How Bulk SMS Pricing Works in Tanzania (2026 Guide)

DARSMS bulk SMS uses prepaid credits rather than a monthly SMS subscription. One segment submitted for one recipient uses one credit. The number of segments depends on message encoding and length. Credits are debited during sending, and a later network delivery failure does not automatically reverse that charge. Estimate recipients and segments before purchasing to keep the campaign budget predictable.

What determines the price per SMS

• Volume: the more credits you buy at once, the lower the per-SMS rate. Small bundles cost more per message than high-volume packages.
• Message length: one standard SMS holds up to 160 GSM units, or 70 Unicode units. Longer messages use multiple charged segments.
• Sender ID: a registered alphanumeric sender name (your brand) is a one-time approval, not a per-message cost.

Estimating a campaign budget

Multiply recipient count by SMS segments per message, then by the purchase tier rate. A 150-character message using only basic GSM characters to 5,000 contacts needs 5,000 credits. DARSMS rates are TZS 25 per credit for purchases of 100 to 4,999, TZS 20 for 5,000 to 9,999 and TZS 15 from 10,000. The minimum purchase is 100 credits, and the whole purchase uses its tier rate: 5,000 credits cost TZS 100,000 and 10,000 cost TZS 150,000 before applicable VAT. Invalid-format entries are skipped during list parsing; a correctly formatted number can still be inactive or unreachable. Numbers that have opted out are skipped without a send debit.

How to keep costs down

• Use the composer segment count, including any personalisation and opt-out text, to avoid unexpected multipart charges.
• Clean your contact list so you are not paying to send to dead numbers.
• Buy larger bundles to unlock lower per SMS tiers if you send regularly.
• Use scheduled campaigns and reminders instead of adhoc resends.

Check current tiers on the pricing page before purchasing. Credits are added after payment confirmation. Delivery reports describe network delivery outcomes; they do not show whether a recipient read the message or bought anything.

How much does a longer message cost?

Illustrative example: 1,000 recipients receiving a 200-unit GSM message need two segments each, or 2,000 credits. At TZS 25 per credit, that is TZS 50,000 before applicable VAT. The recipient count has not changed; the message length doubled the credits needed.

Do unused credits expire, and is VAT included?

Purchased DARSMS SMS credits do not expire. The public per-credit rates exclude VAT; the current checkout adds 18% VAT when you request an EFD receipt. Confirm the total shown before paying. A custom Sender ID has a separate one-time registration fee, shown in the dashboard. Buy for your realistic sending needs rather than for a discount alone.