A dedicated short code is the fastest, most trusted way to text Americans at scale. It is also the most expensive and slowest to set up. Expect to pay a five-figure annual lease and wait a couple of months before you send anything. For a handful of senders that cost pays for itself in a single campaign. For most others, a short code solves a problem they don't have.
This post covers what a short code costs, how long approval takes, which carriers support it, and the specific conditions under which it beats toll-free or 10DLC. We make Ready, and Ready sends on registered 10DLC numbers and iMessage lines. We don't lease short codes. If your numbers point to a short code, we'll say so and tell you where to get one.
What a short code is and who runs them
A short code is a 5- or 6-digit number (like 72345) provisioned on each US carrier for application-to-person texting. Leases come from the US Short Code Registry. The code is then connected to carriers through a short code provider or aggregator, which handles the carrier application, testing and ongoing audits.
There are two kinds:
- Random short code: the registry assigns the digits. It's the cheaper option.
- Vanity short code: you pick the digits, usually to spell or echo a brand. It costs more and is purely a marketing choice. It doesn't deliver differently.
Short codes are country-specific. A US short code reaches US subscribers only, so if you also text Canada you need a separate Canadian code.
Short code pricing: the real line items
No single rate card exists, so treat these as round industry approximations. Your provider's quote will vary.
| Line item | Typical range (approximate) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Random short code lease | $500/mo | Usually paid quarterly or in 3-, 6- or 12-month terms |
| Vanity short code lease | $1,000/mo | Same terms, you choose the digits |
| Provider setup / provisioning | varies widely | Some providers waive it, some charge per carrier |
| Per-message rate | provider-specific | Charged on top of the lease |
| Carrier fees | passed through per message | Separate from the provider rate |
The lease is the number that matters for budgeting. A random code at $500 a month is $6,000 a year before you send a single message. A vanity code is $12,000. You pay that whether you send 10 messages or 10 million.
For a line-by-line breakdown of how providers package these fees, see Short code cost: what you actually pay.
How long approval takes and what carriers check
Plan on roughly 8 to 12 weeks from application to live sending. It is sometimes longer if a carrier sends the application back. The process looks like this:
- Lease the code from the registry, which is quick.
- Submit a program brief through your provider. It covers your use case, message flow, sample messages, opt-in method, help and stop language, and message frequency.
- Carrier review. Each major carrier reviews and provisions the code separately, and this is where most of the wait sits.
- Testing and launch on each carrier once it's provisioned.
- Ongoing audits. Carriers monitor short code programs, and running content that doesn't match your brief can get the code suspended.
The weeks of review are why a short code isn't something you buy the week before a launch. If your timeline is "this quarter," you're already tight. Our guide on how to get a short code for texting walks through the application step by step.
Carrier support gaps
Major US carriers support short codes. Some smaller carriers and MVNOs don't support every code, and some prepaid plans let subscribers block short codes and toll-free texts entirely, so a slice of any list may never receive the message. If recipients report missing texts, the cause is often on their side. Why toll-free and short code texts are blocked covers how they can allow them.
Short code vs toll-free vs 10DLC vs iMessage line
Here is how the four sender types compare:
| Short code | Toll-free | 10DLC (local number) | iMessage line | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Looks like | 5 to 6 digits | 800/888/etc. | Local 10-digit number | Business name and photo on iPhone |
| Fixed cost | $6K+/yr lease | Low monthly number cost | $25/mo for registration + $2 per number on Ready | $99 a month per line on Ready |
| Time to live | ~8 to 12 weeks | Verification, often days to a few weeks | Most approvals take 2 to 7 days | No 10DLC registration needed |
| Throughput | Highest, built for bursts | Moderate | ~1 to 4 segments/sec fresh, tens for higher tiers | 50 new conversations/day per line |
| Two-way feel | Possible but feels robotic | OK | Natural, local | Natural |
| Best for | Huge bursts, 2FA at national scale | National support lines | Most business texting | 1:1 sales and service on iPhone |
The short code column wins on one axis, throughput, and loses on cost and setup time.
The worked math: when throughput forces a short code
Suppose a national retailer wants to send a flash-sale alert to 500,000 opted-in subscribers within an hour.
On a fresh 10DLC campaign, at an assumed 4 segments per second: 500,000 ÷ 4 = 125,000 seconds, or about 34.7 hours.
On a higher-tier 10DLC campaign, at an assumed 75 segments per second: 500,000 ÷ 75 ≈ 6,667 seconds, or about 1.85 hours.
Throughput isn't the only limit. T-Mobile caps 10DLC brands daily by trust score, at about 2,000, 10,000, 40,000, 100,000 or 200,000 messages a day. Even a top-tier brand can't push 500,000 messages to T-Mobile subscribers in one day from one brand. Brand vetting ($79 Standard / $179 Enhanced, one-time) can raise the score and the daily cap if it crosses a tier. It doesn't change the per-second rate.
That scenario is where a short code earns its lease. If a sale's revenue depends on the alert landing within the hour, $6,000 a year in lease is a small cost.
The worked math: when 10DLC is plenty
Now take a typical mid-size sender: 50,000 segments a month, sent over a few days, with no hard one-hour window.
On Ready Standard:
- Messages: 50,000 × $0.0075 = $375, plus 50,000 × $0.0045 carrier fee
- Registration: $25/mo for registration and $2/mo per number for 5 numbers, or $660/yr in fixed costs
That rate excludes the optional compliance surcharge. TCPA/DNC scrubbing and landline validation each cost $0.003 per segment when switched on, and both are off by default.
On a short code, the lease alone is $6,000 a year, before any per-message charges. At 50,000 segments a month, the 10DLC program finishes the month's sends comfortably within its throughput and daily caps. The short code would mostly be paying for capacity you never use.
On per-message price, raw CPaaS providers like Twilio (around $0.0083 per segment) and GoHighLevel/LeadConnector cost less per message than Ready Standard. What you get with Ready is registration handled in-app, STOP handling, quiet-hours enforcement and a unified inbox. A per-segment rate alone doesn't capture that. The 10DLC cost guide itemizes every fee.
When a short code is the right call
Get a short code if most of these apply:
- You regularly need to send hundreds of thousands of messages in hours, not days.
- Your volume to T-Mobile subscribers exceeds the top 10DLC daily brand cap.
- You run national 2FA or alerts where seconds of latency matter at peak.
- You want a memorable keyword-to-code call to action on TV, packaging or in a stadium ("Text WIN to 72345").
- You have 8 to 12 weeks of lead time and a budget that absorbs a five-figure lease.
Skip it if:
- Your sends are spread out and stay under a few hundred thousand a month.
- Your messages are conversational. People reply more naturally to a local number than to five digits.
- You need to launch in days, not months.
- You're a platform texting on behalf of many customers. Each customer usually needs its own registered identity, which is exactly what 10DLC brands and campaigns per sub-account provide.
Toll-free sits in the middle
Toll-free is a reasonable fit for a national support line where a local area code would feel odd, and verification is usually faster than a short code. It offers less throughput than a short code and less of the local feel 10DLC gives. If you're not sure which you need, toll-free is rarely the wrong choice, but it's rarely the best one either.
If 10DLC fits: what Ready does
Most senders reading this will end up on 10DLC. Here is what Ready handles:
- Registration in-app. You pay $25 at submit for the first month, then $25/mo for registration + $2 per number. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days. Accounts can send up to 500 texts a month before registering, at the normal rate.
- Sub-accounts for platforms, each with its own numbers and registration, created through
POST /v1/sub-accounts. - Automatic STOP handling, quiet hours and optional litigator/DNC scrubbing. These reduce risk, but compliance stays the sender's responsibility.
- Local presence, which picks the registered number closest to the contact's area code.
- iMessage line for iPhone conversations where the blue bubble and brand name help.
The API is a single POST /v1/messages call, or /v1/messages/bulk for up to 100 recipients per call. See the quickstart.
The short version
A short code buys throughput and a memorable keyword, and you pay for it with a five-figure annual lease and a two- to three-month wait. Run the burst math before you sign. Divide your largest time-sensitive campaign by realistic 10DLC throughput, and check it against the T-Mobile daily cap. If 10DLC can't hit your window, lease a short code through a short code provider. If it can, you'll save the lease and launch in days.
To test the 10DLC path first, sign up and use your first 20 free one-to-one texts before you register. Pricing is on the pricing page.