Pricing
Pay as you go, from 3.5p a text
Credit packs
Bigger packs, cheaper texts
One credit is one SMS part to a UK mobile. Prices are before VAT at 20%. Pay by card in the dashboard, or by bank transfer on request.
Starter
£25
plus VAT, one-off
500 credits
5p a text
Reminders and confirmations for a small business.
Buy 500 creditsGrowth
Most popular£90
plus VAT, one-off
2,000 credits
4.5p a text
A few campaigns a month plus day-to-day texts.
Buy 2,000 creditsBusiness
£200
plus VAT, one-off
5,000 credits
4p a text
Regular campaigns, several sites or a busy inbox.
Buy 5,000 creditsVolume
£700
plus VAT, one-off
20,000 credits
3.5p a text
High volume through the API or weekly campaigns.
Buy 20,000 credits
Sending more than 20,000 texts a month? Email hello@captificonnect.co.uk and we will price it for you.
Included
Everything else is in the price
You pay for the texts you send and nothing else. Every account has the whole dashboard and the whole API from day one.
- Replies from your customers, and the two-way inbox
- The REST API, test keys and signed webhooks
- Campaigns, scheduling, templates and merge fields
- Contacts, lists and CSV import
- Keywords and automatic replies
- Short tracked links and click reports
- Delivery reports and message history exports
- STOP and START handling and your opt-out list
- Team logins with owner, admin and member roles
- Two-step sign-in and a full audit trail
- Sender names, once we have checked them
- Email support from people who run the service
Add-ons
Numbers and names
Dedicated UK mobile number
£10 a month
A UK mobile number that only your business texts from and that only you receive replies on. Billed as 250 credits a month from your balance, so there is nothing extra to pay by card.
Sender name
Free
Texts that show your business name instead of a number. We check every name before it goes live. People cannot reply to a name, so use a number when you want answers.
Bank transfer and invoicing
Free
Rather pay by bank transfer? Email hello@captificonnect.co.uk with the pack you want and we will invoice you and add the credit when it lands.
Worked examples
How many credits do I need?
Count the texts, multiply by the parts in each one. The composer shows the parts before you send, and the character counter does the same here.
| What you send | The sum | Credits a month |
|---|---|---|
| 200 appointment reminders a month, one part each | 200 × 1 part | 200 |
| A monthly offer to 1,500 customers, two parts with the opt-out line | 1,500 × 2 parts | 3,000 |
| 50 order updates a day, one part, six days a week | 50 × 1 × 26 days | 1,300 |
| A confirmation text and a reminder for 400 bookings | 400 × 2 texts × 1 part | 800 |
Credits and SMS parts
A text message has a size limit, so a long text is sent as several parts that the phone joins back together. We charge per part, and the dashboard shows the count before you press send.
| Character set | One part | Each part of a longer text |
|---|---|---|
| Standard characters (GSM-7) | 160 characters | 153 characters |
| Unicode (emoji, curly quotes, some accented letters) | 70 characters | 67 characters |
A few standard characters count as two: € [ ] { } ~ | ^ and the backslash. Texts can run to 10 parts. Try yours in the counter, or open the full character counter.
Merge fields such as {first_name} are counted as typed here. The real length depends on each contact's details.
- Characters
- 127
- Character set
- Standard (GSM-7)
- Parts
- 1
- Left in this part
- 31
1 credit a text, so 1 credit in total.
What is charged and what is free
| What happens | Credits |
|---|---|
| A text to a UK mobile | One credit for each SMS part |
| A reply from one of your customers | Free |
| An automatic keyword reply you have set up | One credit for each part, like any text you send |
| A text we turn down before sending (opted out, a landline, an invalid or non-UK number) | Never charged |
| A text that fails before it leaves us | Credit refunded |
| A scheduled text or campaign you cancel before it goes | Credit refunded |
| A text the network accepted but could not deliver | Charged, because it was sent |
| Anything sent with a test API key | Free (nothing is actually sent) |
A credit costs the same whichever way a text travels, from a UK mobile number or through our business messaging route, so you never have to think about routes when you work out a bill. Your balance, every top-up, send and refund, and your VAT invoices are all under Billing in the dashboard.
Questions people ask
How much does a text cost?
Between 3.5p and 5p plus VAT for each SMS part, depending on the pack. A short text of up to 160 standard characters is one part. Replies are free.
Do credits expire?
No. Credits stay on your account until you use them, and there is no monthly fee, minimum spend or contract.
Is there a free trial?
Every new account gets 10 free credits once it is approved, enough to text yourself and a few colleagues before you buy anything. Test API keys are free and unlimited within fair use, and send nothing.
What is a credit?
One credit pays for one SMS part sent to a UK mobile number. A short text is one part, so it uses one credit for each person you send it to.
How many characters fit in one part?
Up to 160 standard characters, or 70 if the text needs Unicode. Once a text is longer than that it is sent in parts of 153 standard characters or 67 Unicode characters, and each part uses a credit.
Why did my text use more credits than I expected?
Usually because of one character. An emoji or a curly quote pasted in from a word processor switches the whole text to Unicode, which cuts a part from 160 characters to 70. The composer and the character counter both point out which character did it.
Do I pay for texts to people who have opted out?
No. Numbers on your opt-out list are turned down when you send and never charged, and anything already scheduled to them is cancelled and refunded when they opt out.
How do I pay?
By card in the dashboard: pick a pack under Billing and the credit is on your account as soon as the payment clears, with a VAT invoice emailed to you. Turn on auto top-up and we buy your chosen pack with the saved card whenever the balance drops under your threshold. For bank transfer, email hello@captificonnect.co.uk.
Is VAT included?
Prices are shown before VAT. UK VAT at 20% is added at checkout and itemised on the invoice.
Can I text numbers outside the UK?
No. CaptiFi Connect sends to mobile numbers in the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Anything else is turned down with the reason and you are not charged.
Start with 10 free credits
Create your account, add your contacts while we check it, then buy a pack by card when you are ready.