RCS Pricing
RCS Agent Registration Fees
Klaviyo does not currently charge any RCS agent fees in any country. However, fees may be introduced in the future.
RCS Message Rates
Pricing Categories
RCS messages are priced based on content type and region. There are two pricing categories:
- Basic RCS - for basic, text-only messages (limits vary by region)
- Single RCS - for rich messages and, in supported countries outside the US, text-only messages over 160 characters or with quick actions
Pricing for text-only messages that are longer than 160 characters or contain quick actions varies by region. The credit amounts below apply to legacy credit pricing. To find rates for your plan, follow the steps in the RCS message rates section below.
Text-only | Text-only with quick actions | Card | Card Carousel | |
Description | A text-only message | A text-only message with up to 11 quick actions. Quick Actions appear as suggestion chips below the message. Actions supported:
| A card template with at least 1 of the following elements:
A card can contain up to 4 of its own quick actions. When a quick action is attached to a card, it's called a button. | Up to 10 cards in a swipe-able carousel. |
Legacy Credit Pricing: United States | Basic RCS, 1 credit per message segment 160 characters per message segment; up to 3,072 characters per message. | Basic RCS, 1 credit per message segment. In-app drawer links change the message to Single RCS, 3 credits. 160 characters per Basic RCS segment, including quick-action labels. Up to 3,072 characters in the message body. | Single RCS, 3 credits Title: up to 200 chars Description: up to 2,000 chars | Single RCS, 3 credits Title: up to 200 chars Description: up to 2,000 chars |
Legacy Credit Pricing: Rest of World | Messages with 160 characters or fewer are charged as Basic RCS; credits vary. Messages over 160 characters are charged as Single RCS. These messages can contain up to 3,072 characters. | Single RCS, credits vary up to 3,072 chars per message | Single RCS, credits vary Title: up to 200 chars Description: up to 2,000 chars | Single RCS, credits vary Title: up to 200 chars Description: up to 2,000 chars |
Buttons | No | No | Yes Up to 4 per card. Labels can be up to 25 chars. | Yes Up to 4 per card. Labels can be up to 25 chars. |
Quick Actions | Yes Up to 11 per message. Labels can be up to 25 chars. | Yes Up to 11 per message. Labels can be up to 25 chars. | Yes Up to 11 per message. Labels can be up to 25 chars. | |
Media | No | No | Yes (image or video) | Yes (image or video) |
RCS Message Rates
Costs vary by message type and country, but all RCS messages draw from your existing mobile messaging plan. Depending on your plan, usage is shown as spend or credits.
To see the mobile messaging rates specific to your plan, go to Settings > Billing, then follow the path shown in your account:
- If you have an Account usage tab, open it and click View text message ratios.
- If your Overview tab shows plan cards, click View on Mobile messaging. Under Historical > Text messaging, click See rates or See ratios.
Review the Basic RCS and Single RCS rates for the country you plan to send to.
Basic RCS in the US is billed in 160-character segments, similar to SMS. This means longer messages will consume more message segments and, therefore, will cost more. For example, a Basic RCS message with 161 characters will be charged as 2 message segments.
Notes:
- RCS messages count against your mobile messaging plan.
- Fallback to SMS/MMS occurs automatically when RCS is not supported on the recipient’s device or network.
- Pricing is subject to change if carrier or network costs increase, but we will always provide at least 30 days’ notice before any price updates go into effect.
- RCS sending requires an active RCS agent in the recipient’s country. Learn more about getting started with RCS.
More characters available per message
One of the key advantages of RCS over SMS is the additional characters available within each message. Since RCS messages include built-in branding and opt-out functionality, there is no need to include an org prefix or opt-out instructions in the message body. This gives you roughly 40 additional characters per message.
In addition, unlike SMS, emojis in RCS do not reduce the character limit from 160 to 70. This allows you to create richer, more engaging messages without sacrificing space for your core content. Some emojis count as more than 1 character, so check the character count in the editor.
The examples below use the exact text shown and assume all RCS recipients can receive RCS. Use your plan’s SMS and Basic RCS rates to calculate the cost. Recipients who receive the SMS or MMS fallback use that message type’s rate.
Example 1 (text-only)
SMS message:
- Recipients: 100,000 US recipients
- Copy:
- Klaviyo: Your summer essentials are here! Enjoy 25% OFF across all categories until midnight. Free shipping on orders over £50. Shop now at https://kav4.io/XXXXXX. Reply STOP to opt out.
- Characters: 186 (2 x SMS segments)
- Cost: SMS rate x 2 message segments x 100,000
RCS message:
- Recipients: 100,000 US recipients
- Copy:
- Your summer essentials are here! Enjoy 25% OFF across all categories until midnight. Free shipping on orders over £50. Shop now at https://kav4.io/XXXXXX.
- Characters: 154 (1 x Basic RCS)
- Cost: Basic RCS rate x 1 message segment x 100,000
Result: In this example, the org prefix and opt-out instructions bring the SMS message to 2 segments, while Basic RCS uses 1. The difference in cost depends on your plan’s SMS and Basic RCS rates.
Example 2 (emojis and special characters)
SMS message:
- Recipients: 100,000 US recipients
- Copy:
- Klaviyo: 🏖️ Your summer essentials are here! Enjoy 25% OFF across all categories until midnight ⏰. Free shipping on orders over £50. Shop now 👉 https://kav4.io/XXXXXX. Reply STOP to opt out.
- Characters: 192 (3 x SMS segments)
- Note: Emojis and some special characters reduce the SMS limit to 70 characters for 1 segment, or 67 characters per segment for longer messages.
- Cost: SMS rate x 3 message segments x 100,000
RCS message:
- Recipients: 100,000 US recipients
- Copy:
- 🏖️ Your summer essentials are here! Enjoy 25% OFF across all categories until midnight ⏰. Free shipping on orders over £50. Shop now 👉 https://kav4.io/XXXXXX.
- Characters: 160 (1 x Basic RCS)
- Note: Emojis and special characters don’t reduce the RCS segment character limit.
- Cost: Basic RCS rate x 1 message segment x 100,000
Result: In this example, SMS uses 3 segments because the emojis reduce its character allowance, while Basic RCS uses 1. The difference in cost depends on your plan’s SMS and Basic RCS rates.