Every SMS, MMS, and call you make through Alvéya carries a small cost, and that cost depends on more than just the message or minutes themselves. This guide walks you through exactly what drives your pricing so you can budget with confidence.

SMS, MMS, and call costs are all drawn from your Alvéya wallet balance. Each month, you receive $10 USD in complimentary credit towards these pay-as-you-go services such as email and phone.

Once that credit is used up, the card on file for your account is charged for any additional costs. Your wallet balance can't sit at $0 — once it reaches zero, your account is automatically recharged $10 USD to keep your services running without interruption.

💡 You can see exactly where your credit has gone under Settings → Billing → Wallet & Transactions — it breaks every charge down by service.

💡 These are real example rates for the regions shown — pricing varies by country and can change over time, so treat them as a guide. Reach out to support for current rates in a country not listed here.

A number of factors affect what you're charged for a text: the per-segment cost, the destination country, whether it's inbound or outbound, whether you've attached an image, emoji use, and carrier fees. Understanding each of these helps you budget accurately and avoid unnecessary spend.

A segment is the unit messaging providers use to calculate SMS charges. Under standard encoding, one segment holds up to 160 characters. Go over that limit and your message splits into multiple segments — and you're charged per segment, not per message.

⚠️ Emojis and special characters trigger a different encoding that reduces the character limit per segment from 160 down to just 70 — so a short message with a couple of emojis can easily jump from 1 segment to 3 or 4.

If an internal error stops a message before it's handed off for delivery, you won't be charged. Once a delivery attempt has been made, though, charges apply regardless of whether the message actually lands — including messages that fail due to country restrictions. Always double check your message before sending, as undelivered SMS aren't refunded.

The formula is straightforward:

Estimated cost = (Number of segments × Per-segment cost) + (Number of segments × Carrier fees)

💡 Rates vary by country and can change, so use your current rate for the destination country — for example, a 5-segment message to an Australian contact at the current rate of $0.129 USD per segment would cost roughly $0.65 USD. The relationship is what matters most: more segments always means proportionally higher cost.

Write your message, then run it through a segment calculator to see how many segments it will use.

This varies by destination country and number type (local, toll-free, or short code). See the current rates above for a working example.

Carriers charge a small fee for delivering messages to their network, and this varies by carrier. Because you won't always know which carrier your contact is on, it's reasonable to estimate using the highest fee you're likely to encounter.

Multiply your segment count by the per-segment cost, then add any carrier fees that apply. More segments always means proportionally higher cost, so trimming your message length is the most reliable way to keep costs down.

Then scroll a little to where it says Meta

Attaching an image shifts your message from SMS to MMS pricing, which includes both a message fee and a carrier fee — typically higher than plain SMS. Messages can include up to 10 media files totalling 5MB; anything larger is uploaded to your media library and sent as a link instead.

As covered above, emojis and non-standard characters trigger Unicode encoding, cutting your character limit per segment from 160 to 70. A message that's a single segment in plain text can easily become 3 or 4 segments once emojis are added.

Copying text from Word or Google Docs can bring invisible characters along with it, inflating a short message into several segments without any visible change to the text.

💡 When pasting SMS text into a message, use "paste as plain text" rather than a regular paste — Ctrl + Shift + V on Windows, Cmd + Shift + V on Mac — to strip out anything hidden.

Carriers charge a fee — by segment — for delivering your messages to their end users. More segments means the fee is applied more times, so trimming your message length reduces this cost too.

This small fee is charged the first time you message a new contact, as part of validating that the number is real and can receive messages. It costs a little upfront, but saves you from repeatedly messaging invalid numbers at full price.

Outbound messages you send are usually your biggest cost driver, but replies from contacts also incur an inbound charge.

Sending to a number outside your own country means you're charged that country's rates, which can be significantly higher than local pricing — sometimes several times more per segment. If you regularly message international contacts, it's worth checking that country's rates before running a campaign.

Q: Am I charged for messages that fail to send?
Not if the failure happens before the message reaches the carrier. Once it's been handed off for delivery, the charge applies regardless of outcome.

Q: Why are my SMS costs higher than expected?
The most common cause is a message splitting into more segments than you realised — usually from emojis, special characters, or hidden characters from copy-pasting. Run your message through a segment calculator before sending.

Q: How do I reduce my segment count?
Keep messages short, avoid unnecessary emojis, and paste text as plain text rather than a regular paste to avoid hidden characters.

Q: Am I charged the carrier lookup fee every time I message someone?
No — only on the first message to a given contact.

Q: What happens if I don't have enough wallet credit to send a message?
You shouldn't run into this — your wallet automatically recharges before it hits $0, so there's always credit available to cover your sending.

Now that you understand what drives your messaging and call costs, you can send and dial with confidence.
If you get stuck at any point, reach out via live chat or submit a support request and we will guide you through.