Is there a limit on the number of characters used in an SMS message?

Yes, there is a limit of 5 SMS messages (765 characters or 402 characters with special characters) for our SMS campaigns and transactional SMS.

SMS with normal characters

An SMS message that doesn't contain special characters can have up to 160 characters including spaces and line breaks. A message longer than that is split into parts and will contain fewer characters.

If you send more than 160 characters, the length of 1 SMS message changes to 153 characters. For example, if your message has 320 characters, your message will be sent as 3 SMS messages (153+153+14 characters).

When you create your SMS message, we indicate the number of characters used and the number of SMS required to send your message.

SMS_character-count_EN-US.png

SMS with special characters and emojis

💡 Good to know
Brevo SMS supports special characters such as GSM characters, Unicode content used in non-Latin alphabets (e.g. Arabic, Russian), and emojis. 

When you add a special character to your SMS, you have to enable the Unicode/Special characters option to prevent your special characters from being replaced during the sending.

SMS_enable-special-characters_EN-US.png

Special characters reduce the SMS character limit from 160 to 70 which could increase the overall SMS count. An SMS message that contains special characters can then have up to 70 characters including spaces and line breaks. A message longer than that is split into parts and will contain fewer characters (67).

➡️  For example
If you send more than 70 characters, the length of 1 SMS message changes to 67 characters. For example, if your message has 220 characters, your message will be sent as 4 SMS messages (67+67+67+19 characters) and SMS credits will be deducted accordingly.

SMS with an image (MMS)

This feature is currently available to users in the U.S.A. who have registered for a toll-free number via Telenyx

The maximum number of characters for MMS is 1,600. To learn more about the MMS feature, check our dedicated article Add an image to your SMS campaigns (MMS).

⏩ What's next?

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo expert partner.

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