Low cost SMS Gateway for all applications
You’re probably weighing up The SMS Works as a potential UK SMS provider.
Here’s why we hope you’ll choose us...
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Reliability
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This is probably your most important consideration. We’ve done the hard grind to ensure that our SMS gateway withstands the rigours of the most demanding applications.
The minimum uptime of The SMS Works gateway is 99.95%. Read more in our technical overview.
We have found the platform to be 100% reliable.
Ian Zucchi, Technical Director at TISSL Ltd -
Clear Documentation
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You need clear, concise, unambiguous documentation, with copy and paste code examples. We've put all into our Developer Zone.
Our SMS gateway supports all languages including PHP, C#, Java, Go, Node.js, Python and Ruby.
Your documentation is very well put together.
Dan Rushton, Senior Software Developer at Shearwater Systems. -
SMS Gateway API Pricing
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Low and fair. Our SMS prices are amongst the lowest and you only pay for delivered messages.
On average, our SMS credit prices are 33% lower than our competitors. See our SMS price comparison table to see how we size up with other providers.
Our SMS API price comparison tool is great for comparing SMS costs for your business.
Pricing is very competitive and clear.
Mark Kelland, Commercial Manager at Dragon2000 Ltd.
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UK SMS Routing
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Our SMS service uses only tier 1, direct connections to UK mobile networks. We never use unreliable grey or international routes. SMS marketing messages sent to UK numbers never get routed to gateways outside the UK.
Our servers and datacentres are based in the UK.
SMS grey routes are notoriously unreliable, often causing texts to be delayed or not delivered at all. You should always avoid a bulk SMS provider that uses SMS grey routes.
A reliable service and we have had no issues.
Howard Richards, IT Director at Fidelity Group Ltd
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Fast Support
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You’d like support from a human if you need us. We're here to help, whatever you query. All support requests are handled quickly and efficiently and usually within the hour. We can even provide you with SMS template examples.
Our job is to make integrating with our cheap SMS gateway as quick and painless as possible. We'll do all we can to make that happen. Going that little bit further to understand exactly what customers need, means we can sometimes provide useful ideas or advice.
We'll be as involved as you want us to be. Our details are on the contact page.
The SMS Works people truly understand the technical needs of those wishing to use their API.
Jaime Arrazola, CTO at Migrate.co.uk
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Free SMS Gateway Trial
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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.
The account set up will take less than a minute and we only ask for your name, company name and email. Your data is safe with us.
Good morning and thank you for your messages & the development credit. Much appreciated - we're being made to feel very welcome! Great service!
Marc Pinter-Krainer, Director at Oui Chef Recruitment Ltd
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No Nasty Small Print
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No contract or minimum spend. You don't need a credit card to sign up. We operate a simple pay-as-you-go service with minimum fuss and hassle.
SMS credits can be purchased by credit, debit card or by bank transfer. Post pay arrangements can be arranged in advance.
SMS credits do not expire.
Communication with The SMS Works was swift and efficient.
Neil Jones, Chief Operating Office at TMTI -
Here to be tested
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Choosing the best SMS Gateway provider is something you'll be keen to get right. It’s a decision you're going to live with for years, potentially.
The easiest way to see if we’re the right SMS company for you is to test us.
A free SMS Works account comes with 50 free text credits for testing. If this isn't enough, let us know and we'll happily add as many as you need.
You can also use our email to SMS service to send all your SMS traffic.
In the last few years I struggle to recall their service ever missing a beat.
Jonathan Briggs, CEO at CX-Feedback.
4 questions to ask your SMS Gateway Company
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Are failed SMS refunded?
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If not, they should be. No transactional SMS provider has ever had to pay for texts that do not arrive, so nor should you.
If your existing provider can't give you a straight answer to this question, it might be worth considering a move.
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Do SMS credits expire?
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A number of SMS gateway service companies will delete your text credits if they haven't been used after a set period.
We don't think that's the right way to treat paying customers. SMS credits in our customers' accounts never expire.
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What happens if you run out of SMS credits?
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If your credit balance hits zero, most companies simply stop sending your texts. All your crucial business texts grind to a halt.
We offer a credit overdraft system that allows your texts to keep flowing even though your credit balance is below zero.
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How detailed are the delivery reports?
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Delivery reports are crucial for confirming message delivery and for data cleansing. But if a message fails it's useful to know why.
Wrong number? Message expired? Our SMS gateway delivery reports provides 17 different message outcomes to give you complete transparency.
The core benefits of our SMS gateway
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Delivered Only
- You only pay for delivered texts through our SMS gateway. All non-delivered texts are refunded instantly back to your account, so there's zero wastage.
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Code Samples
- Easy to use code samples of how to send messages through the SMS gateway. Send SMS sample code in PHP, C#, Java, Go, Node.js, Python and Ruby.
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Customer Replies
- Low cost virtual mobile number for all UK companies. Allow customers to reply to the texts that you send them.
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Robust & Reliable
- Our SMS gateway has almost zero downtime, year after year.
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Great Documentation
- Really simple, well laid out SMS gateway documentation. We want you to be able to get up and running fast.
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Attentive Support
- If you have queries, you need us to respond fast. We aim to react to all support requests within the hour.
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UK SMS Routing
- We never use low quality grey routes but direct connections to UK networks.
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Simple Pricing
- Our SMS pricing is very low. We have a straightforward pay as you go service and SMS credits don't expire.
Get Started Today
Three simple steps to get up and running
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1
Set up a free Account
- Your account comes with 50 free text credits for testing.
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2
Set up Authentication
- Generate a JSON Web Token from your account page.
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3
Read the Documentation
- Use our copy & paste code snippets or the SDK of your choice. Check your texts don't contain unicode character with our free unicode character detector. Also check your SMS message length and credits required to send your message.
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4
Get Testing
- You're now ready to send texts through our SMS Gateway! The whole process, from start to finish, should only take a few minutes.
4 Steps to Send SMS with our Gateway
What is an SMS gateway?
An SMS gateway service simply allows a computer system website or app to send and receive SMS text messages to mobile handsets via global mobile networks.
In the past, SMS gateways used to be actual physical bits of hardware, with individual sim cards linking to mobile networks themselves.
These days the connection is usually via an SMPP interface either directly to the mobile phone network of via one of several SMS aggregators.
The term means exactly the same as SMS API but for some reason, the use of the term SMS gateway persists.
We may never know why!
5 statistics about SMS Gateways
- The number of business sms being sent via SMS gateways is increasing. Business SMS volumes are set to rise to 2.8 trillion by 2022, thats a 68% rise over a four year period. (Mobilesquared)
- 49% of consumers would prefer to receive marketing material via text than any other channel. (Telefonica)
- 76% of consumers have received communications from businesses such as banks, healthcare and retailers via an SMS gateway. (The Mobile Ecosystem Forum)
- Fraudulent SMS traffic, sent via SMS grey routes, costs the international wholesale Carrier industry US$17 billion annually. (The Global Leaders’ Forum)
- More than 90 percent of people read a text message within the first three minutes. (Mobilesquared)
Have you found a UK SMS Provider at a lower cost?
It’s unlikely, but possible. There are dozens of UK SMS companies and some of them have special offers for new customers that disappear after you've made your first purchase.
It's a good idea to make sure that the price you're being offered will stand the test of time.
If you have found a lower SMS cost and the company is offering the same high quality tier one routing, we’d be more than happy to match it and in many cases beat it.
Bear in mind that our delivered-only pricing represents a significant saving over most other SMS gateway UK providers.
Also, we offer a free sms gateway, you only pay for text credits. There's no charge for for accessing our platform. In some cases we also offer a free reply number, so overall we think we've put together an beatable package.