United States Application-to-Person Messaging Market Size, Share, Growth and Forecast, 2025-2035

Registered business texting becomes core U.S. infrastructure

The United States application-to-person messaging market was valued at USD 13.70 billion in 2025 and is projected to increase from USD 14.32 billion in 2026 to USD 20.83 billion by 2035, registering a CAGR of 4.25% during 2026–2035. Demand comes from retailers, banks, health systems and software platforms that send order alerts, login codes, appointment reminders and consented promotions from registered numbers. The South held the largest regional share, 37.5% in 2025, and it is also the fastest-growing region at 4.5% a year as its population and sender base expand. SMS still carries most traffic and value, while branded RCS threads grow fastest after all major national carriers enabled business RCS during 2025. Costs also shifted in 2026, when two national carriers raised the per-message surcharges that every sender pays on top of provider fees.

Usage fees, carrier surcharges and sender platforms form spending

The market counts what U.S. businesses and public bodies pay to send automated messages from software to mobile subscribers, including SMS, MMS and RCS business messages, carrier surcharges, number and short code leases, and the platforms used to register senders, manage consent and run campaigns. Buyers pay through usage-based API billing, subscriptions bundled with message credits or fixed enterprise contracts.

Person-to-person texting between subscribers, consumer chat apps and voice services are outside the scope. The value chain runs from brands and software vendors through messaging providers and aggregators to the national wireless carriers, which deliver the message and set the surcharge for each one.

SMS keeps most value as branded RCS grows fastest

SMS delivery holds most value as RCS grows fastest

Based on service type, the market is categorized into SMS delivery, MMS delivery, rich business messaging and platform and compliance services. SMS Delivery led with 58.0% of 2025 value because it is the only business channel that reaches every U.S. handset, so login codes and delivery alerts default to it and RCS campaigns keep it as the fallback. Rich Business Messaging grows fastest at 10.4% a year as Infobip reported in June 2025 that RCS usage grew 500% year on year in its trend data. RCS still starts from a small base, so most senders run it beside SMS fallback.

Transactional alerts lead while promotions grow fastest

Based on application, the market is categorized into authentication and security, transactional notifications and promotional engagement. Transactional Notifications led with 41.0% of 2025 value because order, delivery, payment and appointment alerts recur with every transaction, so their volume tracks retail and service activity rather than marketing budgets. Promotional Engagement grows fastest at 5.1% a year, as Attentive sent 5.7 billion messages for more than 8,000 brands in Cyber Week 2025, up 46% from a year earlier. Marketing texts carry higher margins than alerts, so platforms compete hardest for them.

Retail leads as healthcare texting grows fastest

Based on end-use industry, the market is categorized into retail and e-commerce, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, and business and public services. Retail and E-Commerce led with 33.0% of 2025 value because every online order triggers confirmation, shipping and delivery texts, and online sales reached 17.1% of U.S. retail sales in the second quarter of 2026. Healthcare and Life Sciences grows fastest at 5.0% a year, as 90% of patients preferred texts for healthcare communication in a Sinch survey of 1,000 U.S. patients published in January 2026. Providers that offer two-way texting therefore keep patients who would otherwise switch.

Strategic accounts lead while small senders grow fastest

Based on customer type, the market is categorized into strategic accounts, mid-market accounts and small-business accounts. Strategic Accounts led with 46.0% of 2025 value because large banks, retailers and technology firms send the most traffic, and Sinch says it is trusted by 8 of the 10 largest U.S. technology companies. Small-Business Accounts grow fastest at 4.9% a year as Twilio counted 402,000 active customer accounts at the end of 2025, up from 325,000 a year earlier. Small senders pay list prices rather than negotiated rates, which keeps their spend per message higher.

U.S. senders pay about USD 0.008 a text plus carrier fees

U.S. business texting is priced in two separate layers by providers and carriers. Providers charge a per-message rate that falls with volume, and the carrier adds a surcharge per segment that the provider passes through on the invoice. Surcharges are the part that moved most in 2026, because T-Mobile and AT&T both raised them, while list rates held steady. Short codes add a fixed monthly lease, and platforms charge extra for link tracking and compliance checks. Large senders therefore negotiate provider rates but cannot avoid the carrier layer.

Alerts, RCS reach and formal consent widen the base

Order, payment and care alerts move into texts

Operational notifications are the steadiest source of volume because they are tied to transactions that businesses must confirm anyway. The Census Bureau estimated that e-commerce sales rose 12.2% in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier, and each online order typically creates confirmation, shipping and delivery texts. In healthcare, 97% of patients in the Sinch survey wanted appointment reminders by text and 81% wanted prescription refill updates, while 84% said a text reminder makes them more likely to attend an appointment. Senders that wire alerts directly into order and scheduling systems create recurring traffic that does not depend on marketing budgets.

RCS now reaches Apple devices and every national carrier

Rich messaging became a practical U.S. channel once both major phone platforms and all national carriers supported it. Apple released iOS 18.1 on Oct. 28, 2024, which let iPhone users receive RCS business messages, according to Twilio. Infobip launched RCS with all four major U.S. carriers on June 17, 2025, and Sinch said on Aug. 18, 2025 that RCS reaches up to 75% of handsets among its customers after going live with every Tier 1 operator. Bandwidth reported in February 2025 that 66% of businesses plan to increase their messaging once RCS is widely available. Brands can now send verified, branded threads with images and buttons at national scale.

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Federal consent rules push senders onto registered routes

Formal consent and sender registration are turning business texting into a regulated, auditable channel, which favors established providers. The FCC order published on Jan. 26, 2024 extended Do-Not-Call protections to texts from March 26, 2024 and required carriers to block numbers flagged by its Enforcement Bureau from July 24, 2024. The Eleventh Circuit vacated the separate one-to-one consent rule on Jan. 24, 2025, so lead-generated consent remains possible. The rest of the FCC consent revocation order took effect on April 11, 2025, so senders must honor opt-outs by any reasonable means. Carriers now require 10DLC brand and campaign registration, and Twilio applies onboarding fees to it. Senders that keep clean consent records gain delivery, while unregistered traffic is filtered.

Login codes and identity checks keep volumes steady

Authentication traffic is a durable driver because banks, retailers and apps still send one-time codes at sign-up, login and payment. Twilio describes its Verify product as multi-channel user verification that sends one-time passwords over SMS, voice and email, and it includes Fraud Guard to block artificially inflated traffic. Twilio completed its acquisition of identity platform Stytch on Nov. 14, 2025, according to its 2025 annual report. Sinch says it powers more than 900 billion customer engagements a year across channels, many of them codes and alerts. Code traffic grows with account sign-ups even as apps add passkeys and multi-factor authentication options, because SMS remains the fallback that works on every phone.

Branded threads and AI-run campaigns change the channel

Branded RCS threads lift returns on retail campaigns

Retailers are shifting part of their campaign traffic from plain SMS to branded RCS because early tests show higher returns per message. Attentive launched Visibility AI for RCS on May 20, 2026 and reported that branded RCS threads lifted click-through rates by 45% and revenue per send by 36% against SMS in early FragranceNet tests. Infobip said RCS more than doubled revenue per send against SMS and MMS in a 2024 holiday test for the Dooney handbag brand. Twilio said in its 2025 annual report that it is working on a channel for Apple Messages for Business. RCS budgets are therefore coming from marketing teams first, ahead of alert senders.

AI agents and CRM suites take over campaign control

Campaign control is moving from standalone texting tools into CRM suites and AI agents that decide when and where to send. Vonage launched Conversations for Agentforce Marketing on Jan. 14, 2026, adding SMS, RCS and WhatsApp inside the Salesforce platform. Attentive said brands using its agentic AI grew twice as fast as other brands during Cyber Week 2025. Twilio now lists an AI compliance toolkit that checks for non-compliant SMS as a paid add-on at USD 0.015 per message. Marketing teams gain one place to plan email, push and text. Providers that plug into the CRM where marketers already work gain share, while conversational marketing software vendors become partners.

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Payments and two-way service open new revenue in threads

Two-way texting that lets customers pay, reschedule or ask questions is an opening because it adds value per thread beyond one-way alerts. Syniverse partnered with Authvia in September 2025 to add TXT2PAY payments to its SMS and RCS messaging, with Authvia citing more than 250 gateway integrations. In the Sinch patient survey, 68% wanted two-way texting and 30% would consider switching providers if texting were not offered. Health systems and utilities that answer by text cut call volumes, so providers can sell agent seats and payment features on top of message fees. Each resolved thread also replaces a phone call that costs the business far more to handle.

Election and civic texting returns in 2026

Political and civic texting is an opening in even-numbered years because campaigns and agencies send large bursts over a few months. Bandwidth told investors in February 2026 that it expected political campaign traffic to start around mid-summer. It added that political customers have diversified into commercial and civic messaging, which makes this traffic more durable. The Nov. 3, 2026 midterm elections concentrate that demand in the autumn, and Bandwidth said it expects no political benefit in the first half. Campaign texts must still meet the carrier registration rules described above, and short code leases at USD 500 to USD 1,000 a month suit the high-throughput bursts that campaigns need. Providers with registered high-throughput routes and consent tools capture this seasonal peak.

Scam texts, carrier surcharges and rule shifts raise costs

Scam texts erode trust and tighten carrier filters

Fraudulent texts are a trust risk that makes consumers wary of legitimate business messages and pushes carriers toward stricter filtering. Consumers reported losing USD 470 million to scams that started with a text in 2024, five times the 2020 level, according to the FTC. The FCC estimated in its December 2023 order that consumers receive 225.7 billion spam texts a year. Legitimate senders face more blocked or delayed messages, so they invest in registration, SMS firewall checks and verified branding.

Carrier surcharge increases squeeze provider margins

Carriers raised the per-message surcharges that every provider must pay, which adds cost pressure without adding value for senders. T-Mobile raised its outbound 10DLC and toll-free SMS surcharge from USD 0.0030 to USD 0.0045 in January 2026, and AT&T raised its 10DLC SMS rate to USD 0.0035 on April 1, 2026. Providers pass these fees through, but Twilio said in its 2025 annual report that they will create a modest headwind on its margins. High-volume alert senders feel the rise most and look harder at RCS and email fallback.

Shifting consent rules keep compliance costs high

Consent rules keep changing, which forces senders and providers to rebuild opt-out and record systems more than once. An FCC bureau order of Jan. 6, 2026 delayed the rule that a revocation must apply to all of a sender's messages until Jan. 31, 2027, after an earlier delay to April 2026. In Bandwidth's 2025 survey, 25% of businesses said they paid more because of recent changes to messaging rules. Smaller senders carry these costs on fewer messages, which favors managed platforms.

Carrier consolidation narrows delivery routes

Business texts reach U.S. phones through a shrinking number of carriers, which gives each one more pricing power over senders. T-Mobile completed its purchase of UScellular's wireless operations on Aug. 1, 2025, adding those subscribers to its network. The UScellular toll-free MMS surcharge doubled from USD 0.005 to USD 0.01 on Jan. 19, 2026, according to Twilio. Senders have little room to negotiate, so providers compete on routing quality and support rather than on fees.

The South leads on population and sender headquarters

The South leads on population growth and sender hubs

The South held 37.5% of 2025 value and grows at 4.5% a year, the fastest of the four regions. Its resident population reached 133.8 million in 2025, up about 1.2 million from 2024 and the largest gain of any region, according to Census Bureau estimates. More residents mean more accounts, orders and appointments that trigger texts. Bandwidth in Raleigh, N.C. and Syniverse in Tampa, Fla. also run their U.S. operations from the region.

The West holds platform builders and early RCS buyers

The West held a 25.0% share of 2025 value and grows at 4.4% a year. Its population reached 80.1 million in 2025, up about 0.26 million from 2024, according to the same Census series. Many software platforms that embed texting in their apps are based in the region, as is Twilio, whose headquarters are in San Francisco, where Stytch is also based. Technology buyers there tend to test RCS and AI-run campaigns before other regions.

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The Midwest relies on banks, insurers and health systems

The Midwest held a 19.5% share of 2025 value and grows at 3.9% a year. Its population reached 69.8 million in 2025, up about 0.24 million from 2024, according to Census Bureau estimates, so growth depends on more texts per person rather than more people. Regional banks, insurers and health systems send steady alert and code traffic, and Infobip announced its four-carrier U.S. RCS launch from Chicago in June 2025.

The Northeast concentrates finance and retail brands

The Northeast held an 18.0% share of 2025 value and grows at 3.8% a year, the slowest of the four regions. Its population reached 58.0 million in 2025, up only about 0.1 million from 2024, according to the Census Bureau. Spending per sender is high because large banks and national retail brands are based there, and Attentive, which runs campaigns for thousands of retail brands, is headquartered in New York.

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RCS coverage, identity and CRM deals marked 2025 and 2026

Sender registration and RCS reshape U.S. delivery

• 10DLC and toll-free sender registration ties every local or toll-free number to a vetted brand and campaign, which carriers use to set throughput and filtering.
• RCS for Business adds verified sender names, images, carousels and read receipts, with SMS fallback for phones that cannot receive it.
• Verification APIs and fraud controls send one-time codes and block artificially inflated traffic that would otherwise raise costs for senders.
• Platform routing lets communications platform as a service providers pick routes, retry failed messages and track delivery across carriers.

CPaaS providers, carriers and marketing platforms compete

Competition turns on carrier connections, delivery quality and the software that sits around each message. Twilio anchors developer-led integration with its messaging and verification APIs, while Sinch and Infobip compete for large enterprises with RCS coverage across every national carrier. Bandwidth sells messaging APIs to software platforms that resell texting to hundreds of brands, and Vonage, owned by Ericsson, embeds texting in CRM workflows. Syniverse supplies carrier-grade routing to operators and adds payments inside business threads. AT&T Business, Verizon Business and T-Mobile for Business deliver every message and set the surcharges that all providers pass through. Attentive competes for retail marketing budgets with subscription software rather than per-message routing. Price competition is sharpest in plain SMS routes, while RCS, identity and AI campaign tools are won on features and integrations.

Carriers own the last mile while providers own the customer

The U.S. supply side has three layers with different economics. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile deliver every message and set the surcharge per segment, so they earn a fee on all traffic without competing for the sender. CPaaS providers such as Twilio, Sinch, Bandwidth, Infobip and Vonage sell APIs and routes and charge per message on top of the carrier fee. Marketing platforms such as Attentive sit on top and price by subscription. Margins are highest in platform software and lowest in pure routing, while carrier connections and registration tools are the main barriers to entry.

Companies profiled and their roles in this market

Carrier economics and trust will decide the winners

Credence Research's view is that U.S. business texting will keep growing because alerts and codes are tied to everyday transactions, but value will shift toward the software around each message. Carrier surcharges now rise faster than provider list prices, which squeezes pure routing margins. RCS, consent management and AI-run campaigns let providers charge for outcomes rather than for delivery alone. The strongest positions belong to providers that combine direct carrier routes with registration tools and rich channels, because senders choose them on deliverability first and price second.

Provider filings and carrier fee notices anchor the model

The report uses 2025 as the base year and 2026 to 2035 as the forecast period. Market values come from the Credence Research model, which combines provider disclosures on customer counts and usage with published per-message rates, carrier surcharge notices and short code lease prices. Segment and regional splits are Credence Research estimates built from Census Bureau population and retail data, FCC and FTC records, company filings, investor calls and announcements, and provider price lists. No interviews or primary surveys were conducted for this edition.

Rich threads add value while SMS volume stays the base

The United States application-to-person messaging market is expected to grow from USD 14.32 billion in 2026 to USD 20.83 billion by 2035 at a 4.25% CAGR. Order, delivery and appointment alerts should remain the base of volume, while promotions move steadily into branded RCS threads with images and buttons. Carrier fees will keep rising slowly, which pushes providers to earn more from software and compliance tools. The South will add the most new subscribers as population growth concentrates there. By 2035, more customer service, payments and rescheduling are likely to happen inside a single business thread.

RCS uptake and carrier fees set the 2035 range

The range of outcomes depends on how fast brands move campaigns to RCS and on how far carriers keep raising surcharges. A downside case assumes more scam filtering, further fee increases and a shift of codes to passkeys and app push. The base case assumes steady alert growth and gradual RCS adoption by retailers. An upside case needs fast RCS uptake across industries and wider use of payments and service inside threads, which would raise value per conversation.

Note: The depth of individual sections depends on data availability for this market. Volume, capacity, trade and other unit-based metrics are included where applicable.