3 SimpleTexting Alternatives for Campaigns and Replies
Consider Carly when SimpleTexting conversations need an AI agent to answer and book, Salesmsg when people need a shared calling and texting workflow, and EZ Texting when campaigns remain the main job. If SimpleTexting already handles your campaigns well, first check whether the problem is the plan size, message format or work created by replies.
A campaign platform can successfully deliver a message and still leave a business owner with a queue of questions. A receptionist can answer those questions and still be the wrong tool for a large promotional broadcast. The best replacement depends on which of those jobs is currently expensive or unfinished.
This article is published by Carly and uses public vendor documentation and original reviews checked November 9, 2026. We have not benchmarked delivery rates or tested these products against one another. Cost examples below are calculations from published billing units, not quotes for your account.
What a SimpleTexting customer said about image credits
A verified national director at a nonprofit rated SimpleTexting 5/5 in a September 16, 2026 G2 review. They valued communicating with participants and families in one step, but said the credit cost of flyers and photos could make an organization “exceed their limits very quickly.” The review was marked as a seller invitation; the listing did not explicitly label it incentivized.
That criticism is narrower than saying the product is overpriced. It points to a mismatch between the messages an organization sends and the allowance it buys. Another reviewer, Josue F., gave it 5/5 on August 18 and praised the dashboard and support while reporting no dislikes. That review was also seller-invited.
If your campaigns depend on images, model the image traffic before moving. A different vendor can look cheaper per month while charging more for the same mix of outgoing messages and customer replies.
SimpleTexting’s base price is only part of the bill
The SimpleTexting pricing calculator showed a 500-credit plan at $29/month plus $10 for a local number when checked, or $39 before other charges. It listed a $4 one-time registration fee and 5.5 cents per additional credit. Carrier fees can apply separately.
Outgoing MMS uses three credits, incoming MMS one, and incoming SMS is free. Standard SMS length and longer messages affect credit use. A 200-recipient image campaign therefore uses 600 outgoing credits before any image replies: already more than the illustrated 500-credit allowance.
That is a hypothetical campaign calculation, not a recommendation to buy the smallest plan and pay overages. Run the same traffic through larger bundles. Unused monthly credits roll over only until the end of the following month, so a quiet season does not create an indefinitely growing reserve.
The practical budgeting unit is the complete campaign: recipients, message format, follow-up messages and replies. A count of contacts alone cannot tell you what it costs.
Choose the replacement by what happens after Send
| Alternative | Evaluate it when | Cost question to settle |
|---|---|---|
| Carly | Replies need qualification, answers and appointment booking | What do seats, AI usage and communications add-ons total? |
| Salesmsg | Staff need texting alongside calling | How are users, numbers and message credits charged? |
| EZ Texting | Your priority is recurring marketing campaigns | Which plan and credit bundle fit the actual message mix? |
Keep SimpleTexting in the comparison. A plan adjustment can be less disruptive than retraining the team and moving an established business number.
1. Carly: for inquiries that should become appointments
Carly fits a business that wants an AI agent to handle customer conversations according to its rules. Phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email and calendar work can be part of that process. Carly connects to thousands of apps and works inside AI assistants including ChatGPT and Claude.
Imagine a home-service business sending a seasonal reminder. The difficult part begins when people respond: one wants availability, another asks whether the service covers their address, and a third needs a human to discuss an unusual job. Your evaluation should focus on those branches, not just whether the software can send the initial reminder.
For the first Carly workflow, choose one service with clear eligibility rules. Give the agent the service area, approved description, appointment length and calendar. Require a handoff when the customer requests an exception or a price the business has not approved. This is a proposed setup to demonstrate, not a claim that an unconfigured agent already knows your business.
Then test a customer who changes their mind. If they accept Tuesday and later ask for Thursday, verify what happens to the original booking and whether the team sees the change. The useful outcome is one correct appointment with the right context.
What Carly costs, and where campaign software still fits
Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Organization seats cost $35 per seat/month. Business calling, SMS and the AI receptionist are separately billed add-ons, and the relevant AI usage tier must be included in your estimate. The entry agent price does not include a broadcast allowance equivalent to a SimpleTexting plan.
If your business mostly sends promotions and staff prefer to handle replies themselves, a dedicated campaign platform may remain the better fit. Confirm any bulk-sending, campaign-reporting or list-management requirement in a Carly demonstration before treating it as a complete replacement.
You can also separate the decisions: retain an effective campaign process while evaluating a bounded appointment-handling workflow. Do not assume the two systems share a number or history automatically; have the proposed connection and handoff demonstrated. See our SMS appointment-booking guide for the scheduling side of the purchase.
2. Salesmsg: for staff who switch between texts and calls
Salesmsg pricing lists Basic at $25/month with one user and one number. Additional seats are $10 and additional numbers $5. Its published credit examples count SMS at one credit per 160 characters, MMS at two credits up to 1,600 characters, and calls at one credit per minute, with forwarding at two.
Those units make Salesmsg worth pricing for a team whose image traffic is a concern. They do not establish a cheaper total: you still need the allowance, credit purchase price, number count and calling volume for your configuration.
The operational reason to evaluate it is a representative moving between channels during a sales or service conversation. A customer might text a photo, need a short call to explain the problem and then receive a written confirmation. Ask to see that sequence attached to the correct contact.
Try a handoff between two staff members. One receives the image, the other makes the call, and the first returns the next morning. Can each person understand what was promised without asking the customer to repeat it? This is more relevant than comparing the number of icons on a feature page.
Salesmsg remains a staff communications choice in this shortlist; assess any AI requirements separately. Our Salesmsg alternatives article looks more closely at the distinction between a shared communications tool and delegated conversation handling.
3. EZ Texting: for a business still buying campaign software
EZ Texting’s plans list Launch at $25/month, Boost at $75 and Scale at $125 on monthly billing. All three show 500 monthly credits; the higher subscription is not simply a larger included message pool. Additional-credit rates and other capabilities differ by plan.
EZ Texting belongs on the shortlist when the work is still campaigns: selecting an audience, preparing a message and managing the resulting activity. Ask the vendor to price the same campaign mix you modeled for SimpleTexting, including images and follow-up messages.
Do not compare a recommended contact count with a credit allowance. A business with 2,000 contacts that messages each person four times has a different requirement from one that contacts a rotating group of 200. Bring an actual month’s campaign calendar to the demonstration.
Also test the reply experience. If an attractive campaign leads to a question nobody owns, the delivery tool has completed only part of the business process. Decide whether the marketing team answers, another employee takes over, or an assistant handles a defined class of requests.
EZ Texting may fit well when campaign controls are the reason you are shopping. It is a less direct answer to an owner who wants fewer interruptions from booking questions. Those buyers should demonstrate the appointment workflow itself.
A useful cost comparison includes labor without inventing ROI
Create two columns for each vendor: platform expense and staff work. The first includes the subscription, numbers, credits, carrier charges and required integrations. The second records the tasks people still perform: answering questions, changing bookings, copying details and checking failed sends.
You do not need to assign a speculative dollar value to every minute. During a trial, record the actual actions required to finish a small set of representative conversations. An AI tool that needs constant correction may not reduce work. A more expensive messaging plan can still be worthwhile if the staff workflow is substantially clearer.
Include a quiet month and a busy month. This exposes differences between expiring allowances, usage charges and seats that remain on the bill whether or not you send a campaign. Keep annual commitments separate from month-to-month prices so the comparison reflects the risk you are willing to take.
Move the audience and the responsibilities together
Before migration, export the audience information you are entitled to retain, including consent records and suppression status. Preserve which customers asked not to receive messages. A contact import should not turn an opted-out person into an active recipient.
Ask the receiving vendor to confirm number eligibility and the sequence for moving or hosting it. Texting and calling may be handled differently; do not cancel the old service merely because an import finished. Test incoming replies and ordinary outgoing messages with internal recipients first.
Keep a record of scheduled campaigns, automated follow-ups and open conversations. Disable duplicate sends at the agreed cutover, then assign an owner to any reply that still arrives in the old system. The first week should have a clear escalation route for staff.
Start with the reply your team keeps postponing
Bring Carly a real example such as: a customer asks about an approved service, confirms their location and wants the next available appointment. Define what the agent may answer, what it may book and what it must hand to a person. Ask to see both a successful booking and a request outside the rules.
That demonstration will tell you whether you need an AI assistant, another campaign platform or a better-configured SimpleTexting plan.
Turn customer replies into booked appointments
Use one service, one calendar and explicit handoff rules for your first Carly workflow.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/account (API key under Carly Teams) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Want Carly answering your phones?
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