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SMS gateway for Canada: send text messages from your own Canada number, no 10DLC

Published and updated

Put a SIM from Canada in an Android phone, install textbee, and every API call sends a real SMS from that +1 number. Recipients see a local number they can reply to. textbee is $14.99 a month for up to 5,000 messages, and the SIM keeps its own carrier plan.

textbee, 5K SMS
$14.99
a month, plus your SIM plan
Twilio, 5K SMS
$83.50
cheapest cloud provider listed
Sender
Local +1
a number recipients can reply to

How it works with a local SIM

  1. Put a Canada SIM in an Android phone that stays on and on power, and install the textbee app on it.
  2. Register the device from the dashboard, which pairs the phone with your API key.
  3. Call POST /gateway/send-sms with the recipient in E.164 form. The phone sends it over the SIM and reports the result back.

What it costs at 1K, 5K and 25K messages

Monthly spend sending to Canada, cloud providers and a local SIM against textbee plans
Provider1K messages5K messages25K messages
Twilio$16.70$8.30 messages, $8.40 carrier fees$83.50$41.50 messages, $42.00 carrier fees$417.50$207.50 messages, $210.00 carrier fees
chatr 5 GB plan, unlimited Canada-wide talk and unlimited Canada, US and international text$17.80CAD 25.00 per month$17.80CAD 25.00 per month$17.80CAD 25.00 per month
textbee$14.99Pro plan, up to 5,000 messages included$14.99Pro plan, up to 5,000 messages included$29.99Scale plan, up to 25,000 messages included

textbee plans include the messages shown. There is no per message fee, number rental or carrier surcharge.

Provider prices checked on September 4, 2026

The textbee plan is the platform fee and the SIM plan is what the carrier charges for the messages, so a local setup costs the plan price plus the SIM.

In Canadian dollars the textbee plans come to about CAD 21.05 a month for Pro and CAD 42.12 for Scale, and Twilio's $0.0083 a message is about CAD 0.0117, at 1 USD = 1.4044 CAD (European Central Bank rate, 2026-09-22). textbee bills in USD, so the exact amount follows the rate on the day.

Twilio SMS price in Canada

Twilio lists $0.0083 per outbound SMS segment to Canada and $0.0083 per inbound message, checked on September 4, 2026. A message longer than one segment is billed as more than one. Carriers add $0.0084 a message on top of the Twilio rate.

At 5,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $41.50 for messages and $42.00 in carrier fees, about $83.50; textbee Pro is $14.99 flat.

At 25,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $207.50 for messages and $210.00 in carrier fees, about $417.50; textbee Scale is $29.99 flat.

textbee

$14.99

Pro plan, up to 5,000 messages included

Free plan covers up to 300 messages a month

Twilio

$16.70

$8.30 messages, $8.40 carrier fees

Provider rates vary by country and time. Check each provider's site for current pricing. textbee uses your Android phone; you pay your carrier, not per-message fees to textbee. Provider prices checked on September 4, 2026.

Sender ID and OTP delivery

Recipients see the 10 digit number of the SIM in the phone, and a reply lands on that same number. There is no 10DLC step in Canada: the 10DLC registration program belongs to United States carriers and covers application traffic sent to US numbers on platform-provisioned long codes, so a Canadian SIM texting Canadian customers registers nothing and pays no brand or campaign fee.

Quickstart

send.sh
curl -X POST https://api.textbee.dev/api/v1/gateway/send-sms \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"recipients": ["+15062345678"], "message": "Your textbee code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

On a dual SIM phone, pass simSubscriptionId to pick the SIM the message goes out on, as the send reference describes.

Format and check Canada numbers

The API takes E.164, which for Canada looks like +15062345678, so strip any local trunk prefix before you send.

Result

Enter a phone number above.

Use E.164 format (e.g. +15551234567) for textbee.dev API recipients.

Count segments

A message over one segment is sent as more than one SMS, so it draws more than once on the SIM plan.

Result

  • Characters: 54
  • Encoding: GSM-7
  • Segments: 1 SMS
  • 1 segment = 1 SMS

GSM-7: 160 chars per segment (153 for multi-part). Unicode/emoji: 70 chars per segment (67 for multi-part). Carriers may charge per segment.

Honest limits

One phone sends roughly 10 to 15 messages a minute, so a large blast takes time to drain. Carriers can filter bulk patterns on consumer SIMs. Marketing messages still need consent from the recipient under the local rules.

Local rules to know

  • Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) prohibits sending a commercial electronic message, which includes a text message, unless the recipient has consented, expressly or by implication, and the message meets the content requirements. laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked on September 4, 2026
  • Under CASL a commercial electronic message must identify the sender and anyone on whose behalf it is sent, give contact information for one of them, and set out an unsubscribe mechanism. laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked on September 4, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is there a text message API for Canada?

Yes. A text message API and an SMS API are the same product, since SMS is the technical name for a text. textbee gives you a REST endpoint to send, a webhook or GET /gateway/messages to receive, and the text goes out over the Canadian SIM in your own Android phone, so recipients see a local +1 number.

Does textbee work in Canada?

Yes. Any Android phone with a Canadian SIM that can send SMS runs the textbee app, and the REST API drives it from your own code. Nothing has to be provisioned with a carrier first, because the SIM already sends.

Do I need 10DLC registration to send SMS in Canada?

No. Canada has no 10DLC. The 10DLC program is run by United States carriers for application traffic sent to US numbers on long codes a messaging platform provisions. A Canadian SIM in your own phone is outside it, so there is no brand, campaign or number to register and no registration fee. If the same phone texts US customers, that traffic is also outside 10DLC because it comes from a carrier-issued SIM, and the consent rules of the TCPA apply to it.

What number do recipients see?

They see the mobile number of the SIM in the phone, and a reply lands on that same number. Your code reads replies from a webhook or from GET /gateway/messages. An alphanumeric sender name is not something a phone can send, so the number is what shows.

What does it cost to send SMS in Canada?

textbee plans are flat and billed in USD: Free for 300 messages a month, Pro at $14.99 a month for up to 5,000 (about CAD 21.05), Scale at $29.99 a month for up to 25,000 (about CAD 42.12), at the 1.4044 rate of 2026-09-22. Add the SIM on top, and chatr lists a 5 GB plan at CAD 25.00 a month with unlimited Canada-wide talk and unlimited text. Twilio charges $0.0083 a message to Canada (about CAD 0.0117) on a number rented inside Twilio, plus number rental.

How many messages can one phone send?

Around 10 to 15 a minute from one device. Consumer SIMs can be filtered when the traffic looks like a bulk blast, so pace the sends and keep the wording varied. Adding more Android devices to the same account raises the ceiling.

Do I need consent before texting customers in Canada?

Yes. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) bars sending a commercial electronic message, including a text, unless the recipient consented, expressly or by implication. Every commercial text must also identify the sender, give contact information, and set out an unsubscribe mechanism. Keep a record of when and how each customer consented.

Sources

  1. SMS rules Canada, laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, checked on September 4, 2026
  2. Sending from a local SIM Canada, twilio.com, checked on September 23, 2026
  3. chatr 5 GB plan, unlimited Canada-wide talk and unlimited Canada, US and international text, checked on September 4, 2026
  4. Twilio SMS pricing, Canada, checked on September 4, 2026

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