Sending free SMS — what is still possible?

Short answer: truly free SMS no longer exists. Every SMS that arrives on a mobile phone is delivered by an operator, and that delivery costs money. Sites claiming otherwise earn it back through advertising, through your data — or they simply do not deliver your message at all. What is possible: at SMSBOX you create an account free of charge and claim free test credits to send real messages to your own number and try out the platform.

Below you can read why the free services of the past disappeared, what the risks are of what remains of them, and what an SMS actually costs at a Belgian gateway.

Why the free SMS sites disappeared

In the early days of SMS, operators and portal sites offered free web forms as a promotion: you typed in a number and a text, and the message went out. When those forms were abused on a massive scale for spam and harassment, the operators started closing those routes and charging per message.

What is still online today under the label "free SMS" usually falls into one of three categories: it no longer works, it delivers unreliably, or it makes money off you in a way you cannot see. For a personal note to a friend, chat apps have become the logical alternative. For business messages to customers — where delivery, recognizability and GDPR really do matter — a paid gateway is the only workable route.

No proof of delivery: you never know whether your message arrived
An unrecognizable sender, so recipients dismiss the message as spam
Your text and the recipient's number pass through an unknown party
No data processing agreement — unusable under the GDPR

What you do get for free at SMSBOX

We do not pretend that sending is free. What is free: the account itself, all the features around it, and a starter pack of test credits to send real messages.

Free Details
Creating an account Yes No credit card, no trial period that expires
Test credits Yes One-off, to send to your own verified number
Keeping your account Yes No subscription, no annual or fixed costs
URL shortener & click tracking Yes Included in every account
SMS length calculator Yes Usable even without an account
API, SDK and documentation Yes No licence or integration costs
Your customer receiving the SMS Yes The recipient never pays for an incoming message
Sending to arbitrary numbers No From €0.06 per SMS — the operator charges for that delivery

The test credits are limited to your own number. That is deliberate: if everyone could send to arbitrary numbers with free credits, the service would immediately be used for spam and the operators would block our routes. That limitation protects delivery quality for all customers.

Try it free in 3 steps

1

Create an account

Register free of charge with your email address and mobile number. No credit card, no notice period.

2

Claim test credits

Request your free test credits and send real SMS messages to your own verified number.

3

Try everything

Test personalization, scheduled sending, the API and the delivery reports. Only then do you decide whether to buy credits.

Start with free test credits How sending SMS works

And after that? From €0.06 per SMS

You buy credits and use them when you send — there is no subscription, no setup cost and no annual fee. The larger the package, the lower the price per message. Credits remain valid for one year.

If you send little, you pay little: an account that sits idle for six months costs you nothing. If you send a lot, the price per SMS drops to €0.06 for Belgian destinations. For other countries the rate differs per destination — the full overview is on the rates page.

All rates Calculate your cost
What sending an SMS costs

Frequently asked questions about sending free SMS

Not reliably. Every SMS that arrives on a mobile phone is delivered by an operator, and that delivery costs money. Free websites earn that back with advertising, by selling your data or by simply not delivering messages. For personal use there are free chat apps; for business messages to customers, a paid gateway is the only workable route.
In the early days of SMS, operators and portal sites offered free web forms as promotion. When those were massively abused for spam, the operators started closing those routes and charging per message. What remains of them today generally does not deliver reliably.
You create a free account — without a credit card — and claim free test credits. With those you send real SMS messages to your own number and test all features: personalisation, scheduled sending, the API and the delivery reports. Only when you want to send more afterwards do you buy credits.
To prevent abuse. If anyone could send to arbitrary numbers with free credits, the service would immediately be used for spam and the operators would block our routes. By limiting the test to your own, verified number, the quality remains guaranteed for all customers.
From €0.06 per SMS to Belgium (excl. VAT) at high volumes. There is no subscription, no setup fee and no annual fee: you buy credits and use them when you send. Credits remain valid for one year.
The account itself is and remains free: there are no fixed costs to keep it. What you pay for are the credits you use. So instead of a trial period that expires, you receive one-off test credits and your account simply continues to exist afterwards.
For the recipient, an SMS is always free — they never pay for a message they receive. If you want to receive messages yourself, you need a virtual number, SIM hosting or our shortcode for that.
You do not know who gets to see your message and the recipient's number, there is no proof of delivery, the sender is usually unrecognisable and there is no guarantee whatsoever that the message arrives. For business communication those are not acceptable risks — certainly not under the GDPR.

Create a free account

Create a free account now and try out the control panel!

Trust Guard Security Scanned
Call us
Send an email