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

Published and updated

Put a SIM from India in an Android phone, install textbee, and every API call sends a real SMS from that +91 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
$416.00
cheapest cloud provider listed
Sender
Local +91
a number recipients can reply to

How it works with a local SIM

  1. Put a India 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 India, cloud providers and a local SIM against textbee plans
Provider1K messages5K messages25K messages
Twilio$83.20$83.20 messages$416.00$416.00 messages$2,080.00$2,080.00 messages
Vi INR 199 prepaid plan, 300 SMS in the plan tableAbove the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 daysAbove the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 daysAbove the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 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 India

Twilio lists $0.0832 per outbound SMS segment to India and $0.0832 per inbound message, 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 $416.00 for messages; textbee Pro is $14.99 flat.

At 25,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $2,080.00 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

$83.20

$83.20 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.

Sender ID and OTP delivery

Commercial SMS must go out under a header registered on the access provider distributed ledger platform, and the message must carry the Principal Entity ID, the header and the content ID. A plain 10 digit mobile number is not a registered header.

TRAI lists senders of one time passcodes among those who must register as a Principal Entity and register content templates before sending bulk communication. Recipients block commercial traffic by texting or calling short code 1909.

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": ["+918123456789"], "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 India numbers

The API takes E.164, which for India looks like +918123456789, 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

  • Under the TRAI Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2018, commercial communication may only travel under a header registered with the access provider, and an unregistered subscriber who sends it can be put under a usage cap and then disconnected. trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
  • TRAI requires any bulk sender, including senders of one time passcodes, transactional messages and service messages, to register as a Principal Entity, take a header, and register content templates before sending. trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Does textbee work in India?

Yes. Any Android phone with an Indian SIM that can send SMS runs the textbee app. Plan around the volume rules: a TRAI direction caps an ordinary SIM at one hundred SMS a day, and an operator may cut a number that sends unregistered commercial traffic down to twenty outgoing messages a day.

What number do recipients see?

The ten digit mobile number of the SIM, and they can reply to it. Replies arrive through a webhook or GET /gateway/messages. Commercial SMS in India must otherwise go out under a header registered on the access provider distributed ledger platform, and a plain 10 digit mobile number is not a registered header.

What does it cost to send SMS in India?

textbee bills a flat plan: Free for 300 messages a month, Pro $14.99 for up to 5,000, Scale $29.99 for up to 25,000. The SIM is separate, and Vi lists an INR 199 prepaid plan over 28 days with 300 SMS in its plan table. Twilio charges $0.0832 a message to India.

How many messages can one phone send?

The phone itself pushes roughly 10 to 15 messages a minute, but the Indian daily cap binds first: one hundred SMS per SIM per day, and twenty outgoing messages a day for a number flagged for unregistered commercial traffic. Carriers also filter bulk patterns on consumer SIMs. More SIMs across more devices is the way to raise the daily total.

Do I need to register before sending commercial SMS in India?

Yes. The TRAI regulations of 2018 require commercial communication to travel under a header registered with the access provider, and TRAI lists bulk senders, including senders of one time passcodes, transactional messages and service messages, among those who must register as a Principal Entity, take a header and register content templates. Recipients block commercial traffic by texting or calling short code 1909.

Sources

  1. SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
  2. SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
  3. SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
  4. Vi Vi INR 199 prepaid plan, 300 SMS in the plan table, checked on September 4, 2026
  5. Twilio SMS pricing, India, checked on September 4, 2026

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