Get started
In order to use the SMS API, you need the following:
- A 46elks accountDon't have an account? Sign up
- Your API credentials Finding your API credentials
Format
The basic API request to send an SMS contains three key:value pairs which are
to, from and message.
The to parameter
should be the E.164
formatted number of the recipient.
Example: +46766861004.
The from
parameter should be either an E.164 number or
a string. That string is often called "Text sender ID" or
"alphanumeric sender ID".
Example: +46766861004, ElkCo
Fun fact about the message string
- you can even send emojis!
Example: How was this interview, 👌🏽 or 👎🏽 ?
Message splitting
Messages that don't fit in a single SMS part will be split into multiple parts automatically by the API. The recipient will still see this as a single, coherent, SMS, so you don't really need to worry about it. More information available here.
Delivery reports
You can specify a webhook URL that we'll post to whenever the delivery
status of your message changes. This is done by setting the
whendelivered parameter in the API request.
This will result in a x-www-form-urlencoded HTTP POST request to the given URL in the following format, whenever the delivery status of your message changes.
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | string | The unique id of the message in our systems. |
| status | string | Either ”delivered” or ”failed”. |
| delivered | string | The delivery time in UTC. Only included if status is
set to delivered. |
For full details, see the API reference.
Pricing
We bill you (and are billed ourselves by the operators) per SMS part sent. Messages that don't fit in a single part will be split up into several parts and you'll be billed for each part. Our engineers have written a comprehensive Knowledge Base article that covers all the details, but a good rule of thumb is:
- If the message doesn't contain foreign characters, emoji, or symbols other than !"#¤%&'()*+,-.:;<>=?¡ you can fit 153 characters per part.
- Otherwise, you can fit 67 characters per part.
This is just a rough estimate — the actual number of characters that fit may be more or less than that (it's an encoding thing). You can use our GSM analyser to get a visual representation of how differrent types of characters affects the length of your message.
Up-to-date prices can be found on our pricing page. We offer volume discounts to customers that send more than 50 000 SMS / month.
Coverage
You can use 46elks to send SMS to almost anywhere in the world. The flags below represent all 219 countries and provinces we currently have coverage in. Our numbers team is really good so don't hesitate to reach out to support if you have special needs — if there's a telco out there, they'll find a way to reach it.
🇦🇫 🇦🇱 🇩🇿 🇦🇩 🇦🇴 🇦🇮 🇦🇬 🇦🇷 🇦🇲 🇦🇼 🇦🇺 🇦🇹 🇦🇿 🇧🇸 🇧🇭 🇧🇩 🇧🇧 🇧🇾 🇧🇪 🇧🇿 🇧🇯 🇧🇲 🇧🇹 🇧🇴 🇧🇶 🇧🇦 🇧🇼 🇧🇻 🇧🇷 🇮🇴 🇧🇳 🇧🇬 🇧🇫 🇧🇮 🇰🇭 🇨🇲 🇨🇦 🇨🇻 🇰🇾 🇨🇫 🇹🇩 🇨🇱 🇨🇳 🇨🇽 🇨🇨 🇨🇴 🇰🇲 🇨🇩 🇨🇩 🇨🇰 🇨🇷 🇭🇷 🇨🇺 🇨🇾 🇨🇿 🇨🇮 🇩🇰 🇩🇯 🇩🇲 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇪🇬 🇸🇻 🇬🇶 🇪🇪 🇪🇹 🇫🇰 🇫🇴 🇫🇯 🇫🇮 🇫🇷 🇬🇫 🇹🇫 🇬🇦 🇬🇲 🇬🇪 🇩🇪 🇬🇭 🇬🇮 🇬🇷 🇬🇱 🇬🇩 🇬🇵 🇬🇺 🇬🇹 🇬🇬 🇬🇳 🇬🇼 🇬🇾 🇭🇹 🇭🇲 🇭🇳 🇭🇰 🇭🇺 🇮🇸 🇮🇳 🇮🇩 🇮🇷 🇮🇶 🇮🇪 🇮🇲 🇮🇱 🇮🇹 🇯🇲 🇯🇵 🇯🇪 🇯🇴 🇰🇿 🇰🇪 🇰🇼 🇰🇬 🇱🇦 🇱🇻 🇱🇧 🇱🇸 🇱🇷 🇱🇾 🇱🇮 🇱🇹 🇱🇺 🇲🇴 🇲🇰 🇲🇬 🇲🇼 🇲🇾 🇲🇻 🇲🇱 🇲🇹 🇲🇶 🇲🇷 🇲🇺 🇾🇹 🇲🇽 🇲🇩 🇲🇳 🇲🇪 🇲🇸 🇲🇦 🇲🇿 🇳🇦 🇳🇵 🇳🇱 🇳🇿 🇳🇮 🇳🇪 🇳🇬 🇳🇴 🇴🇲 🇵🇰 🇵🇸 🇵🇦 🇵🇬 🇵🇾 🇵🇭 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇵🇷 🇶🇦 🇷🇴 🇷🇺 🇷🇼 🇷🇪 🇧🇱 🇰🇳 🇱🇨 🇻🇨 🇼🇸 🇸🇲 🇸🇹 🇸🇦 🇸🇳 🇷🇸 🇸🇨 🇸🇱 🇸🇬 🇸🇰 🇸🇮 🇸🇧 🇸🇴 🇿🇦 🇬🇸 🇰🇷 🇸🇸 🇪🇸 🇱🇰 🇸🇩 🇸🇷 🇸🇯 🇸🇿 🇸🇪 🇨🇭 🇸🇾 🇹🇼 🇹🇯 🇹🇿 🇹🇭 🇹🇱 🇹🇬 🇹🇴 🇹🇹 🇹🇳 🇹🇷 🇹🇲 🇹🇨 🇺🇬 🇺🇦 🇦🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇺🇾 🇺🇿 🇻🇪 🇻🇳 🇻🇬 🇻🇮 🇾🇪 🇿🇲 🇿🇼 🇦🇽Throughput
Default maximum throughput is 100 SMS per minute per account. Additional messages will be queued and sent in-order. Contact support if you require additional throughput.
More info
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