SMS Tool
SegmentCalculator.
Type your message to see exactly how many SMS segments it will use and what it will cost.
Live Calculator
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How SMS Segments Work
GSM-7 (Standard)
Most Latin-alphabet messages. Uses 7 bits per character.
Single segment160 chars
Multi-segment (each)153 chars
7 chars reserved per segment for the User Data Header (UDH) which links segments together.
UCS-2 (Unicode)
Triggered by emojis or any non-GSM character. Uses 16 bits per character.
Single segment70 chars
Multi-segment (each)67 chars
3 chars reserved per segment for UDH. One emoji can cut your capacity by more than half.
Extended GSM-7 Characters
These characters are GSM-7 but cost 2 characters each (escape sequence):
[]{}\^~|€
Save Money: Common Traps
- Replace " " with " " - smart quotes force UCS-2
- Replace ' ' with ' ' - smart apostrophes force UCS-2
- Replace — with - - em dash forces UCS-2
- Replace … with ... - ellipsis forces UCS-2
Questions?
Need help optimizing your SMS messages?
Our team can review your message templates and help you reduce segment count and lower per-message costs.