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 for agents registered in the US only.
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 with interactive elements
To break down pricing categories, we've laid out all the types of RCS messages you can send via Klaviyo and how they are priced. Note that pricing for text-only messages that are longer than 160 characters or contain quick actions varies slightly by region.
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 one 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 | Basic RCS, 1 credit per message segment 160 characters per message segment | 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 charges as Basic RCS, credits vary messages over 160 chars 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 will draw from your existing Mobile Messages available spend.
To see the mobile messaging rates specific to your plan,
Go to Settings > Billing > Account Usage > View Text Message Ratios
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 Messages 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.
- These are all the countries where both RCS is supported and Klaviyo currently supports SMS. We’ll add RCS in the remaining countries as it becomes available.
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.
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: 185 (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: 153 (1 x Basic RCS)
- Cost: Basic RCS rate x 1 message segment x 100,000
✅ Result: Sending the same content over SMS costs more, since each message must include an org prefix and opt-out instructions and therefore uses up 2 segments
Example 2 (emojis & 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: 191 (3 x SMS segments)
- Note: Emojis and special characters reduce the SMS segment character limit to 70.
- 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: 159 (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: Sending the same content over SMS costs significantly more, since emojis and special characters reduce the SMS character allowance.