How much are usage fees?

We break down usage costs below but if you are on a Standard Plan you can expect to pay $20-$60/mo per location in usage fees. Keep in mind we do not mark up usage fees at all over Go High Level’s minimum usage costs.

If you are on a plan with an AI bot usage fees may range from $40-$120/mo per location. AI accounts charge higher usage fees to cover the additional usage charged by open AI. 

There is also a one time A2P registration fee with all new sub accounts which costs $20-$24/ for campaign registered.

Why Are My SMS Costs So High?

After you have sent multiple SMS, you may be looking at your bill questioning why it looks higher than you expected. It is normal to feel this way if this is the first time you have examined your SMS Cost breakdown.

The most common reason for high SMS costs is an SMS with multiple segments. Text messages are processed and priced based on the number of segments within an SMS. This means the more segments you have in an SMS, the greater the cost of your text will be.

Reducing the number of segments in your SMS can reduce the SMS cost. To do this, open the Segment Calculator and paste your message into it. Work to reduce the “Number of Segments” to lower numbers to reduce the total costs.

Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs

Many factors can impact SMS pricing. Reducing segment count and not including any images or attachments can help reduce cost but there are other factors to consider. Below the most common factors.

• Per-Segment Cost
• Number of Segment Cost
• Adding an Image (MMS)
• Using Emojis
• Hidden Characters
• Carrier Fees
• Carrier Lookup Fees
• Direction (Inbound/Outbound)
• International Messaging

Per-Segment Cost

An SMS is made up of segments and each segment is 160 characters long. So if you are sending a lengthy SMS, it will consume multiple segments and thereby drive up your cost. Additional factors can increase the character count and SMS costs, like adding an image, hidden characters, or emojis. Message segments are how Twilio (and the SMS industry as a whole) counts messages.

Standard Account	$0.0089/ segment
AI Assistant Account	0.0237/segment

Character lengths of segments also vary by countries & regions which will impact final SMS price. Most countries use 160 characters or 70 characters for segment lengths, depending on the encoding type. Generally, most messages use the standard GSM-7 encoding, which gives us our 160 characters per segment.

IMPORTANT: In the US/Canada, one segments contains 160 characters, however, having between 161 to 320 characters will automatically result in 2 segments… Having between 321 to 480 characters will result in 3 segments… and so on…

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Number of Segments

Text messages are processed and priced based on the number of segments. This means the more segments you have in an SMS, the greater the cost of your text will be. You can check this in your transcription reports by clicking on Settings – Company Billing – See transactions

Select a SMS Transaction:

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Using Emojis

Using emojis is a great way to make your automation exciting but being aware of the costs involved will help you make an informed decision about their frequency of usage. Emojis are the most common reason for unexpected high costs while sending SMS automation. So use them wisely.

For example

In the example below, we have a 1 segment message if we use the characters alone. However, we added some emojis which increased the number of segments from 1 to 4. Maybe one emoji is enough?

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Carrier Fees

Carrier fees are charged by carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T when you send a message to one of their end-user numbers. You will also notice from the Outbound SMS Cost Equation reviewed above (and included below), that carrier fees are charged by segment. This means that the more segments you have in an SMS will result in higher costs as the number of segments is multiplied by the Carrier Fees.

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Carrier Lookup Fees

Carrier Lookup Fees (CARRIER-LOOKUP-FEES) are incurred on the first SMS you attempt to send to a contact. It is part of the SMS / Phone Number Validation feature. This feature will check to see if this number is real and if it can receive SMS/MMS. This saves you money in the long run, as without this, you would risk sending a text to fake numbers incurring full charges for the text. Whereas, with Number Validation, you can check to see if the number is valid before sending. Which is a lot cheaper over time.

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If you have any question about your billing or you want to learn more about this system, please send a email to support@digirepcsr.com or to your assigned Customer Support Representative. We are going to be more than happy to assist you.