6 Best TextMagic Alternatives to Power Up Your SMS Strategy

If you’re using TextMagic for your business texting, you’ve probably noticed a few limitations.

Maybe the pay-as-you-go pricing is starting to add up, or you need advanced SMS marketing features.

Whatever the reason, you’re here because you need something better: an SMS platform that works well for your business needs.

Text message marketing should make your life easier. If you’re still spending too much time managing conversations or dealing with an SMS platform that won’t scale with your business, it’s time to switch.

A great TextMagic alternative should help you save time, automate key processes, and provide better customer engagement while keeping your costs predictable.

In this article, we’ll explore the best TextMagic alternatives and what they offer to help you find the right solution for your business. If you’re ready to upgrade your SMS strategy, keep reading!

TextMagic Key Features

TextMagic helps you reach more customers using SMS, email, and voice messages. It’s great for keeping up conversations with your customers through two-way SMS.

Image Source: textmagic.com

You can easily connect your TextMagic account to over 1,000 different apps without needing any coding knowledge. This lets you automate your everyday communication tasks while saving time and simplifying your processes.

TextMagic also offers real-time support to quickly address customer questions or issues. Plus, you can link TextMagic to your helpdesk ticketing system or any other important business app using APIs, Email to SMS, or through Zapier.

Pricing

Since TextMagic operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, costs can quickly add up, especially if you send a high volume of messages. 

While flexibility is appealing, businesses with frequent messaging needs often find that they are paying more than they would with a subscription-based SMS platform.

TextMagic also supports MMS at $0.08 per message and provides voice calls, including call forwarding, with inbound calls costing $0.41 per minute. 

Limitations of TextMagic 

While TextMagic offers robust texting solutions, it is not without its limitations. Users have reported occasional glitches within the platform, which can disrupt workflow and communication. 

Another issue is the delay in message delivery. There have been instances where messages are delivered 24-48 hours after being sent, which can cause critical communication lapses.

Additionally, managing contacts within TextMagic can be challenging. Sending a message to a specific group of contacts is not as intuitive as it should be, often requiring extra steps that complicate the process.

6 Best Alternatives to TextMagic

There are other SMS platforms that may fit your specific business requirements. Here’s a breakdown of some of the good TextMagic alternatives you may consider:

1. Textellent

You need more than a basic texting service if your business depends on SMS for customer engagement, sales, and marketing.

Textellent stands out as the best alternative with its comprehensive solution tailored to speed up communication, improve customer retention, and increase revenue.

Enterprise-Class Scalability

If you operate across multiple locations or have a growing team handling customer communication, you need an SMS system that can support high-volume messaging and team collaboration.

Many platforms struggle to keep up with these needs, which makes it harder for you to manage messaging.

Textellent is built for enterprise scalability. It is hosted in a secure cloud environment, ensuring reliability, while its open-source tech stack provides flexibility for customization.

For complex messaging workflows, you can embed interactive texting widgets into your backend systems so your team can manage SMS without switching platforms.

If branding is a priority, Textellent offers white-labeling options so you can fully brand your text messaging without relying on generic sender information.

Integration for Enterprise & Multi-Location Organizations

Your business likely uses multiple tools to manage customer relationships, sales, and marketing. If your SMS platform doesn’t integrate with your existing CRM, eCommerce platform, or automation tools, it creates inefficiencies that slow you down.

Textellent offers one of the most extensive integration capabilities in the industry. You can sync your SMS messaging with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho to keep all customer interactions centralized.

It can also automate order updates, abandoned cart recovery, and promotional messages through Shopify and WooCommerce.

Use of Existing Phone Numbers

Many SMS platforms require businesses to use new phone numbers for messaging, which can disrupt customer interactions and reduce trust.

With Textellent, you can send personalized SMS messages from your existing business phone number whenever possible. Your customers will immediately recognize who’s reaching out, which increases trust, improves response rates, and keeps your communication consistent across voice and text.

Image-Based Messaging

Text messaging is powerful, but sometimes you need more than just text to make an impact. For product images, promotional videos, or branded graphics, you need an SMS platform that supports MMS.

Textellent lets you send engaging, media-rich messages that help you stand out. If you’re running a retail company sending promotional images, having MMS capabilities helps improve the effectiveness of your messaging campaigns.

Keyword-Based Messaging

You likely use keywords for opt-ins and automated responses. Many platforms require you to rely on shared short codes, which make responses feel impersonal and can even get blocked by carriers.

Textellent allows you to use keywords with both shared shortcodes and long codes. The key difference is that responses always come from a real phone number. This ensures that customers recognize your number and you avoid carrier restrictions that often apply to shortcodes.

Advanced Appointment Management

Scheduling and appointment management are critical for many businesses, but most SMS platforms do not provide advanced automation in this area.

Textellent includes an integrated appointment management tool that automates messaging at various stages. You can send reminders before an appointment, request intake forms, and follow up after a visit.

This reduces no-shows and helps generate additional revenue by encouraging repeat bookings and reviews.

Unlike scheduling tools like Calendly, which focuses solely on booking, Textellent ensures ongoing engagement by automating communication before and after appointments.

Advanced Segmentation & Personalization

If you’re still sending the same message to your entire customer list, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to increase engagement. Customers expect personalized messaging that reflects their interests, past purchases, and interactions with your business.

With Textellent, you can segment your audience based on behavior, purchase history, events attended, or actions taken. You can send targeted messages that feel relevant to each recipient, which can lead to higher response rates and more conversions.

Automate Lead Nurturing and Follow-Ups

One of the biggest missed opportunities with SMS marketing is the failure to follow up on inquiries. Many platforms focus on sending one-time messages rather than nurturing leads through automation.

Textellent automates your lead nurturing process. If someone inquires about your services, they receive an immediate personalized response.

You can set up drip campaigns that guide them toward booking an appointment, making a purchase, or speaking with your sales team.

Automated SMS sequences can be triggered based on specific customer actions, so your follow-ups always happen at the right time without requiring extra effort from your team.

Real-Time Analytics

Sending text messages without tracking results is like running ads without knowing who clicked on them. If you don’t measure engagement and conversions, you don’t know what’s working.

Textellent gives you deeper insights with real-time tracking and analytics. You can monitor response rates to see how customers engage and track conversions when customers click on a link.

With real-time performance data, you can optimize your SMS marketing efforts and get the best results.

Full Customer Journey Approach

Effective SMS marketing requires a broader strategy. Your SMS system should support your entire customer journey, from lead generation to post-purchase engagement.

Textellent helps you convert leads into customers with automated follow-ups and retain customers by sending timely, relevant messages based on past interactions.

Rather than just sending texts, you create an SMS communication strategy that builds long-term customer relationships and increases revenue.

Compliance

As of December 1, 2024, U.S. carriers are blocking business text messages sent from numbers that don’t meet 10DLC compliance standards.

Some users are encountering difficulties, with many facing registration rejections and limited support to resolve these issues.

This can lead to disruptions in messaging services and additional expenses from penalties or surcharges for non-compliance. Downtime and missed opportunities can also create financial losses.

Rather than leaving you to handle these issues on your own, Textellent works with carriers to uncover the reasons behind registration failures and help you address them.

Pricing

Textellent offers several pricing plans that cater to different industries and the amount of messaging needed:

• 14-day free trial, which includes 50 SMS credits and access for one user to explore the platform’s features.

• Essentials plan ($49/month) that includes 750 credits, ideal for small businesses with moderate messaging needs.
• Standard plan ($99/month) that offers 2,000 credits and additional features for growing businesses with higher messaging demands.
• Premium plan has custom pricing available for businesses needing tailored solutions.

Textellent provides special integration features for those in the accounting and tax services sector. It also offers a pricing calculator to help you get a precise cost estimate based on your specific needs.

Sign up for a free trial or request a demo consultation today!

2. Twilio

Twilio offers versatile messaging capabilities that make it a good choice for businesses needing a customizable SMS marketing tool. It provides a set of developer capabilities so that companies can build their own text messaging and communications applications.

Image Source: twilio.com

Key Features

Twilio delivers alerts and notifications worldwide, such as SMS, MMS, or email. Its SendGrid Email helps maintain strong communication with your customers for transactional emails or marketing campaigns.

Twilio also improves customer experience with its AI-enabled Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and handles basic customer queries automatically.

Advantages

• Simplifies large-scale SMS campaigns
• Flexible payment model suitable for varying budgets
• Integrates easily with existing CRM and marketing tools.
• Improves communication capabilities with voice and VoIP integration

Limitations

• Many Twilio users are having difficulties with 10DLC registration
• Requires a substantial upfront cost for platform licensing
• The pay-as-you-go model may get expensive for high-volume users
• Requires technical expertise to build the applications and ongoing management

Pricing

Twilio charges $0.0079 for each message you send or receive. You only pay for what you use, and you can get discounts if you send many messages.

3. SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting offers a lot of helpful features with every plan. It allows you to create custom integrations to connect it seamlessly with other software tools you use.

Image Source: eztexting.com

Key Features

SimpleTexting has no limits on the number of contacts or keywords you can use, which means your campaign can grow without incurring extra costs. You also have the freedom to change your plan anytime to suit your needs better, whether you need more or fewer features.

SimpleTexting’s built-in AI message generator automatically writes messages for you, helping you save time. Plus, it offers compliance messages for free to help you meet legal standards without additional charges. 

Advantages

• Makes it simple to have one-on-one chats with customers
• Lets you create and track keywords for targeted messages
• Easy process to get started with specific keywords for messages
• Helps you send SMS messages at once using shortcodes

Limitations

• Doesn’t offer many options for automating messages or segmentation
• Doesn’t support managing messages for businesses with several locations

Pricing

SimpleTexting offers various monthly subscription options, starting at $39 per month for 500 credits. The plans increase to accommodate higher volume needs, with custom solutions available for enterprise-level users.

4. Textedly

Textedly offers a feature that lets you automate conversations with your contacts. You set up triggers once, and the system handles the rest, replying automatically without any need for manual input.

Image Source: textedly.com

Also, Textedly, similar to others, allows you to send bulk SMS messages to a large group of people all at once.

Key Features

Textedly offers several practical features for SMS marketing. Its inbox feature is intuitive, and any incoming messages you receive are free of charge.

With Textedly, you can send individual messages easily using the Single Send option. This service also includes a handy tool to shorten hyperlinks, which helps save space in your messages and keeps them neat.

Also, Textedly automatically collects and inputs the state, city, and ZIP code for each of your subscribers. This helps you segment your audience and tailor your campaigns based on geographical data.

Advantages

• Budget-friendly for small enterprises
• Easy contact importation and campaign management
• Effortless data import and seamless integration
• Great customer support

Limitations

• Lacks tools for analyzing customer responses
• Customers cannot choose their message preferences
• No multi-site campaign capabilities

Pricing

• 14-day free trial with up to 50 text messages
• The Basic Plan starts at $26/month and includes 500 text messages
• The Bronze Plan is available for $38/month with 1,000 text messages
• The Plus Plan, designed for high-volume messaging, costs $69/month and includes 2,000 text messages

5. ClickSend

ClickSend provides bulk SMS messages, MMS, and email marketing solutions. It’s valued for its affordable SMS gateway and its ability to integrate with popular business tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Shopify.

Image Source: clicksend.com

Key Features

The platform features a simple dashboard that allows you to set up and send SMS, MMS, Direct Mail campaigns, and more. Besides text and media messages, ClickSend also supports voice messages, letters, postcards, and chat, offering a range of ways to reach customers.

Developers can use ClickSend’s fast and reliable APIs to build applications that include these communication features. Plus, ClickSend integrates well with many business applications to automate repetitive tasks and build communication tools without needing to code.

Advantages

• Multifaceted messaging options
• Improved message delivery with rich messaging
• Audio messaging functionality
• Digital-to-fax conversion capabilities

Limitations

• Occasional glitches
• Only fundamental reporting features are available
• No multi-site campaign capabilities

Pricing

ClickSend offers a flexible pay-as-you-go pricing model, with rates beginning at $0.2363 per text message (under 5k). You can opt for mass texting which has volume discounts.

6. Podium

Podium is an AI-powered platform that can manage leads, communicate with customers, and boost sales. Its AI Employee responds to leads for increased conversions and revenue.

Image Source: podium.com

With Podium, you can get more reviews, improve Google rankings, and handle calls, texts, and payments all from one dashboard. Automated messaging and AI-driven responses make customer communication faster and easier.

Advantages

• Easy conversation tracking for employees and clients
• User-friendly interface with useful communication tools
• Scheduled texting simplifies reminders and weekend messages
• Centralized messaging allows teams to manage customer interactions

Limitations

• Bulk messaging lacks flexibility for group vs. individual threads
• Requires familiarity with location settings to avoid mix-ups
• AI chat may give incorrect responses to customers

Pricing

Podium offers custom pricing for all their plans:

• Core plan: Includes essential AI features to assist with lead conversion
• Pro plan: Provides advanced AI tools and automation for improved lead conversion
• Signature plan: Customizable for businesses with complex operational requirements

What Makes a Great TextMagic Alternative?

Many businesses find themselves limited by their current SMS platform and need a solution that supports scalability and cost control.

As your messaging needs grow, you may require flexible pricing, advanced automation, CRM integrations, and built-in compliance tools to keep communication effective.

Choosing the right SMS marketing software is important for the success of your SMS campaigns. Here’s what you should prioritize when selecting an alternative to TextMagic.

Automation & AI-Powered Messaging

If you’re still manually sending text messages or relying on basic scheduling tools, you’re wasting time and missing out on opportunities. Automation allows you to engage with customers at the right moment without requiring constant attention from your team.

TextMagic provides basic scheduled messaging but lacks intelligent automation and AI-driven responses. A better alternative should allow you to set up drip campaigns, trigger messages based on customer actions, and segment messages to ensure customers receive the right information.

You can use Textellent to automate appointment reminders, follow-ups after visits, and promotional offers for patients due for a checkup. 

Rather than managing every conversation one by one, your SMS platform should handle these tasks automatically so you can focus on running your business.

Pricing

SMS marketing cost is a major consideration, especially for small businesses and startups.

TextMagic operates on a pay-as-you-go model, which can work for businesses that send a few messages each month.

However, if your business relies on SMS for customer communication, this pricing structure quickly becomes expensive.

The best SMS platforms provide subscription-based plans that offer a lower cost per message compared to TextMagic’s $0.049 per SMS. They also include advanced features like unlimited contacts, free dedicated numbers, and bulk messaging options.

Textellent provides lower SMS costs while offering monthly pricing plans that eliminate pay-as-you-go unpredictability. If your business sends thousands of messages per month, this translates to substantial savings over time.

Integration Capabilities

Your business likely uses a CRM, eCommerce platform, or automation tools to manage customer interactions.

A strong TextMagic alternative should integrate with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Shopify, and other essential platforms to sync customer data and automate workflows.

API access is also a valuable feature for businesses that require custom integrations.

Customer Support

You need a provider that offers fast, responsive assistance when you encounter issues in setting up automation or managing compliance concerns.

TextMagic provides standard customer support, but many users report delays in response times and limited support options.

If your business relies on SMS for urgent customer communication, slow response times can lead to missed opportunities and potential revenue loss.

Scalability

As your business expands, your SMS platform must keep up with increasing demands.

Scalability is essential if you handle high message volumes, operate across multiple locations, or have different teams managing customer communication.

Why Choose Textellent Over Other Alternatives

If you’re deciding between these alternatives above, the choice comes down to what your business needs today and how your SMS solution can support your growth in the future.

Here’s a quick summary of why Textellent is the best choice for your business:

• If you want a platform that automates follow-ups, nurtures leads, manages appointments, and drives repeat business, Textellent provides all of this in one place.
• Unlike many platforms that limit you to plain texts, this SMS marketing platform lets you send images, videos, and branded content for better engagement.
• Keep your business communication consistent and recognizable by sending texts from your current phone number.
• No more manual follow-ups. Textellent automates responses, reminders, and drip campaigns to keep customers engaged.
• If you schedule appointments, Textellent helps you send reminders, collect intake forms, and follow up automatically.
• Connect Textellent with Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, WooCommerce, and more to simplify customer communication.
• Textellent supports high-volume messaging, multi-user access, and enterprise security compliance for small businesses and large enterprises.
• Measure response rates, track conversions, and optimize SMS marketing campaigns with the platform’s built-in performance insights.

With its “no-code” rules-based engine, this automated texting solution lets you craft completely new customer experiences tailored to your business model.

The easy-to-use Chrome extension can easily time texting into the apps you use every day. This extension lets you pull up previous texts, templates, and media right from your browser.

Lastly, adding a “Text Us Now” widget to your website provides instant communication with mobile visitors and encourages customer engagement.

Get Started With Textellent in 6 Easy Steps

Now that you’ve decided to choose Textellent and are impressed with its capabilities, you might wonder how complicated it is to set up. Fortunately, getting started with Textellent is quick and simple.

Here’s a quick guide on how you can immediately get started and make the most out of this business text messaging platform:

1. Sign Up for Textellent

Sign up for a free trial and choose a plan that fits your business needs. They offer a variety of plans to accommodate different volumes of messaging and features.

2. Set Up Your Account

Once you sign up, you’ll go through an easy setup process in which Textellent will help take care of the required registration with the carriers. This involves setting up your user profile, defining your SMS messaging preferences, and integrating any necessary business tools via APIs or plugins like the Chrome extension or Zapier.

3. Import Your Contacts

Textellent allows you to import your existing contact lists. You can upload them directly from a CSV file or do this via integration with your current CRM system to synchronize your contacts automatically.

4. Create Message Templates

To save time and maintain consistency in your communications, set up message templates. Textellent also offers a library of pre-made templates that you can customize as needed.

5. Set Up Triggers and Automation

Use Textellent’s advanced automation features to set up triggers based on specific customer actions or events. This will enable you to send personalized, timely messages without manual intervention.

6. Launch Your Campaigns

Once you have uploaded your contacts and message templates ready, start deploying your campaigns. Depending on your strategy, you can schedule your messages or send them immediately.

See Why Businesses Are Switching to Textellent!

If you’re looking for an SMS platform that does more than just send texts, Textellent gives you the tools to automate, personalize, and scale your messaging.

Growing your business needs more than basic texting. You need a solution that helps you nurture leads, automate follow-ups, and integrate with your existing business tools.

With advanced SMS marketing features and AI-powered automation, Textellent makes it easy to connect with customers at every stage. You can send texts from your existing business number, manage bulk messaging, and integrate with different CRM platforms.

Whether you’re sending appointment reminders, promotional messages, or follow-ups, Textellent ensures your communication is timely and impactful.

Your business deserves a messaging platform that works as hard as you do. Experience the simplicity and effectiveness of integrating Textellent into your business operations.

Sign up for a free trial or schedule a demo today!

FAQs About TextMagic Alternatives

Do TextMagic alternatives offer dedicated account management?

Many TextMagic alternatives provide dedicated account management services for larger enterprises or those with complex needs. You can have a dedicated expert who helps optimize your messaging strategy, troubleshoot issues, and ensure you are getting the most out of the platform.

How do TextMagic alternatives handle opt-in and opt-out processes?

TextMagic alternatives generally automate these processes so subscribers can easily opt into and opt out of messages through simple commands or via automated responses. Textellent also offers a range of compliance tools to guarantee that you do not go out of bounds with texting practices.

Are there any automation features specific to eCommerce available in TextMagic alternatives?

Certain TextMagic alternatives like Textellent include specialized automation features for eCommerce, such as triggered messages based on customer shopping behavior, cart abandonment reminders, and personalized product recommendations.