Bulk SMS Pricing in Kenya Explained: Units, Tiers and VAT
Bulk SMS pricing in Kenya looks simple, a few cents per message, but the final cost of a campaign depends on how long your message is, how much you buy at once and VAT. Here is how it works at Shara SMS and how to estimate a campaign before you send it.
What is an SMS unit?
You pay for SMS with units bought in advance. One unit sends one SMS of up to 160 characters to one phone number.
Why long messages use more units
When a message is longer than 160 characters, phones join it together from several parts. Each part carries a small header, so each part holds 153 characters, and each part uses one unit:
- Up to 160 characters: 1 unit
- 161 to 306 characters: 2 units
- 307 to 459 characters: 3 units
Emojis and some special characters switch the message to a different encoding that fits far fewer characters per part (70, or 67 when the message is split). A single emoji can double the cost of a message, so keep bulk messages to plain text.
Tiered pricing: the more you buy, the less each unit costs
Your price per unit depends on the size of each purchase:
- Starter, KES 0 to 19,999: KES 0.80 per unit
- Growth, KES 20,000 to 99,999: KES 0.70 per unit
- Business, KES 100,000 to 399,999: KES 0.60 per unit
- Enterprise, KES 400,000 and above: KES 0.40 per unit
For example, KES 5,000 buys 6,250 units, while KES 20,000 buys 28,571 units because the whole purchase moves to the Growth rate.
Don't forget VAT
Prices are shown excluding 16% VAT. A KES 20,000 purchase therefore costs KES 23,200 including VAT.
How to budget a campaign
- Count your recipients, for example 5,000 customers.
- Check the length of your message. A 140-character plain-text message is 1 unit per recipient.
- Multiply: 5,000 recipients × 1 unit = 5,000 units.
- Pick the tier: 5,000 units at KES 0.80 is KES 4,000 before VAT.
If you send regularly, buying in larger amounts usually works out cheaper. Moving from Starter to Growth saves 12.5% on every unit.
One-off costs
To send under your own name you also need a sender ID, which has a one-off setup fee per network. There are no monthly fees.
Try different amounts with the calculator on our pricing page.