How much do political text messages cost? P2P, broadcast SMS, MMS and 10DLC fees explained

Political text messages cost about 1.5 to 4 cents per SMS segment and 3.5 to 6 cents per picture message (MMS) on the published 2026 rate cards of the major peer-to-peer platforms, such as Scale to Win and GetThru. One plain text to 10,000 voters therefore runs roughly $150 to $400. On top of the per-message price, a campaign pays a $95 Campaign Verify token plus small 10DLC registration fees. A four-text program in a city council race comes to roughly $1,300 to $3,000. A congressional program can reach six figures.

The per-message rate is only the start. Message length, pictures, who does the sending, how many voters write back and whether carrier fees are included all move the final bill. This guide covers each one, with the math.

How much do political text messages cost per message?

Political texting platforms bill by the outbound SMS segment (up to 160 plain characters) and by the outbound MMS message. Here is what they publish, as read by us or the cited source in 2026. Confirm before you sign.

The spread between the cheapest and the common pay-as-you-go rates is nearly three to one, and volume closes it. GetThru says programs above $10,000 can get rates as low as 1.5 cents per segment. A campaign with a real texting budget should negotiate.

P2P texting vs broadcast SMS: why the price and the rules differ

Peer-to-peer (P2P) texting means a person sends each message. A volunteer or paid texter clicks send for each voter and handles replies in a shared inbox. This is how campaigns text voter file lists.

Broadcast SMS (also called mass texting or application-to-person, A2P) means one click sends the same message to the whole list. It is faster and cheaper per message, and it is the right tool for supporters who signed up to hear from you: donors, volunteers, event RSVPs.

The legal line between the two comes from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The TCPA restricts calls and texts to cell phones made with an automatic telephone dialing system without prior express consent, and it lets recipients sue for $500 per violation, up to three times that for willful or knowing violations. In Facebook v. Duguid (2021) the Supreme Court held that an autodialer must use a random or sequential number generator, which is the legal footing most P2P programs stand on. State laws can be stricter, so have your counsel sign off on the program before the first send.

The cost difference that follows is labor. A broadcast to 50,000 opted-in supporters takes minutes. A P2P send to 50,000 voters takes texters, shifts and someone answering replies.

SMS vs MMS: segments, characters and why emoji cost you money

You are billed per segment, and a segment is smaller than most people think. Twilio prices US SMS per 160-character segment. Go past that and the message splits: a 300-character text at a 1.5-cent rate costs 3 cents to send, as GOTV.com's pricing breakdown points out.

Emoji and some special characters switch the message from plain 7-bit encoding to Unicode. GetThru's help center explains that Unicode needs more data per character, so fewer characters fit in each segment. One heart emoji can turn a one-segment GOTV text into a multi-segment one, and you pay for every segment.

MMS carries a photo, graphic, GIF or short video, and Twilio bills up to 1,600 characters of MMS text as one message. Where MMS is priced separately, it costs roughly one and a half to three times a single SMS segment, so use it where the picture does the work: a candidate photo in the first introduction, a polling place map, an early voting calendar graphic. A three-segment plain text costs more than one MMS at both Scale to Win and GetThru, which is a good reason to move long scripts into picture messages.

What are 10DLC fees, and what does Campaign Verify cost?

10DLC stands for ten-digit long code: a regular local phone number used to send business or campaign texts at volume. Carriers require every sender on those numbers to register a brand and a messaging campaign with The Campaign Registry (TCR). Scale to Win notes that registration has been required since March 1, 2022.

Political committees have an extra step. Before 10DLC registration, a campaign, party or PAC must get a token from Campaign Verify, a nonprofit verification service. PDI's help center lists the fee as $95 per two-year election cycle. Per the Campaign Verify FAQ, requests submitted from November 15, 2024 through November 14, 2026 produce tokens valid until January 31, 2027. A new cycle opens November 15, 2026, and requests submitted from then through November 14, 2028 are valid until January 31, 2029. A 2027 municipal race or an early 2028 campaign needs a token from the new cycle. The token is per entity, so each client committee needs its own.

TCR's own CSP user guide says campaigns registered under the Political use case carry no minimum commitment and renew month to month. Many political platforms absorb these registry fees; Scale to Win, for one, covers most of them and leaves the client to pay Campaign Verify. Others bill a setup fee. Ask which model your vendor uses.

Carrier pass-through fees

Every registered message also carries a small surcharge from the voter's wireless carrier. These are the outbound rates for registered 10DLC traffic in Bandwidth's carrier surcharge table, updated in September 2026:

Some vendors include carrier surcharges in their per-message price (RumbleUp says it does on its pricing page), while others add them to the invoice, so a 1.5-cent rate and a 2-cent rate may be closer than they look. Unregistered traffic pays more: the same Bandwidth table puts unregistered SMS at two times the registered surcharge on Verizon and close to three times on T-Mobile.

What it costs to text a local, state and congressional race

The table below is our own planning math. It assumes plain one-segment SMS, one or two MMS sends, the low published rates (1.5 cents SMS, 3.5 cents MMS) and the common pay-as-you-go rates (4 cents SMS, 6 cents MMS), plus 10 percent for outbound replies and opt-out confirmations. Campaign Verify and data are extra.

Larger programs rarely pay the right-hand column, because they qualify for volume pricing. At that scale the bigger lever is targeting: texting every cell number on the file pays for messages to people who were never going to vote or move.

For context against other channels, VoterPing puts direct mail at $0.50 to $1.00 per piece. Texting is among the cheapest paid contacts a campaign can buy, which is why it belongs in almost every plan, alongside the doors and mail that persuade. Our guide to political direct mail and texting covers how the two work together, and the political campaign budget guide shows where texting sits in a full budget.

The hidden costs in a political SMS campaign

Vendors advertise the per-message rate. These numbers decide the invoice.

• Replies you send. Inbound messages are free on many platforms, but every outbound reply counts. RumbleUp's pricing page says reply traffic is billed as SMS, and GetThru bills per outgoing segment. An automatic opt-out confirmation is an outgoing message too. A persuasion script that sparks conversations costs more than a reminder.
• Phone data. You can only text numbers you have. Matched cell numbers cost money if your party, union or coalition file does not include them; VoterPing sells records at 2 cents each.
• Managed sending. GetThru charges an additional 5 cents per message for its managed texting service, which more than doubles its base rate.
• Setup and platform fees. GetThru's $300 setup fee, Hustle's $250 platform fee and RumbleUp's monthly fee are small, but they hit hardest in small races.
• Short codes. Built for large opted-in broadcast lists. Scale to Win charges $500 a month in rental.
• Media for MMS. A blurry flyer photographed on a phone wastes the 6 cents you paid to deliver it.

How to lower your cost per text without lowering results

Most campaigns overspend on texting through long messages, dirty lists and sends with no plan behind them.

1. Write to 160 characters. Check the platform's character counter and strip emoji and special characters from SMS sends.
2. Move long content to MMS. If the message needs a date, a place and a reason, put the date and place in a graphic.
3. Clean the list. Remove prior opt-outs, landlines and bad numbers.
4. Target by vote history and support score. A GOTV text to a voter who always votes and always votes for you buys very little.
5. Sequence texts with your other contact. A text the night after a door knock or the morning a mail piece lands does more than a text sent on its own. Our get-out-the-vote plan guide covers timing.
6. Negotiate once you pass $10,000. Rate cards are opening offers.
7. Ask every vendor whether carrier fees are included. Compare the all-in number.

Compliance mistakes that cost more than the texts

Carriers police content on 10DLC routes. Bandwidth's T-Mobile 10DLC page lists a $10,000 pass-through fee for each instance of a third or later content violation notice involving the same content provider, and unregistered messages pay higher carrier surcharges. A program that gets throttled two days before an election cannot be made up later.

The basics every political text program should follow:

• Identify the sender by name in the first message.
• Honor STOP and other opt-out replies immediately, across every future send.
• Match your sample messages to what you registered with TCR.
• Keep your Campaign Verify token current and tied to the right committee.
• Get campaign counsel to review the disclaimer, data sources and consent records, especially for any broadcast sends.

Frequently asked questions

Does each text cost money?

Yes. The campaign pays for each outbound SMS segment or MMS message, including the replies its texters send. Many political platforms do not charge for inbound replies; Scale to Win and GetThru both list free incoming messages.

How much does peer to peer texting cost per message?

On published 2026 rate cards, P2P texting runs from about 1.5 cents per SMS segment at Scale to Win to 3.5 cents at GetThru and 4 cents at Hustle and VoterPing. MMS runs about 3.5 to 6 cents. Volume commitments bring rates down.

How can I send 1,000 texts at once?

For opted-in supporters, a broadcast (A2P) tool on a registered 10DLC number, toll-free number or short code sends in minutes. To voters from a voter file, use a P2P platform where a person sends each message; a few trained texters can work through 1,000 contacts in a single shift. At published rates, 1,000 plain texts cost about $15 to $40.

What is the difference between an SMS and a text message?

SMS (Short Message Service) is the standard that carries plain-text messages, so most people mean SMS when they say "text." A single SMS segment holds up to 160 plain characters, per Twilio. Picture and video texts travel as MMS and cost more per message.

How much does an MMS cost compared with an SMS?

On political platforms that price MMS separately, an MMS usually costs about one and a half to three times a single SMS segment: 3.5 cents against 1.5 cents at Scale to Win, and 6 cents against 3.5 cents at GetThru. Carrier surcharges on MMS are also higher, about $0.007 to $0.01 per message on registered traffic according to Bandwidth.

Do political campaigns have to register for 10DLC?

Yes, to text at volume from local numbers. Political committees first get a Campaign Verify token ($95 per election cycle) and then register a brand and campaign with The Campaign Registry through their texting platform. Start well before your first planned send.

How much does Campaign Verify cost?

The token costs $95 and covers one entity for a two-year election cycle, according to PDI. Tokens requested through November 14, 2026 expire January 31, 2027; tokens from the cycle that opens November 15, 2026 run until January 31, 2029, per the Campaign Verify FAQ.

How Leo Operations approaches this

Leo Operations is a national field, media and creative firm, founded in 2019 by Rodriquez Wright II and headquartered in Nashville. Rod has worked on political campaigns since 2012. Our field programs have knocked more than 650,000 doors, and our campaign, ballot and organizing work spans 25 states. We run email and SMS alongside paid canvassing, voter registration, GOTV and petition drives. A text works hardest when it follows a door knock, confirms a pledge to vote or points a voter to an early voting site.

Texting should be built the way field is built: a clean universe, a contact calendar tied to the election calendar, scripts written to the segment, and picture messages worth the extra cents. Our design team, led by Partner and Creative Director Morganne Norwood, produces mailers and social graphics, and our video team produces campaign video. Get registration and the Campaign Verify token done weeks before the first send. Because our political consulting work spans field, media and digital strategy, the texts can say the same thing as the mail, the ads and the canvassers.

If you are planning a texting program, email us your race, your universe size and your election date, and we will tell you what it takes.