SMS length reference
A text message is sent and billed in segments. One segment holds 160 characters of plain text, or 70 if the message contains an emoji or another special character. A longer message is split into several segments, and each one is charged as a separate text. Paste your message below to see its length, its segment count and what it will cost before you send it.
Type or paste the exact text you plan to send, including the opt-out line and any link.
CampaignCNX+ accepts up to 1,600 characters in one message. Shorten this one before you send it.
A single text message can carry 160 characters when every character in it belongs to the standard text alphabet, called GSM-7. That alphabet covers the English letters, the digits, common punctuation and some accented letters. If the message contains even one character outside it, the whole message is sent in a different format, called Unicode (technically UCS-2), and a single segment then holds only 70 characters.
When a message is longer than one segment, it is split and sent in parts. Each part carries a short header that tells the phone how to put the parts back together, and that header takes up 7 characters. So in a message of two or more segments, each segment holds 153 characters of plain text, or 67 in Unicode, rather than 160 or 70. This is why a 161-character message uses two segments and not one with a single character left over.
| Segments | Plain text (GSM-7), up to | With emoji or Unicode, up to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 160 characters | 70 characters |
| 2 | 306 characters | 134 characters |
| 3 | 459 characters | 201 characters |
| 4 | 612 characters | 268 characters |
| 5 | 765 characters | 335 characters |
| 6 | 918 characters | 402 characters |
Most of the surprises in a text message bill come from a small number of characters.
Spaces, line breaks, punctuation and every character of a link all count. So does the opt-out line: "Reply STOP to opt out" is 21 characters, and it belongs in the first message each contact receives.
Segments and cost
CampaignCNX+ bills one message credit for each SMS segment and three credits for an MMS. Pay as you go is $0.06 a credit, and monthly plans lower it to as little as $0.035. You start with 100 free SMS, and your number is $5 a month.
Carriers and texting platforms charge for each segment, so the segment count is what decides the price of a send. On CampaignCNX+, one segment uses one message credit. A message of two segments sent to 1,000 people uses 2,000 credits, which is $120 at the pay-as-you-go rate of $0.06 a credit. The same message trimmed to one segment uses 1,000 credits and costs $60.
A picture message, or MMS, is priced differently: it uses 3 credits per recipient whatever the length of its text. Our comparison of SMS vs MMS explains when a picture is worth the extra cost. For the bigger picture of sending one message to a whole customer list, see mass texting.
Usually not. Most emoji count as two characters, and any emoji switches the whole message to Unicode, where a single segment holds 70 characters instead of 160. A 100-character message with one emoji in it uses two segments.
Yes. Every space and every line break counts as a character, in the same way as a letter does.
Yes. Every character of the address counts, including the https:// at the start. A long tracking link can use half a segment on its own, so a short link to a page on your own website is the better choice.
Modern phones put the segments back together and show one message. The segments still matter, because each one is billed as a separate text.
CampaignCNX+ accepts up to 1,600 characters in one message. That is 11 segments of plain text, so a message that long costs 11 credits for each recipient.
A picture message, or MMS, is not split into segments. On CampaignCNX+ it can carry up to 1,600 characters of text with the image, and it uses 3 credits per recipient however long the text is.
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