Registering for US business texting has two charges: a one-time fee each time a campaign is registered, and a small monthly fee for every campaign you keep active. Both are flat, so there's one number to reason about instead of a stack of carrier line items.
This guide covers what each fee is, when it applies, how you pay it, and what happens if it can't be collected.
The two fees#
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | $19.50 | Once per campaign registration, non-refundable |
| Campaign maintenance | $2.00 / month | For each approved campaign, while it stays active |
Both are quoted in US dollars to every customer, whatever your billing region. If your subscription bills in another currency, the conversion happens at checkout, the same way wallet top-ups work.
Registration needs a paid plan
You can't register for A2P during a free trial, so trial workspaces can't send from a US local number. Start a paid plan first, then register.
Brand registration itself is free
You're charged for registering a campaign, not for registering your business identity. A brand registration on its own costs nothing, and neither does resubmitting a brand.
When the $19.50 applies#
The same price covers every campaign registration event:
- A quickstart registration. Brand and first campaign together, charged at checkout.
- A standalone campaign registration. If your brand came through the advanced wizard, the brand was free, so your first campaign is charged.
- Your second or third campaign.
- A resubmit after a carrier rejection. Carriers bill for every vetting attempt, so a rejected campaign costs $19.50 to send back.
- Re-registering a campaign that was torn down for non-payment.
What isn't charged#
- Brand registration, and brand resubmits after a rejection
- Internal build failures on a campaign, where the submission never reached the carrier. Those retry for free.
How you pay#
It depends on which flow you're in:
- Quickstart registrations go through a secure hosted checkout, so you can pay by card.
- Campaign registrations are deducted from your dialnote wallet.
Where both rails are offered, the review step asks how you'd like to pay before you commit: Pay by card or Use my dialnote wallet. If your wallet doesn't have enough to cover the fee, you'll be prompted to top up first.
The amount is always shown before you submit
Every review screen shows the fee next to the button that spends the money, and the server decides the real amount. If nothing is due, for example because a quickstart already paid for your first campaign, you won't see a charge.
Refunds#
Registration fees are non-refundable, with one narrow exception.
- Refunded: internal brand build failures that you can't act on, where the carrier never saw your submission and you can't move forward at all.
- Not refunded: carrier rejections. The carrier consumed the fee when it reviewed your submission.
- Not refunded: campaigns, in any case. Their relief is the free internal retry instead.
Monthly billing#
The $2.00 monthly fee applies per approved campaign and comes out of your dialnote wallet, so your plan's monthly credit usually absorbs it. Adding a campaign mid-cycle bills the full month rather than prorating.
If your campaign was approved before these fees launched, you'll get a one-time email giving you 30 days notice before monthly billing starts for you. Anyone who registered after launch agreed to the fee at submit and won't get that email.
If the fee can't be collected#
Sometimes the charge fails: an empty wallet, a card that stopped working, or a subscription that's already behind on payment. If that happens, dialnote emails you on day 14 with the amount owed and the date you'd lose the registration. If it still can't collect by day 30, the campaign is deactivated.
A torn-down registration has to be paid for again
If the monthly fee goes unpaid long enough that your campaign is deactivated, getting back to sending means registering the campaign again at the full $19.50, plus waiting out carrier vetting a second time. Keep a wallet balance or a working card on file.
Next steps#
- A2P quickstart - the fastest route to an approved registration
- A2P registration - campaign limits, statuses, and resubmits
- Wallet - top up the balance these fees draw from
- Billing overview - plans, credit, and usage