Many business require an SMS service which guarantees their critical and time sensitive messages be received by their their customers and clients seconds after they are sent.
These companies should engage with a 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.
Compare UK’s premium SMS providers on the comparison chart below
Our 2024 SMS Comparison found that ClickSend offers one of the best values because:
ClickSend is an SMS provider with over 10 years of experience. They deliver carrier-grade business SMS solutions solutions that are used by more than 13,000 businesses, government and SME customers and application developers across the world.
Another reason ClickSend was chosen as a recommended provider was 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 it is 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 ClickSend SMS. Their 500,000+ send rate is 4.1c which is significantly lower than the other premium SMS business providers. They also have a lower dedicated virtual number price of $25 per month and a longer credit validity of 1 year. You will be sent through a hybrid gateway if you elect the lower-priced SMS, however, ClickSend also offers a premium, direct-to-carrier service at a slightly higher price per SMS.
Most British use a provider from a local telco firm such as Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. These networks cover most of the UK a deliver messages within seconds. Most SMS providers don’t use these networks though due to the higher delivery fees. Rather they use grey networks that are often overseas. These networks still have a relatively high deliverability but messages can be delayed by minutes to hours, can have limitations when it comes to large volumes and in some cases may have a failure to deliver.
A business that needs all its messages to be delivered within seconds should consider the more expensive premium network providers such as those above. An example could be an 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. If the SMS messages for example are been sent out with confidential information that the recipient will urgently need, then a premium provider is a must.
Cheap SMS providers are suitable for all the other businesses 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 vs a premium one (especially for low-volume clients) will be substantial so there is little point in paying for a premium service that you don’t need.
So the key elements to always remember are:
If either of the above messages is 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 provide these providers on other pages of this website.
SMS comparison was created by a couple who have worked within the SMS sector and understand the difficulties faced by comparing SMS companies and plans. The British couple no longer work with any SMS provider and have made these comparison tables using the information provided by the British SMS provider’s website.
When it comes to premium SMS providers, eight were considered in the original comparison table but three were not included based on their lack of pricing detail (such as Message Media), poor deliverability statistic information and/or customer service.
As the information in the table above comes from the authors viewing the providers’ websites and then copying key information, the information should only be used as 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 use the Contact Us form and changes will be made quickly.
We take your privacy and don’t ask for any of your details on this site. Instead, all comparison tables are provided for free and a commission may be provided from a provider’s site if you click through to their website and engage with their service. There are no other forms of advertising on this site and the authors have made price and key features the elements that have led to the recommendations made on the site (not any commission levels).
Latest update on 11 February 2024
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