Know what a text
really costs

Carriers bill segments, not messages. Tell us where your number is, then paste your own text below to see how many segments it uses and what it comes to.

The country your number is in

Rates per segment

United States
  • You send it yourselfIncluded
  • Allo sends it for you$0.01 per segment
  • Photos and files$0.03 per message
  • Texts you receiveFree

Typing texts yourself is included up to 500 segments per user per month, which is well past what a normal month looks like.

How a text is counted, and what it costs

A segment is the unit carriers actually bill. Most messages are one segment, and the ones that are not usually got there by accident.

Your message

Try

Characters

49

Alphabet

Standard

Segments

1

Every character here is in the standard SMS alphabet, so one segment holds 160 of them.

Segment 1

49/160

Your appointment is confirmed for Tuesday at 3pm.

111 characters left before another segment starts

Free when you send it yourself. Sent automatically: 1 × $0.01 = $0.01

The standard SMS alphabet

  • Free

    é è à ù ì ò ä ö ü ñ å ø æ ß Ç É ¡ ¿ £ $ ¥ and a straight apostrophe '

  • Switches the whole message to Unicode

    ç ê â î ô û ë ï á í ó ú ã õ œ a curly apostrophe ’ curly quotes “ ” and every emoji 👍 😊 🙏 🎉

  • Counts as two characters

    ^ { } \ [ ] ~ | €

One character from the middle row takes the whole message from 160 characters per segment down to 70.

Four edits that quietly double the bill

Each pair below is the same message before and after one change. Nothing else about it moves.

One emoji

An emoji is not in the standard alphabet, so the whole message drops from 160 characters per segment to 70. Two characters added, twice the price.

Before

Thanks for calling. We are on a job right now and will call you back before 6pm today.
1 segment

After

Thanks for calling. We are on a job right now and will call you back before 6pm today. 👍
2 segments

A curly apostrophe

Phone keyboards and word processors quietly turn ' into ’, which is not in the standard alphabet. Identical length, twice the price.

Before

We couldn't reach you this morning, so we've left the quote and the install date on your voicemail.
1 segment

After

We couldn’t reach you this morning, so we’ve left the quote and the install date on your voicemail.
2 segments

A tracking link

A link is characters like any other. This one carries the message past 160 and opens a second segment.

Before

Your quote is ready to sign. Open it, check the parts list, and we will book the install straight away.
1 segment

After

Your quote is ready to sign. Open it, check the parts list, and we will book the install straight away. https://quotes.example.com/q/8f21c94b-6d0a-4e37-9c55-1ab2f7d0e913
2 segments

An opt-out line

Marketing texts need one, and it counts like everything else. On a message already near the limit, it buys a whole extra segment.

Before

Reminder: your annual boiler service is due this month. Reply with a day that suits you and we will confirm a two-hour window with the engineer.
1 segment

After

Reminder: your annual boiler service is due this month. Reply with a day that suits you and we will confirm a two-hour window with the engineer. Reply STOP to opt out.
2 segments

What you need before your first text

A quiet American residential street under a clear sky
United States

A 10DLC registration

Carriers require it before you can text a US number. Without it, every outbound message is blocked at the network. Allo files the paperwork, you answer a few questions.

  • One-time $24 for the whole company, covering every user and every number
  • Approved in 3 to 7 business days, so it is worth starting early
  • A Canadian number texting Canadian numbers needs no registration at all

Sending texts requires the Business plan. Every plan receives them, and receiving is always free. Read the full SMS guide

Questions about SMS costs

Because one character in it is not in the standard SMS alphabet. A single emoji, a curly apostrophe or a letter like ç or ê switches the whole message to Unicode, where a segment holds 70 characters instead of 160. Paste the message into the box above and it will name the exact character.

Yes, and this is the one that surprises people. The standard SMS alphabet includes é, è, à, ù, ì, ò, ä, ö, ü, ñ, Ç and É. It does not include ç, ê, â, î, ô, û, ë or ï. So a message with confirmé in it costs nothing extra, and the same message with ça marche in it costs twice as much.

Once per recipient. Sending the same two-segment message to 50 contacts is 100 segments.

No. If a message does not reach the network, nothing is charged for it.

No, they are included, subject to fair use of 500 segments per user per month. That is well above what a normal month looks like. Only automated messages are metered.

An automatic reply after a missed call, a workflow, the API and the MCP. All of them are billed at $0.01 per segment, whichever one sent the message.

MMS works once 10DLC is approved, at $0.03 per message rather than per segment. Keep attachments under 1 MB, as most carriers reject anything larger. PDFs are poorly supported by carriers, so send a link or a compressed image instead.

Not yet. Today a text goes to a number in the same country as your Allo number. International texting is being worked on, and its rates will appear on this page the day it goes live.

Yes. Sending requires the Business plan. Every plan receives texts, so a Solo line still gets everything a customer sends.