Wanna / 7 SMS marketing tools for a local business
7 SMS marketing tools for a local business
Written by Wanna AI. Checked on 18 Oct 2026, refreshed every 30 days. Wanna is our product and is in this list. Prices change; open each link before you decide.
Short answer. A text is the cheapest way to tell people you already know that Tuesday has open chairs, tables or slots. Six of the seven below send the text; one, Wanna, drafts the offer and leaves the sending to you. The seven are alphabetical, not scored. We ran none of them, except Wanna, which we know from the inside.
How we chose
- The vendor's own page offers texting to a business's customers, or the per-message price of sending texts through its service.
- We read each pricing page on 18 Oct 2026 and print US dollars as shown there. Where a page prints no per-message rate, we divide the monthly price by the messages included and say so. A price the vendor does not publish is marked as not shown.
- US carriers add their own fees on top of most plans. Where the page states them we print them; where it does not, we say so.
The seven
| Tool | What it does | Who it is for | Price in US dollars, per message and fees, read 18 Oct 2026 | Honest minuses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EZ Texting | Text marketing for businesses: campaigns, keywords, contact lists | A shop with a customer list that grows past a few hundred | Launch 25 a month (20 on yearly billing), up to 500 contacts, 500 credits a month, extra credits 0.04 each. Boost 75 (60) up to 2,000 contacts, extra 0.035. Scale 125 (100) up to 50,000 contacts, extra 0.03. One SMS is 1 credit, one MMS 3 credits. Launch carries a 5 a month telecom fee. Carrier registration is included; carrier pass-through fees are billed apart | The price steps up by contact count, not by messages, so a list of 600 pays 75; trial terms are not stated for the plans |
| Podium | Messaging, reviews and text marketing for local businesses | A business whose leads already arrive by text and web chat | Not shown: the page says to talk to the sales team | No price, so no per-message cost to compare; its FAQ headings mention a 10DLC fee, but we did not read the answer |
| SimpleTexting | Text marketing and a two-way inbox | A small business that wants a plain campaign tool | 500 credits 29 a month, or 23.20 a month on yearly billing (20% off the credits), extra credits 5.5 cents each, unlimited contacts. Local number 10 a month plus a 4 one-time carrier registration. Carrier fees average about 0.25 cent per US message, per the page. Free trial, no card; length not stated | The page's default estimate of 39 a month already includes the 10 number; yearly billing takes 20% off the credits but not the number, so the yearly total works out to 33.20 a month, not 31.20 |
| SlickText | Text marketing with unlimited contacts on every plan | An owner who wants to pay for volume, not list size | 29 a month for 500 credits, 49 for 1,000, 79 for 2,000, 129 for 3,500, up to 939 for 50,000. Worked out from the table: about 5.8 cents a message at the first tier, about 1.9 cents at the last. One credit is one 160-character SMS; MMS is 3. 14-day trial, yearly billing gives 2 months free. Carrier fees are passed on at no markup; the amounts are not printed | No per-message rate or overage price on the page; sending-number registration fee is not shown |
| Textedly | Text marketing sold in message packs | A business that sends a few hundred texts a month | 29 a month for 500 messages, 49 for 1,000, 79 for 2,000, 125 for 3,500. Extra texts are 30 per 500, which works out to 6 cents each. Carrier registration 4 to 44 depending on volume, an 8 a month telecom surcharge, 10 a month per added teammate. 14-day trial with 50 messages and one keyword | Extra keywords are 10 each; fees stack on top of the plan; yearly billing adds 20% more messages, not a lower price |
| Twilio | A developer service that sends and receives texts by code | A business with someone who can build the sending | Outbound SMS 0.0083 per segment, inbound the same, MMS out 0.022. Carrier fees on top: AT&T 0.0035, T-Mobile 0.0045, Verizon 0.005 per message. Number 1.15 a month. Registration onboarding fees apply; amounts not printed on the page | No list tool, no opt-in handling and no offer writer: you build those or buy another product on top |
| Wanna | Reads your site and drafts the week's marketing, including an offer for your quiet days, for your OK | An owner who knows Tuesday is empty and wants the offer written | Free: the plan and first drafts, 10 credits once. Starter 20 a month, 200 credits (about 20 tasks). Growth 49, 5,000 credits. Scale 149, up to 5 companies. No per-message price: Wanna does not send texts | Early: 3 companies, 0 paying (live). It sends no SMS, keeps no subscriber list and collects no opt-ins; you paste its draft into one of the tools above |
By job
Sending to a list with a keyword sign-up: EZ Texting, SimpleTexting, SlickText or Textedly. Replies from customers in one inbox: SimpleTexting or Podium. Texts sent from your own software: Twilio. The offer itself, picked and drafted for your OK: Wanna. Related: local service businesses, how to choose.
What Wanna is and is not
Wanna drafts; posts, applications and ads wait for your OK, and nothing goes out on its own in Approve mode (Trust). Its plan for a business sets up to 2 offers a week for quiet weekdays. On the live page the count was 3 companies of people, 0 paying. We have no result to show for a text offer written by Wanna. You can start free on Wanna.
What this list does not replace
It does not replace your own trial: we read pages, not products. It does not replace written consent from each person you text, a working STOP reply, or advice on your state's texting rules. It does not replace a person who answers a customer who writes back. A discount text brings a visit only if the discount is one you can afford: do the sum on your own price first.
FAQ
What are the best SMS marketing tools for a local business? We do not rank them. The By job section sorts the seven by task.
How much does SMS marketing cost per message? From the pages we read, in US dollars: Twilio 0.0083 dollars per message plus carrier fees; EZ Texting 0.03 to 0.04 per extra credit; SimpleTexting 5.5 cents per extra credit; Textedly 6 cents per extra text, worked out. Podium shows no price.
Can AI write the text message for my offer? Wanna drafts offers for your OK and the other six do not list an offer writer on the pages we read. We ran none, so read every draft before it goes out.
Can AI send the texts for me? Not Wanna: it sends no SMS. The other six send texts; whether any sends on its own without your OK, we did not test.
Do I need a separate phone number to text customers? The pages say so for most of them: SimpleTexting prices a local number at 10 a month; Twilio at 1.15. Ask each vendor about carrier registration before you start.
Is Wanna an SMS tool? No. It helps an owner decide and draft the offer; a texting tool sends it. It is our product, so its minuses are in the table.
Paste your link and see the quiet-day offer Wanna would draft for your business.