Shopify SMS Marketing: Setup, Countries and Cost per Text
Shopify has built-in SMS marketing. Shopify Messaging sends text campaigns to customers who opted in, in the countries it supports. You register a sender for each country, pay per message on your Shopify bill and need no separate SMS app. The price runs from $0.012 per text in the United States to $0.13 in Luxembourg.
Most of what follows is from Shopify’s Help Center pages on SMS marketing, setup and pricing, and the consent steps from customer contact information, all read on October 23, 2026. Order and shipping text notifications are a separate setup; Messaging handles marketing campaigns only.
Set up SMS in Shopify Messaging
Install Shopify Messaging, then choose the countries you will text, because campaigns need a registered sender before the first send.
- In the Shopify admin, go to Apps > Messaging and click Settings > SMS.
- In Targeted countries for SMS marketing, click Add countries, select them and click Next.
- For the United Kingdom and EU countries, fill in Create sender name and click Done. You can send as soon as that is saved.
- For Canada and the United States, complete the toll-free registration form (Contact information, Business information, Privacy policy, Terms of service), click Next, review the sender information and click Done.
Toll-free verification takes 2 to 5 business days, and you get an email when it ends. Your toll-free number is assigned for delivery only: you can’t receive customer replies on it. Spain has been paused since September 15, 2026, and Austria since October 1, 2026; neither can be added as a new recipient country.
What SMS costs, country by country
You pay per message, per recipient, billed monthly.
| Country | Price per SMS (USD) |
|---|---|
| United States | $0.012 |
| Canada | $0.025 |
| Poland | $0.041 |
| Portugal | $0.045 |
| United Kingdom | $0.06 |
| Sweden | $0.072 |
| Italy | $0.075 |
| Denmark | $0.08 |
| Austria (paused) | $0.092 |
| Finland | $0.108 |
| Luxembourg | $0.13 |
Spain is listed at $0.06 but paused. Extra rules that change the bill:
- Long texts are billed per part. A message split in two, sent to 100 people, costs 200 messages, even though the customer sees one continuous text.
- Automated messages count. Confirmation messages to new subscribers, double opt-in messages and replies to keywords such as “INFO” or “HELP” are billed.
- Tests are free up to 25 messages a week, each part of a multi-part test counting as one.
- A toll-free number costs $2.15 a month for each approved toll-free number in the United States and Canada.
A worked case: 1,000 US subscribers receiving two campaigns a month is 2,000 messages, $24 at $0.012, plus $2.15 for the number, $26.15. The same list in the United Kingdom is $120; in Denmark, $160. If either campaign runs to two parts, double the message count. Charges show on your bill as Messaging; open Settings > Billing and click View details for the period. A monthly spending threshold in Messaging emails you when combined email, SMS and WhatsApp costs reach an amount you choose.
Why US and Canada registrations get rejected
A rejected form shows a banner in the admin and an email with the reason. The common ones:
| Error | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Age verification | You sell restricted goods such as alcohol |
| Business email requires an official domain | A Gmail or Yahoo address that isn’t shown on your store as a business contact |
| Contact must be a business representative | A generic name or title such as “Admin” or “Support” |
| Could not validate business information | Name, address, URL or email doesn’t match your store, or the URL wasn’t reachable |
| Opt-in does not match use case | Your checkbox mentions account updates but you send marketing |
| Opt-in must be complete, branded, and legible | Shopify lists no cause; check that the checkbox text is complete, names your brand and is legible |
Correct the form, then go to Settings > SMS, click Manage next to the country and use Resubmit form.
Consent: who can be texted
Messaging texts only customers who agreed to SMS marketing. To collect that consent at checkout, activate the SMS checkout option, make sure your store has terms of service and a privacy policy, then in Settings > Checkout set SMS under Marketing opt-in to Checkout only. The preference is saved only if the customer submits the checkout. If your store is in Germany and you send confirmation messages, customers must respond to them to be included, and Shopify notes that double opt-in can help with GDPR compliance.
What to send first
Start with an automation tied to a clear moment. Messaging has SMS templates for abandoned checkout, abandoned cart and abandoned product browse; we would switch on the checkout one first and add the others only if its report shows the texts pay for themselves, as explained in Shopify abandoned cart SMS. An automation texts one shopper at a known moment, which keeps the bill tied to orders you can count. Campaigns come second, because a campaign is billed for the whole list at once: at the UK rate, one campaign to 5,000 subscribers is $300.
Before the first campaign, send yourself a test (25 a week are free) and count the parts on your phone. A text that splits in two doubles the cost of every send. When you are deciding between the channels, SMS vs email compares them, and Shopify Messaging updates tracks what changed in email. Other email and popup guides are in the email and popups hub.
FAQ
Does Shopify have built-in SMS marketing? Shopify Messaging sends SMS marketing campaigns and SMS automations to opted-in customers in supported countries, without a separate SMS app.
How much does Shopify SMS cost? You pay per message, from $0.012 in the United States to $0.13 in Luxembourg, plus $2.15 a month for a US or Canadian toll-free number.
Can customers reply to my texts? Shopify assigns US and Canadian toll-free numbers for sending only, so replies to them don’t reach you. The setup page doesn’t say the same about UK and EU sender names, so test a reply before you promise customers they can answer.
Which countries are supported? Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States are priced on Shopify’s page, and Shopify’s SMS requirements page excludes Puerto Rico from the United States; Spain and Austria are paused and can’t be added as new recipient countries.