SMS credits and what they pay for

2 min readChecked against the dashboard on 16 October 2026

SMS runs on a prepaid balance in US dollars, separate from your Brainito plan credits. Open SMS → Credits to see it.

The three balances

Available to spend — what you can use now. It turns amber and says Running low. Campaigns pause when this reaches zero. when it gets low.
Balance — your total credit.
Committed to queued messages — held for messages waiting to send, and released if they don't go out.

What is charged

The History table lists every change with When, What, Amount and Balance after:

Messages sent — charged per segment.
Phone number rental — monthly, per number.
Carrier registration (10DLC) — monthly, per registered campaign.
Business registration (10DLC), one-off — when you register your business.
Credit added, Refund and Price correction.

Sent this month shows Messages, Billable segments and Charged for the calendar month so far.

Segments

A text is billed in segments. Over 160 characters counts as more than one. An emoji or special character switches the message to a format that fits only 70 characters per segment, which can roughly double the cost. Removing it brings the price back down.

Work out what you need

Work out what you need prices a campaign before you send it. Enter People you'll text, Where they are and Your message. It shows Billable segments, This campaign costs, You have and Short by.

Top up

Top-ups are requested, not bought instantly:

Under Request a top-up, enter the Amount (USD). It is pre-filled with what the campaign is short by, rounded up.
Optionally fill in Anything we should know? (optional).
Click Send request.

You get an email when it is approved. While a request is open you can Withdraw it.

Running out mid-send

If a campaign costs more than you have, sending starts and pauses when the balance runs out. Nothing is lost: the rest goes out once you top up.

Request a top-up a day or two before a big send, so approval doesn't hold it up.

Next: open Credits, price your next campaign in Work out what you need, and send the request if you are short.

Send or schedule an SMS campaignOpen SMS → Campaigns, click New Campaign, choose SMS and click Compose. If SMS is not set up yet, the card reads Set up and compose instead.Set up SMS and buy a numberOpen SMS → Setup and click Set up SMS. This creates your sending profile, which your numbers attach to and which receives delivery reports and STOP replies. It is free; you are only charged when you buy a number or send Register your business to text US numbersUS carriers require every business to register before it can text US numbers from a local number. Open SMS → Sender registration. The page is titled Compliance and has three numbered steps.Credits, plans and billingBrainito has one price list: credits. One balance pays for everything the platform does for you, and every action shows its cost before it runs. If an action fails, its credits come back automatically.

Ask Agent PK in your dashboard

Agent PK answers from these same articles, looks at your own account, and can do the task for you once you confirm. Open it from the top bar in the dashboard.

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