The low cost SMS API for developers
Pay only for delivered messages
Eliminate waste with our cost saving tools
Sign up today Get 50 free creditsMost SMS API companies charge for undelivered texts
At the SMS Works, we only bill you for delivered text messages.
Watch our 60 second video to find out why you've been paying too much.
Don't Pour Away Your SMS Credits
On average, 18.5% of SMS credits are wasted.
-
9.8%
Undelivered Texts
- Almost all SMS companies charge you for undelivered texts, when they haven't been charged themselves. We will not charge you for undelivered texts.
-
5.7%
Messages Just Too Long
- For messages that are just longer than 160 characters you'll be charged 2 SMS credits. Our AI message optimiser can help you to avoid this.
-
3%
Unicode Characters & Emojis
- Special characters use more credits. Our unicode and emoji filters will help to strip these out before your messages are sent.
Remarkably Low SMS API Pricing
Our prices are amongst the lowest in the UK. Message costs start at 4.15 pence + VAT and go as low as 3.55 pence for larger volumes.
-
Savings over 30%
- On average, our customers save over 30%. Compare us with other SMS Gateway companies on our price comparison table. Contact us for a quote if you'd like us to beat an existing price.
-
High Volume Customers
- For high SMS volume customers, sending and receiving over 50,000 texts a month, we offer even lower rates. With our free SMS API, you only pay for SMS credits; there’s no contract or minimum order.
Only Pay for Delivered Messages
We only charge you for delivered messages. Failed texts are credited straight back to your account.
-
Additional Savings
- Almost all SMS companies charge for failed texts, when they haven't been charged themselves. You can save as much as 18% by not paying for undelivered texts.
-
Detailed Delivery Reports
- Our delivery reports give you a detailed outcome of all texts sent, including refunded SMS credits.
Fast, Reliable, Robust
We've invested heavily to make our UK SMS API as reliable as it can possibly be. Our platform has been built to withstand the rigours of the most demanding applications.
-
Secure & Compliant
- We understand that data protection and security are crucial to you. We've gone the extra mile to ensure that our platform exceeds all the data protection requirements under GDPR. All our data centres and servers are UK based.
-
Keeping Customers Happy
- Read SMS API testimonials from our customers.
Comprehensive SMS Insights
SMS Insights uncovers hidden stories in your SMS activity.
-
What's going on?
- A series of automated charts and tables provide actionable insights into your SMS campaigns.
- Dive deep into the data and reveal ways in which you can reduce costs, increase effectiveness and elimate wastage. Check out our short video which shows how we can help you.
Reliable Tier 1 Connections
We only use the most reliable tier one connections, direct to UK networks. Text messages sent within the UK stay in the UK.
-
No Grey Routes
- We never use international or SMS grey routes to send and receive SMS. Although grey routes may seem like a great, low-cost SMS option, they are notoriously unreliable.
Simple & Easy to Set Up
No set-up fee. No contract. Simple, pay-as-you-go service.
Free Test Account
Your free SMS account comes with 50 free text credits. Let us know if you need more.
If you'd like to be able to receive replies to your texts, you can also have a 1 week free trial of a UK reply number.
Copy & Paste API Snippets
We’ve put together a comprehensive range of ready to go scripts in the most common languages. Simply copy and paste.
Whatever your preferred language, our goal is to make your SMS integration as fast and simple as possible.
Fast, attentive support
If you have questions that aren't quite covered by the https API documentation, we always get back to support queries within the hour.
Our objective is to have you up and running with your SMS integration in the shortest time possible.
Two-way Conversations With Your Customers
Low cost reply numbers (long codes)
Receive SMS replies to your text campaigns with a low cost reply number. SMS Replies can be routed back to you by email or we can simply post replies to a URL of your choice.
-
Free trial
- Our free 7-day trial allows you to test the long code service before making any kind of commitment.
SMS Short Codes
A keyword on our 88440 shortcode allows you to add a text response option to your marketing channels.
What's included
-
No setup fee
-
Replies forwarded to URL or Email
-
Just a 3-month minimum term
-
Configurable auto-responses
Peace of mind
You want to be sure that your SMS will continue to send,
especially when you're concentrating on something more important.
SMS Credits Overdraft
SMS Credits Overdraft
Running out of SMS credits is one of our customers' biggest concerns. The last thing you need is crucial texts to stop because of an admin issue.
Credits don't expire
Once you've bought SMS credits from us, they won't expire. Surprisingly, some SMS providers remove your credits if they haven't been used after 12 months.
SMS API Features & Tools
Our Rest API is stacked with tools, designed to make working with us as simple as possible. Whether you’re a freelance developer, or working in a large team, our tools are quick and easy to use.
Receive Delivery Reports
Every SMS marketing campaign you send generates a delivery report. Delivery reports can be accessed both via the HTTPS API and by logging into your account.
Schedule a text campaign
SMS via API campaigns can be scheduled to run on the date and time of your choosing. Send one message at a time or several as a batch.
Receive Text Replies
Receive SMS replies to your texts using our virtual mobile numbers. Incoming texts can be forwarded to an email address or URL of your choice.
AI Optimisation
Our message optimiser AI uses Chat-GPT to shorten messages that are just over the SMS character limit.
Send Batch SMS
If all of your contacts should receive the same text, then the batch send tool allows you to send a bulk SMS campaign.
Retrieve Messages
Retrieve text messages that match any given search criteria, either via the API or your SMS Works account screen.
Use Dynamic Sender IDs
Send SMS messages with your chosen originator. There are no restrictions and you don't need to register your sender IDs in advance.
Send Long Messages
A standard text is 160 characters long. Our SMS API allows you to send & receive SMS messages of up to 1280 characters. Long text messages arrive as one message.
Global SMS
We connect with networks in over 200 countries. Wherever you're planning on sending and receiving SMS, we're able to deliver.
Comprehensive Error Codes
To help you fully understand why a text is undelivered, we provide more than 25 error codes. This vital info can be used to clean your contact data.
SMS OTP Platform
Generate, send and verify SMS One-Time Passwords, to add extra security to your sign-up forms and transactions.
SMS Credit Overdraft
Remove the worry of running out of credits by organising an SMS credits overdraft. An SMS overdraft is free and allows your account to keep sending text messages when your balance hits zero.
SMS Insights
Our automated charts and tables display actionable insights. Track, measure and share your charts and data to improve the effectiveness of your SMS campaigns.
Webhook Monitor
Sends you an email alert if your incoming SMS or Delivery Report webhooks stop working or are unresponsive.
Unicode Replacement
Automatic replacement of common unicode characters with their GSM equivalents (e.g unicode hyphens and apostrophes).
Emoji Filtering
Optionally configure your account to remove all emojis from your texts, avoiding using more text credits than you intended.
Whatever language you choose We've got you covered
What can an SMS API be used for?
SMS sending services have traditionally been seen as a marketing tool. It’s certainly a highly effective way of getting your message in front of your target audience.
But there are so many other ways that you could use a business SMS service in your business. This is by no means a complete list, but could give you some ideas.
-
SMS Delivery Notifications
Let your customers know exactly when and where to expect delivery of their order. This can hugely reduce delivery failure rates.
-
SMS for 2FA (2-factor authentication)
Improve your security by using 2FA SMS. Use SMS to send and receive dynamic codes for secure login or payment transactions.
-
Text Appointment Reminders
Reduce the number of 'no shows' by sending an SMS appointment reminder 24-hours in advance. Missed appointments can be reduced by up 70%.
-
Job Opportunity Alerts
Inform candidates about new jobs opportunities with well-timed text alerts. Include an SMS reply option so candidates can register their interest.
-
SMS Customer Surveys
Gather valuable customer opinion data with short surveys by text. Use the data to improve your customer service and satisfaction.
-
Text Order Confirmation
Inform customers by text that their orders have been received. Using an SMS HTTPS API, the text can include items ordered and total paid.
-
SMS Customer Support
Handle customer support and queries by text. Provide instant support and improve your customer satisfaction.
-
Event Invitation
Increase attendance at your events with a personal invitation by text. Offer discounts to those that respond by SMS.
-
Highlight Important Emails
Increase read rate of your emails by drawing attention to important emails by SMS. Email read rate can be increased by as much as 55%.
-
SMS Workflows
Connect The SMS Works with other applications using Zapier. No coding is required. It’s a quick and easy way to automate sending an SMS.
SMS UNIVERSITY
What is an SMS API?
An SMS API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of tools which allows the capabilities of one computer application to be made available to another, so that SMS messages can be sent and received.
The API specifies how software components should interact and follows a set of predefined rules, allowing developers to build SMS-based workflows into their own applications.
How does an SMS API work?
An SMS HTTPS API simplifies the whole process of sending a text from a system to a mobile handset. It acts as a bridge between your organisation and your customers or members of staff.
The SMS API removes the hassle of having to write and deploy specific code to handle the complexities of multiple mobile phone networks that operate different protocols and infrastructures.
Frequently asked questions
-
As much as you need. Our job is to make integrating with our SMS API as painless as possible. That might mean just answering a few simple questions or giving a few pointers. But it could mean getting much more involved.
For one client we were able to implement a new volume reporting tool for them that provided more detailed, end-of-month SMS reporting.
-
If we distilled our benefits into 5 simple points, they would be these...
- Pay only for delivered texts; all failed SMS are refunded. Zero wastage SMS.
- Lower cost per delivered text (SMS prices have dropped by over 50% in the past 10 years).
- Built with reliability at its core: 99.95% up-time annually.
- Clear simple documentation, with code snippets in your chosen language.
- Speedy, detailed and attentive support.
-
Yes, you can. Please see our international SMS tariff for a full breakdown of territories and costs.
-
Of course, no problem. We can provide you with a low cost reply number.
Replies are routed back to a URL of your choice and or email. This can be configured in your free account.
-
We provide support, documentation and code examples for the following programming languages:
cURL, C#, Node.js, PHP, Java, Python, Ruby & Go.
Sending SMS texts using PHP script remains the most popular method. All the documentation can be found on our developer's page.
-
SMS credits can be purchased by credit / debit card or by bank transfer. In some case we also have a post-paid option. Please talk to us. Credits don't expire.
-
For each and every message that you send, you can pick up detailed and accurate SMS delivery reports.
SMS Delivery reports will tell you precisely what happened to your message. If the mobile number is correct and active on the mobile network, then the message will be delivered.
If a message is not delivered there could be number of reasons. In fact, we have 25 error codes that tell you precisely the cause of non-delivery.
These 25 possible outcomes are split into 2 groups, permanent and non-permanent errors.
The aim is to provide you with as much transparency as possible so that your systems can react in the most appropriate way.
-
No, we don't constrain the number of messages that can be sent over a given period.
If you'd like to send a message to lots of recipients, you can send those in one batch to be sent either immediately, or on a schedule that you specify.
The SMS Works
A Fairer Approach to Pricing
SMS API Pricing has dropped by 63% since 2001.
- Falling Prices
- 20 years ago it cost about 9.7 pence to send a business SMS to a mobile number. In 2022, it costs around 3.5 pence. That’s an astonishing drop. In almost all cases, SMS providers simply aren't passing on the price reduction to customers.
- Delivered Only
- Paying for undelivered texts when your existing provider doesn't have to, isn't a very open way of operating. By looking at your SMS delivery reports you’ll be able to see how much you’re currently spending on failed texts.