Guide · Business Texting
Extra numbers are the hidden axis of business-texting cost — and a vanity short code can quietly multiply your bill
An extra local number runs $5–$10/mo, toll-free is often free, and a dedicated short code jumps to four figures — here's what each vendor actually charges for phone numbers.
Most business-texting comparisons stop at the monthly base price and the bundled message credits. But two SMBs on the same plan can pay different amounts, because the second cost axis — how many phone numbers you carry and what kind — is priced separately and rarely shows up in the headline. A second local number, a toll-free line, and a dedicated short code are three different products with three wildly different price tags, and the vendors disagree on all of them.
Here is the entire spread, from free to four figures a month.
A second local number is $5 to $10 a month — if it isn’t free
The cheapest place to add a local 10-digit number is a vendor that includes one in the base plan and meters only the extra ones cheaply.
| Vendor | Numbers in base plan | Each extra number | Toll-free | One-time setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesmsg | 1 free local or toll-free | +$5/mo | included as the free one | 10DLC brand $4.50 one-time |
| Quo | 1 per user seat | +$5/mo | — | — |
| Sakari | 1 free dedicated number | (slider-based) | — | — |
| SimpleTexting | uses your shared keyword line | +$10/mo | free | $4 one-time per local number |
Salesmsg and Quo are the value picks on pure number economics: both hand you a working number in the base plan and charge a flat $5/mo for each additional one. On Quo that number rides on a $19/user/mo Starter seat with unlimited US/CA texts and calls; on Salesmsg it comes with the $25/mo 500-credit entry plan, and the one included number can be local or toll-free.
Sakari is the outlier that gives a dedicated number away free on a $25/mo entry plan with unlimited users — generous, though its per-tier pricing runs on an interactive slider rather than discrete published number add-ons.
SimpleTexting inverts the usual logic: toll-free is free, local costs
The most counterintuitive structure belongs to SimpleTexting. A toll-free number — the line most vendors treat as the premium option — is free. But a dedicated local number costs $10/mo plus a $4 one-time charge, on top of the $39/mo 500-credit base. That flips the normal hierarchy, and it matters: if your brand needs a local presence in several area codes, those $10/mo lines stack up faster than they would on Salesmsg or Quo, while a toll-free-only sender pays nothing extra.
The short code is where the bill changes character
Everything above is rounding error next to a short code — the 5–6 digit number used for high-throughput campaign sending. SimpleTexting is the one vendor in the dataset that publishes a figure, and it is a different order of magnitude: a short code starts from $1,000/mo. That is more than eleven times SimpleTexting’s own $89/mo 2,000-credit plan, and it buys throughput and deliverability, not features. For most local-service SMBs the honest read is that a short code is not a line item — it’s a separate budget decision reserved for true bulk senders.
Don’t forget the carrier registration fee
There’s a fourth number-related cost that hides below the plan price: 10DLC registration, the carrier-mandated step for sending business texts from standard local numbers. The dataset shows it priced separately almost everywhere — Salesmsg lists a $4.50 one-time brand fee plus $1.50–$10/mo per campaign; Heymarket charges $10/mo per campaign on top of its per-user seat. It’s small, but it’s real, and it’s another reason the base price isn’t the price.
How to read this
If phone numbers are central to how you operate — multiple area codes, a toll-free line, separate numbers per location — the cheapest base plan can lose to a slightly pricier one that bundles or cheaply meters numbers. Salesmsg and Quo at +$5/mo per extra number are the most economical for multi-number setups, both starting around $19–$25/mo. SimpleTexting’s free toll-free wins for a single toll-free sender but charges $10/mo per local line. And a vanity short code from $1,000/mo is a category jump that no amount of plan-shopping softens. Decide your number topology first; the base-price comparison only makes sense after that.