Notifications: Understanding SMS Billing

While Email and Push Notifications remain free and unlimited for all users, SMS (Text Messaging) involves third-party carrier costs. To help your team communicate effectively while managing budget, we provide a generous free monthly allowance and flexible payment options for high-volume users.

💳 Messaging Costs at a Glance

To keep your costs low, we provide a large volume of free messages every month.

🔓 The Monthly Free SMS Block

Every account receives a free block of 10,000 SMS messages at the start of each month.

• Reset Date: Your 10k allowance resets on the 1st of every month.

• Roll-over: Unused portions of the free 10k block do not roll over to the following month.

📱 What Counts as a "Text Message"?

When sending an SMS, it is important to distinguish between a single Notification (what you write) and a Message Segment (how carriers bill it). Our UI allows up to 750 characters, but carriers break long notifications into smaller "segments."

Segmentation & Character Limits

If your notification exceeds the character limit of a single segment, it will be broken into multiple messages and billed accordingly.

• Standard Text: A single segment is roughly 160 characters. If you send a 300-character notification, it counts as 2 SMS messages toward your 10,000 limit.

• Special Characters & Emojis: Using emojis (🌾, 🚜) or special symbols changes the encoding. This reduces the segment limit to roughly 70 characters.

  • Example: A short message with one emoji could count as 2 or 3 segments if it's long enough, whereas the same message in plain text might only be 1.

⚠️ Watch the Counter: Keep an eye on your character count in the Send UI to ensure you aren't accidentally sending "triple-length" messages to your entire contact list.

📈 Managing SMS Usage Beyond 10,000

If your communication needs exceed the free monthly limit, we offer two flexible ways to handle the additional volume:

1. Prepaid Message Blocks

You can purchase "message bundles" in advance. This is ideal for budgeting for large seasonal campaigns, such as harvest updates or fertilizer expos.

• Prepaid credits are only used once your 10k free monthly messages are exhausted.

• Unlike the free block, purchased credits stay on your account until they are used.

2. Usage-Based Billing

If you prefer to "pay as you go," any volume exceeding the 10,000 free limit will be tracked and invoiced based on your actual usage.

• Invoicing Cycles: You can choose to be billed either Monthly or Quarterly.

• Transparency: Your statement will include a full breakdown of message volume to help you track your outreach efforts.

💡 Efficiency Tips

To get the most out of your notification strategy:

• Prioritize Push: If a farmer has your app, a Push Notification is a free and effective way to reach them instantly.

• Segment Your Audience: Use the Groups feature to send SMS alerts only to those who need them (e.g., Current Corn Growers), helping you stay within your 10k free limit.

• Use Email for Detail: Save SMS for short, urgent alerts and use Email for longer bid schedules and detailed announcements.

Need to check your balance? To view your current month's SMS usage or to purchase a prepaid block, navigate to Admin Tools > Settings > Billing.