Toll-Free Throughput & Fees
How much a toll-free number can send before and after verification, the high-throughput upgrade, and why there is no carrier verification fee.
A toll-free number’s sending rate depends entirely on its verification state. Before verification, it is throttled to a low pending rate; after verification, it sends at the industry-standard default; and with a sales-approved upgrade it can scale well beyond that. Rates are measured in MPS (messages per second).
Throughput by verification state
| State | Cap |
|---|---|
| Pending / unverified | ~2,000 segments/day, 6,000/week, 10,000/month (Twilio/Bandwidth) Verify live as of mid-2026 |
| Verified (default) | 3 SMS MPS (~180 msg/min) — industry standard |
| High-Throughput Toll-Free | Starts at 25 MPS, scales to 50 and up to ~150 MPS (SMS) via sales approval; MMS capped at 25 MPS |
The pending caps are provider-specific and change — verify the exact numbers against your provider before relying on them. The 3 MPS verified default is the consistent industry standard.
High-throughput upgrade
Default verified toll-free runs at 3 MPS, enough for moderate volume. If you need more, High-Throughput Toll-Free is an opt-in upgrade requiring sales approval:
- SMS: starts at 25 MPS, can move to 50, and up to ~150 MPS.
- MMS: capped at 25 MPS regardless of the SMS tier.
If you regularly need more than ~150 MPS or want the strongest deliverability and brand association, a dedicated short code (provisioned at ~100 MPS per code) is the next step up.
Fees
What you do pay for toll-free messaging:
- Number rental — roughly ~$1/month per toll-free number.
- Per-message (outbound SMS) — roughly ~$0.0055 per outbound segment. Verify live as of mid-2026
- Inbound is charged — unlike 10DLC (where inbound is free), toll-free typically bills inbound messages. Account for this in two-way flows.
Per-message rates are provider-specific and move frequently — confirm with your provider before budgeting.
Next: if you haven’t verified yet, start with the verification guide. To compare toll-free against 10DLC and short codes side by side, see the decision matrix.