Many marketers sleep on the power of SMS marketing. They think customers no longer check their SMS inboxes, and have moved on to chatting apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Well, they’re dead wrong. Promotional SMS campaigns have a 98% open rate and a 10.66% click-through rate (CTR). That’s a lot higher than email. Here’s another interesting fact: 64% of consumers want brands to contact them via SMS more often.
There’s no way around it. SMS marketing works, and it’s a proven method to reach and convert users.
But if you want to launch successful SMS campaigns, you’ll need a reliable automated texting service. The good news is that I’ve tested plenty of them, and I will share my findings with you in this blog post.
Factors to consider when choosing an SMS app
Before we get into the actual list, let’s talk about what assessment metrics you should use when exploring your options:
- Pricing. Unfortunately, you won’t find a free SMS service, because SMS apps rely on phone carriers to send messages. So, it’s just a matter of finding one with the most affordable rate for every text you send.
- Ease of use. How friendly is the user interface? Can you locate everything you need and do anything you want easily? You don't want to spend more time learning the software, instead of actually launching your SMS campaigns.
- Analytics. A good SMS app should have reporting tools to gauge campaign performance. Or at the very least, make it easy to integrate with third-party analytics tools like Hubspot and Google Analytics.
- App integrations. Some SMS apps have built-in integrations with other marketing tools, so that you can manage all of your customer data and campaigns across different channels.
- Scalability. You should be able to easily upgrade your plan or credits any time you want. Some automated texting services even offer a pay-as-you-go pricing model, so you can keep costs down when you're just starting and send more SMS texts when your business grows, all without being locked to a plan.
Comparison of the best SMS apps
Best automated texting services in 2025
Let’s dive deeper into each app to learn more about its key features, pricing structure, and weaknesses.
1. SlickText
Best for: Building a contact list
SlickText makes a bold claim of being the 1. rated sms marketing service. To find out whether that’s true, I put it to the test. My first impression of SlickText is how slick (pun intended) and easy-to-use the tool really is.
After signing up, I was immediately greeted with a clear onboarding flow. There’s an explanation of what each feature does, and how you can locate them. It took me almost instantly to get used to the interface.
From the dashboard, you’ll find a suite of powerful tools to launch your marketing campaigns. Want to grow your contact list? There are plenty of pop-up and form templates you can customize to your liking.
Engaging your audience is also easy. You can broadcast messages for specific events (like a new product launch), schedule your texts at specific times (days, weeks, and months), or send personalized auto-replies based on a given keyword.
Pricing: Starts at $29/month for 500 credits (1 SMS = 1 credit; 1 MMS = 3 credits), plus additional carrier fees depending on your number type (short code, toll-free, or 10-digit long code)
Pros:
- Easy setup with a clear onboarding process
- Nice-looking web form and pop-up templates
- Allows you to save unlimited contacts and invite unlimited teammates
- Rollover credits can be used the following month
Cons:
- A bit pricey compared to other SMS apps
- SMS texts are limited to 160 characters
2. SimpleTexting
Best for: Launching and tracking SMS campaigns
SimpleTexting is really simple to use. Apart from an intuitive dashboard, it also offers product demos based on your knowledge level (beginner, intermediate, expert), so you can learn how the platform works rather quickly.
Functionality-wise, this tool has everything you need to launch and track your marketing campaigns. You can collect audience info (like name, birthday, and skin type) using custom fields, and group them into different segments.
You can then use the data to send automated SMS broadcasts to everyone in your list, personalize texts to certain user groups, and start two-way conversations with your customers. There’s even a nice AI assistant to help you write better SMS copy faster.
When all set and done, SimpleTexting offers detailed analytics to help you track campaign performance. You’ll be able to see metrics like the number of subscribers gained (or lost) and what keywords trigger the automated replies, among others.
Pricing: Starts at $29/month for a toll-free number and $39/month for a 10-digit local number (you'll get 500 message credits in both plans)
Pros:
- Helps you write SMS faster with an AI assistant
- Allows you to collect any user info with custom fields
- Shows detailed analytics of your campaigns
- Advanced audience segments
Cons:
- It can be quite expensive if you run out of the initial credits
- Charges you extra for inviting teammates ($20/month per user)
3. Trumpia
Best for: Automating SMS workflows
If Forbes rates you as the number one mass texting service of 2025, it can only mean two things: you either buy that top spot, or you really have killer products. We honestly believe Trumpia falls into the second category.
Its automation feature is more advanced than any other tools we’ve tested. With most SMS apps, you can only set up a pretty basic workflow. It usually goes like this: every time a customer types a particular keyword (like deals), send a promo link. That’s it.
But Trumpia’s workflow builder (called Workbench) lets you create multiple workflows from one trigger. For example, one event (user signup) can trigger three different outcomes: the tool will send a welcome reply, ask a series of questions, and store that customer data in Salesforce.
Each of those workflows can also expand further based on user interaction. So if the recipient doesn’t answer your questions, you can set Workbench to send a follow-up message automatically. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Pricing: Starts at $49/month for 1,000 credits (1 credit = 160-long message)
Pros:
- Multi-branch workflow automation
- Unlimited SMS contacts
- Supports email messages
- Built-in integrations with Salesforce, Shopify, and Typeform
Cons:
- Workbench is only available in the most expensive plan (Advanced)
- The user interface is a bit hard to navigate for the less tech-savvy of us
4. Twilio
Best for: Creating custom SMS apps
Twilio isn’t a ready-to-use automated texting platform like other entries in this list. Rather, it’s a backend service that provides developer-friendly APIs, programmable code, and toolkits to build your custom messaging solutions.
Whether you want to schedule SMS, MMS, or WhatsApp blasts to your customers, automatically reply to incoming messages, or even include shortened links in your texts, you can easily customize the code blocks for your specific use cases.
Not exactly a developer? No worries – there’s a feature called Studio to help beginners build their SMS apps.
Alternatively, you can integrate Twilio’s API with platforms like Hubspot and Boltic. We even have an existing Twilio integration with over 250 templates, so you can easily automate your SMS workflow without any coding.
Beyond text messages, Twilio also has a programmable voice API that enables you to make and receive phone calls, as well as record phone sessions with your customers.
Pricing: Costs $0.0079 for every SMS sent and $0.0200 for every MMS sent
Pros:
- Fully customizable to your exact use cases
- Offers the most affordable pricing for sending SMS
- 99.5% average delivery rate
- Supports up to 1,600 characters for SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp texts (but Twilio recommends 320 characters for SMS)
Cons:
- Requires a more complex setup than your typical SMS tools
- Charges extra fees for receiving text messages
5. ClickSend
Best for: Reaching customers through various channels
Not all of your customers check their SMS inboxes. Some of them prefer reading emails, while older people may not even want to read text anymore, so you have to reach them via their landlines.
ClickSend allows you to engage your audience through their preferred channel. Sending SMS broadcasts and transactional emails? Check. Converting text messages to voice calls? You can do that as well. Prefer the old-school way? Heck, there are even options to send faxes and printed mail to anyone, anywhere in the world.
If you’re a developer (or someone in your team is), you can take advantage of ClickSend’s API to build your SMS apps and integrate them with any tools you love.
Another thing I like about ClickSend is the pay-as-you-go pricing model. This can be a huge money saver, since you’re only charged for SMS texts you actually send. Oh, and I really love the mobile app, as I can quickly monitor my messages wherever I am.
Pricing: Starts at $0.0084 per SMS sent, plus a carrier fee of $3.14/month for toll-free numbers
Pros:
- Multi-channel marketing campaigns
- Pay-as-you-go pricing model
- Has a mobile app on both iOS and Android
- Messaging API for advanced customization
Cons:
- Incoming messages don’t refresh automatically
- Has pretty limited user segmentation
6. Sakari
Best for: Segmenting contact list
Sending the right messages to the right users is key to successful SMS campaigns. That’s why user segmentation is important, and Sakari is an app built exactly for that.
It lets you import contacts from a CSV file or other marketing tools you use like Hubspot, ActiveCampaign, and Pipedrive. Or grow your audience by creating a list of opt-in keywords. So, if users send you texts with a particular phrase you’ve set before like “JOIN”, “SUBSCRIBE”, or “INTERESTED”, they will be automatically added to your contact list.
You can then group your subscribers based on custom attributes like their location, customer type (such as prospects and recurring buyers), and engagement level (how often they open and reply to your messages).
There’s also a centralized dashboard that stores all of your messages (Including SMS, MMS, and voice) in one place. This helps you and your teammates keep track of incoming texts, and make sure no customers are ignored.
Pricing: Starts at $25/month for 823 message segments (1 segment = 160 characters). There’s also a 14-day free trial.
Pros:
- Offers a centralized message inbox for SMS, MMS, and voice
- Custom attributions for easier contact organization
- Allows you to have unlimited users and contacts
- Rich integrations with over 1,300 apps
Cons:
- Terrible customer support based on several user reports
- Pretty basic analytics and reporting tools
7. Textla
Best for: Sending bulk messages quickly and easily
Textla is a very straightforward SMS app in terms of functionality and user interface. If you're simply looking to launch, automate, and track your SMS marketing campaigns without being distracted by all the features you don't really need, this is the tool you want.
From the dashboard, you can easily import your contacts and organize them with groups and tags, before sending bulk SMS or MMS. You can also filter your audience and send personalized messages to increase open and response rates.
The deliverability analytics helps you track whether your messages have been delivered. If not, there are error codes explaining why they fail to deliver. There’s even a nice auto cleaner that automatically removes inactive users from your contact list.
The only downside to Texla is that the plans come with no free credits. So even if you’re subscribed to the platform, you still need to pay an additional fee for every SMS (and MMS) you send or receive.
Pricing: Starts at $25/month without credits (per-text rate is $0.01 for SMS and $0.03 for MMS). But there’s a 14-day trial with 100 credits.
Pros:
- Simple-to-use dashboard
- Transparent and scalable pricing structure
- Offers an auto cleaner to remove inactive subscribers
- Shows whether your messages are delivered or not
Cons:
- No built-in integration other than Zapier
- Only supports numbers from the US and Canada
8. Textmagic
Best for: Sending texts to an international audience
Textmagic works like magic if you run (or work for) an international company. It allows you to send text messages to over 1,000 networks across more than 24 countries. Those include the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, Hong Kong, South Korea, and more.
You can rent a local phone number in any of those nations, so the local audience will be more likely to trust your business. The best part? If they reply to your messages, they’ll be charged the local rate where they live.
When it comes to the actual messaging features, Textmagic can go toe-to-toe with some of the best tools out there. Apart from the usual mass texting and scheduling, it also allows you to connect with your business accounts on WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as embed a chat widget on your site.
Textmagic offers a free trial with 0.5 credits, so you can test every feature it has to offer. And if you want to continue using the app, you don’t need to lock yourself into a plan – it simply charges you based on how many (or how few) messages you send.
Pricing: Starts at $0.049 per SMS sent, plus an additional monthly fee of $10 for toll-free and DLC numbers. There’s also a free trial with limited credits.
Pros:
- Supports international texting in over 24 countries
- No setup and account fees, and the credits never expire
- Offers a chat widget you can embed on your site
- Provides Lookups to validate email addresses and phone numbers
Cons:
- Workflow automation isn’t the most advanced
- The user interface is quite cluttered with all the features offered
9. Salesmsg
Best for: Attracting local customers in the US and Canada
If you run a small business in the US or Canada, Salesmsg is a great tool for attracting customers within your area.
You’ll get a free local or toll-free phone number, so your business looks legit in the eyes of local residents. Geo-targeting segmentation makes it easy to group your contacts based on their code area, state, and time zone.
Automating responses is also simple. You can set up canned responses to answer commonly asked questions quickly, as well as auto-replies when someone tries to contact your business during off hours. Short on words? AI Textbot will help you write the perfect message.
Some customers prefer calling over texting. In that case, you can enable call forwarding, so every time a user calls your SMS number, they will be redirected to your personal mobile phone number or office line.
Once your business grows and you start getting too many calls, it’s possible to set up interactive voice responses. You know, those robotic voices that tell you to press 1 for support, press 2 for complaints, and so on.
Pricing: Starts at $25/month for 500 SMS messages, which include a free local or toll-free number. There’s also a 14-day free trial.
Pros:
- No additional fee for a local or toll-free number
- Geo-targeting user segmentation
- Offers AI Textbot for automating responses
- Supports call forwarding and interactive voice responses
Cons:
- Only supports users in the US and Canada
- Unlike most apps, Salesmsg asks for your credit card details for the free trial
10. MessageDesk
Best for: Adding texting to phone systems
MessageDesk is a platform that adds texting capabilities to your existing landline or VoIP numbers. This means you don’t need to change your voice provider or old business number, which your customers already know and trust.
In case your phone number doesn’t work with MessageDesk, their customer agents will help you get a new 10-digit DLC or toll-free number, step by step.
Once connected, start sending broadcast messages or one-on-one conversations with your customers. If you have a support team, you can also assign each conversation to your team members, and monitor them through a shared SMS inbox.
While the automation and reporting tools are pretty basic, you can still do stuff like setting up auto-replies and tracking how many messages are delivered to your contact list (and how many of them aren’t).
If you want to automate more of your workflows, you will have to integrate MessageDesk with third-party tools like Zapier.
Pricing: Starts at $49/month for 1,000 outbound message credits per phone line. Once you run out of credits, you’ll be charged $0.05 per SMS sent.
Pros:
- Straightforward pricing with only one available plan
- One shared inbox for calls and texts accessible by everyone on your team
- Guides you through the phone number registration process
- Supports call forwarding to any number (even mobile)
Cons:
- No credit rollover (unless you buy the annual plan)
- Limited automation, reporting, and integrations
11. Textedly
Best for: Sending longer SMS messages
With most automated texting apps, each SMS text can only contain up to 160 characters. Sure, it works for simple welcome messages. But how about longer ones when you need to explain your products or offers a bit more?
This is where Textedly comes to the rescue. It enables you to write up to 455 characters in a single SMS message without breaking up your text. That’s more than double the standard limits for SMS.
You can also use rich formatting like bold and italics to highlight some parts of your texts, like discounts or promo codes. This might sound simple, but it can make a huge difference between customers buying or ignoring your messages.
Pay-by-text is another unique feature you won’t find in many other SMS services. With it, you can include payment links in your SMS messages, and schedule reminders for past due or future payments.
Pricing: Starts at $26/month for 500 messages. There’s also a 14-day free trial with 50 messages.
Pros:
- Includes one toll-free number and one 10DLC number
- Supports up to 455 characters in a single SMS text
- Provides rich text formatting with bold and italics
- Pay-by-text for getting paid faster
Cons:
- Only one free user seat across all plans (you need to pay additional fees to add more team members)
- No credit rollover
12. Textdrip
Best for: Increasing user signups
Textdrip bombards you with so many features, that it’s hard to even know where to begin. That’s my initial reaction to testing this app.
On top of must-have tools like bulk messaging, two-way texting, and SMS automation and scheduling, you’ll get some rare gems like a page builder. It helps you build a dedicated landing page to collect contact details, capture event registrations, conduct surveys, ask for opt-in permissions, and more.
Other amazing tools include a free spam checker to gauge the likelihood your message will be marked as spam. And a landline remover, which scans your contact list and automatically excludes conventional phone lines, as well as DNC (Do Not Call) and invalid numbers.
The good news is that you can try all those features for free for 30 days straight before you decide whether Textdrip is the right choice for you. The free trial credits are pretty generous too, since they allow you to send up to 2,500 SMS segments (each limited to 160 characters).
Pricing: Starts at $19.99/month with no credits (per-text rate is $0.012). But there’s a 30-day free trial with up to 2,500 credits.
Pros:
- Longer free trials with generous credits
- Includes a free page builder for lead capturing
- Supports multiple numbers in a single account
- Allows you to share unused credits with other users
Cons:
- Charges you an extra per-text fee on top of the subscription plan
- Only serves businesses in the US
Which automated texting service should you pick?
The answer is… it depends on what exactly you need. Twilio is the perfect tool to build your SMS apps. ClickSend lets you launch multi-channel marketing campaigns. Trumpia is better than any app when it comes to workflow automation.
I suggest trying each app’s free trial before you conclude. Explore their features, play around with the dashboard and then list all the things you like and dislike. I guarantee, this will help you pick the best SMS app for your use case.
How automated SMS can help your business?
With automated texting services, you can:
- Build your audience. Most SMS apps offer opt-in forms to turn web visitors (borrowed audience) into subscribers (owned audience).
- Run SMS campaigns on autopilot. You just need to set up the app once, and your SMS campaigns will run automatically. This frees up your time to do other business tasks.
- Get your messages seen. SMS campaigns have a much higher open rate (98%) than email (just 21.33%). It’s a fact, not guesswork.
- Keeps customers engaged. Want to launch a new product? Promote your upcoming event? Or increase sales with a promo code? Simply send SMS blasts to your contact list.
Automate your SMS workflow with Boltic
As I explained before, Twilio offers programmable APIs to build your texting solution and automate your entire SMS workflow. But if you’re not a developer, Twilio can be a little hard to configure.
The good news is that you can now integrate Twilio with Boltic for free! Simply create your Boltic account, and access our pre-made workflow templates to start using Twilio. You can send SMS and WhatsApp messages, and even make phone calls, without having to code.
You can also pair Twilio with hundreds of apps you already use, like Slack, Google Calendar, Gmail, Asana, Mailchimp, Zendesk, Typeform, and much more.
Let’s schedule a free, 30-minute demo with one of our experts to learn how Boltic can help your business.
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