SMS Marketing

Bundled SMS for the Klaviyo email customer base.

Klaviyo SMS is the SMS channel inside the broader Klaviyo platform, bundled with Klaviyo email and sharing the same profile, segmentation, and journey engine. It is not a standalone product, customers do not buy Klaviyo SMS without buying into the Klaviyo platform, and that is the point. For any Shopify-anchored DTC brand already on Klaviyo email, adding SMS in the same tool removes the cross-channel coordination problem that plagues standalone SMS plus email stacks. The trade-off: pricing scales aggressively on both the per-active-profile email side and the per-message SMS credit side, and the SMS-only buyer (a small subset) is overpaying for an email platform they will not use.

The standalone e-commerce SMS leader.

Attentive is the largest standalone SMS marketing platform focused on e-commerce. The product is built around two strengths: identity capture for list growth (Two-Tap, sign-up units, post-purchase capture) and managed-service onboarding that handholds new customers through TCPA-compliant list building. Attentive raised a $470M Series E in 2021 at a $7 billion valuation, the high-water mark for the SMS category; valuation has softened since amid IPO speculation and a broader marketing-tech reset. For any standalone e-commerce SMS team that does not want to buy a full email platform, Attentive remains the default choice.

Shopify-anchored SMS for modern DTC.

Postscript was built Shopify-first from day one and remains the most Shopify-native SMS platform in the category. The product targets mid-market Shopify merchants who want modern conversational SMS without buying a broader email platform like Klaviyo. Postscript raised a $65M Series C in 2022 at roughly $300M valuation. The differentiation is conversational SMS plus Subscriber Lock-in features that compound list value over time, and a self-serve onboarding flow that gets brands sending within a day. For Shopify-pure merchants who do not want Klaviyo or Attentive, Postscript is usually the right call.

SMB SMS with carrier-grade Sinch deliverability.

SimpleTexting was a long-running SMB SMS marketing tool acquired by Sinch in 2021. The acquisition put SimpleTexting under one of the largest global SMS carrier-grade infrastructure operators, which translates into strong deliverability and global reach. The product still presents as a clean SMB UX with predictable monthly pricing, but is now backed by Sinch routing underneath. Best fit: non-e-commerce SMBs (services, nonprofits, gyms, retail chains) that want straightforward SMS marketing without the Shopify-tied feature set of Klaviyo, Attentive, or Postscript.

Long-running mid-market SMS at predictable pricing.

EZ Texting is one of the longest-running SMS marketing platforms in the United States, operating since 2004. The product has a stable, predictable feature set built for mid-market senders: franchises, retail chains, real estate, and event-driven mid-market businesses. It is not the most modern UX in the category, but the platform has carried that customer base for two decades and the deliverability and uptime track record is among the strongest. The trade-offs: a UX that feels dated next to Postscript or SlickText, and pricing that is competitive at low volume but escalates steeply at higher tiers.

Affordable entry-level SMS for very small teams.

Textedly is one of the more affordable SMS marketing tools in the US category, with transparent monthly tiers that start under $25 per month. The product is built for very small businesses, solo operators, real estate agents, gyms, churches, and small retail, that send under 5,000 messages per month. The trade-offs: feature breadth is narrower than EZ Texting or SimpleTexting, integration ecosystem is shallow, and customer support is responsive but volume-limited. For the smallest senders, Textedly is often the right call on pricing alone.

The developer-first SMS API underneath much of the category.

Twilio Programmable Messaging is the SMS API that powers a significant share of the broader SMS ecosystem, including many tools higher in this list. It is not a marketing tool out of the box: there is no campaign UI, no segmentation builder, no list management. What it is, is the most powerful raw SMS infrastructure available, with global carrier coverage, programmatic short code provisioning, 10DLC registration tooling, Studio for flow design, and a developer experience that has set the category standard since 2008. Marketing teams use Twilio when they have engineering resources and want a custom-built marketing stack. Twilio went public in 2016 (NYSE: TWLO).

Modern SMB SMS with strong onboarding support.

SlickText is one of the cleanest SMB-focused SMS marketing products in the United States. Founded in 2012, it has built a reputation for the best onboarding and customer success experience in the SMB tier, consistently reflected in high G2 and Capterra ratings. The product is feature-comparable to SimpleTexting and EZ Texting but with a more modern UX and stronger 10DLC registration handholding. Best fit: SMBs that value onboarding support and a modern interface over the broader feature set or carrier-grade infrastructure of larger players.

Two-way business texting plus deep CRM integration.

Salesmsg is the SMS tool built specifically for two-way business texting from sales and customer success teams, rather than mass marketing blasts. The differentiator is deep CRM integration: HubSpot, Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and Pipedrive all surface Salesmsg conversations directly inside the CRM UI, with shared inbox UX that mirrors email handling. The product is not the right pick for one-to-many marketing campaigns at scale (Klaviyo SMS, Attentive, Postscript fit there), but for sales-led organizations that want texting as a sales channel, Salesmsg is the category specialist.

European SMS with non-US carrier coverage.

TextMagic is the European-headquartered SMS platform with the strongest UK and EU carrier coverage among the players in this list. Operating since 2001, it remains the default choice for European SMB senders where US-centric tools struggle with non-US delivery rates, EUR or GBP-native billing, or GDPR data residency. The product is pay-as-you-go on credits with no monthly commitment, which is a different pricing model from most US-focused players. Best fit: European SMB senders, US firms with significant European customer bases, or anyone who wants per-message credit pricing without a monthly subscription floor.