Our recommendation for the best business text messaging service is SimpleTexting because of its versatility, reliability, ease of use, and fair pricing. Start your 14-day free trial today.
With consumers bombarded with dozens of promotional emails on a daily basis, it’s become increasingly difficult for organizations to reach their audience. Emails get ignored, deleted, or go straight to the spam folder.
But texting is much more effective, as the message goes straight to someone’s phone—ensuring the message gets read. The business text messaging services in this guide will help you improve engagement, increase sales, and enhance customer service.
The Top 5 Best Business Text Messaging Services
The five text messaging services reviewed below are excellent options, and they each stand out for different reasons. SimpleTexting is the most versatile on the list, as it can be used for sales, marketing, mass messaging, and one-on-one texting. Try it free for 14 days.
- SimpleTexting – Best texting service for marketing and sales
- Textedly – Best for bulk texting
- OpenPhone – Best for unlimited calling and texting
- Podium – Best for text-to-pay
- Sendinblue – Best for texting combined with email services
Continue below for our business text messaging service reviews and buyer’s guide.
Match Your Scenario to the Right Business Text Messaging Solution
Our research team here at Quick Sprout identified the top five reasons why an organization would need a business text messaging service. Then we found the best texting solutions that fit within that category—making it easy for you to find the best texting service for your needs. If you see a scenario below that best describes what you’re looking for, you can jump straight to that section to see our top recommendations.
- You want to run SMS marketing campaigns
- You have high-volume texting needs
- You want a complete CRM to manage contacts
- You need to send texts internationally
- You need to send custom texts to single recipients
You want to run SMS marketing campaigns
Best Option: SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting has customizable user segments and custom fields to help personalize your marketing campaigns. It integrates seamlessly with more than 1,000+ tools, so you can create automated workflows and connect data between your email marketing software and CRM.
Another standout feature is SimpleTexting’s results tracking. You can use it to monitor KPIs like deliverability, CTR, subscriber growth, and more.
Another Great Choice: Textedly
Textedly has a unique feature for loyalty marketing. You can set up campaigns that reward customers based on visits or spending and track everything from their phone numbers. Then you can automatically send marketing messages to users, keeping them updated on their rewards and even letting them claim rewards via text.
For SMS marketing campaigns, look for:
- User segments: Ensuring the right message is delivered to the right person at the right time.
- CRM integrations: So you can align your marketing campaigns across all communication channels with your customer database.
- Analytics: To see what’s working, what’s not, and look for ways to make improvements.
- Automation: So you can put campaigns on autopilot and schedule drips.
You have high-volume texting needs
Best Option: Textedly
With plans that support up to 240,000 messages per month, Textedly has the ability to accommodate organizations with massive contact lists. If 240,000 isn’t enough for you, Textedly will set you up with a customized plan—making it possible to send millions of messages every month.
You don’t have to worry about paying for contacts, either. Since Textedly plans are based on outbound messages, you can add an unlimited number of subscribers to your database at no extra cost.
Another Great Choice: OpenPhone
Every OpenPhone plan comes with unlimited texting and calling in the US and Canada. So you can send as many texts as you want without having to ever worry about the cost. Every user on your account will also have a dedicated line.
For high-volume business texting, keep an eye on:
- Reliability: Sending 200,000 texts is useless if only half are getting delivered.
- Monthly limits: You don’t want the service to cap you at a maximum number of text messages every month.
- Subscriber limits: Ensuring you won’t outgrow the platform.
- Auto reply: Because it can be tough to respond manually to recipients when you’re sending hundreds of thousands of messages simultaneously.
- Cost structure: Typically, the price per text should get cheaper as your volume increases.
You want a complete CRM to manage contacts
Best Option: Sendinblue
Sendinblue is a complete email marketing and SMS messaging platform with a built-in CRM. So you won’t have to integrate your software with a third-party tool to manage your contacts with multi-channel marketing.
The software makes it easy for you to identify wins with each customer interaction, and you can quickly use it to close open deals in the sales pipeline. Users love Sendinblue’s ability to add notes, attach documents, and assign tasks to each contact so the entire team can be informed about a contact’s history.
Another Great Choice: Podium
Podium is a CRM built for local businesses. The platform makes it easy to track all of your customer interactions from every channel, and it keeps a full history of every conversation and payment. You can even use Podium’s CRM to segment your customers based on location, behavior, preferences, the amount they spend, and more.
For CRM contact management, make sure you consider:
- Built-in CRM: Eliminating the need to integrate with third-party platforms.
- User segmentation: Ensuring your contacts are getting highly personalized messages.
- Multi-channel support: So every text and email interaction is tracked from the same place.
You need to send texts internationally
Best Option: Sendinblue
Sendinblue makes it easy to pre-pay for SMS credits in different countries. So if you have customers or prospects overseas, you can still target them with text messaging campaigns. The credits never expire, so you’re not required to use all of them within a month, quarter, or year—which is great if you’re not planning on exhausting those credits immediately.
Another cool part about Sendinblue is the ability to purchase credits for WhatsApp messaging campaigns as well. This is one of the most popular messaging solutions worldwide and is great for contacts who may prefer WhatsApp over texting.
Another Great Choice: OpenPhone
OpenPhone supports unlimited texts in the US and Canada. But they offer per-usage rates on texts in other countries worldwide—starting as low as $0.02 per text. You can send SMS messages anywhere and only get charged based on the country and how many texts you’re sending internationally.
If you’re sending international texts, be aware of:
- Cost structure: SMS rates typically vary by location, so you’ll want to pay close attention to how you’re being charged to send international texts.
- Countries supported: The ability to text people internationally is useless if the countries you want to reach aren’t available.
You need to send custom texts to single recipients
Best Option: Textedly
While Textedly is best known for its ability to send bulk texts, the platform is versatile enough to support one-on-one messaging as well. All of your subscribers have the option to reply to a text, making it easy to accommodate two-way chat.
This is ideal if they need questions answered or want to continue moving through the sales process. Textedly sends you an instant notification whenever you get an inbound message so you can reply ASAP. You can also set up automatic replies that are delivered within three to five seconds of the inbound message.
Another Great Choice: SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting makes it easy to have two-way conversations with people, which is perfect for sales teams. All incoming SMS messages are free and won’t count toward your monthly credits. You can also lend longer messages to your contacts and include phones, documents, zip files, and other MMS content.
If you’re sending individual texts to one person, pay attention to:
- 2-way messaging: So when the recipient replies, you can have a complete conversation via text.
- Autoresponders: To ensure your audience gets a quick reply, even while your agents are away.
- Extended messaging: So you’re not limited to just 160 characters or SMS only.
Business Text Messaging Services Company Reviews
Below you’ll find our in-depth reviews of the best business texting services on the market. Each solution shines above the crowd for a particular reason, a unique feature, or a use case, which we’ve highlighted in the review.
Read on to learn more about these top business text messaging solutions. We’ll even call out areas where a particular service could use some improvements and give you more information on pricing so you can find the best value for your needs.
SimpleTexting – Best texting service for marketing and sales
SimpleTexting lives up to its name in the sense that it’s ultra-easy to use. But don’t let that simplicity fool you. It’s still a feature-packed texting service that can be used for virtually any use case.
What makes SimpleTexting unique compared to other options on the market is its ability to accommodate multiple departments and needs within an organization. Your marketing team can use it for drip campaigns and bulk messaging. But your sales team can also use it to nurture leads with one-to-one conversations and two-way messaging.
The service can even be used for appointment reminders, interview scheduling, and HR job recruiting. It’s worth noting that SimpleTexting doesn’t have a built-in CRM or email marketing solution. But you can integrate it with the tools that you’re already using.
What Makes SimpleTexting Great
When it comes to text campaigns, sales and marketing teams have very different approaches. Sales reps need to personalize messages and have two-way conversations with leads, while marketers need to blast bulk campaigns to thousands of people. Fortunately, SimpleTexting can handle both of these needs from a single platform.
This really isn’t something that you’ll find from many other business text messaging services on the market, as most platforms tend to lean in one direction or the other.
You can use it to announce sales promotions, improve customer satisfaction, find new customers, and follow up with leads faster than email. SimpleTexting supports more than 1,000+ integrations, making it easy for you to connect with business software you’re already using and create automated with a hands-off approach.
Pricing is based on how many texts you’re sending per month, and all incoming SMS messages are free. Plans start at $29 per month for 500 messages, and the price per message gets cheaper as your monthly volume increases. Try SimpleTexting free for 14 days—no credit card required.
Textedly – Best for bulk texting
Most business text messaging services cap you at around 50,000 messages per month. Some let you go up to 100,000 texts with enterprise plans. But Textedly blows all of those out of the water with the ability to send up to 240,000 text messages each month.
This is an excellent option for large organizations with massive customer databases. If you want to take advantage of your existing contact list, Textedly won’t hold you back.
But it’s also a great tool for businesses with growing contact lists. You’ll never have to worry about outgrowing Textedly. Even if you need to send more than the 240,000 monthly texts available in the Textedly Champion plan, you can just give them a call for a customized solution.
One downside of Textedly is its lack of built-in features. But it does integrate with more than 3,000+ third-party tools for sales, marketing, CRM, and automation.
What Makes Textedly Great
The great part about Textedly is that you’re not locked into a contract. If you double your database overnight or you want to ramp up the frequency of your campaigns, you can upgrade to a bigger texting plan at any time.
When you’re sending tens of thousands or potentially hundreds of thousands of texts, you need to consider how much it’s going to cost you if those conversations continue. Textedly gives you some relief here, as all incoming SMS messages are always free.
You can add an unlimited number of subscribers to your account at no extra cost. So if you end up with two million phone numbers in your database, you won’t be paying more than someone who has 200 numbers—making it easy to grow without limits.
Plans are based on monthly messaging and range from $24 per month for 1,200 texts to $2,800 per month for 240,000 messages. You can try Textedly free for 14 days and send your first 50 texts at no charge.
OpenPhone – Best for unlimited calling and texting
OpenPhone is an all-in-one solution for business text messaging, calling, and contact management. Every plan supports unlimited calling and messaging within the US and Canada.
All OpenPhone plans come with one local or toll-free number per user, so everyone on your team can have their own line. It’s the perfect solution for organizations seeking a complete business phone solution with the ability to send texts as well.
While OpenPhone has all of the standard features you’d expect in a business text messaging service, it does lack some of the more advanced marketing and sales features you’ll find from alternatives. That’s because the business phone solution is the primary service, and texting is somewhat secondary.
What Makes OpenPhone Great
One of the coolest features of OpenPhone is the ability for teams to simultaneously manage two-way texts with recipients. This is a huge bonus when you need someone from the right department to reply or the original sender is out sick or on vacation.
As a phone and text messaging service from a single platform, you can use OpenPhone to automatically send texts directly after a call. For example, you can follow up with surveys and post-sales campaigns. Or if you miss a call, you send an automated text apologizing for the delay and set up the engagement via text.
Beyond SMS messaging, OpenPhone supports MMS messages, videos, files, GIFs, and more. You can even use it for group messaging—which is great for sales teams that want to keep multiple stakeholders involved in the process.
OpenPhone plans start at $10 per user per month. Try it free for seven days to get started.
Podium – Best for text-to-pay
Podium is a versatile business solution that supports a wide range of features, from messaging to online reviews and more. It’s also a complete CRM that makes it easy to manage contact lists and keep track of interactions at every touchpoint.
But Podium stands out from the crowd with its built-in text-to-pay feature. This is handled directly through Podium’s platform, so you won’t have to set up any third-party integrations.
One potential drawback of Podium is its pricing structure. It’s a bit more expensive than other services that are strictly for business texting.
You’re getting so much more than just basic business texting. But the pricing is definitely something to consider if you’re not planning to take advantage of Podium’s other robust features. Organizations seeking a solution that’s strictly for text messaging should look elsewhere.
What Makes Podium Great
Podium’s integrated text-to-pay feature is definitely its shining star. This capability is available on every Podium plan, including the entry-level tier.
This is so much better than emailing customers to collect payments or sending paper invoices through the mail. Podium says that the average text is opened within 15 minutes of delivery, ensuring you’re getting paid quickly. This also makes things easier for your customers, as they can pay for goods and services using a few clicks from their phones.
Text-to-pay works great within industries like healthcare, automotive, home services, dental, professional services, and more.
After customers pay you via text, you can automatically send them a follow-up message asking them to leave a review. The message will include a link directly to the review platform of your choosing.
Plans start at $289 per month for up to three team members and $449 per month for unlimited team members and unlimited contacts. Text-to-pay processing rates range from 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction to 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction, depending on your plan. Read our full Podium review to learn more.
Sendinblue – Best for texting combined with email services
Most business texting messaging tools do just what you’d expect—they allow you to send text messages. But Sendinblue is unique in the sense that you’re getting a text messaging service and email marketing solution from a single platform.
This means that you won’t have to worry about setting up integrations between your text service and email platform or CRM. You’re getting all the tools you need from a single interface.
It’s worth noting that Sendinblue is generally considered an email marketing platform first, with SMS messaging capabilities second. While the text messaging service is not an afterthought by any stretch of the imagination, it does lack some of the features you’ll see from platforms that are strictly for business text messaging.
What Makes Sendinblue Great
The great part about using Sendinblue is that all of your contacts can be managed in one place. So you’ll see exactly how your database interacts with both email campaigns and targeted SMS messages.
This is great information, as you can adjust your strategy to see when emails are more appropriate and when texts are more effective. Whether you’re sending texts, emails, or both, your team can keep track of all customer interactions from a single inbox with every interaction in a customer’s history.
Another cool part of Sendinblue is the ability to set up powerful marketing automation that moves customers through your flow based on their engagement and interactions. You can even set up both emails and texts from a single campaign or automation so your database gets a mix of both.
Plans start at $25 per month for the email marketing platform, with SMS credits available as an add-on. Rates are based on volume and country, such as $5.45 per month to send 500 texts in the US. Try Sendinblue for free today.
Quick Sprout Business Text Messaging Services Related Content
For more about business messaging, how it works, and how to succeed with it, check out the related resources below—hand-picked from the Quick Sprout blog:
Business Text Messaging Services Guides and How-Tos
- How to Text From a Laptop
- The Essential Guide to SMS Marketing Strategies
- How to Grow Your Email List
Business Text Messaging Services Company Reviews
Business Text Messaging Services Related Top Lists
The Top Business Text Messaging Services in Summary
SimpleTexting is the best business text messaging service for most organizations because it’s versatile enough to support both sales and marketing initiatives. You can use it to send mass messages to your entire contact list or start two-way conversations with individual recipients.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that SimpleTexting is right for you. Use the reviews, recommendations, and considerations highlighted in this guide to make sure you find a business text messaging service that aligns with your needs.