The Guide to Finding the Right SimpleTexting Alternative for You
SimpleTexting is one of the best business texting services available. It’s awesome (I’m truly a fan of their platform).
But depending on your needs, SimpleTexting may not be the best choice.
That’s why I put together this guide to the best SimpleTexting alternatives.
Here’s what I cover:
- What SimpleTexting is
- A SimpleTexting features breakdown
- Who SimpleTexting is best suited for
- 6 scenarios where you might need a SimpleTexting alternative
- Questions to ask when looking for a SimpleTexting alternative
- What SimpleTexting users are saying
- How to migrate your existing phone number from SimpleTexting
- The top SimpleTexting alternatives
Read on if you’re ready to find the right business texting solution for you. Let’s go!
What Is SimpleTexting?
SimpleTexting is a cloud-based service for SMS marketing. It lets you send bulk SMS, engage in two-way conversations, and schedule messages from a slick, polished user interface. SimpleTexting also offers texting with shortcodes for large-scale text message blasts. Additionally, SimpleTexting offers a host of advanced features and a built-out list of integrations.
SimpleTexting’s texting features
- Bulk SMS Messaging: Send text messages to large groups of contacts simultaneously.
- 2-Way Text Messaging: Engage in one-on-one, two-way conversations with recipients directly from the platform.
- Scheduled Messages: Plan and send text messages at predetermined times to your customer base.
- MMS Messaging: Send multimedia messages that include images, videos, and more.
- Subscriber List Segmentation: Organize contacts into groups based on customer data like behavior or demographics for targeted messaging.
- Autoresponders: Automatically send replies or messages based on specific triggers or actions.
- Text-to-Join Keywords: Create custom keywords that people can text to a number to subscribe to messages.
- Analytics and Reporting: Track the performance of messaging campaigns with detailed analytics.
- Link Shortening and Tracking: Shorten links to track clicks and engagement within messages.
- Integrations: Connect with various third-party apps and services to automate workflows.
- Customizable Sign-up Forms: Create web forms to collect SMS subscribers from websites or social media.
- SMS Polls and Surveys: Conduct polls and gather feedback through text messaging.
- Text-to-Vote Campaigns: Engage audiences with interactive text-to-vote campaigns.
- Compliance Management: Tools and guidance to help ensure compliance with SMS marketing laws and regulations, such as the TCPA.
Who is SimpleTexting best for?
SimpleTexting is best suited for a wide range of users. This includes small to medium-sized businesses, large corporations, nonprofits, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and marketing agencies. Its versatility and comprehensive feature set make it an ideal choice for various applications:
- Retail and E-commerce: For promotions, discounts, and customer service.
- Restaurants and Food Services: To send menus, specials, and reservation reminders.
- Real Estate: For property alerts, open house announcements, and client communication.
- Healthcare: Appointment reminders, health tips, and patient follow-ups.
- Education: School announcements, event reminders, and parent-teacher communication.
- Nonprofits: Volunteer coordination, fundraising campaigns, and event notifications.
- Marketing Agencies: To manage SMS campaigns for multiple clients across different industries.
- Service Industries: Appointment confirmations, service reminders, and customer feedback collection.
6 scenarios where you might need a SimpleTexting alternative
Different business texting services all have their pros and cons. There’s no simple answer as to which SimpleTexting alternative is best—it all depends on what you and your business need.
The following are some scenarios where SimpleTexting may not be ideal:
Scenario 1: Individuals or small projects might find SimpleTexting too complex or expensive. Simpler, free group texting apps or Google Voice might be more suitable.
Scenario 2: Businesses with highly specialized needs, like healthcare providers may need industry-specific platforms for HIPAA compliance.
Scenario 3: Companies seeking deep SMS CRM integrations might find SimpleTexting's capabilities limited.
Scenario 4: International organizations may require a service with broader global support and multilingual capabilities.
Scenario 5: Budget-Conscious Startups: Startups with tight budgets could seek more affordable or flexible pricing options.
Scenario 6: Tech-heavy users may need more advanced text message automation and custom integrations beyond Zapier.
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Questions to ask when looking for a SimpleTexting alternative
How big is your team?
If multiple people need to send messages, a shared inbox will be a priority. A shared team inbox is what makes texting work as an employee communication platform. It allows you to manage multiple conversations across multiple teammates in one view.
What devices do you need to text from?
Watch out—many business texting services only work from desktop computers. If you’re used to handling messages from your tablet or phone, choose a platform like MessageDesk. It supports texting from all devices.
What types of messages do you need to send and receive?
There are three types of business messages: promotional, conversational, and transactional. Make sure your services support the kinds of messages you’re planning to send.
How many messages do you need to send?
If you already have hundreds or thousands of contacts, make sure to choose a service that supports high-volume text messaging.
What kind of number do you want to send and receive texts from?
Businesses are no longer limited to five- or six-digit shortcode numbers for texting. Shortcodes are still around, and they’re great for bulk promotional SMS.
But now, you’ve got multiple SMS phone number options. These include text-enabling a local 10-digit phone number, or toll-free 800 number.
What SimpleTexting users are saying about SimpleTexting
Andrew S.
"SimpleTexting is so easy to use. I created the account, and within a few minutes, I scheduled my first SMS reminder. The interface is simple, and that's what I was looking for in an SMS reminder product."
Sam M.
"I do wish there wasn't a character count on the replies for our automatic messages since that's not really a "thing" anymore with iPhones and newer phones these days. I wish it would all just send as one message even if they needed to count it as multiple credits from our account."
How to move your phone number from SimpleTexting to a new provider
When you’ve chosen the right SimpleTexting alternative, transferring your existing phone number is easy. Here are the basic steps to hosting or porting your phone number to a different text messaging service
1. Select a new text messaging provider and create an account
The next step is to create an account with your SimpleTexting alternative of choice. If you go with MessageDesk, it’s easy to do this by starting a free trial.
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2. Submit a number-port or hosting request or select a new phone number
Next, you’ll need to port or select a number or existing business phone line. To text from your existing business number or landline, you’ll need to submit a number-porting or hosting request.
Note: It can take one to seven days to successfully text-enable your business number once you submit your request.
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3. Complete and sign your letter of authorization (LOA)
Once you’ve submitted your number-porting request, a representative from your new texting provider will reach out.
They’ll confirm that your number is eligible for porting or hosting. Then they’ll work with you to submit and sign an LOA to approve the hosting or porting process.
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4. Your new carrier will notify you about the port or host date
When the number port is complete with your new provider, you may cancel the service with your old provider.
One important note: never cancel service with your old provider before successfully porting your number to your new provider. This can result in serious problems, or even losing your number entirely.
Top SimpleTexting Alternatives
1. MessageDesk | SimpleTexting vs MessageDesk
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Best for:
Businesses and organizations with teams that need a shared team SMS inbox and large-scale text message broadcasts so they can route, organize, and respond as a team.
Overview:
MessageDesk is the best texting software for businesses with teams. It works great for texting from a 10-digit local SMS phone number or a toll-free 800 number. You can also host or port your existing phone number or text-enable a landline.
MessageDesk is a great tool if you’re looking to create conversational customer experiences. This makes it well-suited for conversational commerce. It also works great for customer service, appointment reminders, review and feedback collection, and more.
MessageDesk offers both two-way texting and automated texting. It's well suited for:
- Customer support and service
- Logistics, dispatch, and routing
- Staffing, recruiters, and HR professionals
- Home services and tradespeople
- Professional services like legal, accounting, and insurance
After a free trial, MessageDesk pricing starts at $27 per month for one user. Custom and enterprise pricing is also available.
Features:
- Scheduled and automated text messages
- Mass text broadcasts
- Call forwarding and voicemails to any number
- Desktop, tablet, and mobile apps
- Built-in opt-in and opt-out tools for TCPA compliance
- Supports 10-digit local and toll-free SMS phone numbers
- Shared team SMS inbox
- Text message broadcasts for mass texting
- Text message templates, tags, MMS, and links
- Keyword-based text message autoresponders
- Supports high-volume carrier-verified A2P 10DLC bulk text messaging
Pros:
- Highly functional shared team inbox
- Affordable starting price
- Excellent customer service
- Integrates with Zapier and QuickBooks online
Cons:
- Few native integrations (but can integrate with anything through Zapier)
What users say:
Ken B.
"Bouncing around and getting a lot done quickly is super easy and intuitive. It gets the job done better than the dozen or so other solutions I've tested. Not a lot of hoops to jump through to get started. Great trial flexibility to really dig in without committing. Most others are fairly limited."
-Verified User
"I am constantly surprised by how easy, helpful, and useful MessageDesk is. Writing and scheduling broadcasts is quick, clear, and offers multiple ways to include or exclude contacts. The shared inbox my team uses keeps messaging organized and our customers happy we don't miss any messages."
2. SlickText | SimpleTexting vs SlickText
Best for:
Marketing agencies and large-scale e-commerce businesses that need to send marketing messages and maintain carrier promotional-messaging compliance.
Overview:
SlickText is another slick tool for crafting text-message marketing campaigns. They’re a great way to generate and send out coupons and to get people to opt into marketing messages.
You can create keyword-focused campaigns for “text this number to receive” offers. Or you can craft longer messages and set up automated long-term drip campaigns.
Features:
- “Text to” campaigns
- Text surveys
- MMS/picture messaging
- Multiple ways to manage opt-in
- Automated workflows, drip campaigns, and text-message scheduling
- List management features
Pros:
- All of the standard text marketing features you’d expect
- Great managed opt-in and promotional messaging compliance
- Good customer support and service
Cons:
- Pricing can get expensive
- No message rollover
What users say:
Brooke G.
"I have tried a few text services and Slick Text far exceeds the value, ease of use and customer service of the others. Also, no contact is what got me started after having a horrible experience with another similar company and getting locked in."
Daniel K.
"I disliked how the roll out of switching from shortcodes to toll free was handled. We had just setup our account and started promoting our short code and then were informed we would have to switch."
3. EZ Texting | SimpleTexting vs EZ Texting
Best for:
Businesses and organizations that already know how to get the most out of large-scale text-message marketing campaigns.
Overview:
EZ Texting is a long-standing business texting platform. Like SimpleTexting, they started with shortcodes for marketing campaigns and have since evolved and expanded their text-messaging capabilities.
In the time that EZ Texting has been around, they’ve developed a lot of excellent features. You’re getting a lot of capability with this platform. But you also get some bloat. EZ Texting can do it all, so long as you know what you’re looking to accomplish.
Features:
- Bulk text messages
- Add unlimited contacts
- MMS picture messaging
- Two-way texting and text-to-landline
- Shortcodes
- Personalized templates
Pros:
- Many phone number options, including shortcodes
- Great for text-message marketing and drip campaigns
- Robust automation features
- Integrations with email marketing platforms and CRMs like HubSpot
Cons:
- Poor mobile app experience
- Needs better conversation assignment features (not a shared team inbox)
- Character limits
What users say:
Sam M.
"I had to stop using the EZ Texting App. The App functionality was very poor and did not allow the same functionality as the web. I would have liked more helpful notifications about message replies so I could respond quickly to customer needs."
Luis B.
"We have been using EZ Texting for employee communication for 2-3 years, the website is easy to use and set up. Support responds to inquiries in a timely manner. Pricing is reasonable for the amount of use we can get out of it.The organization has been able to send mass texts during shutdowns due to weather. The link shortener tool is very convenient to use when sending long website likes, and also can see how many have clicked on it."
4. TextMagic | SimpleTexting vs TextMagic
Best for:
Users who need a reliable way to send SMS marketing campaigns, and don’t care too much about integrations or sleek UI.
Overview:
TextMagic is another well-established text-message marketing software. They offer all of the standard text-message marketing features you’d expect.
With TextMagic, you can send notifications, alerts, reminders, confirmations, and SMS marketing campaigns. It’s great when you need to send short and accurate messages to customers, partners, or employees.
Features:
- Automated and scheduled text messages
- SMS attachments and MMS
- Email to SMS
- Mail-merge SMS and templates
- Opt-in and opt-out and list management features
Pros:
- Good reporting and analytics
- Open API
- Simple per-message pricing
Cons:
- UI/UX is a little dated
- Not as deeply integrated or feature-rich as other text marketing platforms
What users say:
Simi T.
"I love the template option, it works well for my business, its an amazing time saver. instead of rewriting the same message a few times or copying and pasting, I have it right there in the system."
Glenn R.
"When you have a large number of account with local or toll free numbers associated with the accounts, the monthly spend can creep up."
5. Textedly | SimpleTexting vs Textedly
Best for:
Businesses and organizations that need a straightforward way to market to a text list and set up automation using keywords.
Overview:
Textedly is another standard texting-messaging platform. Like SimpleTexting and EZ Texting, Textedly it's quite powerful.
Textedly offers standard mass texting, scheduling, and automated reply features. It's on par with what you’d expect from the other platforms on this list. They’ve got a long track record of offering great SMS deliverability, and customers comment on how good their support is.
Features:
- Mass text messaging
- Scheduled and automated messages
- Keyword-based autoresponders
- MMS picture messaging
- Zapier integration
Pros:
- Standard, well-built text-message marketing features
- Great user interface
- Robust selection of premade text-message templates
Cons:
- Not a great way to manage conversations (not a shared team inbox)
- Unused texts don’t roll over to the next month
- Each feature incurs a new cost, with no straight monthly fee for access to everything
What users say:
Lindsay G.
"We use this texting service to market our courses and events, and the service is very user-friendly! Anytime I have ever needed assistance or help, the customer service team has always been very prompt with their response time. I would recommend this service to other business owners!"
Kate S.
"I wish I could send a message right after adding a new subscriber. I could get to the message board just after making a new user."
6. Twilio | SimpleTexting vs Twilio
Best for:
Developers who need to set up automated transactional text messages for things like order statuses and updates.
Overview:
Twilio is a behemoth of a messaging platform. They recently acquired Zipwhip, a business text messaging platform. Many business text-messaging services use Twilio for message delivery.
Twilio does allow businesses and organizations to provision a phone number and send text messages using services like Twilio Flex.
But there is some assembly required. This means that it's really a platform best suited for developers who need to send text messages via API.
Features:
- Messaging (SMS text messages, WhatsApp, chat)
- Programmable voice for making and receiving calls
- Video
Pros:
- Super robust API for doing just about anything
- Many product offerings and messaging options
- One-stop shop for adding messaging features to existing products and services
Cons:
- Not a user-friendly solution for the average small business or local organization
- Developer assistance required
What users say:
Ramon C.
"Twilio is one of the most reliable API for SMS and messages in the market, also the prices are pretty competitive and it lets you perform code validation through SMS and Calls and for Whatsapp it already has a complete API."
Chrissy M.
"There was a slightly higher learner curve with using Twilio that we had seen with other options; however, this was easily overcome and we now have a firm understanding of how to best utilize the program."
Ready for a change from SimpleTexting?
With this many business texting services on the market, you’ll be able to find exactly what you need. SimpleTexting is a great service, but there’s no reason to stick with it if it doesn’t tick every single box.
If you’re a team that wants to manage mass texting from a single, organized inbox, MessageDesk is here to help you have more meaningful conversations.
Start your MessageDesk free trial today.