to a database of up to 30,000 contacts in one submission when using the BulkSMS API or Web to SMS platform and up to 20,000 contacts when using the BulkSMS Text Messenger.
How many messages is too many messages? ›SimpleTexting says that best practice is to send two to four texts per month, but enterprise messaging firm Upload Software suggests that figure is closer to ten. SlickText says that sending as many as one message per day is OK.
Is there an app that sends 1000 texts at once? ›GetItSMS Simplanations. You can use GetItSMS's online interface to send 1000 text messages at once, which is simple enough. It's a simple process.
How to send 100 messages at once? ›- Tap Android Messages.
- Tap Menu (3 dots in the top right corner)
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Advanced.
- Tap Group Messaging.
- Tap "Send an SMS reply to all recipients and get individual replies (mass text)"