A complete guide explaining your monthly texting credit allowance, how to track your usage, and why a single message can cost more than one credit.
✨ When You Need This Guide
✨ When You Need This Guide
This guide is your go-to resource for all questions related to texting credits. Use this if you're asking:
How many texting credits are included in my monthly plan?
What is the cost if we go over our credit allowance?
Where can I check how many credits I've used this month?
I'm sending a message that says it will use 2 credits. Why is that?
How can I write messages that use fewer credits?
What This Covers (And What It Doesn't)
✅ What This Covers: Your monthly credit allowance and overage costs, how to monitor your usage on the Dashboard, and the character limits that make a single text cost multiple credits.
❌ What It Doesn't Cover: How to set up texting features in Aloha or how to change your entire billing package.
You'll Need:
Administrator or Manager access to view billing and dashboard stats.
✅ Your Monthly Allowance and Overage Costs
✅ Your Monthly Allowance and Overage Costs
Each Aloha package includes a monthly allowance of texting credits.
Package | Text Credit Allowance |
Premium | 7,500 |
Pro | 10,000 |
Elite | 12,500 |
Once you exceed your monthly allowance, additional texts are billed at $0.02 per credit. For example, using 500 extra credits would add an extra $10 to your bill.
Note: Accounts opened prior to January 1st, 2019 may have different overage fees. Please check your invoice or contact us if you are unsure.
📊 Checking Your Credit Usage on the Dashboard
You can easily track how many credits you've used so far this month on your main Dashboard.
Go to your Dashboard.
Find the metric called Texting Credits Used (it's usually a large number or dial).
To see usage for your current billing cycle, use the Reporting Period filter in the top-right corner and set it to reflect your billing period.
An Administrator can find your exact billing dates by going to the Gear Icon (⚙️) > Billing. The automatically bill on date reflects the day each month that your credits reset.
To review usage for past billing periods, select the date range in the Reporting Period controls and adjust to reflect the desired time frame.
💬 Why One Text Can Cost More Than One Credit
The short answer is the character count. Phone carriers have a strict limit on the number of characters allowed in a single "text segment." If your message exceeds that limit, it's automatically broken into multiple segments, and each segment costs one credit.
Standard SMS: A message using only standard letters, numbers, and punctuation is limited to 160 characters per segment. (A message of 161 characters will use 2 credits).
Using Emojis: If you use even a single emoji (like 😊 or ∑ ) or certain special characters, the message encoding changes. This lowers the limit for a single segment to just 70 characters. This is the most common reason a seemingly short message costs more than one credit.
👀 How to Check the Credit Usage Before You Send
Aloha gives you a live tool to see the exact credit and character count for a text before you send any bulk message.
Go to CONTACTS and select Send Bulk Message.
As you type your message in the text box, look at the Character Counter and Texting Credit Counter in the bottom-right corner.
Watch these numbers change as you edit. Try removing an emoji or rephrasing a sentence to see how you can lower the credit count!
Before sending, you will also receive a pop-up letting you know how many of your remaining credits will be used for that message.
💡 Common Questions
💡 Common Questions
What You Might Notice | Why It's Happening | What to Do |
My message seems short, but the credit counter says it will use 2 credits. | This is almost always because you have used an emoji or a non-standard special character. This lowers the character limit to just 70 characters per segment. | To reduce the message to 1 credit, remove all emojis and non-standard special characters. Rewrite the message using only standard letters, numbers, and punctuation. |
Where can I find my current billing period dates? | Billing dates are specific to your account's sign-up date. | An Administrator can view your billing history and cycle dates by going to the Gear Icon (⚙️) > Billing page. |
Are images (MMS) charged differently? | Yes, messages with images cost 2 credits despite length. | To save credits, you can send the message without the image, which will reduce the cost to 1 credit (as long as the text is under 160 characters). |
Do texts I receive count towards my monthly credits? | No, only messages that your office sends count towards your monthly credits. | No additional action is needed. |
💬 Need Help? We're Here!
💬 Need Help? We're Here!
If you have other questions about your texting credits or billing, our support team is ready to help. Contact us at 800-563-0469 or support@getaloha.com.