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

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

Published and updated

Put a SIM from Italy in an Android phone, install textbee, and every API call sends a real SMS from that +39 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
$463.50
cheapest cloud provider listed
Sender
Local +39
a number recipients can reply to

How it works with a local SIM

  1. Put a Italy 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 Italy, cloud providers and a local SIM against textbee plans
Provider1K messages5K messages25K messages
Twilio$92.70$92.70 messages$463.50$463.50 messages$2,317.50$2,317.50 messages
ho. Mobile 100 Giga offer, unlimited minutes and 200 SMSAbove the plan200 SMS a month for EUR 5.95 per monthAbove the plan200 SMS a month for EUR 5.95 per monthAbove the plan200 SMS a month for EUR 5.95 per month
iliad TOP 230, unlimited SMS under fair use conditions$11.61EUR 9.99 per month$11.61EUR 9.99 per month$11.61EUR 9.99 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.

Twilio SMS price in Italy

Twilio lists $0.0927 per outbound SMS segment to Italy and $0.02 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 $463.50 for messages; textbee Pro is $14.99 flat.

At 25,000 messages a month, Twilio costs $2,317.50 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

$92.70

$92.70 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

Messages sent from a phone show the number of the SIM. The AGCOM rules on alphanumeric sender names cover authorised business messaging providers, require the sending business to hold a certified email address registered in INI-PEC, and state that such a name may not be associated with a SIM.

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": ["+393123456789"], "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 Italy numbers

The API takes E.164, which for Italy looks like +393123456789, 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

  • The Italian data protection authority requires prior, free and informed consent before promotional SMS are sent to a mobile number, and the consent must be specific about the type of messages. garanteprivacy.it, checked on September 4, 2026
  • AGCOM allows only providers authorised to offer business messaging to register an alphanumeric sender name, and states that such a name may not be associated with a SIM. agcom.it, checked on September 4, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Does textbee work in Italy?

Yes. Any Android phone with an Italian SIM that can send SMS runs the textbee app, driven from your code by the REST API. The SIM you already use for calls is enough.

What number do recipients see?

The number of the SIM, and replies come back to it through a webhook or GET /gateway/messages. AGCOM allows only providers authorised to offer business messaging to register an alphanumeric sender name, requires the sending business to hold a certified email address registered in INI-PEC, and states that such a name may not be associated with a SIM. Messages sent from a phone therefore show the SIM number.

What does it cost to send SMS in Italy?

One flat textbee plan: Free for 300 messages a month, Pro $14.99 for up to 5,000, Scale $29.99 for up to 25,000. On the SIM side, ho. Mobile lists a 100 GB offer with unlimited minutes and 200 SMS at EUR 5.95 a month, and iliad TOP 230 is EUR 9.99 a month with unlimited SMS under fair use conditions. Twilio charges $0.0927 a message to Italy.

How many messages can one phone send?

Roughly 10 to 15 a minute per device. Carriers can filter bulk patterns on a consumer SIM, so watch the pace on large lists. Extra Android devices on the account raise the total rate.

Do I need consent before texting customers in Italy?

Yes. The Italian data protection authority requires prior, free and informed consent before promotional SMS are sent to a mobile number, and the consent must be specific about the type of messages. Collect it before the first send and keep the record.

Sources

  1. SMS rules Italy, garanteprivacy.it, checked on September 4, 2026
  2. SMS rules Italy, agcom.it, checked on September 4, 2026
  3. ho. Mobile 100 Giga offer, unlimited minutes and 200 SMS, checked on September 4, 2026
  4. iliad TOP 230, unlimited SMS under fair use conditions, checked on September 4, 2026
  5. Twilio SMS pricing, Italy, checked on September 4, 2026

Read next