The average Brit spends three hours and 21 minutes on their mobile each day, with usage high from the morning to the evening. SMS has become a non-negotiable marketing channel for brands looking to cut through the noise and reach customers directly.
To help you choose the best SMS marketing platform to deliver your communications and campaigns, we researched and compared eight different SMS providers, exploring available channels, customer service, prices, location, security credentials, features and more.
Key takeaways
- Esendex is one of the best SMS marketing providers in the UK, offering a range of features including automations, bulk SMS, two-way chat and more
- Providers like Text Anywhere, Voodoo and Text Marketer focus solely on SMS, while others, such as Klaviyo and Omnisend are designed for ecommerce brands
- Key considerations when choosing a platform include your messaging needs, budget, security credentials and location
List of the best SMS marketing platforms
Esendex, Text Marketer, Text Anywhere and Voodoo are part of Commify – a global portfolio of business messaging brands. Esendex was founded in 2001 in Nottingham, and became part of Commify when it launched in 2018.
Esendex
Esendex is a global leader in business communications, offering a full range of channels including SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Email and voice.
It’s trusted by more than 46,000 businesses globally and sends over 5bn messages each year. Its SMS marketing platform is relied upon by a number of sectors including healthcare, retail, financial services, property, local government and more, with past customers including JustEat, Siemens, E.on, British Airways, Sky Sports and Rhenus Home Delivery.
SMS marketing features include:
- SMS automations: Automatically trigger SMS at key points in the customer journey
- Bulk SMS: Reach thousands of customers in one go
- SMS API: To connect with your business systems
- Web-based platform: User-friendly platform to send marketing messages
- Email to SMS: Send texts from your email
- Short codes: Two-way messaging with unique short codes
- SMS Chat: Two-way messaging solution for customer service
- SMS landing pages: Design converting landing pages with a consistent brand experience
- SMS surveys: Design and send surveys to collect customer feedback
The brand has served businesses for over 20 years with messaging solutions and has many satisfied customers, with a net promoter score (NPS) of 50+.
Esendex is based in the UK, so complies with local regulations including GDPR and it is ISO27001 accredited, so follows the strongest standards for information security. UK-based customers get free phone and email support, and have greater peace of mind that messages will land because they’re sent directly.
Prices per text start from 2.4p, depending on your package, and there are no hidden fees. Customers can opt for a free trial of 25 free messages and access a library of messaging templates.
Text Anywhere
Text Anywhere is one of the UK’s leading SMS providers. It’s ideal for businesses that want to focus solely on SMS and have no plans to introduce additional channels into their communication strategy.
The ISO27001-accredited SMS platform currently serves over 35,000 customers and sends over 3bn messages per year. It’s powered by Esendex, so offers many similar features:
- Bulk SMS
- Email to SMS
- SMS shortcodes
- Virtual SMS number
- Automated SMS
- SMS API
- Two-way SMS
Customers can buy packages, for example, 2,000 messages per month for £100.50 or a custom package depending on your SMS marketing needs. You can also opt for a pay as you go model, where you pay for each individual text, starting from 4.3p per text.
Customers also get a free trial with full platform access and 20 credits.
Text Marketer
Text Marketer is a business SMS marketing service, powered by Esendex. It’s ideal for businesses who need a cost-effective SMS provider, with a specialist mobile marketing function that includes campaign management and support.
The service can take over tasks like uploading contacts, drafting messages, setting sender ID, creating a bespoke design, cleansing data, segmentation, SMS surveys and reporting.
The provider offers a virtual mobile number, so customers can send texts straight to your email address. This is especially useful for marketing campaigns because queries can be fielded via email and converted into text.
Aside from SMS marketing, it offers the following features:
- Bulk SMS
- SMS web pages
- SMS surveys
- Incoming SMS
- Short code SMS
- Email to SMS
- Form to SMS
The platform also offers a number of integrations using the SMS Gateway with software partners such as Google Contacts, MailChimp and WordPress. It’s UK-based with prices per text starting from 2.5p.
Voodoo
Voodoo, part of Commfify, is a bulk SMS provider that prides itself on having some of the lowest rates in the UK. Messages start from just 2.3p and it is 39% cheaper compared to its competitors.
It offers comprehensive SMS marketing features:
- Bulk SMS
- Email to SMS gateway
- Advanced web SMS
- International SMS
- Sender ID
- Delivery reports
- Short URL and tracking
- Integrations with salesforce, CRMs and more
- Cascade SMS
- Chat SMS
The SMS provider offers excellent customer service, with queries typically answered within 24 hours and a NPS score of 50+. Customers include Papa Johns, Amazon, NHS, Age UK and Vauxhall.
The platform has both ISO27001 and ISO9001 accreditations, the latter which means it meets the international standard for quality management systems.
Twilio
Twilio is a large cloud communications platform, with a number of channels including SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, RCS, Video API and email. It works with over 320,000 brands, including Dell, Shopify and DoorDash.
Twilio is best known as a ‘developers tool’, so it’s ideal for brands looking to scale globally and who already have access to engineers to integrate its flexible SMS APIs including programmable messaging and conversations.
It offers the following SMS marketing features:
- SMS automations
- Automated campaigns
- Segmentation
- Integrations
- Autoresponders
- SMS surveys
The platform is based in the United States, so it’s not a local UK provider like Esendex or Voodoo. That means prices are set in USD, so may vary based on the exchange rate and additional carrier fees.
Twilio’s pricing is more complex than other SMS providers. The price depends on the service and features you choose, for example, if the text is sent inbound or outbound, and whether you use a mobile number or long/short code.
SMS costs start from $0.0075 to receive inbound messages and a failed message is charged at $0.001. Prices can increase depending on the features you opt for.
Sender
Sender is both an email marketing and SMS tool, with over 180,000 customers including Disney, Emirates and Pizza Hut. It has a customer satisfaction rate of 99% and serves multiple sectors, including retail, hospitality, real estate and schools.
However, the core channel is email marketing, with the option of SMS campaign support. Text marketing features include:
- Audience segmentation
- Personalisation tags
- SMS Gateway API
- Contact list management
- Automations
- Reports and analytics
- International SMS
The platform is based in Lithuania but also serves a UK audience. It can be integrated with platforms such as WordPress and Shopify, and prices start from £0.048 per text. However, packages include email marketing, so may not be suitable if your priority is SMS.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a business-to-consumer (B2C) CRM that’s AI-first. It offers multiple channels including email, SMS, RCS and WhatsApp – but the main point of difference is, it uses your customer data to shape communications by integrating with your ecommerce store.
It is built for B2C and can integrate with services like Shopify, Square and Mindbody. Marketing features include:
- AI customer agent
- Customer profiles
- Web forms
- Flows
- Segmentation
The platform’s global headquarters are based in the US but it also has a London office. Prices vary based on the package you opt for, for example, email and SMS packages start at $60 per month. Add-ons like customer agents and analytics drive up the monthly cost but you can also use a free trial with 150 mobile credits.
Omnisend
Omnisend is an email marketing software provider for ecommerce brands that also offers SMS, web push, Google customer match and Facebook custom audience. Customers include Medicube, Squishable and Stanley.
It offers the following SMS marketing features:
- Personalise and automate campaigns
- Bulk messaging
- Two-way chat
- API and webhooks access
- Reporting
- Segmentation
Its headquarters are based in London but it also has offices in the US and Lithuania. Prices are charged in USD and customers can choose from different packages that include email and SMS/MMS. A single text starts from $0.082 and you can get an additional SMS subscription at $20 per month on top of the standard plan.
Comparison table
The sms marketing platforms listed above are great options and each one has a specific focus/audience. For example, Klaviyo is ideal for ecommerce brands that want a range of channels and AI-powered communications, while Esendex is perfect for brands that want to offer a multichannel experience with transparent pricing and easy functionality.
| SMS provider | Channels | Point of difference | Price per SMS (from) | Location |
| Esendex | SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Email, voice | Multichannel, unified platform | 2.4p | UK |
| Text Anywhere | SMS | SMS only | 4.3p | UK |
| Text Marketer | SMS | Mobile marketing | 2.5p | UK |
| Voodoo | SMS | Bulk SMS provider | 2.3p | UK |
| Twilio | SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, RCS, Video API, email | Developers tool, cloud platform | $0.001 | United States |
| Sender | Email marketing, SMS | Email marketing and SMS | £0.048 | Lithuania |
| Klaviyo | Email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp | B2C CRM that’s AI-first | United States | |
| Omnisend | Email marketing, SMS, web push, Google customer match, Facebook custom audience | Email marketing software for ecommerce brands | $0.082 | UK |
How to choose the best SMS marketing platform
When choosing an SMS marketing platform, consider your needs now and in the future. You may want a single channel like SMS to start with but as you scale, you might need more channels like WhatsApp for conversational messaging, chatbots or marketing campaigns.
A provider like Esendex offers multiple channels and integrations that you can adopt when the time is right. Because you already use the platform for SMS, it’s more straightforward to implement new channels over finding an entirely new provider – and it means you can work from a central platform with single sign on. Further, having the choice of pay-as-you-go and monthly subscription models makes scaling easy.
Don’t forget to check the security credentials of the provider too. Esendex is compliant with UK GDPR and ISO27001 accredited, while Klaviyo is compliant with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act – a US based law.
Some SMS marketing providers are also more geared towards ecommerce brands, for example, Omnichannel, whereas others including Esendex have decades of experience in a range of sectors.
SMS marketing provider checklist:
If you’ve decided on a provider, or need support identifying the right one, use the following checklist to determine its suitability:
- Are there multiple channels ready for when you scale your communications?
- Does it comply with regulations in your local area and is it ISO27001 accredited?
- Is the pricing for SMS transparent, with no hidden costs or additional fees?
- Does the SMS provider have experience in your sector, with clear use-cases to demonstrate success?
- Does it offer SMS automations and templates?
- Do they offer proactive support included with your fee?
Find out how Esendex can support your SMS marketing strategy.
Esendex
The team at Esendex comprises tech experts and experienced marketers who thrive on sharing their know-how, to support prospects and customers to identify the right mobile messaging solutions for their business.
