Early on, an SMS tool has to be cheap to start and quick to launch, with room to grow into automation later. We reweighted our scores for free tiers, pay as you go pricing and speed to value, then ranked the five that fit a startup best.
Reviewed by M. HALLORAN·Updated JUNE 2026·How we vet
Tools compared5
Criteria weighted5
Last reviewedJune 2026
Paid placements0
How we ranked the field
Scored on the same five criteria as our main ranking, then reweighted for what an early team needs: a free or low cost entry, fast setup and room to scale. See the full rubric →
Free or low cost25%
Speed to value25%
Room to scale20%
Ease of use15%
Integrations15%
01
RANK
★ Editor’s Choice
Klaviyo SMS
Best for ecommerce startups
If the startup is a store, this is the default. The free plan lets you start collecting numbers and sending texts at no cost, email and SMS share one audience, and the ecommerce flows are ready out of the box. Credits are billed on top of your contact tier as you grow.
The low cost way in. SMS is pay as you go at about a cent a message in the US with no contract, and you can bolt it onto Brevo's free email plan. It is a marketing suite rather than an ecommerce specialist, so deep store automations are lighter.
Purpose built for Shopify, with a free Starter plan that bills per message while you test. Cart and checkout automations work from day one and incoming texts are free. The jump to Professional is steep, but most startups stay on Starter or Growth for a while.
When you just need to send a campaign without ceremony, SimpleTexting is fast to learn and priced from thirty nine a month. Two way support and drip campaigns are included; ecommerce automation is not its focus.
For a founder still closing deals by text, Salesmsg pairs two way SMS with calling in one inbox from twenty five a month. It is a sales texting tool more than a marketing platform, so broadcast features are simpler.