Skip to contentSkip to navigationSkip to topbar
On this page

What's an SMS Short Code?


A short code number(link takes you to an external page) (or short code) is a special telephone number designed for high-throughput, two-way messaging. These short codes support sending and receiving messages using both the text-only Short Message Service (SMS) and multimedia-capable Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Twilio offers short codes in 14 countries(link takes you to an external page). These codes have between three and seven digits, making them shorter than their ten-digit long code counterparts.


Identify the use case for a short code

identify-the-use-case-for-a-short-code page anchor

If you plan to send more than more than five hundred text messages a day from a long code, carriers might mark your messages as spam. To permit high volume and throughput of texts, carriers provide short code numbers. When you want to send thousands of messages, use short codes.

Developers use short codes for the following use cases:

  • Marketing and promotions
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Two-factor authentication

Identify a short code owner

identify-a-short-code-owner page anchor

To find the owner of a US short codes, you have three options:

  1. Reply to the message with HELP. This returns the company who sent the message or the company providing the SMS service. This works in countries outside the US as well.
  2. Go to the Telephone Wiki SMS page(link takes you to an external page). It lists some short codes.
  3. Go to the Reverse Numbers site(link takes you to an external page). This site provides more details for a fee.

Find an available short code

find-an-available-short-code page anchor

If you want a US short code, check its availability with the short code lookup tool(link takes you to an external page).


Find the cost of a short code

find-the-cost-of-a-short-code page anchor

To use a short code, you pay a setup charge(link takes you to an external page), a quarterly lease(link takes you to an external page), and a per-message cost(link takes you to an external page).

Each carrier sets their own charges for SMS and MMS messages, both incoming and outgoing. To send these messages, Twilio charges a very small additional fee.


Get a short code for business text messaging

get-a-short-code-for-business-text-messaging page anchor

Twilio can help obtain a short code from Twilio or migrate an existing one(link takes you to an external page).