Textedly Review and Pricing

Why We Chose Textedly for Simple Texting Needs

Textedly is a great choice for businesses that want to reach customers by text without navigating an overly complicated platform. It makes common tasks such as building subscriber lists, sending individual or bulk messages and managing customer conversations straightforward. We also like that Textedly includes the same features across its plans, so businesses can choose a package based largely on how many messages they expect to send rather than which tools they need. Textedly starts at $29 per month, and businesses can pay monthly without a long-term contract. 

While relatively uncomplicated, the platform isn’t limited to basic SMS campaigns. Textedly offers an omnichannel inbox, drip campaigns, MMS messaging, Text-to-Pay, review management functionality and AI tools, along with mobile apps for managing campaigns on the go. Businesses can also connect Textedly with thousands of other applications, giving companies room to expand how they use the platform without making the initial experience unnecessarily complex. We think this combination is particularly useful for small businesses that want an approachable way to build a subscriber list, send promotions and communicate directly with customers. 

For these reasons and more, Textedly is our choice for the best text messaging platform for businesses with simple texting needs.

Ease of Use

Textedly is a browser-based platform that’s easy to navigate, and we were able to create an account and reach the main dashboard within minutes. The dashboard provides an at-a-glance view of available messages, contacts, payments, reviews and other account activity, while clearly labeled navigation on the left provides access to the platform’s main tools. We especially like that common actions, such as sending a message, adding contacts and requesting a payment or review, are accessible directly from the dashboard.

Here are some specific ease of use factors that stood out:

• Easy navigation: As we explored the platform, we found most features easy to locate and understand. The Channels screen, for example, clearly displays Textedly’s available communication options and integrations, while the Messages screen walks new users through what they need to do before sending texts from a registered business number. Some areas are busier than others. The omnichannel inbox includes numerous filtering options alongside the conversation view, which can make that screen feel more crowded.
• Contact imports and list building: Businesses moving from another text messaging service can import an existing subscriber list using a CSV file, although Textedly requires users to request access to the bulk upload feature and create at least one keyword before importing contacts. Textedly also provides several ways to build a list, including keywords, webforms and QR codes. As with any text marketing platform, you’ll need appropriate consent before messaging subscribers.
• Helpful onboarding: We like Textedly’s approach to onboarding. Shortly after signing up, we received an email from a dedicated Customer Success Manager with instructions for creating a keyword, adding contacts and sending a first message, as well as an offer to schedule time for additional help. Textedly also provides a Help Center and web chat for assistance with the platform and troubleshooting. We found the Help Center particularly useful, with clearly written articles covering a wide range of tasks.
• Mobile apps: Textedly offers free iOS and Android apps. You can send and schedule mass messages, manage contacts, reply to incoming messages and receive push notifications when customers respond. The apps sync with the web platform, making it easier to manage campaigns when you’re away from your computer.

Textedly Features

Textedly provides the core SMS for business tools you’d expect, along with a growing collection of features for customer communication, payments, reviews and AI. Despite this expanding functionality, we found many of the platform’s everyday texting tools straightforward to use.

Message Generation

We like how easy Textedly makes it to compose and send messages to customers. You can message an individual contact or select groups of contacts using keywords, tags and filters for larger campaigns. One-on-one messaging is a great way to use texting for customer service. The message composer also keeps a running count of your characters and the number of messages your text will use.

When composing a message, it’s easy to add images, emojis, GIFs and links or use bold and italic formatting. Textedly supports messages up to 1,600 characters, although longer texts use additional message credits and special formatting can reduce the number of characters included in each credit. MMS messages use four credits.

We especially like Textedly’s built-in AI Assistant, which can rewrite a message to sound friendlier or more formal or simply rephrase and clean up an existing draft. You can also use saved templates for frequently sent messages and schedule texts to send later. These tools are easy to access directly from the message composer, which should help businesses create routine customer communications quickly.

AI Tools

Textedly has expanded its AI tools well beyond basic writing assistance. As mentioned above, in the message composer, the built-in AI Assistant can rewrite an existing message to make it friendlier or more formal or rephrase it for greater clarity. We like that these options are available directly in the composer, making them useful for quickly polishing everyday customer communications.

Textedly also offers conversational AI agents for automating customer interactions by text and phone. Businesses can train an agent using their own information, including PDFs, URLs and documents, and customize its objectives and voice. The agents can answer common questions, qualify leads, schedule appointments and route more complicated inquiries to employees. Textedly also supports outbound AI calls for tasks such as following up with leads, confirming appointments and sending reminders.

Textedly is building AI into other areas of the platform, as well. For example, its AI marketing tools can generate campaign copy, optimize send times and dynamically segment audiences, while Signal AI is designed to enrich customer contact data. We like the breadth of these tools, particularly because businesses can use AI for both everyday message creation and more advanced customer communication and marketing tasks.

Omnichannel Communications

Textedly brings customer conversations together in a centralized inbox, allowing businesses to manage one-on-one communications across multiple channels. We like that businesses can respond to SMS and MMS messages alongside conversations from channels such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and live chat without jumping between separate platforms. Textedly keeps the conversations organized by channel so customers receive responses through the same method they used to reach the business.

The inbox also includes useful tools for teams. You can assign conversations to specific employees and leave private notes with context or instructions for follow-up. Businesses can also enable email or SMS notifications for new replies, helping employees respond promptly when customers reach out. These capabilities make the inbox useful for customer service as well as campaigns designed to increase sales with text messaging.

We also like Textedly’s options for businesses that want customers to call and text the same number. Textedly can enable texting on an existing landline or VoIP number, while businesses using a Textedly toll-free or 10DLC number can activate voice service and forward incoming calls to another phone number. This gives smaller businesses a relatively simple way to manage multiple types of customer communication from the same platform.

SMS Payments

Textedly’s Text-to-Pay feature lets businesses request and collect payments through text messages. Customers receive a link that takes them to a secure payment portal, where they can pay by credit card, debit card or ACH debit. We like that businesses can manage payment requests alongside their customer communications rather than sending customers to a completely separate system.

Businesses can create one-time or recurring payment links, schedule payment requests and send reminders for upcoming or past-due balances. Textedly also provides a central view of payment activity so you can see which requests have been paid and which remain outstanding. The feature is available only to U.S. businesses with U.S. bank accounts.

Textedly includes Text-to-Pay with all of its plans, which is especially nice for smaller businesses that want to collect SMS payments through the same platform they use to communicate with customers.

Personalization and Segmentation

Textedly gives businesses several ways to personalize messages and target specific groups of subscribers. Dynamic fields can automatically add customer details such as first name, last name, location and company name to messages, making it easier to personalize promotions, appointment reminders and other communications without editing each text individually.

Businesses can also organize subscribers using keywords and tags. Keywords automatically group contacts based on how they opted in, while tags can be used to create groups based on factors such as location, interests or campaign. We like that Textedly’s filters let you narrow these groups even further when choosing which market segments should receive a message.

Customer Review Management

Textedly includes built-in review management tools that let businesses request customer reviews by text and monitor feedback from the platform, which is a great way to help manage your online reputation. You can send customers links to leave reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp and TripAdvisor, and Textedly supports automated review invitations so businesses don’t have to send every request individually.

We like that Textedly doesn’t stop at sending review requests. Businesses can monitor reviews and respond to online reviews directly from the platform. Textedly also keeps the original customer feedback and your response together, so you can easily see what’s been said and follow up when needed.

Integrations

Textedly offers more than 20 integrations that connect the platform with other business software. The current selection includes Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM, along with Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Shopify, Zendesk, QuickBooks, Xero, Microsoft Teams, Slack and several Google applications.

We like the variety of connections available for common small business tasks. For example, businesses can connect Textedly with some of the best CRM software to keep customer information in sync, use integrations with the best email marketing software to coordinate campaigns, and connect many of the best accounting software applications for payment and transaction workflows. Textedly also integrates with Zapier, giving businesses another way to connect the texting platform with applications that don’t have a listed integration.

Textedly Pricing

Textedly offers 14 paid plans starting at $29 per month. The same features are available with every paid plan, while message and keyword allowances vary by plan. Incoming messages are free.

All paid Textedly plans include the following:

• Unlimited contacts
• Free incoming messages
• SMS and MMS messaging
• One toll-free number and one 10DLC number
• Keywords, tags and personalization tools
• Drip campaigns and recurring messages
• Text-to-Pay
• Review management
• AI voice and messaging tools
• Omnichannel inbox
• Mobile apps
• Access to Textedly’s integrations

Beyond the monthly subscription price, there are a few things to know about Textedly’s pricing:

• Annual billing gives you more messages, not a lower price: Businesses that pay annually receive 20 percent more messages each month. For example, the Bronze plan includes 1,000 monthly messages with month-to-month billing and 1,200 per month with annual billing.
• Month-to-month billing is available: Textedly allows businesses to pay month to month, so you don’t have to make a long-term commitment to use the service.
• Incoming messages are free: Only outgoing messages count against your monthly allowance, which is helpful for businesses that expect to have a lot of back-and-forth conversations with customers.
• MMS messages use more of your allowance: Each MMS costs four message credits. Businesses planning image-heavy campaigns should factor that into the number of messages they’ll need each month.
• Extra teammates cost $10 per month: Textedly doesn’t limit how many teammates you can add, but you’ll pay $10 per month for each additional user.
• Your first 10DLC registration is covered: Each account includes a toll-free number and a 10DLC number, and Textedly covers the carrier registration cost for your first 10DLC number. Additional registrations are subject to carrier fees.
• Text-to-Pay has transaction fees: Card payments cost 2.90 percent + $0.30 per transaction, while ACH bank transfers cost 0.70 percent with a $3 minimum and $5 maximum transaction fee.
• There’s an $8 monthly telecom surcharge: Textedly adds an $8 telecom fee to all paid plans to cover carrier charges. That means the $29 Basic plan costs at least $37 per month once the surcharge is included.
• You can buy extra messages without upgrading: An additional 500 message credits costs $30, so you don’t necessarily have to move to the next plan if you temporarily need more messages.
• Additional keywords cost $10 per month: Businesses can purchase extra keywords without upgrading their subscription.

Implementation and Onboarding

Registering for Textedly is quick and straightforward. Once inside, Textedly provides prompts to help you get started, including setting up a keyword, adding contacts and preparing your first message. We also received a welcome email from a customer success manager with onboarding instructions and an offer to help us get the account set up.

Adding employees is simple, as well. From the account settings, select “Teammates” and then “New Teammate” to invite additional users to the account. Textedly doesn’t limit the number of teammates you can add, although each additional user costs $10 per month.

Textedly is browser-based, so there’s no software to install. If you want to send messages from a 10DLC number, you’ll need to register it with the carrier first. Textedly covers the registration cost for your first number and gives you a test number to use while you wait for approval.

We also appreciate that Textedly lets you place your account on a three-month pause rather than canceling it outright. Your data, subscribed contacts and registered numbers are stored until you’re ready to resume service, which could be especially useful for seasonal businesses.

Customer Support

Textedly offers customer support by phone, web chat and email. Live chat and email support are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. CT and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. Phone support is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. Textedly says email requests are typically answered the same business day, with requests submitted outside business hours addressed the next business day.

We were particularly impressed with Textedly’s Help Center, which is one of the more useful self-service resources we encountered during our evaluation. It includes clear instructions for getting started and detailed guidance on messaging, contacts, compliance, account management and many of the platform’s individual features. When we needed additional help, we also found Textedly responsive; during our testing, we received a response from a representative within minutes.

Limitations

Textedly has expanded considerably since we first evaluated the platform, but there are still a few drawbacks to consider.

• Reporting: Textedly’s reporting tools aren’t as advanced as those of some competitors. The platform provides useful account-wide metrics and campaign reporting, including delivery and unsubscribe rates, replies, contacts and credits used. However, Textedly doesn’t natively report SMS open or click-through rates, although its short-link tool can track individual link clicks. Businesses that want more sophisticated campaign analytics and reporting may prefer a more advanced marketing platform.
• Importing an existing contact list takes a little extra work. Textedly doesn’t let new customers upload a subscriber list right away. You’ll first need to request access to the bulk-upload feature, which Textedly says is typically approved within a few hours. You also need to create at least one keyword before uploading contacts, and the feature isn’t available during the free trial. If you’re coming to Textedly with a large subscriber list, these extra steps could slow down the setup process.
• Integrations: Textedly relies heavily on Zapier for integrations. The platform connects with popular business applications, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Mailchimp and Shopify, but many of these connections run through Zapier. Textedly advertises more than 3,000 possible app connections through Zapier, which provides plenty of flexibility but adds another platform to the workflow. Businesses that want a larger selection of built-in integrations may prefer an alternative with more direct connections.

Methodology

To identify the best text message marketing services, we researched and evaluated platforms based on their features, pricing, ease of use, customer support, integrations and overall usability. Our evaluation included reviewing each provider’s plans and policies, testing core messaging tools and considering how well each service meets the needs of different types of businesses.

For Textedly, we created an account and tested the platform firsthand, including its dashboard, message composer, AI tools, contact management, segmentation, payment and review features. We also evaluated the onboarding process, mobile capabilities, customer support resources and current integrations.

To determine the best text message marketing service for simple texting needs, we paid particular attention to how easily a business could get started, build and manage a subscriber list, create and send campaigns and communicate directly with customers. We also considered whether Textedly provides enough functionality for businesses to expand their texting efforts without making everyday tasks unnecessarily complicated.

Bottom Line

We recommend Textedly for …

• Small businesses with simple texting needs that want a straightforward platform with a complete feature set out of the box.
• Companies that want an SMS platform that also helps manage customer reviews and collect payments.
• Businesses that want an approachable platform with AI tools, omnichannel communications and mobile campaign management.

We don’t recommend Textedly for …

• Businesses that need to import an existing subscriber list immediately without an approval process.
• Companies that prefer a large selection of direct integrations rather than relying on Zapier for many app connections.
• Marketing teams that need more sophisticated campaign analytics and reporting.