8 Best SMS messaging services for small businesses in 2025

When you’re running a business, every message counts.

SMS messaging has changed how businesses and customers communicate, but SMS services can’t just be about sending and receiving texts. That’s why you need a text messaging service that goes beyond the basics.

The best SMS services reduce manual work by automating responses, sending snippets, and helping teams nurture relationships with customers and prospects.

Ready to step up from the basic SMS app on your cell phone or move away from your existing texting provider? This guide breaks down eight of the best text messaging services for small businesses.

We’ll also share how to select the right texting service for your company.

The top business text messaging services compared

Let’s take a closer look at how the top texting services for small businesses compare.

Provider	Starting price	Shared phone numbers	Unlimited SMS/MMS	Scheduled text messages	Auto-replies	Unlimited calling to US & Canada
OpenPhone	$15 per user per month	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Google Voice	$16 per user per month (must have Google Workspace)	✓	X (Texting for US customers only)	X	X	Unlimited calls to Canada from the US
SimpleTexting	$33.20 per month	✓	X (500 text credits per month)	Must apply credits	✓	X (only call forwarding)
SlickText	$29 per month	✓	X (500 texts per month)	Must apply credits	✓	X
TextMagic	$24.95 one-time fee	✓	$.08 per message	Must apply credits	✓	X
EZ Texting	$20 per month	✓	X (500 text credits per month)	Must apply credits	Must apply credits	X
Textedly	$26 per month	✓	X (600 texts per month)	Must apply credits	✓ ( $36.00 one-time fee)	X
Sakari	$25 per month	✓	X (823 text segments per month)	Must apply credits	✓	X

Keep reading for more details about each provider to help you choose the right SMS service for your needs.

1. OpenPhone: Best calling and text messaging service for small businesses

Pros

• Free calling and SMS/MMS messages to the US and Canada
• Shared numbers to split responsibility for calling and texting
• Auto-replies, scheduled messages, and snippets
• Group texting (up to 10 participants)
• Integrations with Zapier, Salesforce, and HubSpot

Cons

• Can’t verify other accounts through two-factor authentication texts*

*Nearly all virtual phone numbers run into this problem. For safety reasons, companies like Facebook, Uber, and Google rarely let you authenticate accounts through a virtual phone number.

OpenPhone is a reliable VoIP phone system and versatile texting solution that lets you make calls and send and receive messages using an internet connection. 

With OpenPhone, your team can have a dedicated business phone number to manage calls and texts from a single platform. You can view all text messages, call recordings, and voicemails with specific contacts in a single view. This helps your team streamline your communication processes so you don’t have to deal with scattered messages and missed conversations.

Anyone on your team can easily review and continue conversations from a shared number. Or you can move conversations to text if you’re playing phone tag — a breath of fresh air for your team and customers.

With OpenPhone, calling and texting to the US and Canada is included, so you won’t pay per text or worry about the number of text messages you get with a particular plan (unlike other text messaging services on this list). This includes MMS messages, which means you can send customers visual support, like videos and pictures.

OpenPhone also excels at helping businesses save time texting and collaborating. With it, you can automate SMS messages and use snippets to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs), schedule text messages to your contacts, and help your team collaborate on communications through internal threads.

As one G2 reviewer put it, “We switched to OpenPhone for our business, and we couldn’t be happier. The calls are very clear. What I love best is the auto-text feature when we miss a call. This adds a personal element and lets our clients know how important our communication with them is to us. It’s great to also let people know we can accept text messages. I love how the voice message can be customized for different times of day (opened vs. closed hours). It is easy to organize messages and keep track of which ones have been answered.”

With OpenPhone’s API, you can automatically send reminder texts to clients after they’ve filled out a form to make an appointment with your business. You can also use the API to log all call activity, recordings, summaries, transcripts, and messages under the relevant contact in your CRM.

Sign up for a free seven-day trial of OpenPhone today. If you need to port over an existing number, you can use a temporary phone number to confirm that OpenPhone is a good fit. And when you’re ready, move any local US, Canadian, or North American toll-free number for free.

Key features of OpenPhone

• Free SMS and MMS messages to anyone in the US or Canada
• Group messaging
• Shared phone numbers
• Auto-replies
• Snippets
• Scheduled text messages
• Integrations for CRMs and other popular platforms, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Zapier
• Automate specific touchpoints using the OpenPhone API

OpenPhone pricing

OpenPhone offers the following three flexible and straightforward pricing tiers:

• Starter: $15 per user per month for the option to share a number with up to 10 teammates, scheduled texts, snippets, internal threads, shared contacts, and more 
• Business: $23 per user per month for call transfer, analytics, Salesforce integration, HubSpot CRM integration, the ability to share your phone number with as many teammates as you need, and more
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for a dedicated account manager to tailor a plan to your team’s needs

2. Google Voice: Top solution that integrates with Google Workspace

Pros

• Integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace
• Unlimited texting for US customers

Cons

• No texting automation features
• No integrations outside of other Google apps
• No toll-free numbers 

Google Voice for Business isn’t exactly heavy-duty text software. Still, it’s a natural choice if you already use Google Workspace. However it falls short in terms of being a comprehensive text messaging service.

Keep in mind that if you want to connect your tech stack, Google Voice only integrates with other Google apps. 

Google Voice’s business SMS functionality is also limited. Texting is restricted to US customers and lacks support for:

• Toll-free numbers
• Snippets
• Auto-replies
• Sending documents or videos

One Google Voice user wrote on G2, “Google Voice function is basic versus the paid options available through other companies and wasn’t able to do as much as other companies. It worked for us, but we ended up needing our texting service to do more.”

When you’re the only person handling daily business operations, Google Voice may work fine. But as your team expands and messaging needs to scale, Google Voice is extremely limiting. Plus, if you want team members to collaborate to solve customer issues with shared numbers, you’ll need to choose a different messaging platform.

Want to quickly get caught up on customer conversations? You can’t with Google Voice since it stores calls, texts, and voicemails in different folders, making it hard to piece conversations together.

Key features of Google Voice

• SMS to US and Canadian numbers (available to US customers only; excludes the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands)
• Group messaging (up to eight participants)
• Multi-level auto attendants and ring groups (requires upgrade)
• Voicemail transcription
• Advanced analytics (requires upgrade)

Google Voice pricing

Although there’s a free version of Google Voice, it isn’t designed for businesses. 

Google Voice’s paid plans require you to have an active Google Workspace account (starting at $6 per user per month). Here’s what Voice’s business plans offer:

• Starter: $10 per user per month for calls to the US and Canada and unlimited text messaging for up to 10 team members
• Standard: $20 per user per month for ring groups, multi-level auto attendants, and eDiscovery for text message records for an unlimited number of users
• Premier: $30 per user per month for the above features and advanced reporting

3. SimpleTexting: Best option for SMS marketing

Pros

• Auto-responder feature for efficient customer communication
• Tools to run polls, surveys, sweepstakes, and push notifications

Cons

• Additional costs for advanced features and integrations
• Challenges with customer service and using numbers for calling
• Limited texting reach to the US, Canada, and select Caribbean regions

If you’re looking for a texting service that offers mass SMS campaigns, SimpleTexting could be for you. It lets you send bulk messages and its intuitive user interface (UI) is easy to use.

With SimpleTexting, you can set up an auto-responder to send customers drip campaigns, follow-up texts, or coupon codes based on specific keywords. For example, if a customer texts “PAW” to your business phone number to check current dog food deals, the auto-responder will send the customer a list of available deals.

You can also access a range of marketing tools with SimpleTexting’s built-in apps. These tools help you run text-based polls, surveys, and sweepstakes. You can also send push notifications and gain valuable analytics for better insights.

SimpleTexting has a 14-day trial that lets you access all features, but you’re capped at 50 daily messages. Keep in mind that SimpleTexting only lets you text numbers in the US, Canada, and select regions in the Caribbean.

The biggest limitation of SimpleTexting is it doesn’t support calling. If you want to call and text from the same number, they offer limited call forwarding — except for toll-free numbers, which you can’t call from at all.

Another drawback? SimpleTexting offers Mailchimp and Zapier integrations in its plans but doesn’t offer a native HubSpot SMS integration. If you’re a small business that runs on HubSpot or another CRM, you have to spend time building workflows on Zapier yourself. 

Key features of SimpleTexting

• Unlimited contacts
• Unlimited keywords
• Rollover credits
• Mailchimp and Zapier integrations
• API access

SimpleTexting pricing

Here’s an example of what you’ll pay for a team of five that sends up to 500 texts per month:

• Plan cost: $33.20 per month (billed annually, includes three users per plan)
• User cost: $40 per month ($20 per user per month, billed annually)
• Total cost: $73.20 per month (billed annually)

4. SlickText: Best option for businesses building loyalty programs

Pros

• Automation tools and custom keywords for effective campaigns
• Run contests and create assets like surveys

Cons

• Can’t make voice calls
• Users have reported problems with analytics reporting
• Expensive to scale

SlickText is a text message marketing service that offers automation tools, custom keywords, and an intuitive user interface. If you want a cost-effective option with strong campaign-building features, automation, and segmentation capabilities, SlickText could be a solid choice.

At least, that’s the case for service-based businesses aiming to attract repeat business through loyalty programs. You can offer customers to opt in to loyalty rewards at check-in on your website or at the point of sale.

SlickText also gives you the ability to run text marketing campaigns. Once you set up a keyword, you can add your contact list, send messages, and access analytics. Then you can run contests and create assets like text-based surveys and opt-in web forms.

However, some users have reported its analytics could be reworked to look cleaner, and clicks on links aren’t accurately reported. This creates roadblocks for business owners who use data to make decisions. Smaller teams may also have challenges scaling their services, as their base plan ($29 per month) only includes 500 text messages.

Another limitation of SlickText: it offers text messaging services with no option to call your customers. This is fine if you only plan to communicate via email and text, but if you want to get on calls, you’ll need a business phone service in addition to SlickText.

Key features of SlickText

• Unlimited contacts
• Rollover texts
• Picture messaging
• Live chat customer support
• 1-on-1 onboarding (requires upgrade)

SlickText pricing

SlickText’s pricing is based on the number of texts you send monthly and textwords you choose. Here are some of its pricing plans you can choose from:

• $29 per month: 500 messages and two text keywords, free incoming texts, unlimited contacts, picture messaging, rollover texts, and live chat support
• $49 per month: 1,000 messages and four text keywords, plus everything in the $29 plan 
• $79 per month: 2,000 messages and six text keywords, plus everything in the $29 plan
• $129 per month: 3,500 messages and eight text keywords, plus automated workflows
• $169 per month: 5,000 messages and 14 text keywords, plus automated workflows and 1-on-1 onboarding

5. TextMagic: Most flexible pay-as-you-go text messaging app

Pros

• Offers message templates and auto-replies 
• Two-way chat capability for remote communication with staff and customers

Cons

• Unpredictable costs
• No direct CRM integrations
• Challenges reported by users regarding message delivery notifications and identifying reply sources

TextMagic is an easy-to-use text messaging app that offers a pay-as-you-go plan, making it ideal for small businesses or individuals with changing texting needs.

With TextMagic, you can create marketing lists, access detailed reports, and receive replies to messages sent using your TextMagic number. Similar to other options on this list, TextMagic has two-way messaging, allowing team members and customers to have ongoing conversations over text.

TextMagic also lets you create message templates for repetitive tasks like booking confirmations or appointment reminders. You can also set up auto-replies so customers can receive real-time responses to messages.

While TextMagic seems solid on paper, its base plan with pay-as-you-go pricing can quickly add up as your business grows. For example, you need to pay 2¢ for every incoming text. Plus, the plan doesn’t come with a free phone number, which means you need to pay $10 a month to purchase one. 

TextMagic also doesn’t provide direct integrations with CRMs like HubSpot, so you can’t save time syncing and logging your team’s texting activity.

Some users like this G2 reviewer report confusion regarding notifications: “I don’t like that I don’t get a notification if a text message wasn’t successfully delivered. I would have to look at my history to see if it was delivered or not.”

Another G2 user wanted more clarity on received messages: “Having to figure out which customer the reply message came from has been the biggest challenge.”

Although TextMagic has a full suite of features tailored for business texting, consider whether it’s worth the higher costs, notification confusion, and lack of direct CRM integrations for your business.

Key features of TextMagic

• Mass text to 190+ countries
• SMS gateway API
• Email to SMS gateway
• Two-way SMS
• SMS distribution list

TextMagic pricing

TextMagic offers three pricing options:

• Essential (Pay-as-you-go): One-time fee of $24.95 for 500 texts, $10 per month for a virtual SMS number, and 2¢ for all inbound texts. This plan lets you add credits when needed, the credits never expire, and you can add unlimited users
• Professional 2K: $80 per month for 2,000 texts, credits that roll over for up to two months, texting number, and included inbound texts 
• Connect 10K: $100 per month for 10,000 texts and a texting number from a CPaaS provider (like Twilio)

6. EZ Texting: Best for text list-building with QR codes

Pros

• User-friendly mobile app interface for easy SMS marketing
• Access to Shutterstock’s image library and editor and QR codes

Cons

• Each plan includes only one phone number, requiring additional fees for more numbers
• Short codes for SMS campaigns cost a minimum $3,000 monthly
• Less cost-effective than other text marketing platforms

EZ Texting is an all-around SMS marketing solution for businesses. Along with the ability to set up drip campaigns, EZ Texting offers access to the Shutterstock’s image library and editor, as well as the ability to create QR codes. These features help you create professionally designed MMS messages in your campaigns.

Plus, you can access two-way texting, group texting, and attractive pre-built templates for contests, vouchers, and coupon codes to drive more awareness and loyalty to your brand.

Along with SMS analytics, EZ Texting integrates with your email marketing software. This can give you a clear picture of your campaign’s performance. EZ Texting also offers SMS keywords that customers can text to join your subscriber list.

Keep in mind that while EZ Texting bundles credits with each plan, they expire after 60 days on their monthly plans. And they aren’t exactly clear about this on their pricing page. To find this information, you have to sift through their Help Center.

Additionally, using short codes for your SMS campaigns is costly, with a minimum monthly cost of $3,000.

Bottom line: EZ Texting is a strong text messaging option for businesses looking to increase customer engagement and attract potential customers. But some businesses may find other options that are more cost effective due to the lack of rollover credits.

Key features of EZ Texting

• Keywords
• Auto-replies
• Integrations
• Textable numbers
• Mass and two-way texting

EZ Texting pricing

EZ Texting offers four plans based on your monthly texting volume to your customers. Let’s take a closer look at their pricing tiers:

• Launch: Starts at $20 per month for up to 500 contacts, 6,000 yearly credits, one local number, and the option to buy additional credits for $0.03
• Boost: Starts at $60 per month for 500-2,000 contacts, 6,000 yearly credits, one local high-volume number, and the option to buy additional credits for $0.025
• Scale: Starts at $100 per month for 2,000-50,000 contacts, 6,000 yearly credits, one local high-volume, high-speed number, an onboarding specialist, and the option to buy additional credits for $0.02 
• Enterprise: Starts at $3,000 per month for 50,000+ contacts, 200,000 credits per month, a dedicated short code number, and the option to buy additional credits for $0.01 

7. Textedly: Best online texting service for business payment transactions

Pros

• Secure payment collection through text messaging
• Range of tools available, including auto-replies, bulk SMS, web forms, and scheduled messages

Cons

• Steep learning curve to use
• Lack of transparency in MMS pricing
• Additional charges for some features like auto-replies, text personalization, and drip campaigns

Textedly is the only service on this list that lets you request and collect secure payments through text messaging. This means you can track requests and revenue all in one place. But you’ll have to pay for Textedly’s Plus plan, which starts at $69 per month.

With auto-replies, bulk SMS, web forms, and scheduled messages, Textedly offers plenty of tools you can access as a computer texting app. 

Even though it offers a low per-text price compared to other services on this list, you have to purchase extra messages in blocks of 500 for $25.

Certain features like auto-replies, text personalization, and drip campaigns come with additional one-off charges. For example, you have to purchase the Automatic Replies feature in the App Store for a one-time fee of $36.00. Textedly’s lack of transparency about its MMS pricing may lead to unexpected costs as well.

There’s also a learning curve for more advanced features, so you’ll need a savvy SMS marketer on the team to get the most out of the platform.

Key features of Textedly

• Two-way SMS
• Scheduled texts
• Mass group texting
• Built-in link shrinking
• Comprehensive analytics

Textedly pricing

Textedly offers 13 different pricing plans. Let’s take a look at the first five:

• Basic: $26 per month for 600 text messages, one custom keyword, free incoming messages, and unlimited contacts
• Bronze: $38 per month for 1,200 text messages and all of the features in the Basic plan
• Plus: $69 per month for 2,400 monthly text messages, two custom keywords, text-to-pay payments, Google Business reviews, and premium support
• Enterprise: $99 per month for 4,200 text messages, three custom keywords, and all of the features in the Plus plan 
• Elite: $139 per month for 6,000 text messages, four custom keywords, and all of the features in the Enterprise plan

8. Sakari: Best option for SMS Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys

Pros

• Easy bulk text messaging
• Native integration with HubSpot (without third-party apps)

Cons

• Additional fees to use emojis in messages
• MMS is only available in the US and Canada
• Limited character length (160 characters per segment)

Sakari is a business texting app that offers basic promotional and conversational texting functionality. It’s not the most advanced at either, but you can get the features you need to do both — like sending bulk texts and creating text message templates. The platform also lets you send NPS survey texts to customers, allowing them to give feedback right from their cell phones.

However, Sakari charges for outbound and inbound messages, and this can add up quickly. Plus, MMS is only available in the US and Canada. Not being able to send pictures to international clients can put a damper on your conversations. 

Sakari’s monthly plans include credits that reset at the end of each billing period. They do offer a rollover feature where unused credits can carry over to the next month, but these rollover credits expire after 90 days. 

Key features of Sakari

• SMS and MMS (MMS only in the US and Canada)
• Text message templates
• Mass texting
• Integrations with Zapier, HubSpot, and more
• Two-way texting

Sakari pricing

Sakari offers different pricing tiers based on your location and how many messages you’ll send and receive each month. 

Its cheapest plan in the US starts at $25 per user per month (paid annually) for:

• 823 message segments
• $0.0304 per additional segment
• $0.016 per voice calling minute
• +$0.02 added to premium for MMS ($0.0504 per MMS message)

Sakari’s highest plan maxes out at 18,822 text segments at $495 per month. More segments than that require an Enterprise plan, which requires a custom quote.

8 things to consider when selecting a business texting app

Business texting apps typically include SMS and MMS capabilities, allowing for text, image, video, GIF, and audio messaging. In today’s world, multimedia is a necessity for every team.

When choosing a service that supports SMS and MMS, ask yourself these eight key questions to ensure it meets your needs.

1. What devices do you need to text from? Outside of work, you likely text from your smartphone. But for work, sending SMS messages from various devices like computers, tablets, and Android and iOS phones adds flexibility. Your team members can quickly switch between emailing and texting from their computer or take their text conversations on the go by downloading a mobile app.
2. Who on your team will be texting? While you may be a small business now, a text messaging service that maxes out at five users or lacks essential business features won’t help you scale. For instance, two co-owners of a small business may need a shared SMS inbox to centralize all their text conversations so none fall through the cracks.
3. How easy is the app to use? You don’t want to dedicate a lot of time teaching your team how to use a texting solution. It should be user-friendly and intuitive for the average cell phone user. The best business texting apps provide an experience that mimics the default texting app on your mobile device.
4. What kinds of messages will you be sending and receiving? Depending on your business structure, you will need certain features. For example, you might need shared inboxes so you can send one-on-one text messages to clients and employees that your whole team can see. If you want to provide customer support and answer FAQs and other queries, you need features like saved message templates (snippets) and shared business contact lists.
5. Do you need a short code, local number, or toll-free number? Short codes, local numbers, and toll-free numbers serve different purposes. Local and toll-free numbers are better two-way texting solutions. Local area codes are ideal for building trust in local markets, so they are perfect for small businesses. Unless you’re running a dedicated mass texting marketing program, you likely don’t need a short code.
6. What automations do you need? Choose a service that offers relevant automations that will reduce repetitive typing and speed up your workflow. Some texting automations your business may need to include auto-replies so events like missed calls can be used to trigger texts. Auto-replies also help you set expectations — for instance, by telling clients your business hours or average response time. You can use scheduled texts to send one-time messages at a specific time to ensure you’re following SMS compliance rules and not messaging anyone outside their local working hours.  
7. Does the business texting app integrate with other tools you already use? A perk of online text messaging platforms is integrating with CRMs and other tools to streamline workflows. Most businesses benefit from integrations with email providers, communication platforms like Slack, and CRM systems. OpenPhone, for instance, integrates with HubSpot CRM and Salesforce.
8. Do you need calling and texting in one place? When you choose a platform that lets you make calls and send messages to your customers, you can bring all your conversations to a single place, ensuring conversations aren’t fragmented or repetitive. You can also get the full context of a customer’s history with your business, which often gets lost when your calls live in a different tool or happen offline and are recorded later.

Choose OpenPhone for the best text messaging platform

If you’re looking for a tool that can help you deliver a dependable customer experience and make your internal communications effortless, OpenPhone is an excellent choice.

You get unlimited text messages to the US and Canada and a suite of other automation and communication features, so you can focus all your efforts on clients instead of processes.

Start your free trial of OpenPhone today.

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