Many businesses require an SMS service that guarantees their critical and time-sensitive messages to be received by their customers and clients seconds after they are sent.
These companies should engage with premium SMS providers that offer ‘tier 1’ or ‘direct to carrier’ gateways, linking directly to the networks of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to maximise delivery and minimise lag times.
Clickatell has the world’s largest online gateway covering more than 220 territories, 1000+ networks, and 85% of the world’s population, with an SMS reach of more than 5 billion users. Our April 2024 comparison found they offer the best value because:
Clickatell is one of the world’s oldest business SMS providers with over 20 years of experience. They deliver carrier-grade business SMS solutions that are used by thousands of businesses, government and SME customers and application developers across the world. A less favourable side of the Clickatell service is their credit validity of 120 days. They also charge for a dedicated virtual number which is high for the industry. That said, this cost is minimal compared to the savings experienced from their lower prices.
This Business SMS provider powers the chat economy with smart solutions that bring brands easily into the chat apps their customers use. Mobile consumers can now interact with businesses on demand using the channels of their choice, such as SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.
For another reason, BurstSMS was also chosen as a recommended SMS provider due to their pricing, reliability and the ease of use when it comes to their campaign system which includes ensuring messages are anti-SPAM compliant. They also have a list cleaning service as standard which cleans an SMS contact list when its imported and can reformat numbers when they are in different styles. They also have an auto-opt-out for their clients with free access to their pool of shared virtual reply numbers.
If you’re looking to send high SMS volumes (over 500,000) then you may want to consider Clickatell SMS. Their 500,000+ send rate is $0.02671 which is significantly lower than the other premium SMS business providers. They also have a lower dedicated virtual number price per month and a longer credit validity of one year. You will be sending through a hybrid gateway if you elect the lower-priced SMS, however, Clickatell also offers a premium, direct-to-carrier service at a slightly higher price per SMS.
A number of British SMS providers use their local telco firm such as BT, Cable & Wireless, Cloud9, T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile to name a few. These networks cover most of UK a deliver messages within seconds. A business that needs all their messages to be delivered within seconds should consider the more expensive premium network providers such as those mentioned above. An example could be a internet service provider who has a password reminder service via SMS. In these circumstances, customers would need the SMS almost instantly so they can recover their password. The other key reason a premium SMS network provider should be considered is if you need 100% of your messages to be delivered and on time. If the SMS messages for example are been sent out with confidential information that the receiver urgently needs, then a premium provider is a must.
However in a number of cases, SMS providers don’t use these networks due to the higher delivery fees, rather they use grey or hybrid networks that are often located overseas. These networks still have a relatively high deliverability but text messages can be delayed by minutes to hours. This can have limitations when it comes to large volumes and in some cases may have a failure to deliver. Cheap SMS providers are suitable for all the other business who still want reliability but it’s not as critical. A perfect example may be a dentist who is looking to adopt an SMS reminder service for his/her customers. In these circumstances the reminder messages are important but if they are delayed by a few minutes or if 1 in 1,000 was not delivered it wouldn’t have a real impact. The price differences between using a cheap SMS company versus a premium one (especially for low-volume clients) will be substantially more expensive so there is little point paying for a premium service that you don’t really need.
So the key elements to always remember are:
If either of the above messages are a ‘Yes’, then you have no choice but to engage with an SMS provider that uses premium British SMS networks. If on the other neither are critical (which doesn’t mean they are not important) then a provider that uses a grey network could be a better option. You can find these providers on other pages of this website.
SMS comparison was created by IT experts who have worked within the SMS sector and understand the difficulties faced comparing SMS companies and plans. These IT specialists no longer work with any SMS provider and have made these comparison tables using the information provided by the British SMS providers websites.
When it comes to premium SMS providers, eight of them were considered in the original comparison table however three were excluded based on their lack of pricing detail (such as Message Media), poor deliverability statistic information and/or customer service.
As the information on the comparison and sites comes from the authors viewing the providers websites and then copying key information, the information should only be used a guide as prices and features may be updated by the SMS providers website without warning. If you find any information on the table above or this website to be out of date or incorrect, please contact us so that changes will be made promptly. The authors take your privacy seriously and will not ask for your personal details on this site.
All comparison tables and sites are provided for free and a commission may be requested from a provider’s site if you click through to their website and engage their service. As you will see, there are no other forms of advertising on this site and the authors have made pricing, reliability, customer service and other key features essential elements in assessing and making recommendations made on the site (not at any commission levels).
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