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Businesses should use text messages to engage consumers, complement digital marketing campaigns and offer customer service.
Whether you want to have segmented subscriber lists or one-on-one conversations, the best text message marketing services — like Textline and EZ Texting — provide the technology needed, along with insightful analytics, email marketing software integrations and more valuable features. We tested a range of solutions from leading vendors and lesser-known providers and determined the top text messaging platforms for a variety of business needs.
At business.com, our marketing software experts and operations analysts routinely evaluate the essential marketing tools and services small and growing businesses require, while providing playbooks for executing social media campaigns, email marketing newsletters, text message marketing promotions and more. Our guides are infused with advice from real digital marketing experts, project managers, SEO professionals, social media directors and advertising consultants. Our rigorous review process includes vendor interviews, product demonstrations, firsthand testing and head-to-head comparisons. After each assessment is completed, it’s verified by a top editor to ensure accuracy and objectivity. Learn more about our editorial process.
In determining the best text message marketing services, we looked for platforms that were easy to navigate, featured customer segmentation tools, allowed automated messaging and integrated with leading business phone systems and email marketing solutions. We…
In determining the best text message marketing services, we looked for platforms that were easy to navigate, featured customer segmentation tools, allowed automated messaging and integrated with leading business phone systems and email marketing solutions. We considered each vendor’s messaging rates and plan options, compliance with legal regulations and customer support.
evaluated
researched
chosen
In determining the best text message marketing services, we looked for platforms that were easy to navigate, featured customer segmentation tools, allowed automated messaging and integrated with leading business phone systems and email marketing solutions. We considered each vendor’s messaging rates and plan options, compliance with legal regulations and customer support.
evaluated
researched
chosen
In decades past, newspaper advertisements and television commercials may have been the best way to get your products in front of customers, but modern marketing requires businesses to think beyond traditional methods. Companies today need to meet consumers where they are: on their phones. With text message marketing services, you can interact with potential customers and existing clients through their mobile device, sending promotional SMS and MMS messages, answering customer service questions and even accepting payments.
Affordability
Building subscriber lists
Larger businesses
Simple texting needs
Ease of use
Business onboarding
$16 per month
$39 per month
$59.97 per month
$26 per month
$20 per month
$29 per month
Free version available
14 days
14 days
14 days
14 days
14 days
60
12,000
None
600
500
500
Shoppable email templates, customer segmentation, user reviews
Campaign-driven solutions, solo shortcodes, global delivery
Split into departments, faster Campaign Registry procedure, internal collaboration
Group texting, omnichannel communication, built-in compliance
Automated scheduling, drip campaigns, surveys
Mobile autoresponders, contact management, mass texting
Audience growth trends, cross-channel tracking, segment performance and custom attribution
Responsiveness to campaigns, subscriber growth, keyword metrics
Agent performance, conversational outcomes, live client activity
Conversion rates, opt-outs, KPIs, new customers
Message tracking, contact tracking, delivery reports
Opt-in/opt-out tracking, geographic stats, link tracking
130 native
49 native + Zapier
17 native + Zapier
23 native + Zapier
5 native + Zapier
15 native + Zapier
Omnisend packs a large number of tools into a relatively low $16 price point. All of the company’s plans include the same slate of features, including SMS marketing, over 250 email templates, web forms (signup, popup, and landing pages), analytics, A/B testing, and over 130 integrations. We like that Omnisend also offers a free plan that includes all of these features, plus 60 text credits per month. 24/7 live chat and email support is available for all customers.
On the $59 per month Pro plan, you can send 3,933 free SMS monthly. We think that growing small businesses will appreciate the ability to scale using Omnisend’s platform, without breaking the bank.

Omnisend’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to send effective marketing text messages.  (Source: Omnisend)
Omnisend offers three service plans. Here is a breakdown of each.
Trust Pilot: 4.1/5
Omnisend received a 4.1 / 5 rating from users who reviewed the platform on Trustpilot. Users praised the onboarding process, customer support, and user interface. However, some users criticized occasional bugs/glitches.
We found ProTexting to be the best choice for businesses, charities and schools that want to communicate individually and en masse with customers, donors, students and parents. The platform offers a great set of features you can use to build up and segment your subscribers quickly and effectively. Tools like the “Text Me” button let customers subscribe directly from your website. ProTexting can also segment customers automatically by location, ZIP code and more, as well as by keyword. For deeper personalization, we loved adding custom fields (like “VIP” for high-spending customers) to segment clients using our chosen criteria for even more precise campaign targeting.

With ProTexting’s auto-responder feature, you can set up automatic replies to send if a customer texts your company when the business is closed. (Source: ProTexting)
Trustpilot Score: With only two reviews, ProTexting has a TrustScore of 3.8 stars out of five. The lone testimonial, from several years ago, stated, “Great service, easy to use. Outstanding customer service and onboarding demos.”
Textline is our choice for larger businesses because it has the advanced features needed to address multiple audiences at scale. When testing the platform, we found that tools like group messaging and mass surveys made it easy to engage with audiences you can segment for more successful campaigns. The clever automation tools are customizable and help you get the most out of text message marketing. Textline has three pricing plans that start at a somewhat higher rate than many of the other services we reviewed, but the value you get for the money is clear, especially if you’re managing a large audience.
We like that Textline offers an intuitive, user-friendly experience, helping streamline the demanding task of crafting multiple text message marketing campaigns for a variety of client groups. Big businesses handle more data and that’s a real point of separation for Textline. Its HIPAA compliance makes it a bolt-on solution for healthcare businesses while its wider security features like CCPA and GDPR compliance provide comfort to enterprise-level companies, especially those handling confidential and personal data.

Textline’s two-way communication tools make it easy for customers to reach out via text for questions and support. (Source: Textline)
Trustpilot Score: Textline has a TrustScore of 4.6 stars out of five, indicating “excellent” user reviews. Said one customer, “After 4 years had a problem and it was fixed with non-issue and Great service. Best communication tool I have ever had. My clients love having it 24/7.”
Textedly offers one of the lowest per-text prices of the major text messaging platforms on the market, but don’t mistake cheap for substandard. You can easily build lists, have two-way conversations with clients, run bulk campaigns and integrate dozens of popular apps like Salesforce. We appreciate how well Textedly enables businesses to communicate with customers one-on-one over more than just traditional text messages — you can also have conversations via Facebook, WhatsApp and a website chatbot. This is also one of the few platforms that allows you to text customers directly from your Instagram business profile.
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.

Textedly gives you the option to easily set up automatic replies. In addition to customizing what is said in the reply, you can set when you want the replies to start and end. (Source: Textedly)
Trustpilot Score: With more than 2,000 reviews, Textedly has a TrustScore of 4.6 stars out of five. One testimonial read, “The customer service for Textedly is top notch and super fast at responding! Textedly has a very user-friendly dashboard and interface that makes sending out important texts to our customers a quick task. Our customers also love it as well! I highly recommended Textedly for all your custom text message marketing needs!”
EZ Texting is an exceptionally intuitive text messaging platform full of useful tools. We like that nontechnical business owners and those with little or no marketing experience will have little trouble using the software. One aspect of EZ Texting that we particularly appreciate is its vast array of industry-specific content to give you ideas for your marketing campaigns. Additionally, there is an excellent template library to get you started, and we like how the generative AI tool is integrated directly into the messaging apps within the platform. EZ Texting is not the cheapest, but it does offer excellent functionality that’s easy to use, which may make the extra cost worth it for many company owners.

EZ Texting provides access to more than 2 million royalty-free images you can include in MMS campaigns. (Source: EZ Texting)
Plus: Local EZ Textable phone number
Plus: Local high-volume EZ Textable phone number
Plus: Local high-volume, high-speed EZ Textable phone number
Plus: Dedicated short code
Trustpilot Score: EZ Texting has earned a TrustScore of 3.8 stars out of five based on more than 100 reviews. One user stated, “Easy to use, manage, and super user friendly platform. Would love the ability to purchase phone numbers specific to different acronyms to make marketing a bit easier (ie 725-Textus1) but other than that i love using it!”
CHECK OUT OUR FULL EZ TEXTING REVIEW
What makes the easy-to-use, feature-packed SlickText stand out from the crowd is its very business-centered onboarding approach. When you sign up for any of its paid plans over $139 a month, you get a free onboarding session with a member of SlickText’s client success team. For plans under that amount, there is a small fee for onboarding support. After onboarding, client success agents are available to help you optimize the platform further and develop a text message marketing strategy for your company. We also appreciate the large knowledge base on SlickText’s website and its clearly written instructions on topics ranging from getting started to creating surveys.

SlickText’s desktop and mobile dashboards provide a quick look at your subscriber numbers. (Source: SlickText)
Trustpilot Score: SlickText has a TrustScore of 3 stars out of five but from only two reviews. One of the users said, “SlickText platform is very easy to use and their customer service is AMAZING!” but the other customer was far less satisfied.
If our top recommendations above don’t meet your text message marketing needs, there are alternative platforms on the market that may be a better fit. Here’s what stood out to us about these other solutions.
Twilio is ideal for businesses seeking a customizable omnichannel communications platform that includes not just text messaging abilities but also voice, email and chat tools. The API and SDK documentation for the Twilio Flex platform will enable your developers to create a solution tailored to your company’s exact needs. At a cost of $150 per user per month, this is an expensive choice; however, you can opt to sign up just for pay-as-you-go text messaging at highly affordable rates. Find out more in our full Twilio Flex review.
We love that SimpleTexting bolsters its platform with valuable artificial intelligence and analytics tools, allowing businesses to generate text copy, drill down into campaign performance and more. There are no contracts, and you can pay a small fee to have the vendor’s professional programmers custom-build the integrations you want — an opportunity no other provider we evaluated offers. See our SimpleTexting review for a breakdown of monthly costs based on message count.
Service businesses will find Thryv’s Business Center platform valuable in the way it combines text message and email marketing, social media management and a CRM in one solution. Beyond the texting capabilities, we especially like the tools that facilitate appointment setting, payment processing and online local listings. You’ll also get access to the vendor’s Command Center, which provides a centralized inbox for all customer communication. With unlimited 24/7 support and an add-on for HIPAA compliance, this is a multifaceted product blending marketing and sales. Learn more about Thryv.
If you’re looking to enhance local client relationships, you’ll love that Podium allows unlimited one-on-one text messages. We further appreciate that the platform integrates with leading customer review sites like Google and Facebook so you can ask customers to join your text message marketing list after they leave a review, a great tactic to drive retention and brand loyalty. With the AI tools included on higher-tier plans, you can quickly generate responses to reviews and text context for messaging campaigns. Get all the details in our comprehensive Podium review.
TextMarks specializes in helping transit agencies provide riders with timely updates via text message. Passengers need only text a keyword and the number associated with their bus, rail or streetcar stop to receive real-time, up-to-the-minute information on delays and cancelations. While this service is free for riders and doesn’t require a mobile app, transportation companies are charged a minimum of $199 per month, plus text messaging fees, and may require help from outside developers to set the system up. Find out more about TextMarks.
Text message marketing is a way of promoting your company through text messages. Using a highly rated text message marketing service, you can send SMS and MSM text messages to individual customers, subscriber lists or sub-groups. For marketing purposes, these messages could highlight an upcoming sale, offer the recipient a discount or request participation in a customer survey.
That said, text message marketing platforms can also be used for other purposes, such as delivering customer service. Programs that enable two-way communication allow a business and a customer to text back and forth with each other, with the company answering questions and addressing concerns. Other uses for text messages include SMS payments and shipping updates.
Virtually all businesses can benefit from using text message marketing, but the way in which it’s used may vary depending on your industry. For example, healthcare providers may use a HIPAA-compliant platform to send text messages with appointment reminders. Restaurants can send reservation confirmations, while retail stores might announce an in-demand clothing item is back in stock.

EZ Texting provides detailed statistics on how each text message campaign performs. (Source: EZ Texting)
The prime benefit of text message marketing is, of course, the chance to communicate directly with customers, but using these services comes with other advantages, too.
SMS marketing has a much higher open rate than email marketing, so most recipients will see your text messages. If you include a link to your website in your text, this can also lead to site traffic and conversions.
Text messaging is a low-cost way to market your business. The number of texts included in monthly plans is often quite generous and above what most companies need, and a few pay-as-you-go options are available, too.
Nearly all Americans carry a cell phone that they check multiple times a day, so text message marketing ensures you can reach your customers and stay top of mind wherever they are.
You can use text message marketing to personalize your outreach to different customers, offer special discounts that engender loyalty and study analytics data that helps you optimize future campaigns. The end result is a stronger relationship with your customers as you get to know their preferences better.

The cost of your text message marketing service will depend on whether you only want basic texting abilities or also access to other features, like SlickText’s survey tools. (Source: SlickText)
Prices for text message marketing services vary by provider. Some charge per text, but most charge by the month, with the latter fee covering a certain number of texts and keywords for campaigns depending on the plan you select. For example, for $29 per month, SlickText will allow you to send up to 500 messages. In contrast, Textline’s base rate is $59.97 per month with no text credits included; instead, there are varying rates for sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages.
Adding more users, keywords, phone numbers and features may incur additional one-time or monthly charges. We recommend making a list of exactly what you want to do with text message marketing and asking providers to quote you for a package that includes those tools and functions. Note that free plans are available with some vendors, but they are extremely limited in what you can do with them.
To choose the right text message marketing service for your business, we recommend following the steps below.
The first step when searching for a text message marketing service should begin before your actual search: The very first thing to do is make a list of your business’s needs. What do you want your ideal text message marketing platform to be able to do? What objectives are you seeking to achieve? What features are must-haves and what can you live without? How much can you afford to pay each month and what budget constraints do you need to keep in mind?
Armed with the answers to those questions, you should start scouring the market for text message marketing services that meet your parameters. Consider which of our best picks and alternative options above have the features you’re seeking at the price point you’re eyeing. Select up to five programs to explore further.
For the five or fewer text message marketing services now on your shortlist, contact each vendor to set up demos. These are sales presentations where company representatives, yes, will try to sell you on their platform but, more importantly, will give you an up-close look at how the software works. As the term suggests, the providers will demonstrate their service’s functionality, point out its strengths and discuss how it can aid your business.
Based on those demos, pick up to three services you’d like to test. Almost every vendor offers a free trial, which is your opportunity to try the platform yourself. Use the program to the fullest extent the trial allows — build a contact list, create and send SMS and MSM messages, set up workflow automations and generate analytic reports. As you do, make note of which features were easy to use, how intuitive the platform’s navigation was and whether you needed support from the provider’s customer service team.
Following this hands-on testing, try to narrow your service list down to the two platforms you like best.
Now that you’ve tried a few services and decided on your top two choices, continue researching those vendors on independent customer review sites like Trustpilot. As you read testimonials from real users, consider whether their experiences match up with your testing. Also make note of any customer service complaints or praise. Keep this information in mind as you move on to the final steps below.
While almost all text message marketing services advertise their prices, negotiate with your top two vendors to see if they will customize a deal for you. Explain how you’ve tested their program and are interested in moving forward, but you need the package and price to be right before you can do so. Ask about any discounts or fees that can be waived. Tell one provider what the other is promising and see if they’re willing to match the offer — or do better.
Thanks to the information you acquired during every step of the buying journey, you’re now ready to make a purchase decision. To put it simply, go with whichever of the two vendors is offering the best value for your dollars and whose platform you believe best meets your business’s needs.
There may still be a learning curve as you implement the program and it’s unlikely you’ll find a service that ticks every single one of your boxes. But you should be able to make an educated choice to suit your business for the near-term and, hopefully, long-term future. Should you end up with buyer’s remorse, take comfort in knowing you can switch to your runner-up’s service or even start your research anew.

The best contact management tools, like those from Textline, let you tag and segment subscribers based on different groups and characteristics. (Source: Textline)
High-quality text message marketing services do much more than send texts. They can help you find your target audiences, engage with them and track how they interact with your messages.
Consider the features below, deciding which ones will be most valuable to your business. Then, look for vendors who offer the tools you want at a cost your business can afford.
In addition to the specific features above, Sidharth Ramsinghaney, director of corporate strategy and operations at Twilio, advised buyers to focus on usability and scalability when evaluating platforms.
“The interface should not require a lot of time invested in learning it,” he said.
Pointing out that Amazon “uses a scalable SMS marketing service for their big peak shopping seasons … to send millions of branded text messages to their recipients,” Ramsinghaney said business owners should ensure their chosen service is “capable of growing with you and your business, and can start handling a lot more messages over time.”
Jamal Miller, senior director of product marketing at Mailchimp said that when deciding on a text message marketing service, it’s most important to choose a solution that “allows [the user] to orchestrate SMS with other marketing channels from one tool. Without that integration, business owners would have to contend with different logins, different types of software and inconsistent branding and designs across different elements of one campaign.”
“Easy opt-in and opt-out and regulation compliance are also critical for protecting customers,” said Miller, adding, “Ultimately, you should be able to consider your SMS marketing platform as a partner you can trust with your customers’ data and [that] will support you when needed.”

Textline boasts features that help ensure compliance with HIPAA and other legal regulations. (Source: Textline)
When using a text message marketing service, be sure to follow text message marketing laws and best practices.
“Text message marketing is a fun way to reach people but you want to stay on the right side of the law so you don’t get in trouble and so your customers can trust you,” said Ramsinghaney, who recommended only using “marketing services that put compliance first and provide tools for opt-in and opt-out list management.”
Ramsinghaney further stressed the importance of educating your team on the latest regulations, like those below.
The TCPA is overseen by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. It outlines the laws you must abide by when collecting contacts and sending text messages. Not everything in the TCPA applies to text message marketing, but you should review the regulations specific to texting to ensure you comply.
“If you fail to comply, you can be sued and receive penalties in the form of fines per text sent,” said Wilson.
One TCPA requirement is that you get permission from each contact before you send text messages to them. Another is that you only send texts between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. (in the recipient’s time zone, not yours).
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, designed by the Federal Trade Commission, prohibits sending unsolicited email and text messages that contain explicit or offensive content. The law also mandates advertising messages be readily identifiable as such and have clear opt-out options. Additionally, the law forbids sending marketing messages without consent. However, whether any given message is subject to the CAN-SPAM Act depends in part on whether it is considered commercial content (like an advertisement) or transactional content (like an appointment reminder).
The CTIA and MMA guide companies on the appropriate use of text message marketing to consumers. Although these guidelines are not laws, they are considered best practices. Some of the recommendations include getting the consumer’s opt-in approval before sending messages to them, providing an easy mechanism to unsubscribe and not using the term “free” unless what you’re offering is truly free to the end user.
In recent years, consumers have been plagued by spam text messages. To address this, the Campaign Registry was established by the major cellular network operators, including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Their goal was to stop spam text messages so that, as a channel of communication, it would retain and strengthen the trust of consumers. Now, before any company can send a text message marketing campaign via a 10-digit-long code (10DLC), they must be on the Campaign Registry.
To apply, you must first provide information about your company, including its brand name, type of business, address, website address, company size and contact details. You also need to share why you want to use texting, the type of content you want to send out (including sample messages) and how you’ll manage subscribers opting in and out. Once registered, you’ll get higher deliverability on your text campaigns and be able to send more messages. There is a fee of $15 a month to stay on the service and all phone numbers from which campaigns are sent out must be on the Registry. Your text message marketing platform provider will normally assist you in this process.
To determine the best text message marketing services on the market, our team of marketing experts and software analysts evaluated an initial list of 18 platforms. After narrowing our list down to 12, we chose five text message marketing services as our top recommendations. Our experts and analysts studied each solution’s functionality and evaluated the programs on nearly 45 factors.
These factors were weighted differently in our overall conclusion. The weights were determined based on how much business owners prioritize these criteria when shopping for business software and services and making purchasing decisions.
Based on these criteria, we not only determined which text message marketing services our readers could trust but also the ways in which each solution could best serve different business needs. Some programs were better at certain tasks than others or more suited to a particular type of company. These takeaways informed the “Best for” use cases you see on this page.
To learn more about our methodology, see our full editorial process.
Yes, there are a couple of free text message marketing services, such as Omnisend and Brevo, but most reputable providers offer free trials instead of free plans. These free trials allow you to try the platform for a prescribed length of time (usually around 14 days) and experiment with using different features. These trials may have caps on how many messages you can send and other functional limitations, but they are a great way to test a service at no cost.
Yes, customers need to consent to text message marketing. You must obtain express written consent for each number on your marketing list and, according to the TCPA, the terms of consent must be “clear and conspicuous.” In other words, a recipient must understand exactly what they are agreeing to when they provide their phone number.
There are many creative ways to get customers to sign up for your text message marketing services. One incentive is to offer a discount in exchange for joining your subscriber list. You can also convince customers to sign up by promising subscribers will be the first to know about special promotions and private events (but you must actually deliver on this; if you don’t follow through, you will hurt your company’s reputation and people will unsubscribe). Another idea is to make being added to your text message mailing list a part of your company’s loyalty program. Just make sure you make it clear in the terms and conditions that customers who join your loyalty program consent to receive text messages from you.
There are some text messaging service alternatives you might want to consider because, as ubiquitous as phones are today, business texting is not the best way to reach every demographic or audience. Text message marketing should be just one component of a multifaceted marketing plan that also includes strategies for email marketing, social media engagement and digital advertising. Depending on your target clientele and your company’s customer personas, you may also want to use alternatives like print, television or radio advertising.
There are a few key differences between text message marketing and email marketing, even though these services are often integrated. (In fact, some vendors like Thrvy facilitate both services in one platform.) One of the most significant differences between these two marketing tools relates to your content strategy. Text messages are usually much briefer than emails, and you may have a character limit or incur an extra fee if you exceed a certain number of characters. Also, while you can include media like video and gifs in MMS messages, sometimes emails provide a better user experience for those content types.
You’ll also want to use text message marketing and email marketing services for different purposes. For example, it makes sense to send an appointment or reservation reminder via text due to the immediacy of the notification. However, you may want to use email to let customers know about a month-long promotion. Also, email marketing services are great for distributing comprehensive information like a company newsletter. Meanwhile, both tools can be used for customer service and surveys, and both are subject to similar regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act.
The best marketing strategies will make use of both of these marketing services, as there are very few businesses and industries today that don’t have a use for text messaging and emailing.
Whether you need to use text message marketing for your small business will depend on your industry and what you hope to accomplish. For example, it is increasingly common for retail and restaurant businesses to use text message marketing to promote special deals, but a construction firm is unlikely to have such a use case.
When deciding whether to use text message marketing, consider the ways in which text messaging can improve communication with your customers, increase task efficiency or fulfill a specific need in your business. To continue the example, a construction company may find texting useful for providing a client with project updates or asking quick questions during a build.
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