Free trial
The free trial lets you test each channel before paying. Each channel comes with free credits. SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, Viber, and Email also include a shared test sender.
How long the trial lasts depends on your account type. A countdown in the web interface shows how many days remain.
- Self-signup accounts: One trial of 60 days for the whole account, whatever the channel. It starts when you create your account.
- Managed accounts: A trial of 30 days for each channel. It starts when the channel is added to your account.
Trial limits
The free trial differs from a paying account in these ways:
| Free trial | Paying account | |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Self-signup: 60 days for the whole account. Managed: 30 days for each channel. | Ongoing |
| Sender | Shared test sender, on SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, Viber, and Email | Your own sender, registered where required |
| Recipients | Self-signup: verified recipients only, for messages and calls. Managed: no verified-recipient restriction. | Any recipient, subject to channel and country rules |
| How you send | API and web interface, within your free credits | Same, and you pay for what you send. Rate limits and the flooding filter still apply. |
| Products such as AgentOS | Not included in the trial | Purchased separately |
| Credits and billing | Free credits for each channel on the trial. As a guide, they cover up to 100 messages on a channel. The exact amount differs by channel and can change. For Voice, the credits are in minutes. | Self-signup: prepaid balance, with automatic payments where available. Managed: prepaid or postpaid, depending on your billing terms. |
The shared test sender is a predefined sender, for example InfoSMS, ServiceSMS, DemoCompany, or a number such as 447xxxxxx. It differs by country and channel. Other channels, such as RCS, need a registered sender before you can test.
What requires a paying account
The free trial is for evaluating the platform, not for full integration testing. You can test these only after you move to a paying account:
- Your own sender: Get a sender first. Buying a number may incur a cost. Where the channel or country requires it, you also register the sender, and timelines vary by channel and market. For example, WhatsApp, RCS, and Viber require an approved sender before you send to real customers. See Request resources through the web interface and US sender registration.
- Production throughput: With free credits only, you cannot test how fast you can send at scale.
For the full sequence, see the Go live checklist.
Verified recipients
On a self-signup account, during the trial, you can send messages and make calls only to verified recipients. Your verified recipients are the phone number and email address you verified during sign-up, up to two. Managed accounts do not have verified recipients.
Add more channels
You can add channels to your trial account at any time, with Add channel on your homepage or on the Channels and numbers page. On a managed account, the trial for a channel starts when the channel is added. On a self-signup account, the channel uses the 60-day trial of your account. How a channel is added depends on your account type:
- Self-signup accounts: The platform adds SMS, WhatsApp, Viber, Voice, and Email immediately. For other channels, you submit a request, and the platform activates the channel after review.
- Managed accounts: The platform adds WhatsApp immediately. For other channels, you submit a request, and the team that supports your account activates the channel.
For the full workflow, including senders for the channel, see Request resources through the web interface.
Continue after the trial
To keep sending after the trial, move to a paying account:
- Self-signup accounts: Add funds to your balance. Adding funds ends the free trial and moves your whole account to a paying account. Sending on a channel stops when its free credits run out. When the 60 days run out, you cannot send until you add funds.
- Managed accounts: A channel stops sending on the trial when its free credits are used up or its trial days run out. Agree on payment terms with your account manager, who then switches the channel to a paying account. When the trial on a channel ends, its unused free credits and its shared test sender are removed.
Send your first message
Choose a channel and send a test message.
Upgrade to a paying account
Add funds to end the free trial.
Go live
Move to production with the readiness checklist.
Was this page helpful?