The length of a standard text message is 160 characters, including spaces. If your SMS exceeds 160 characters, it will be treated as a ‘multi-part message,’ where each message is limited to 153 characters. 1 message = 1 credit.
Short Message Service and SMS Credits
In line with international telecommunications standards, the length of a standard text message is 160 characters, including spaces. If your SMS exceeds 160 characters, it will be treated as a ‘multi-part message,’ and additional charges will apply.
When your message exceeds the 160-character limit, the maximum allowed per part is 153 characters. You will be charged per part, where each part is considered one SMS credit. However, no matter how many parts your message has, your recipients will still receive it as one longer message.
SMS Credit Guidelines:
- Up to 160 characters = 1 credit
- Up to 306 characters = 2 credits
- Up to 459 characters = 3 credits
- Up to 612 characters = 4 credits
- ... and so on.
The maximum text message body length is 1600 characters, which equals 11 parts in a standard GSM message. So, 1600 characters ÷ 153 characters = 11 SMS credits.
Important Note:
This character limit applies only to the Global System for Mobile (GSM) character set, which includes Latin letters (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and a few symbols like exclamation marks. The use of unicode symbols or emojis will change the calculation and reduce the number of characters per message.