What is The Campaign Registry (TCR)? How 10DLC filing works

The Campaign Registry (TCR) is the central US database where every business that texts from a regular 10-digit number (10DLC) must register its brand and each messaging use case. Carriers read those records to decide whether your texts get delivered, how fast they move, and how many go out per day.

If you've seen "TCR" in a rejection email, a brand ID on an invoice, or a provider's registration form, this is the system behind it. This post covers what TCR stores, who files with it, what the fees look like, and how filing works when you send through Ready.

TCR answers a question carriers couldn't answer before 10DLC: who is sending this text, and what did they say they'd send? Until registration was required, business texts from local numbers looked the same as texts between people, and carriers filtered them based on guesswork. TCR gives every legitimate sender a verified identity and a declared purpose. Unregistered traffic now gets filtered.

What The Campaign Registry actually does

TCR is a registry. It isn't a carrier, it doesn't deliver messages, and you don't send texts "through" it. It keeps two kinds of records and shares them with the carriers and the companies that connect to them.

The brand record

A brand is the legal business doing the sending. The record holds:

• Legal company name, exactly as filed with the IRS
• EIN (US tax ID) and business type (private, public, nonprofit, government, sole proprietor)
• Business address, website and contact details
• Vertical (industry)
• Stock ticker, for public companies

TCR checks those details against outside data sources and gives the brand a trust score. The score matters more than anything else in the record, because it sets your T-Mobile daily message cap. Those caps are approximate, since carriers publish no official rate card. They run roughly ~2,000, ~10,000, ~40,000, ~100,000 or ~200,000 messages a day, lowest trust score first. AT&T throttles per second and per minute instead of setting a hard daily cap.

The most common reason a brand gets a low score is a mismatch. The name on the form doesn't match the IRS record, or the EIN belongs to a parent company. Copy the legal name from your EIN letter, character for character.

The campaign record

A campaign is one declared use case under a brand. It records:

• The use case category (marketing, account notifications, customer care, 2FA, mixed and so on)
• A description of what you send and why
• Two or more sample messages
• How people opt in, and the wording they see
• Opt-out and help keywords and their responses
• Whether messages contain links or phone numbers

Every sending number gets attached to a campaign. One brand can have several campaigns, for example appointment reminders and a separate marketing campaign. The category you choose affects your throughput, so match it to what you actually send. Our use-case guide covers that choice in detail.

What TCR doesn't do

TCR doesn't approve your messages on its own. Carriers and the connectivity layer above them review campaigns, and a campaign can be accepted in TCR and still be rejected or suspended by a carrier. Registration also doesn't guarantee delivery of each message. Content filtering still runs on every text, and a link shortener or a spammy phrase can get a fully registered campaign's texts blocked.

Who files with TCR (and who doesn't)

Most businesses never log into TCR. TCR works through Campaign Service Providers (CSPs): messaging platforms that submit brand and campaign records on behalf of their customers. When you register in Twilio, GoHighLevel or Ready, that platform is the CSP (or works through one), and it calls TCR for you.

That creates a structural question for software companies. If your product texts on behalf of your customers, whose brand goes in TCR? Usually it's each customer's own. A dentist's reminders go out under the dentist's brand, not under your SaaS company's brand. That means every customer needs its own brand record, its own campaign, and its own numbers attached to it. We cover the ownership question in 10DLC for SaaS platforms.

This is why Ready gives each customer a sub-account with its own numbers and its own registration. Brands stay isolated, so one customer's bad list can't drag down another customer's trust score or get their campaign suspended.

TCR fees, in general terms

TCR charges CSPs for brand registrations, campaign vetting and ongoing campaign upkeep. Carriers add their own pass-through fees on top. Most providers bundle all of this into one registration charge and one monthly charge, so you rarely see TCR's line items directly. The categories are:

1. Brand fee: for creating and verifying the brand record
2. Campaign fee: a recurring charge per active campaign, the largest ongoing cost
3. Per-number cost: the numbers attached to the campaign
4. Optional vetting: a deeper external check that can raise the trust score
5. Per-message carrier fees: small surcharges carriers add to each registered text

For the full breakdown by line, see 10DLC cost: every fee explained.

What it costs on Ready

Ready handles brand and campaign registration in-app with no setup fee. The figures are:

Worked example. This example assumes a platform with 40 customers, each on its own brand with one campaign and one number. It pays 40 × $25 = $1,000 at submit, then 40 × ($25 for registration + number $2) = $1,080 a month, before any messages are sent. That fixed cost is why platforms need to build registration into their pricing rather than absorb it per customer.

The sending rate is one flat Standard rate, $0.012 a segment all-in. It doesn't change with volume.

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.

Is vetting worth paying for?

Brand vetting ($79 Standard / $179 Enhanced, one-time) can raise your trust score. It only moves your daily cap if the new score crosses into a higher tier, and it doesn't change your per-second rate. A fresh standard campaign without vetting typically runs at about 1 to 4 segments per second. If you send a few hundred texts a day, standard registration is all you need. Vetting pays off for higher-volume senders who are near a cap. Our brand vetting breakdown shows where that line falls.

How filing works through Ready

Here is what happens when a business registers through Ready:

1. Brand details. You enter the legal name, EIN, address, website and vertical. We submit the brand record and the trust score comes back.
2. Campaign details. You pick a use case, write a description, add sample messages, and describe your opt-in flow and wording. Most rejections come from this step, usually vague samples or an opt-in description a reviewer can't verify.
3. Number attachment. Your numbers are linked to the campaign once it's approved.
4. Carrier review. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days.

Platforms creating registrations for many customers can do the same thing through the API: create a sub-account with POST /v1/sub-accounts, and check where a registration stands with GET /v1/registration. Our 10DLC registration API post walks through the platform flow, and the API quickstart covers keys and your first send.

Sending before approval

You don't have to sit idle while review runs:

• The first 20 texts are free one-to-one sends. A campaign is paid from the first text. The free texts end the moment a registration is paid for, so use them before you register.
• An account can send up to 500 texts a month before it registers, at its normal per-text rate. After that it has to register.
• An account that bought its number before registering sends on Ready's shared registration at the same per-text rate while its own registration is in review.

To send, you add a card and get a number, which is $2 a month with the first month charged when you get it.

What the registry doesn't cover for you

TCR records your opt-in process as you describe it. It doesn't store anyone's actual consent, and neither does Ready's attestation log. Ready records the sender's attestation per bulk send and per API send that attests consent: who sent, to how many, and when. It doesn't store a recipient's opt-in time, wording or page URL. Your own systems need to keep that per-contact consent record. (A contact who signs up on a Ready-hosted opt-in page is the exception: Ready stores that sign-up, with the time, IP address and exact wording, and support@tryready.com can send you a copy.)

Ready also handles opt-out propagation, quiet-hours holds and optional litigator/DNC scrubbing. These reduce your risk, but compliance stays the sender's responsibility.

Is TCR the same as 10DLC?

Not quite. 10DLC is the number type and the overall carrier framework for business texting on local numbers. TCR is the registry inside that framework where the paperwork lives. If you're starting from zero, what is 10DLC gives the bigger picture.

Toll-free numbers use a separate verification process and don't go through TCR. Ready's blue line (iMessage) also needs no 10DLC registration. Texts to Android phones from that account still go from the account's regular number, though, so most businesses register anyway.

The practical takeaway

The Campaign Registry is paperwork carriers actually read. Your brand record decides your trust score and daily cap. Your campaign record decides your use case, throughput and whether reviewers believe your opt-in story. Get both right on the first submission: match the legal name exactly, write sample messages that look like what you really send, and describe an opt-in a stranger could verify.

If you want registration handled in-app or through an API for your customers' sub-accounts, you can start on Ready and send your 20 free one-to-one texts before you register.

FAQ

What is The Campaign Registry?

It's the central US registry for 10DLC business texting. Businesses (through their messaging provider) register their brand and each campaign there, and carriers use those records to decide filtering, throughput and daily caps.

Do I register with TCR directly?

Almost never. Your messaging provider acts as, or works through, a Campaign Service Provider and submits the records for you. On Ready that happens in the app or through the API.

How long does TCR registration take?

Most approvals take 2 to 7 days. The brand step is usually quick. Campaign review by carriers takes most of that time, and a rejection restarts it, which is why sample messages and opt-in wording are worth getting right first.

How much does it cost?

Every provider bundles TCR and carrier fees differently. On Ready, there's no setup fee, the charge at submit is the first month ($25), and the monthly cost is $25 for registration + $2 per number. Brand vetting is optional at $79 Standard / $179 Enhanced, one-time.

Does registering with TCR guarantee delivery?

No. Registration gets you out of the unregistered-traffic filter and sets your caps, but carriers still filter individual messages on content. A registered campaign can still have texts blocked for shortened links, mismatched content or complaints. See why approved campaigns still get filtered.