Save 44% with yearly billing.View Plans
textbee Logotextbee.dev

SMS gateway for Ethiopia: send SMS from your own Ethiopia number

Published and updated

Put a SIM from Ethiopia in an Android phone, install textbee, and every API call sends a real SMS from that +251 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
$1,712.50
cheapest cloud provider listed
Sender
Local +251
a number recipients can reply to

How it works with a local SIM

  1. Put a Ethiopia 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 Ethiopia, cloud providers and a local SIM against textbee plans
Provider1K messages5K messages25K messages
Twilio$342.50$342.50 messages$1,712.50$1,712.50 messages$8,562.50$8,562.50 messages
Ethio telecom Quarterly Mobile Package, 840 minutes and 36 GB, 300 SMS in the package tableAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,275 per 90 daysAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,275 per 90 daysAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,275 per 90 days
Ethio telecom Quarterly Mobile Package, 2000 minutes and 36 GB, 300 SMS in the package tableAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,635 per 90 daysAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,635 per 90 daysAbove the plan100 SMS a month for ETB 1,635 per 90 days
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.

Twilio SMS price in Ethiopia

Twilio lists $0.3425 per outbound SMS segment to Ethiopia, checked on September 4, 2026. A message longer than one segment is billed as more than one.

At 5,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $1,712.50 for messages; textbee Pro is $14.99 flat.

At 25,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $8,562.50 for messages; 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

$342.50

$342.50 messages

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.

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": ["+251911234567"], "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 Ethiopia numbers

The API takes E.164, which for Ethiopia looks like +251911234567, 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

  • Article 19 of the Ethiopian Communications Authority SIM Card Registration Directive No. 799/2021 forbids an operator from activating a SIM card until it has registered the subscriber details, and defines activation to include sending and receiving short message services. eca.et, checked on September 4, 2026
  • The Telecommunications Consumer Rights and Protection Directive No. 832/2021 defines consent as a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the consumer wishes, and bars a licensee from selling, sharing or exposing consumer personal data to a third party without explicit consent. eca.et, checked on September 4, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Does textbee work in Ethiopia?

Yes. Any Android phone with an Ethiopian SIM that can send SMS runs the textbee app. Register the SIM first, because under SIM Card Registration Directive No. 799/2021 an operator may not activate a SIM until it has registered the subscriber details, and activation is defined to include the ability to send short message services.

What number do recipients see?

The Ethiopian mobile number of the SIM, which they can reply to. Replies come back to your code through a webhook or GET /gateway/messages. A phone cannot present an alphanumeric sender name, so recipients always see a real number.

What does it cost to send SMS in Ethiopia?

textbee is a flat monthly plan: Free for 300 messages, Pro $14.99 for up to 5,000, Scale $29.99 for up to 25,000. Ethio telecom lists a Quarterly Mobile Package with 840 minutes and 36 GB at ETB 1,275 for 90 days, and its package table shows 300 SMS. Twilio charges $0.3425 a message to Ethiopia.

How many messages can one phone send?

Roughly 10 to 15 a minute. Carriers can filter bulk patterns on a consumer SIM, so keep the pace steady on longer runs. More Android devices on the same account send more in parallel.

What consent rules apply to contact data in Ethiopia?

The Telecommunications Consumer Rights and Protection Directive No. 832/2021 defines consent as a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the consumer wishes, and bars a licensee from selling, sharing or exposing consumer personal data to a third party without explicit consent. Get consent before you market to a list.

Sources

  1. SMS rules Ethiopia, eca.et, checked on September 4, 2026
  2. SMS rules Ethiopia, eca.et, checked on September 4, 2026
  3. Ethio telecom Quarterly Mobile Package, 840 minutes and 36 GB, 300 SMS in the package table, checked on September 4, 2026
  4. Twilio SMS pricing, Ethiopia, checked on September 4, 2026

Read next