SMS API for Burundi: bulk SMS to +257 numbers

Burundi is a small East African country with Bujumbura as its largest city, known for agriculture and coffee production. Software systems sending SMS include mobile banking apps, agricultural cooperatives, and health programs. Messages are triggered by events like loan approvals, crop price updates, or vaccination reminders. SMS is chosen because it reaches every mobile phone, even in rural areas, and is read quickly.

Burundi

Calling code +257

Per SMS segment
$0.01037
Messages for $100
9,643
Local language
French
Encoding
GSM-7 or Unicode

What a bulk SMS send to Burundi costs

Every message is priced at $0.01037 per segment to Burundi. Texts over 160 GSM-7 or 70 Unicode characters are split into segments, so a two-segment text costs twice as much.
Messages1 segment2 segments
1$0.01037$0.02074
1,000$10.37$20.74
10,000$103.70$207.40
100,000$1,037.00$2,074.00

Number format in Burundi

Mobile numbers in Burundi have 8 digits after +257 and no trunk prefix, so the local form 79 56 12 34 becomes +257 79 56 12 34 in the to field.

Alphabet and segments

Texts in French fit 160 GSM-7 characters per segment until they use â, ê, î, ô, û, ç, ë and ï: those letters are outside GSM-7 and turn the message into Unicode at 70 characters per segment (67 per part). For short alerts, write them without those letters to keep one segment; for longer texts, the console names each letter that changed the encoding.

Time zone and timing

Burundi keeps UTC+2 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Bujumbura is always 07:00 UTC. send_at takes UTC or any ISO 8601 offset, and the console scheduler converts from your own time zone.

Send to Burundi with one request

The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (BI) and the price. A delivered or failed event follows on your webhook, and a failed message is refunded.

For a list, send the same text to up to 10,000 numbers with POST /v1/batches, or a personal text per number in messages.

curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to": "+25779561234", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

What developers send to Burundi

Common integrations that call the SMS API for recipients in Burundi.

Loan approvals

Microfinance apps notify farmers in Gitega when their loan applications are approved, with details on disbursement.

Crop alerts

Agricultural cooperatives send updates to farmers in the Kirundo region about market prices for coffee and beans.

Health reminders

Clinics in Bujumbura send SMS reminders to patients about upcoming vaccination campaigns for children.

Event updates

Cultural festivals in Ngozi notify attendees about schedule changes or ticket availability via SMS.

SMS to Burundi: questions

More answers on accounts, payments and the API are in the FAQ.

How much does it cost to send bulk SMS to Burundi?

Each message segment to Burundi costs $0.01037. A plain text of up to 160 characters is one segment, so 1,000 one-segment messages cost $10.37 and 10,000 cost $103.70. Failed messages are refunded to the balance.

How many SMS to Burundi does a $100 top-up send?

$100 covers about 9,643 one-segment messages to Burundi at $0.01037 each. The first top-up adds a bonus on top, which raises that number. The balance is shared by every country, so the same top-up also pays for messages anywhere else on the list.

How do I write Burundi numbers for the API?

Send them in international format with the plus sign: +257 79 56 12 34 becomes "+25779561234" in the to field. The API also accepts spaces, dashes and a 00 prefix and cleans them, and numbers that cannot be read are listed in set_aside instead of being charged.

What language should SMS be sent in?

Kirundi and French are the official languages, with Kirundi being more widely spoken in rural areas. Choose based on your audience.

Are there seasonal peaks in SMS traffic?

Yes, during the coffee harvest season, agricultural updates increase, and during national holidays, event-related messages spike. Plan for these peaks.

Start sending to Burundi

Create an account, top up from $40 and send to Burundi at $0.01037 per segment, from the console or with one API call.

SMS API Burundi: Bulk SMS to +257 From $0.01037 | BulkSMSAPI