The cheapest SMS gateway providers available in USA offer cost-effective bulk SMS distribution using an SMS gateway API. Discover our 2024 cheap SMS gateway review online, compare top providers such as ClickSend, and find the best SMS service for your business’s SMS marketing needs.
By Max Adler / Updated: Saturday, January 06th, 2024
The cheapest SMS providers for businesses in America are:
ClickSend Review >>Visit ClickSend >>
When comparing the leading cheap bulk SMS gateway providers, SMS pricing, distribution volume, and the SMS API must be considered. Ultimately, this will enable businesses to send and receive bulk SMS messages to run successful SMS campaigns.
Taking all these three factors into consideration, a business needs to look at what it requires from the SMS service provider. For example, low cost per SMS message may lead to a loss in reliability due to the use of hybrid telecommunication network carriers that come from overseas. Additionally, large volumes of text messages sent will be cheaper than small and medium volumes, as they will cost more per SMS message sent. Furthermore, less sophisticated API platforms will have a lower capacity to convert SMS messages efficiently through the gateway system.
The cost of a cheap SMS provider will depend on the gateway used. There are two main types of telecommunication providers used by mass text message gateways. A Premium or Tier 1 gateway is more expensive and uses American telecommunication carriers such as AT&T and Verizon. These are safer, and more reliable to use, with around 100% reliability. This direct gateway has the ability to send SMS text messages in large volumes successfully to target audiences with a high level of privacy.
Alternatively, the cheaper option is a Hybrid or Grey gateway, which utilizes a combination of overseas and USA telecommunication carriers. This method will use the cheapest route available, and is effective for SMS marketing campaigns where time is not as important, as delivery can take up to a day to reach the recipient’s mobile phone.
Compare the SMS prices of the SMS marketing providers available to US businesses below.
Current is in $$$
There are many benefits of using an SMS (Short Message Service) provider. An SMS platform provider offers SMS API services using an SMPP (Short Message Peer-To-Peer Protocol) that enable businesses to send SMS messages directly to their target audiences mobile phones in real-time. The advantage of mobile marketing over other forms of communication is that users are much more likely to open and respond to messages received on their phones, and they do not need to be connected to the internet to receive them (unlike WhatsApp or Email marketing). Not only can businesses send text messages, but they can also receive SMS message responses from the recipient, which enables effective two-way SMScommunication to occur.
With cheap text messaging gateway providers, businesses can often choose their own sender ID (including short and long code numbers), as well as integrate their text messages with other campaigns. This SMS integration allows for a more holistic marketing perspective, which caters for further touch points with their customers.
Common uses for bulk SMS messaging are:
Therefore, SMS works to communicate effectively with audiences in a quick, concise, and direct manner.
When choosing an international cheap SMS gateway provider, businesses must consider a number of important elements, including:
These factors are highly dependent on the type of overseas telecommunication (telecom) carrier used by these international cheap sms gateway providers. Some SMS text services may use a direct carrier, otherwise known as the premium option, as it offers a higher cost per SMS, but is more reliable. Alternatively, other global cheap sms gateway providers may use a hybrid or grey gateway service to reach customers and other stakeholders. This option utilizes various telecommunication carriers from multiple countries (such as India and other off-shore countries) to find the cheapest, yet also efficient means to send an SMS to the end user. This option is less reliable and a slower option, therefore businesses that do not require urgency or have less time constraints for their marketing campaigns, this cheap SMS gateway provider may be the right option. While free SMS options exist, they are not recommended in terms of security and reliability.
Ultimately, direct SMS service options are more efficient for time sensitive communications, whilst hybrid carriers are effective to send messages in large volumes in a cheaper manner.
Our cheap SMS gateway comparison based on price found that various providers offered a range of gateway features that ensure efficient distribution, reliability, and cheap rates. Overall, ClickSend and Message bird offer the best value based on charge per SMS on a monthly basis. The graph below highlights the range of fees offered by the leading SMS providers in the United States, based on small, medium, and large volumes of text messages distributed per month.
As shown in the graph above, ClickSend is the best SMS gateway provider when it comes to value for money. To view their SMS prices and valued features, view our extensive ClickSend review or visit their website below.
View Review >>Visit Website >>
Whilst cheap SMS gateway providers offer the best rates when it comes to SMS pricing, businesses may be interested in other premium SMS providers, such as Clickatell, who are affiliated with the highest level of mobile networks to provide optimum levels of SMS gateway services to their mass text message clients.
When analyzing uptime (reliability) and latency (timeliness), there are a variety of features that must be considered when utilising the SMS gateway formats. These include:
It must be emphasised that a business must assess the SMS provider’s value for money, but also consider the uptime SLA – being at least 99.95% or money back guarantee. This will ensure that all SMS will be distributed successfully and in a timely manner, and provide a feedback report for evaluation.
On that basis, the graphical representation of a number of cheap bulk sms providers is shown below.
From the analysis and review of numerous reputable and reliable cheap SMS gateway provider, one must understand the need for a sophisticated and valuable API. When discussing an API, one is referring to an Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two different applications to communicate with each other in a meaningful way (no need for e.g JSON or Python code). API is the conduit or messenger that allows SMS requirements to be made into a communication form that will deliver a text message, along with the ability to reply to ensure that bulk text messages are received well.
There are a variety expensive and cheap APIs platforms available (including REST API, and HTTP API), therefore a business must analyze and compare which cheap SMS gateway provider will be best suited to their use cases and communication needs. Many have flexible integration abilities which will mean that a business will be able to automate and integrate mobile phone messaging seamlessly into the provider’s way of operating. In such cases, the API platform can easily integrate into businesses applications, websites, intranets, CRMs and other software. This means real-time text messaging capacity with easy integration.
Ultimately, the reliability of gateway API will assist a business in the effective distribution of SMS messages at any given time in the cheapest manner possible. Overall, ClickSend, Clickatell, and BurstSMS are assessed to be the most reliable cheap SMS gateway provider for USA businesses, as they have highly reputable API software and uptime SLAs.
This comparison table on the cheap SMS gateway providers is available to businesses and resellers in the United States free of charge. It has been created by prior experts in the SMS field who understand how difficult it can be to compare the features and services of mass text message providers. The information is provided in a clear, concise manner to help USA businesses lookup information and make the right choice for their SMS marketing behaviors.
The data found on the comparison tables and web site have been collated from the SMS gateway provider’s websites, therefore should any of the information be outdated, please inform the authors using the contact form, and changes will be made immediately.
This comparison site is free of charge, however should an individual use the site to engage with a bulk SMS service provider, the authors may ask a commission from the SMS provider.
It is hoped that the information will be valuable to you and your business to undertake successful SMS campaigns.
An SMS gateway API is a code function that allows simple query parameters in URLs to provide SMS gateway instructions and send text messages to customers. This is done through scripts written in PHP or Java and can be integrated into web forms and other applications. A cheap SMS Gateway API is one that takes into consideration the business case for SMS API – scalability and volume. Businesses choose an SMS Gateway API to send SMS communication at scale and in high volumes. Hence a Cheap SMS API provider is one that offers volume pricing, as well as high SLA and reliability to ensure that businesses feel confident in their products.
An SMS Gateway is a software or web portal or UI that acts as a middleman or relay between a business and its capability to send SMS to its customers and clients. An SMS Gateway will translate instructions from one protocol to another through an SMS Center (SMSC).
SMS centers are wireless networks that take care of message forwarding, routing stores, and many other SMS gateway features and processes – ensuring that SMS messages and communications are delivered on time, correctly, and with no issues or faults.
Published by Simon Mannheimer
Hi I Want Usa Phone Numbers to Create Usa gmail accounts, I want just otp
Hi Pankaj,
Many SMS providers provide the ability to send OTP – this will often still require you to buy SMS credits or a monthly plan. View the Clicksend website for more information about how to send OTP with ClickSend.
what is the best way to use bulk sms for marketing?
Hi there!
The best way in our opinion is through a Bulk SMS API, which will integrate with your e-commerce or CRM platforms to help you conduct bulk SMS marketing easily! Read more about Bulk SMS API here
These all sound great but is it really possible to find a cheap SMS service without sacrificing quality? I know SMS is important so i don’t want to cheap out but also if I can save on my marketing spend that’d be great.
Hello Lee,
Yes! there are cost-effective SMS services available for small businesses. Many providers offer competitive pricing and pay-as-you-go plans that won’t compromise on quality. Some of the best are, ClickSend, Podium, and Notifyre- you can read more about them here.
great article but Bulksms is not the best pricing. In fact at 3.35C per message it is robbery compared to Vonage and Twilio at .007 per message. Twilio and Vonage are the lowest. IMHO Twilio provides the most integrations. Another provider that is not mentioned here is Telnyx. Fairly competitive. Thanks
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for reading! I’ve had a look at the numbers and it looks like you are right, BulkSMS isn’t as competitively priced anymore. I’ve made the change in the report to reflect this. Twilio and Vonage are some of our favorite providers too! you can read more about them in our Provider Reviews if you’d like!
Also thanks for bringing Telnyx to my attention, I will do some research, maybe its a provider for us to review in the future as well!
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