One á can triple a Spanish text's cost: which accents break GSM-7

Take a 150-character Spanish event reminder. Written with "sabado" and "informacion", it is 1 SMS segment. Write "sábado" correctly and the whole message flips to unicode encoding. The limit drops to 70 characters per segment, or 67 when the text runs across several. That same 150-character text is now 3 segments, and every segment is billed.

Most nonprofits sending bilingual service updates find this on the invoice, not in the editor. The cause is specific and predictable. The GSM-7 character set, which carriers use for standard texts, includes some Spanish accented letters and leaves out others. This guide covers which letters are in it, which are not, what the difference costs on a 2,000-contact list, and when dropping the accent is worth it.

Which Spanish characters are in GSM-7 and which aren't

GSM-7 is a 128-character alphabet built in the 1980s around Western European languages. It picked up some accented letters and missed others, and the gaps line up badly with Spanish.

The part that catches people: unicode is all-or-nothing. A single á anywhere in the message re-encodes all of it. You don't pay extra for the one letter. Every character in the text now counts against the 70-character limit.

The good news is in the "Yes" rows. Ñ, the letter most people worry about, is free. So are the opening question and exclamation marks. "¿Necesita ayuda? Llame mañana" is plain GSM-7.

One related detail: if staff draft in Word or Google Docs, curly quotes, long dashes and ellipses can also force unicode. Ready swaps those for plain versions before sending, so on Ready they never change the count. Accented vowels are different. They are real letters in your copy, and we send them as you wrote them.

The segment math, step by step

The rules:

• GSM-7: 160 characters in a single segment. A longer text splits into 153-character segments.
• Unicode: 70 characters in a single segment. A longer text splits into 67-character segments.

Here are common message lengths in each encoding:

Short texts are safe. At 70 characters or fewer, an accent costs nothing. The damage starts once a message goes past 70 characters, which most event reminders do once they include a date, time, address and opt-out line.

What it costs on a 2,000-contact list

This is a worked example with stated assumptions: 2,000 opted-in contacts, Ready's Standard rate of $0.0075/segment plus the $0.0045 per-segment carrier fee. At today's carrier fee, that is $0.012 per segment all-in.

Ready's all-in prices per segment include the carrier fee but not screening: Scrub lists and Number validation, the two switches in Settings under Compliance, each add $0.003 per segment when switched on, shown as screening on your bill, and both are off by default. Unless you turn the opt-out footer off, the first text to each contact, and one again from time to time, also gets "Reply STOP to opt out" and your business name if the message does not already have them, so a text close to the segment limit can bill one more segment.

Scenario 1: a 150-character Spanish-only reminder

• Accents stripped (GSM-7): 2,000 × 1 segment = 2,000 segments × $0.012 = $24.00
• One á, í, ó or ú left in (unicode): 2,000 × 3 segments = 6,000 segments × $0.012 = $72.00

That is a lot extra for one letter.

Scenario 2: one bilingual text, English and Spanish together

Plenty of organizations send a single text with both languages so they don't have to track language preference. Say that runs 300 characters.

• GSM-7: 2,000 × 2 segments = 4,000 segments × $0.012 = $48.00
• Unicode: 2,000 × 5 segments = 10,000 segments × $0.012 = $120.00

If you send that reminder monthly, the difference repeats every month, for the same list and the same information.

Scenario 3: split by language preference

Now say you know each contact's preferred language: 1,200 English, 800 Spanish. Each gets a 150-character text in their own language.

• English, GSM-7: 1,200 × 1 = 1,200 segments
• Spanish, accents stripped: 800 × 1 = 800 segments
• Total: 2,000 segments × $0.012 = $24.00

Keep full accents in the Spanish version and it becomes 800 × 3 = 2,400 segments. With the 1,200 English segments, that is 3,600 segments, still fewer than the 4,000 of one combined text.

Splitting by language with full accents (3,600 segments) is still cheaper than a combined bilingual text in GSM-7 (4,000 segments). It also reads better. If you can capture language preference at sign-up, that is often the best fix of all, and it doesn't ask anyone to misspell anything.

Two related posts cover the rest of the bill. If your provider quotes one "per-message" price, the carrier fee line item explains where the $0.0045 goes. If your segment totals don't match what you expected, the segment-count audit walks through how to find the gap.

When stripping accents is fine

Informal Spanish texting drops accents all the time. Most readers fill them in from context without slowing down. Stripping is usually fine for:

• Dates and days. "Sabado 14 de junio" is read correctly by everyone. You can also avoid the issue: "miércoles" is pure GSM-7 because é is included.
• Common logistics words. "Informacion," "direccion" and "ubicacion" are unambiguous without the accent.
• Short confirmations. "Su cita esta confirmada" reads as "está" in context.
• Routine, repeated updates. Food pantry hours, class reminders, distribution-day notices. Your readers have seen this message before.

When stripping accents hurts

Some accents change the meaning of the word. Others signal care to an audience that notices. Keep accents, or rewrite the sentence, when:

• The accent changes the word. "Si" (if) vs "sí" (yes), "tu" (your) vs "tú" (you), "el" (the) vs "él" (he), "mas" (but) vs "más" (more). "Responda si para confirmar" is usually understood, but "Responda SÍ" removes any doubt.
• The instructions matter. Health, legal aid, housing deadlines, medication pickup. If a misread could cause harm, pay for clarity. On a 2,000-contact list, the extra cost is small next to one family missing a deadline.
• Names and places. People notice when their own name or neighborhood is misspelled. "Ramón," "María" and "Martínez" all break GSM-7, and merging contact names into a template can switch an otherwise clean campaign to unicode for those specific recipients.
• Formal or first-contact messages. A welcome text, a consent confirmation or anything from your executive director sets the tone. Correct spelling reads as respect.

Rewrites that keep the accent rules and the readability

You can often avoid the accented word instead of misspelling it:

1. Swap the word. Use "info" for "información," "lugar" for "dirección," "llame" for "su número de teléfono."
2. Use numerals for dates. "Sab 14/6" or "el 14 de junio" for "el sábado."
3. Choose é-words where they fit. "Teléfono" still breaks GSM-7 because of the ó, but "miércoles," "después" and "café" are fine.
4. Keep it under 70 characters if you need the accent. A short message with full accents costs 1 segment regardless.
5. Check merge fields. Count segments against your longest real name, not a placeholder like "Nombre."
6. Watch phone keyboards. Staff typing on a phone with a Spanish keyboard get accents added by autocorrect. Draft templates on a desktop and paste them in.

Before any large send, paste the final text into a segment counter and confirm the encoding.

A note on what the message is for

Everything above assumes service updates and event reminders sent to people who opted in to hear from you. Before you add texts to a list from a partner organization, read why consent doesn't transfer with a shared spreadsheet. Also make sure your 10DLC campaign use case matches what you actually send.

Our compliance tools reduce risk: STOP handling that carries across campaigns, quiet-hours holds and optional scrubbing. Compliance itself is still the sender's responsibility.

The practical takeaway

• é, ñ, ü, ¿ and ¡ are free. They are part of GSM-7.
• á, í, ó and ú are not. Any one of them switches the whole text to 70- or 67-character segments.
• Under 70 characters, encoding doesn't matter. Over 70, an accent can triple the segment count.
• Splitting by language usually beats one combined bilingual text, on both cost and readability.
• Strip accents for routine logistics. Keep them for meaning-changing words, names and anything where a misread could hurt someone.

To check this against your own templates, the messages API docs cover sending. Your first 20 texts on Ready are free one-to-one sends, so you can text yourself and colleagues to see how each version renders before you sign up for a real campaign. Campaigns are billed from the first text. Current rates are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Does ñ make a text message switch to unicode?

No, ñ and Ñ are part of the GSM-7 character set, so they don't change the encoding. The same goes for é, ü and the opening ¿ and ¡ marks. A text like "¿Necesita ayuda? Llame mañana" stays plain GSM-7, with up to 160 characters in a single segment. The Spanish letters that do force unicode are á, í, ó and ú, along with any emoji. One of those anywhere in the message re-encodes the whole thing.

Why does one accented letter make a whole SMS cost more?

Unicode encoding is all or nothing. A single á, í, ó or ú switches every character in the message to unicode, which drops the limit from 160 characters to 70 per segment, or 67 when the text runs across several. A 150-character reminder goes from 1 segment to 3, and every segment is billed. On 2,000 contacts at $0.012 per segment (Standard rate plus carrier fee, before any compliance surcharge), that's 2,000 segments versus 6,000.

Should I send one bilingual text or separate English and Spanish texts?

Separate texts by language preference usually cost less and read better. A 300-character combined English and Spanish text sent to 2,000 contacts is 4,000 segments even in GSM-7. Sending 1,200 English contacts and 800 Spanish contacts a 150-character text in their own language, with full accents kept, comes to 3,600 segments. If you can capture language preference at sign-up, nobody has to misspell anything.

Can contact names in a merge field change the SMS encoding?

Yes. Names like Ramón, María and Martínez contain characters outside GSM-7, so merging them into a template can switch an otherwise clean message to unicode for those specific recipients. On a text that runs past 70 characters, that can triple the segment count. Count segments against your longest real name, not a placeholder like "Nombre," and paste the final text into a segment counter before any large send to confirm the encoding.

Before your first donation appeal: our acceptable use policy needs Ready's written OK for fundraising texts. Email support@tryready.com with your organization's name and its charity registration, or for a candidate, committee or PAC its FEC or state filing ID, and wait for our reply before you send an appeal.