If you're shopping for a bulk SMS gateway and Burst SMS is on your shortlist, the first question worth asking isn't "which is cheaper per message" — it's "where is my traffic going?" Burst SMS (now Kudosity) grew up in the Australian and broader international market, where bulk SMS works differently than it does in the United States. That distinction quietly decides whether your campaigns land in inboxes or get filtered into the void.
Full disclosure: I work for ReadySMS, so I have a horse in this race. I'll try to be straight about it. If you're sending mostly to AU, NZ, or a grab-bag of international destinations, Burst SMS is genuinely a reasonable choice and you should weigh it on its merits. This post is for the buyer whose audience is in the US — because that's where the platform you pick matters most, and where the gateway model and the registered-carrier model diverge hard.
Where Burst SMS is genuinely strong
Credit where it's due. Burst SMS has been around a long time and does a clean job at what it was built for:
- International and AU/NZ reach. Sender IDs (alphanumeric branded sender names) are standard practice in those markets, and Burst handles them well. US carriers don't allow alphanumeric sender IDs for A2P at all, so this only helps you outside North America.
- A straightforward web app and a usable API for sending bulk SMS, with contact lists, scheduling, and replies.
- A long operating history, which counts for something when you're trusting a vendor with your sender reputation.
If your messaging is global or AU-centric, that combination is hard to beat and you don't need to read further. Always confirm current pricing and feature details on their site — I'm not going to invent their numbers, and they change.
The catch is what happens when most of your sends are to US mobile numbers.
The US A2P problem nobody puts on the pricing page
Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging to US numbers runs through a registration regime called 10DLC. Carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) require that the brand sending and the campaign type be registered before traffic gets clean throughput. Unregistered or under-registered traffic gets filtered — silently throttled or dropped — and you often don't get a clear bounce telling you why. Your delivery numbers just quietly sag.
A platform built primarily for international bulk SMS can route US traffic, but you become responsible for sorting out the registration plumbing yourself, or you accept worse deliverability. For a US-focused sender, that's the whole ballgame. The cheapest per-message rate on earth is worthless if a third of your messages get carrier-filtered.
This is where a US-native, registration-first platform earns its keep. If 10DLC is new to you, our 10DLC explainer and the registration cost breakdown cover the mechanics.
What ReadySMS does differently
ReadySMS is built for US A2P first. That shapes four things a Burst SMS buyer should care about.
1. Done-for-you 10DLC, handled in-app
Brand and campaign registration happen inside ReadySMS — you fill out the brand details and campaign use case, we submit them. Carrier fees run roughly ~$10/mo per brand and ~$20/mo per campaign, with approval typically landing in 4–7 business days. You're not stitching together a registration on a gateway that treats US compliance as an afterthought.
If your throughput needs are higher, optional brand vetting ($40 Standard / $100 Enhanced, one-time) raises your daily limits — but most senders don't need it.
2. Registered sends with transparent, volume-based pricing
Here's the part where the math actually favors you. ReadySMS pricing per outbound segment, plus a flat $0.0045/segment carrier pass-through billed separately and not marked up:
| Tier | Volume / month | Per segment | All-in (w/ pass-through) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 0–50,000 | $0.0155 | $0.0200 |
| Growth | 50,000–500,000 | $0.0125 | $0.0170 |
| Enterprise | 500,000+ | $0.0028 | $0.0073 |
A worked example. Say you blast a 145-character promo (one GSM-7 segment) to 20,000 US contacts. On the Starter tier that's:
`` 20,000 × 1 segment × ($0.0155 + $0.0045) = 20,000 × $0.0200 = $400 ``
Add an emoji and that 145-character message drops to a 70-char unicode limit, splitting into 3 segments (67 chars each for multipart):
`` 20,000 × 3 × $0.0200 = $1,200 ``
That single emoji tripled the bill. The lesson isn't "Burst is expensive" — I'm not quoting their rate — it's that segment math drives cost more than the headline per-message price, and any honest platform should show you that math. We break down the carrier pass-through line item most providers quietly bake into a single "per-message" number.
You also get 20 free test sends to your own verified number, plus a $25 credit when you submit 10DLC registration — enough to test deliverability and see your own numbers before committing. No monthly platform fee, no contract.
3. Native GoHighLevel integration
This is the one Burst SMS structurally can't match, because it isn't what they were built for. ReadySMS connects to GoHighLevel via OAuth with two-way sync — inbound and outbound messages flow into GHL conversations, mapped per location/sub-account so agencies keep clients isolated. If you run GHL (or your clients do), see the GHL setup guide or the broader best SMS provider for GoHighLevel writeup.
4. A built-in power dialer
Most SMS gateways stop at SMS. ReadySMS includes outbound voice — manual and queue dialing, call recording, voicemail drop, transfer/barge/whisper, and speed-to-lead auto-dial on new leads. Plans run from a Free tier (1 agent, 500 minutes/mo, then $0.06/min) up to Team at $69/agent/mo with unlimited agents at $0.0375/min. Pairing an instant text with an auto-dial inside the first five minutes of a new lead is the kind of thing you can't do on a pure SMS gateway. Pricing lives on the pricing page.
Compliance beyond registration
Registration gets you delivered. The rest of the stack keeps you out of trouble. ReadySMS includes:
- Automatic STOP/opt-out handling — an inbound STOP propagates so that contact can't be messaged again across campaigns.
- Quiet-hours enforcement — sends are held outside permitted local hours based on the recipient's area, which reduces TCPA exposure.
- Litigator / DNC scrubbing — known TCPA-litigator and DNC numbers can be screened before send. The standalone scrub is $0.005 per contact.
- Consent / attestation capture — opt-in records build an audit trail.
None of this makes you lawsuit-proof — compliance is ultimately the sender's responsibility, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling. But given that a single TCPA violation can run $500–$1,500 per text, scrubbing at half a cent a number is cheap insurance. We ran the actual math on a lawsuit vs scrubbing your whole list if you want the gory details.
Quick side-by-side
| Burst SMS / Kudosity | ReadySMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Built primarily for | AU/NZ + international bulk SMS | US A2P (10DLC) |
| Alphanumeric sender IDs | Yes (where supported) | N/A — US carriers don't allow them |
| US 10DLC registration | Your responsibility | Done in-app, ~4–7 business day approval |
| Native GoHighLevel sync | No | Yes, OAuth two-way, per sub-account |
| Built-in power dialer | No | Yes, from free |
| Free to test | Confirm at their site | 20 free test sends + $25 credit on registration |
| Best fit | Global / AU senders | US senders, agencies, GHL teams |
So which should you pick?
If your audience lives in Australia, New Zealand, or spreads across international destinations where alphanumeric sender IDs and global routing matter, Burst SMS is a solid, mature choice — pick it and don't second-guess.
If your traffic is overwhelmingly US mobile numbers, the calculus flips. You want a platform where 10DLC registration is handled for you, where deliverability is built around US carrier rules, and where per-segment pricing is transparent and drops with volume. If you're also in the GoHighLevel ecosystem or want a dialer in the same tool, that gap gets wider.
The honest next step isn't to take my word for it. Run your real send volume and message length through the cost calculator, use your 20 free test sends, register a brand (there's a $25 credit when you do), and watch your own delivery numbers. That's the only comparison that actually matters.