SMS API for South Africa: bulk SMS to +27 numbers

South Africa, located at the southern tip of Africa, has Pretoria as its administrative capital and Johannesburg as its largest city, with a diverse economy including mining, agriculture, and technology. Developers in South Africa build systems for banks, e-commerce platforms, and logistics companies to send text messages. These messages notify users of payment confirmations, delivery updates, and appointment reminders. SMS is favored because it reaches all mobile users, including those in rural areas and visitors with international numbers.

South Africa

Calling code +27

Per SMS segment
$0.00727
Messages for $100
13,755
Local language
English, Afrikaans
Encoding
GSM-7

What a bulk SMS send to South Africa costs

Every message is priced at $0.00727 per segment to South Africa. 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$0.00727$0.01454
1,000$7.27$14.54
10,000$72.70$145.40
100,000$727.00$1,454.00

Number format in South Africa

Mobile numbers in South Africa have 9 digits after +27. Locally they are written with a leading 0 (071 123 4567); in the API that 0 is dropped, so the same number goes in the to field as +27 71 123 4567.

Alphabet and segments

English, Afrikaans, Zulu and other official languages text stays inside the GSM-7 alphabet, so one segment to South Africa holds 160 characters and each part of a longer text 153. Watch for curly quotes and emoji copied from other tools: one of them moves the whole text to Unicode at 70 characters per segment, and POST /v1/estimates shows the encoding before you send.

Time zone and timing

South Africa keeps UTC+2 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Johannesburg 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 South Africa with one request

The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (ZA) 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": "+27711234567", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

What developers send to South Africa

Common integrations that call the SMS API for recipients in South Africa.

Payment confirmations

Banks in Johannesburg send SMS receipts to customers after transactions, providing instant payment proof.

Delivery updates

Logistics companies in Cape Town notify customers via SMS when their parcels are out for delivery.

Appointment reminders

Clinics in Durban send SMS alerts to patients about upcoming appointments, reducing missed visits.

Event notifications

Event organizers in Pretoria send SMS updates to attendees about schedule changes or venue details.

SMS to South Africa: questions

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

How much does it cost to send bulk SMS to South Africa?

Each message segment to South Africa costs $0.00727. A plain text of up to 160 characters is one segment, so 1,000 one-segment messages cost $7.27 and 10,000 cost $72.70. Failed messages are refunded to the balance.

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

$100 covers about 13,755 one-segment messages to South Africa at $0.00727 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 South Africa numbers for the API?

Send them in international format with the plus sign: +27 71 123 4567 becomes "+27711234567" 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 messages be in for South Africa?

English is widely used for SMS in South Africa, but messages can include Afrikaans, Zulu, or other local languages for broader reach.

How does SMS work for tourists in South Africa?

Tourists with international SIM cards can receive SMS, making it a reliable channel for travel updates and promotions.

Start sending to South Africa

Create an account, top up from $40 and send to South Africa at $0.00727 per segment, from the console or with one API call.

SMS API South Africa: Bulk SMS to +27 From $0.00727 | BulkSMSAPI