Top 8 Text-Em-All Alternatives Compared: Find the Best Fit

Text-Em-All is a well-known platform for group texting and voice broadcasting, widely used by organizations for alerts, announcements, and reminders. Its simplicity and reliability make it a solid choice for small teams. Users appreciate Text-Em-All’s intuitive interface and pay-as-you-go pricing.

But as companies grow, many find Text-Em-All's limited channels, basic automation, lack of in-depth analytics, and other aspects restrictive. Users on review platforms like G2 and Capterra have mentioned that its scalability, customization, and reach fall short compared to other platforms.

In this article, we’ll compare Text-Em-All with eight strong alternatives, highlighting key features, pros and cons, and pricing. By the end, you’ll see which provider best fits your messaging goals and why Messente stands out as the top choice for growing businesses.

Each of the alternatives we’ve shortlisted provides capabilities that can address Text-Em-All’s weaknesses while supporting your messaging strategy as your business expands.

• Messente

• Grasshopper

• SimpleTexting

• Textellent

• Twilio

• SlickText

• Brevo

• Textmagic

How our Text-Em-All alternatives compare head-to-head

A side-by-side view of must-have features, from coverage and channels to automation and free trial, so you can shortlist in minutes.

When evaluating alternatives to Text-Em-All, it’s important to identify your business’s messaging needs and look for a provider that excels in those areas. Here are a few key factors and features to consider:

• If you plan to reach customers on various channels or internationally, seek out platforms that support multiple messaging channels and offer strong global delivery routes.

• As your volumes grow, the service should handle large-scale messaging without delays or downtime. Look for features like smart routing (choosing the fastest delivery paths) and high uptime SLAs.

• A user-friendly interface or API is crucial. The platform should make it easy to compose campaigns, schedule messages, and manage contacts without steep learning curves.

• Advanced automation capabilities (like drip campaigns, autoresponders, or workflow builders) can be a huge plus.

• Providers with drag-and-drop campaign builders or ready templates can save you time in campaign execution.

• Consider the pricing model and support quality. Avoid services with confusing credit systems or hidden fees if possible. Go for a partner known for responsive support and guidance as your usage grows.

1. Messente: Global omnichannel messaging API with hands-on support

Messente is a business messaging service that offers a unified API for SMS and popular chat apps alongside an easy-to-use web platform. The Estonia-based provider specializes in helping businesses send critical texts, such as PIN codes, alerts, and marketing campaigns in over 190 countries. With smart routing over 800 networks, Messente achieves very high delivery rates (around 98%) and offers an uptime SLA of 99.8%.

Main features

Messente provides one API and platform to send messages via multiple channels. This means you can easily reach users by SMS globally or through WhatsApp/Viber where it’s supported, all from the same integration.

The omnichannel approach further helps improve delivery rates by automatically falling back to SMS if an OTT message fails.

The platform offers real-time delivery reports, message tracking, and detailed statistics for all your messages.

Users praise how Messente’s dashboard shows delivery speeds, status, content details, costs, and more for each message in one place.

Messente operates on a highly reliable infrastructure, compliant with strict standards. Their systems are ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and GDPR-compliant, with servers hosted in the EU for data security. They also implement fraud monitoring to combat artificially inflated traffic (AIT) and other SMS fraud, proactively contacting clients about suspicious spikes.

With Messente, you get both an intuitive web interface and a developer-friendly API. Non-developers can use the web dashboard to send campaigns or two-way messages without any coding. The UI is straightforward. Customers note it’s easy to navigate and includes all needed features like contact management and scheduling, so even small teams can use it effectively. Developers can integrate the RESTful API with extensive documentation and code samples.

A standout feature of Messente is its extremely responsive support team. Clients frequently report getting help in under an hour from knowledgeable reps. Furthermore, Messente has dedicated account managers for high-volume customers (over 1 million messages/month) to provide hands-on guidance. This level of support is a refreshing change in an industry where some big providers take days to respond.

Messente offers useful add-ons like number lookup (to verify and clean phone number lists) and a convenient contact management system.

The platform also supports two-way messaging, enabling you to receive replies from customers using either virtual long numbers or short codes where available.

For authentication use cases, Messente provides a tool called Verigator, which you can use to send one-time PIN codes via a pre-registered Sender ID.

To sum it up, Messente delivers a full suite of messaging capabilities suitable for both transactional notifications and marketing campaigns, with an emphasis on quality of service.

Areas where Messente outperforms Text-Em-All

Unlike Text-Em-All, which primarily focuses on US and Canada-based texting and calling and doesn’t offer any OTT messaging channels, Messente is built for international messaging and also offers WhatsApp and Viber channels in addition to SMS.

Text-Em-All’s credit system and add-on costs, like paying extra for short code usage or certain features, can frustrate users. Messente’s pricing is straightforward and all-inclusive, as detailed on their pricing page. You won’t encounter surprise charges, making it more budget-friendly to scale up with Messente.

While Text-Em-All is known for good support, Messente truly shines in this area. Every customer gets quick, one-on-one support, and high-volume clients get a dedicated account manager for proactive care. In contrast, some Text-Em-All users have noted slower support response when they had issues or when trying to get help with account changes.

Messente’s feature set caters well to modern messaging needs. It provides detailed real-time analytics and even notifies you of suspicious traffic patterns for fraud prevention, which are capabilities beyond the basics that Text-Em-All offers.

Lastly, Messente has experience handling time-sensitive messages (like bank OTPs or emergency alerts) and maintains stable throughput by using the best carrier routes. Businesses that can’t afford delays or failures will appreciate this reliability.

Potential limitations of Messente

While Messente is a powerful platform, it’s important to note a few potential drawbacks as reported by some users.

Any reputable SMS provider will incur substantial costs on a huge scale, but companies with massive traffic may need to negotiate volume discounts with Messente’s team to keep costs manageable. Relying on per-message costs alone might not cut it.

Messente currently does not offer a dedicated mobile app for its platform. All usage is via the web dashboard or API. A few reviewers have wished for a mobile app to manage messages on the go.

Additionally, while the platform has good automation features, extremely advanced workflows might require custom handling. These are relatively minor points, and Messente’s team is very responsive in assisting with such needs, but it’s an area for potential improvement, nevertheless.

By focusing on core messaging reliability, Messente doesn’t try to be a full marketing automation suite. It lacks some non-SMS features that other multi-channel platforms have, although you can combine Messente with other tools via external integration. Additionally, features like template libraries or in-app campaign design are basic. Messente assumes you come with your message content prepared. These aren’t exactly “cons,” but rather conscious trade-offs in favor of communications specialization.

2. Grasshopper: Virtual business phone system with texting capabilities

Grasshopper is a bit different from a pure SMS marketing tool. It’s a virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses. With Grasshopper, you get a business phone number that can handle calls and text messages through a mobile or desktop app.

Essentially, Grasshopper allows you to run a professional phone line for your business without physical hardware. It provides features like call forwarding, voicemail transcription, and, of course, SMS texting from your business number. Grasshopper is popular among freelancers and small teams who want to project a professional image and keep work communications separate from personal lines.

Main features

• One or more virtual phone numbers

• Mobile apps for iOS and Android, and desktop apps for Windows and Mac

• Call management features

• Basic text messaging features for SMS and MMS

• Instant response texts

Areas where Grasshopper outperforms Text-Em-All

While Grasshopper serves a somewhat different purpose than Text-Em-All, there are a few areas where it offers clear advantages as an alternative.

Grasshopper combines voice and SMS in one platform, whereas Text-Em-All is mostly about one-way mass messaging and automated calls. If your business needs a single phone number to both call and text clients, Grasshopper provides that seamlessly.

Grasshopper was built with mobile in mind. The smartphone app allows you to send/receive texts or calls anytime, anywhere. This ease of managing communications on the go is a major selling point of Grasshopper.

For businesses that want to appear professional and established, Grasshopper offers features like custom greetings, extensions, and call routing that Text-Em-All doesn’t provide. Text-Em-All’s focus is mass outbound notifications; it doesn’t handle inbound calling or provide a business number that customers can call for help.

Grasshopper’s plans include texting and calling as part of a flat monthly fee, rather than charging per text or per call credit (within fair use limits). For a small business sending a moderate number of texts, this can be cost-effective.

Potential limitations of Grasshopper

Grasshopper has some limitations and downsides to be aware of, especially when comparing it to dedicated messaging platforms.

First and foremost, Grasshopper is not designed for SMS marketing campaigns or large broadcasts. You cannot send one text to thousands of recipients at once as you can with Text-Em-All. Messages must be sent individually or to small groups. If your goal is mass outreach (e.g., sending a blast alert to 500 customers simultaneously), Grasshopper isn’t the right tool for you. It’s more suited for one-on-one or one-to-few communications.

The SMS capability in Grasshopper, while handy, is basic. There are no advanced SMS marketing features.

Some users have reported reliability hiccups with Grasshopper’s service. Complaints include occasional call drops, delayed text delivery, or the app freezing when making calls. There are also reports of the mobile app or desktop app being glitchy at times. These issues can impact a small business heavily since Grasshopper is their primary phone line. While not everyone experiences this, it’s a recurring theme in negative reviews.

Grasshopper operates mostly as a standalone system. It doesn’t offer extensive native integration with CRMs, help desks, or other software.

Grasshopper’s parent company, LogMeIn (now known as GoTo), has been criticized for customer support. Many users on review platforms, especially Trustpilot, express frustration with difficulties reaching support and resolving issues. Additionally, some have encountered surprise fees, such as regulatory recovery fees, on top of advertised plan prices.

Grasshopper is intended for small operations. For more than a handful of users or multiple lines, it can become expensive. Additionally, team collaboration features are minimal; there’s no shared inbox for texts or advanced admin controls beyond basic call routing. If your team grows, you might outgrow Grasshopper’s capabilities and need a more robust unified communications system.

3. SimpleTexting: Easy-to-use SMS marketing platform

SimpleTexting is a dedicated SMS marketing and communications platform known for its user-friendly interface and robust feature set for businesses of all sizes. It allows you to send mass texts, manage two-way conversations, run marketing campaigns, and set up automated texting workflows in a very straightforward way.

SimpleTexting is a direct competitor to Text-Em-All in the mass texting department, offering more marketing-oriented features and flexibility.

Main features

• Mass texting and segmentation

• Two-way messaging inbox

• Mobile app

• Automated texting workflows

• Unlimited keywords and other opt-in tools

• MMS and rich media

• Analytics and reporting tools

Areas where SimpleTexting outperforms Text-Em-All

Both Text-Em-All and SimpleTexting support two-way messaging, but SimpleTexting’s interface for it is superior. It has an inbox with threaded conversations and even a mobile app for replying on the go.

SimpleTexting has built-in automation features like scheduled campaigns, autoresponders, and drip series, which Text-Em-All lacks.

SimpleTexting is often lauded for its intuitive design. Reviews frequently mention how quick it is to learn and use; even non-technical users can launch a campaign in minutes. The dashboard is modern and straightforward.

Another advantage of SimpleTexting is that it provides unlimited keywords on all plans, which is a big plus for marketers running multiple campaigns. Text-Em-All, in contrast, is not primarily built around keyword opt-ins. It is more often used with pre-uploaded contacts for notifications and may charge extra for dedicated short codes or keywords.

Both Text-Em-All and SimpleTexting have good reputations, but the latter has been specifically recognized for excellent support. Users often mention prompt, helpful customer service from the SimpleTexting team, whether via chat, phone, or email.

Potential limitations of SimpleTexting

Here are some potential downsides or limitations of SimpleTexting, drawn from user feedback.

While SimpleTexting’s pricing is straightforward, some users mention that the monthly cost can rise rapidly as your message volume increases. If you need to send tens of thousands of messages, you’ll have to be on one of the higher plans or pay overage, which can get pricey, although still competitive in the industry.

Secondly, SimpleTexting is primarily focused on SMS/MMS, so you may need to coordinate with other systems through Zapier.

A few SimpleTexting users have experienced that when sending very large campaigns, messages sometimes go out in batches or with slight delays to avoid carrier issues. In contrast, Text-Em-All actually promotes “No batching or throttling” on its website.

4. Textellent: Personalized texting solution with CRM integrations

Textellent is a business texting platform that stands out for its focus on automated personalized messaging and integration with business workflows, such as appointment scheduling and CRM systems. This makes Textellent especially popular among service businesses. It’s a capable Text-Em-All alternative for those who want texting tightly woven into their daily operations.

Main features

• Text-enable your business line

• Automated appointment scheduling and reminders

• Wide array of integrations

• Chrome browser extension

• Mass texting with personalization

• Dedicated short codes or keywords

• Customer engagement tracking

Areas where Textellent outperforms Text-Em-All

Text-Em-All has no special concept of appointments or scheduling; it’s purely a messaging sender. Textellent, by contrast, is extremely useful for appointment-centric businesses due to its built-in scheduling module and automated reminders.

Textellent is also great for integrating texting into other software. For instance, QuickBooks users can send payment reminders or marketing texts to clients from within QuickBooks via Textellent.

Textellent’s ability to text-enable your main business number or use a consistent dedicated number means customers always see a familiar sender, improving response rates.

The Textellent Messenger Chrome extension is a unique productivity booster, letting you text from any webpage by highlighting a number. This means you can initiate texts from where you already work. For busy professionals, that’s a big advantage.

Potential limitations of Textellent

Textellent offers powerful features, but it has its own downsides to consider.

For instance, Textellent is less widely known than some competitors, meaning there are fewer community resources or third-party integrations beyond what the company provides.

Since Textellent is feature-rich (especially the scheduling and CRM parts), it might be a bit more complex to set up initially compared to a plug-and-play service.

Some Textellent users have implied that certain packages include services they don’t use, making it needlessly pricey.

For businesses with multiple team members handling texts, Textellent’s offering is unclear. It doesn’t emphasize team inbox features the way some other providers do. If you have a larger team needing to share the texting load, you might want to confirm how Textellent supports that, if at all.

5. Twilio: Developer-centric communications API for SMS and more

Twilio is a massive player in the communications space. It provides APIs for developers to programmatically send and receive SMS, MMS, voice calls, WhatsApp messages, video, and more. While not an out-of-the-box marketing tool like Text-Em-All, Twilio is often considered by businesses needing maximum flexibility and scalability in their messaging. It allows you to build custom texting solutions tailored to your business.

Main features

• Programmable SMS and voice APIs and SDKs

• Massive global infrastructure

• Multi-channel communication

• Advanced telecom features

• Enterprise-grade reliability and compliance

• SLAs and premium support

Areas where Twilio outperforms Text-Em-All

With Text-Em-All, you’re limited to the features of their platform. Twilio, on the other hand, is completely customizable. Essentially, any unique workflow or integration you envision, Twilio can turn it into a reality.

Text-Em-All does texting and voice calls (robocalls), but Twilio can consolidate SMS, voice, WhatsApp, email, and more within one platform. This is powerful for a business that wants a unified communication strategy.

Twilio is used by some of the largest tech companies; it can handle massive scale reliably. If you anticipate sending millions of texts monthly or need very fast throughput, Twilio’s infrastructure is optimized for that, and you can even pay for higher throughput routes.

Twilio has extensive documentation, example code, and an active community of developers.

Potential limitations of Twilio

The biggest limitation is that Twilio is developer-centric. If you don’t have a developer or IT team to integrate the APIs or set up tools like Twilio Studio, Twilio on its own can be very daunting. There’s no friendly broadcast UI for, say, a non-technical office manager to just log in and send texts. In contrast, Text-Em-All is plug-and-play for non-tech users.

Twilio has gotten criticism for its customer support, especially for small accounts. Many small businesses have complained about unresponsive support and difficulties with issue resolution. The general sentiment is that unless you are a big customer, support can be slow and inaccessible.

Twilio’s flexibility means more things to manage. There’s a learning curve and maintenance overhead. If your needs are simple, this complexity is unnecessary and burdensome.

While Twilio’s per-message cost is low, some users find the pricing structure complicated. There are charges for phone numbers, for carrier lookup, for premium features like delivered receipt confirmation in some countries, etc. If you don’t configure things carefully, you might incur unexpected charges.

Some small users have reported that Twilio can be quick to suspend or ban accounts if they detect any hint of spam or if you violate terms, even unknowingly. Getting reinstated can be a slow process with support. Text-Em-All also monitors usage, but being a smaller service, they might be more communicative before shutting you off.

6. SlickText: SMS marketing platform geared towards engagement

SlickText is a popular SMS marketing service focusing on helping businesses drive customer engagement and loyalty via text messaging. It’s well-known for having a very intuitive interface while still offering advanced marketing features.

Main features

• Bulk SMS and MMS with personalization

• Two-way messaging inbox built for close collaboration

• Drip campaigns and auto-responders

• Rich media support

• SMS-to-email forwarding

Areas where SlickText outperforms Text-Em-All

Compared to Text-Em-All’s simple broadcast-focused functionality, SlickText provides a comprehensive marketing toolkit. Unlimited keywords, drip campaigns, contests, and loyalty programs mean you can execute sophisticated SMS marketing strategies on SlickText.

SlickText is frequently praised for combining power with simplicity. The dashboard is intuitive, with drag-and-drop workflow tools and a very user-friendly design. Notably, SlickText manages not to overwhelm users with its extra features. They’re there when you need them, but the basic sending is straightforward.

SlickText’s strong two-way messaging inbox and collaboration tools mean it’s not just for bombarding people with messages but for truly conversing with subscribers and building relationships.

Potential limitations of SlickText

While SlickText can integrate via Zapier, it doesn’t have as many native integrations as some bigger platforms. For example, you might not find a direct one-click integration with every CRM. If deep integration is crucial and you don’t want to rely on Zapier, that could be a drawback.

While SlickText is user-friendly, some of the very advanced features, like setting up a complex multi-step contest or a loyalty program, require careful configuration.

SlickText’s support is generally positively reviewed, but there might be differences in support availability depending on the plan.

7. Brevo: Multi-channel marketing platform with integrated SMS

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an all-in-one marketing platform that provides email marketing, SMS messaging, live chat, CRM, and marketing automation in a single solution. It’s not as specialized in SMS as some others on this list, but its SMS features are solid for things like campaign blasts and automated texts within workflows.

Main features

• Email marketing and newsletters

• Marketing and transactional SMS campaigns

• Multi-channel automation workflow builder

• Live chat widget for websites

• Several eCommerce and CMS platforms

Areas where Brevo outperforms Text-Em-All

The most obvious advantage is that Brevo is not just about SMS. If your marketing or communications strategy involves email, Brevo lets you handle both channels in one place. Text-Em-All requires you to use a separate service for emails.

Brevo’s ability to create automated workflows combining triggers, conditions, and multi-step actions is something Text-Em-All cannot do. Also, Brevo offers a user-friendly interface to build these flows with no coding.

Text-Em-All stores contacts and can do basic grouping, but Brevo acts as a simplified CRM. You can store multiple attributes for each contact and use these to personalize messages or segment audiences dynamically.

If you need both email and SMS, Brevo could be more cost-effective than paying for an email service alongside Text-Em-All separately.

Potential limitations of Brevo

Since Brevo isn’t exclusively focused on text messaging, its SMS module isn’t as feature-rich as dedicated SMS platforms. It’s pretty basic. You can send bulk and automated messages, but it’s not loaded with SMS marketing tools. Two-way SMS availability is limited by country. Confirm coverage for your markets before making a switch.

Brevo does a lot, which can make it complex for new users. The interface tries to cover email design, automation, CRM, and SMS sending. Some users find it clunky or non-intuitive in parts.

Furthermore, being primarily an email company, Brevo’s SMS infrastructure might not be as optimized for deliverability in certain regions as a dedicated SMS provider that constantly improves its routes.

8. Textmagic: Reliable SMS service with straightforward web and API tools

Textmagic provides an online platform and mobile apps to send and receive SMS, along with an API for integration. It’s like a more established, feature-rich version of Text-Em-All in many respects. It's a strong alternative for those who want something a bit more polished than Text-Em-All yet not as marketing-heavy as maybe SlickText, and with proven deliverability.

Main features

• Two-way business texting

• Bulk SMS with region-bound MMS

• Email-to-SMS and SMS-to-email

• Mobile and desktop apps

• Number lookup feature

• Contacts and lists

Areas where Textmagic outperforms Text-Em-All

Both Textmagic and Text-Em-All support receiving replies, but the former provides a much nicer interface (chat-style) and the ability to initiate one-on-one conversations easily. Textmagic also offers dedicated mobile apps that allow you and your team to send and monitor SMS on the go.

If you need to text outside North America, Textmagic is a better choice as it has infrastructure for global SMS. Text-Em-All focuses on the US and Canada, mainly. Also, if you want the option to text in other languages or use Unicode emojis, Textmagic handles that well, too.

Textmagic’s email-to-SMS gateway functionality is something Text-Em-All doesn’t natively provide. That feature can be very useful for simple automation.

Textmagic has been around since the early 2000s and is quite a mature platform. Many reviews commend it for reliability and smooth operation.

Potential limitations of Textmagic

Like Text-Em-All, Textmagic is not built for complex SMS marketing campaigns in terms of features like drip campaigns, loyalty programs, etc. It’s fairly straightforward. So, if someone is looking at alternatives partly to get those advanced marketing features, Textmagic, like Text-Em-All, won’t fulfill that need.

Textmagic isn’t known for broad out-of-the-box integrations aside from email-to-SMS and its API. It doesn’t have a ton of native integrations with CRMs or such.

Summary: Key use cases, pricing, and trial information

Fast evaluation guide: match use case, check starting costs, and see if you can try before you buy.

Choosing the right messaging partner for your business

The best messaging platform isn’t just about sending texts. It’s about reliability, scalability, and support that keep up with your growth. While cheaper tools may look appealing at first, delayed support or undelivered messages can quickly add up in terms of lost revenue and frustrated customers.

When evaluating providers, focus on ROI, delivery consistency, and responsive support rather than just price. The right partner should scale effortlessly with your message volume, offer transparent analytics, and provide real human assistance when it matters most.