How much does the Vonage SMS API cost? (2026 pricing)

TL;DR

Vonage SMS API pricing starts at $0.00809 per outbound message and $0.00649 per inbound message in the US. There is no monthly minimum, so you pay only for what you send and receive. International rates vary by country and can exceed $1.00 per message in some markets. If you are building or testing a Vonage SMS integration, Apidog helps you send test requests, validate responses, and catch API errors before shipping.

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Introduction

If you have used Nexmo before, you already know Vonage. Vonage acquired Nexmo in 2016, and many developer resources and API endpoints still reflect that history. You will still see developer.vonage.com as the technical hub, and legacy integrations may continue to use rest.nexmo.com.

In 2022, Ericsson completed its acquisition of Vonage, keeping the Vonage brand for the API business. Today, Vonage serves more than 100,000 businesses and has 1.6 million registered developers building on its APIs. The platform uses pay-as-you-go pricing, has no default long-term contract requirement, and supports messaging coverage across 190+ countries.

Before you build production SMS flows, set up repeatable API tests. Apidog lets you create request scenarios for Vonage SMS, validate response schemas, and chain multiple API calls into one workflow.

Vonage SMS pricing overview

Vonage uses a pay-as-you-go model for its SMS API:

• No platform fee to start
• No monthly subscription required for basic SMS usage
• Billing is based on sent and received messages
• Rates depend on destination country, number type, and message channel

US SMS pricing starts with these public rates:

Message type	Price per message
Outbound SMS, US LVN	$0.00809
Inbound SMS, US LVN	$0.00649
Outbound SMS, US Toll-Free	Contact sales
Inbound SMS, US Toll-Free	Free

LVN means Local Virtual Number. In practice, this refers to a standard 10-digit long code, also known as 10DLC.

For non-US traffic, do not estimate from US pricing. Download the global pricing sheet from your Nexmo/Vonage dashboard and calculate costs per destination country.

Pricing breakdown: outbound, inbound, MMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, and RCS

Outbound SMS

Outbound SMS messages are messages your application sends to users.

For US local virtual numbers, the public rate is:

$0.00809 per outbound SMS

Use the official Vonage dashboard as the source of truth because rates can change and third-party pricing pages may be outdated.

Inbound SMS

Inbound SMS messages are messages received by a Vonage number you rent.

For US local virtual numbers:

$0.00649 per inbound SMS

Some toll-free numbers receive inbound SMS at no charge, but verify that in your account before depending on it for cost planning.

MMS pricing

Vonage supports MMS through the Messages API, but it does not publish a flat public MMS rate. You need to contact sales for MMS pricing because MMS costs depend on market and carrier agreements.

WhatsApp via Vonage

Vonage supports WhatsApp messaging through the Messages API.

There are two cost layers:

1. Meta WhatsApp fee
   
   Meta charges based on delivered messages and conversation category, such as marketing, utility, authentication, or service.

2. Vonage platform fee
   
   Vonage adds its own per-message fee. This starts as low as $0.00015 per message and varies by message category and volume.

Check Meta’s WhatsApp pricing page and your Vonage dashboard before estimating production costs.

Facebook Messenger

Vonage supports Facebook Messenger messages through the Messages API.

$0.0011 per delivered message

RCS

Vonage supports RCS messaging with carrier-specific US rates:

Carrier	RCS Rich, text-based	RCS Rich Media
T-Mobile	$0.00620	$0.01250
Verizon	$0.00400	$0.00600
AT&T	$0.00450	$0.01000
US Cellular	$0.00620	$0.01350

There is also a one-time RCS country setup fee:

$600 per country

What affects your Vonage bill

Your actual bill is not just messages * base rate. These are the main variables to model.

1. Destination country

Destination country is usually the largest cost driver.

A US SMS costs fractions of a cent. In some low-connectivity markets in Africa or Southeast Asia, SMS can cost $0.50 or more per message.

Before launching an international campaign:

1. Export the global pricing sheet from the Vonage dashboard.
2. Group recipients by country.
3. Multiply expected sends by each destination rate.
4. Add inbound, number rental, registration, and surcharge costs.

2. Number type

Vonage supports multiple US number types:

Number type	Common use case	Notes
Long code / 10DLC	Standard A2P and local messaging	Usually the lowest entry cost
Toll-free	Higher-throughput A2P campaigns	Inbound SMS may be free
Short code	High-volume marketing	Requires carrier approval and registration

Short codes usually cost more to rent, but they are designed for higher message volume.

3. Number rental fees

Virtual numbers are billed separately from usage.

US local numbers start at a few dollars per month. Toll-free numbers and short codes cost more. These charges are added to your per-message costs.

4. Message encoding

SMS billing depends on message segmentation.

With GSM-7 encoding:

1 SMS = 160 characters

With Unicode encoding:

1 SMS = 70 characters

Unicode includes emoji and some accented characters. A 200-character Unicode message can be billed as three SMS segments.

Example:

"Your code is 123456"       -> 1 SMS
"Your code is 123456 ✅"    -> may use Unicode encoding

If you send high volume, test message templates for encoding before launch.

5. Carrier surcharges

US carriers may add surcharges for A2P messaging, especially over 10DLC. Vonage passes these fees through, and they appear on your monthly invoice.

Hidden costs to watch for

Vonage’s per-message pricing is clear, but production systems often add costs outside the base SMS rate.

Support tiers

The free support tier includes community forums and documentation. Business support requires a paid plan.

Premium support includes 24/7 phone access and a dedicated account manager and costs:

$3,300 per month

Budget for support if SMS delivery is part of a business-critical workflow such as authentication, dispatch, alerts, or customer notifications.

Add-on APIs

Some Vonage APIs have additional monthly fees:

Add-on	Monthly cost
Audit API	$550/month
Auto-redact, PII removal	$1,100/month
Reports API	$495/month or $0.00049/CDR pay-as-you-go

The Audit API is useful for compliance-heavy environments. Auto-redact removes PII from call and message logs.

Verify API costs

If you use Vonage Verify for two-factor authentication, successful verifications cost:

$0.0572 per successful verification

Messaging and voice attempt rates are also billed. Failed verifications may still generate messaging costs.

US 10DLC registration

If you send A2P SMS in the US using long codes, you need to register with The Campaign Registry through Vonage.

Typical pass-through fees include:

• Brand registration fee
• Recurring campaign registration fee

Registration is required by US carriers. Unregistered traffic can be filtered.

Vonage vs alternatives

Here is a US SMS pricing comparison:

Provider	US outbound SMS	US inbound SMS	Free trial	Support
Vonage	$0.00809	$0.00649	Yes, verified numbers only	Paid tiers; $3,300/mo for 24/7
Twilio	$0.0079	$0.0075	Yes, $15 credit	Paid support from $250/mo
Plivo	$0.0055	$0.0005	Yes	Free basic; paid tiers
Telnyx	$0.004	$0.002	Yes, $5 credit	24/7 email free; phone with paid

Key takeaways:

• Telnyx has the lowest listed US outbound SMS price in this comparison.
• Plivo has competitive inbound pricing.
• Twilio has the largest developer ecosystem and broad integration support.
• Vonage sits in the middle on price and has carrier-level relationships through Ericsson.

Do not choose only by per-message price. Also compare:

• Delivery rates
• Country coverage
• Compliance workflows
• 10DLC registration support
• SDK quality
• Dashboard usability
• Support availability
• API testing and observability

How to try Vonage for free

Vonage offers a free trial account for testing.

What you get

• A Vonage virtual number for test messages
• API key and secret
• Access to developer documentation and SDKs
• Test credits for limited usage

Trial restriction

During the trial, you can only send SMS to phone numbers verified on your account. This reduces abuse and fraud. You need to upgrade before sending to arbitrary recipients.

Start a Vonage SMS test

1. Go to dashboard.nexmo.com or vonage.com/communications-apis.
2. Create a free account.
3. Verify your phone number.
4. Copy your API key and API secret from the dashboard.
5. Send your first SMS using the REST API or an official SDK.

Vonage Server SDKs are available for Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, .NET, and Go. You can also call the REST API directly with any HTTP client.

How to test your Vonage SMS integration with Apidog

Once you have your Vonage API key and secret, create a repeatable test flow before shipping the integration.

Apidog Test Scenarios let you chain requests and assertions. This matches a real SMS workflow:

1. Send an SMS.
2. Validate the API response.
3. Capture the message ID.
4. Check downstream status or logs.
5. Fail the test if Vonage returns an error.

Step 1: Create a test scenario

In Apidog:

1. Open the Tests module.
2. Create a new test scenario.
3. Add the Vonage SMS request.

You can add the request by:

• Importing an OpenAPI definition
• Creating a custom request manually
• Importing a cURL command from Vonage documentation

Step 2: Add the SMS request

Create a POST request to:

https://rest.nexmo.com/sms/json

Use form parameters similar to:

api_key=YOUR_API_KEY
api_secret=YOUR_API_SECRET
from=YOUR_VONAGE_NUMBER
to=RECIPIENT_NUMBER
text=Hello from Vonage

Example cURL:

curl -X POST "https://rest.nexmo.com/sms/json" \
  -d "api_key=$VONAGE_API_KEY" \
  -d "api_secret=$VONAGE_API_SECRET" \
  -d "from=$VONAGE_NUMBER" \
  -d "to=$RECIPIENT_NUMBER" \
  -d "text=Hello from Vonage"

Use environment variables for secrets instead of hardcoding credentials into test cases.

Step 3: Validate the response

A successful Vonage SMS API response includes a messages array. Each item has a status field. A status of "0" means success.

Add assertions for:

HTTP status code == 200
messages[0].status == "0"
messages[0].message-id is not empty

A simplified successful response looks like:

{
  "message-count": "1",
  "messages": [
    {
      "to": "15551234567",
      "message-id": "0A0000000123ABCD",
      "status": "0",
      "remaining-balance": "1.2345",
      "message-price": "0.00809",
      "network": "310004"
    }
  ]
}

If Vonage returns a non-zero status, Apidog can fail the test and show the full response body for debugging.

Step 4: Pass data between requests

For multi-step tests, capture the message-id from the send response and reuse it in another request.

Apidog supports this syntax:

{{$.stepId.response.body.field}}

For example, you can extract:

{{$.sendSms.response.body.messages[0].message-id}}

Then inject that value into a later request or assertion.

Step 5: Run the scenario in CI/CD

After your test scenario works locally, run it automatically in CI.

Apidog can integrate with:

• GitHub Actions
• GitLab CI
• Jenkins

Use the Apidog CLI to run SMS integration tests on every pull request. This helps catch broken credentials, response format changes, and failed assertions before production deploys.

Try it at apidog.com. No credit card required.

Conclusion

Vonage SMS API pricing is pay-as-you-go with no monthly platform minimum. In the US, outbound SMS starts at $0.00809 per message and inbound SMS starts at $0.00649 per message.

Your final cost depends on:

• Destination country
• Number type
• Number rental fees
• Message encoding
• Carrier surcharges
• Registration fees
• Optional add-ons
• Support tier

If you are comparing providers, Telnyx and Plivo are cheaper for some US messaging use cases, while Twilio has the largest ecosystem. Vonage is a strong option when you need global reach and carrier-level relationships through Ericsson.

Before going live, use Apidog to build repeatable test scenarios for your Vonage integration. Validate every response, test error paths, and catch SMS issues before users do.

FAQ

Is Vonage the same as Nexmo?

Yes. Vonage acquired Nexmo in 2016. The developer platform is available at developer.vonage.com, and many legacy integrations still use rest.nexmo.com. The two names now refer to the same developer API platform.

Does Vonage charge a monthly fee for SMS?

There is no monthly platform fee for the SMS API itself. You pay per message sent and received, plus number rental fees for any virtual numbers you use. Optional add-ons such as the Audit API and Auto-redact have monthly fees.

How much does a Vonage phone number cost?

US local virtual numbers, or long codes, start at a few dollars per month. Toll-free numbers and short codes cost more. Check your Vonage dashboard for current number rental pricing by country and number type.

What countries does Vonage SMS support?

Vonage supports SMS in 190+ countries. Rates vary significantly by country. Some markets can cost $0.50 or more per message. Download the global pricing sheet from your Vonage dashboard for the full breakdown.

Does Vonage offer volume discounts?

Yes. Vonage offers custom pricing for high-volume senders. If your monthly message volume is large, contact sales to negotiate a custom rate. Default pay-as-you-go pricing applies until you have a custom agreement.

Can I receive inbound SMS for free?

US toll-free numbers often receive inbound SMS at no charge. US long code numbers are listed at $0.00649 per inbound message. Inbound pricing varies by country and number type, so confirm in the pricing sheet or dashboard.

How does Vonage compare to Twilio for SMS?

Vonage’s listed US outbound rate is $0.00809, while Twilio’s is $0.0079. Twilio has a larger developer ecosystem and more third-party integrations. Vonage differentiates through carrier-level relationships via Ericsson and can be competitive in some international markets. For US A2P messaging, the price difference is small enough that developer experience, compliance workflow, and support quality often matter more.