Gupshup SMS Pricing India 2026: ₹0.17 OTP, ₹0.10-0.18 Texts
Founder & Lead Developer, Codingclave · 200+ projects since 2017
Gupshup SMS pricing in India works out to about ₹0.17 per OTP, ₹0.10 to ₹0.18 per transactional SMS and ₹0.08 to ₹0.12 per promotional SMS, all before 18 percent GST. Those numbers are not on Gupshup's website. I checked gupshup.ai/pricing on 4 October 2026 (gupshup.io/pricing redirects there) and it lists only the WhatsApp self-serve fee; SMS is still "talk to sales".
So the figures on this page come from the Gupshup proposals I have audited for clients at Codingclave, our Lucknow agency (founded 2017, 200+ projects, many with SMS or WhatsApp Business API plumbing), cross-checked against third-party benchmarks I name in each section. Where a number is a range, the range is real: your rate depends on volume, operator mix and how hard you negotiate.
Gupshup SMS pricing India per SMS: the 2026 rate table
| SMS type | Gupshup rate (per SMS, excl. GST) | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Transactional SMS | ₹0.10 to ₹0.18 | Order updates, alerts, payment confirmations |
| OTP SMS | about ₹0.17 (negotiable above 1 lakh a month) | Login and transaction OTPs |
| Promotional SMS | ₹0.08 to ₹0.12 | Offers, flash sales, festival campaigns |
| DLT Principal Entity | ₹5,900 one-time, paid to the operator portal | Mandatory before any delivery |
| Header (Sender ID) | Free on some portals, charged on others | One per brand or use case |
| GST | 18 percent on everything | Not negotiable |
Add 25 to 40 percent to the sticker rate for DLT fees, failed-delivery buffer and wallet minimums. The sections below show where each paisa goes.
Gupshup OTP pricing: about ₹0.17 per OTP, lower above 1 lakh a month
OTP is the query most people land here with, so here is the short version. Gupshup prices OTP SMS at roughly ₹0.17 per message at starting volumes. That is a few paise above plain transactional because OTPs run on a priority queue with a sub-5-second delivery target.
Message Central's SMS OTP benchmark (updated 21 May 2026) lands on the same figure: MSG91 about ₹0.15, Gupshup about ₹0.17, Kaleyra about ₹0.18, Twilio about ₹0.45 per OTP. Above 1 lakh OTPs a month, Gupshup sales will quote custom slabs that drift toward ₹0.10 per OTP.
One comparison worth knowing: Meta charges ₹0.115 per authentication message in India (rate effective 1 January 2026), and Gupshup adds its $0.001 platform fee on WhatsApp. So a WhatsApp OTP through Gupshup costs about ₹0.20 before GST, roughly the same as an SMS OTP. The deciding factor is reach, not price: SMS still lands on every handset; WhatsApp needs the user on WhatsApp.
Why Gupshup pricing is quote-only, and what the quote is built from
Gupshup runs a pay-as-you-go wallet. You pre-fund it (typical minimum ₹10,000 to ₹25,000 depending on commitment) and each SMS is deducted in real time at your contracted rate.
That contracted rate has three parts:
- Operator wholesale rate, what Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL charge Gupshup per SMS
- Gupshup platform margin, typically 15 to 30 percent depending on volume
- GST, a flat 18 percent on the final figure
A typical Gupshup commercial for an Indian SaaS sending 5 lakh transactional SMS a month lands around ₹0.12 to ₹0.14 per SMS before GST. I have seen that band in several 2025 and 2026 procurement files.
Operator-wise SMS rates: Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL
Most articles quote a blended Gupshup rate and skip the part that decides your real bill: how many of your recipients are on which network.
| Operator | Wholesale rate (per SMS) | Approximate market share |
|---|---|---|
| Jio | ₹0.10 to ₹0.12 | about 40 percent |
| Airtel | ₹0.13 to ₹0.15 | about 33 percent |
| Vi (Vodafone Idea) | ₹0.16 to ₹0.18 | about 17 percent |
| BSNL | ₹0.16 to ₹0.20 | about 8 percent |
A consumer app with a Jio-heavy database pays noticeably less than a B2B sender with PSU contacts on BSNL. Jio routes run 15 to 25 percent cheaper than Vi or BSNL routes, and Gupshup load-balances across operators inside DLT rules. Ask for the route-wise breakdown; most BSPs will share it under NDA.
Transactional vs promotional vs OTP SMS: what changes the rate
Transactional SMS (₹0.10 to ₹0.18 per SMS)
Order confirmations, payment receipts, KYC alerts, COD verification, password resets. Routed under the Service Implicit or Service Explicit DLT category, bypasses DND, sends 24 hours a day. Delivery rate on Gupshup is 97 to 99 percent.
OTP SMS (about ₹0.17 per OTP, lower at volume)
A transactional sub-route with priority queuing. At 1 lakh plus OTPs a month, enterprise negotiation brings this closer to ₹0.10.
Promotional SMS (₹0.08 to ₹0.12 per SMS)
Marketing offers, launches, festival campaigns. Cheapest of the three because it goes only to non-DND numbers (filtered automatically), is limited to the 9 AM to 9 PM IST window under TRAI rules, and converts less predictably, so providers price it to win volume.
For most marketers I recommend promotional SMS as a backup to WhatsApp marketing, not the main channel. The open rates are not comparable.
Gupshup DLT compliance for India SMS: the ₹5,900 registration
Before Gupshup sends one SMS for you, you must complete DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) registration. This is a TRAI mandate. Gupshup's onboarding team guides the paperwork, but the fee goes to the operator portal, not to Gupshup.
| DLT cost component | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Principal Entity registration | ₹5,900 (incl. 18% GST) | One-time; EnableX and Exotel's 2026 DLT guides confirm the same fee across Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL |
| Header (Sender ID) approval | Free to ₹5,900 depending on portal | One per brand or use case |
| Template registration | Free | 24 to 48 hour approval |
| Consent template upload | Free | Required for promotional |
You register on one operator portal only (Jio TrueConnect, Airtel, Vi VILPower or BSNL). The ledger is shared nationally, so your headers and templates work on every operator. Entity IDs typically come through in 2 to 7 business days; Jio and Airtel are usually fastest.
Gupshup volume discount tiers
From Gupshup proposals in the public domain and the ones I have audited, indicative transactional SMS tiers are:
| Monthly volume | Per-SMS rate (excl. GST) |
|---|---|
| 15,000 to 1 lakh | ₹0.11 |
| 1 lakh to 10 lakh | ₹0.11 |
| 10 lakh to 1 crore | ₹0.105 |
| 1 crore and above | Custom (under ₹0.10) |
Promotional SMS follows a similar curve starting near ₹0.085. OTP tiers kick in above 1 lakh a month, dropping the per-OTP rate from ₹0.17 toward ₹0.10.
Negotiation tip: Gupshup's sales team has room to cut the per-SMS rate by 8 to 15 percent for multi-channel bundles (SMS plus WhatsApp plus RCS) and 12-month commitments. Always have two competing quotes on the table before you sign.
Hidden costs beyond the per-SMS rate
- 18 percent GST on every SMS, header and platform charge; most proposals show pre-GST rates
- Failed-delivery buffer of 3 to 8 percent; confirm whether you are billed on submitted or delivered SMS (Gupshup contracts I have seen bill on submitted)
- Aadhaar OTP and RBI-regulated routes carry a ₹0.05 to ₹0.15 premium over standard transactional
- Wallet top-up minimums of ₹10,000 to ₹25,000 lock cash flow
- Account management fee sometimes added for accounts under ₹50,000 a month
- Long-code two-way SMS at ₹0.30 and up per inbound message
- Template rejection cycles cost 24 to 48 hours each, not money, but launch dates slip
Plan for the sticker rate to grow 25 to 40 percent once these land.
OTP verification API pricing with anti-fraud features: Gupshup vs MSG91 vs Kaleyra vs Twilio
If you are comparing OTP APIs for Indian traffic, price the fraud layer as carefully as the per-OTP rate. SMS pumping (bots triggering OTPs to premium routes) can double a monthly bill overnight.
| Provider | OTP SMS (per message) | Transactional SMS | Public rate card? | Anti-fraud layer | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gupshup | about ₹0.17 | ₹0.10 to ₹0.18 | No (sales-led) | Rate limits and routing controls; ask what lookups cost | Enterprise, cross-channel bundling |
| MSG91 | about ₹0.15 | ₹0.16 to ₹0.25 | Partial | Dashboard rate limits; HLR lookups billed separately | Startups, developer-friendly |
| Kaleyra | about ₹0.18 | ₹0.18 to ₹0.22 | No (enterprise) | Enterprise-grade, contract-defined | BFSI, regulated industries |
| Twilio | about ₹0.45 | ₹0.45 and up | Yes (USD) | Verify includes Fraud Guard (velocity and geo blocking) at no extra fee | Global multi-country sending |
| Message Central | ₹0.20, ₹0.10 above 1 lakh a month | n/a | Yes | Built-in velocity checks | Mid-volume OTP-only senders |
| Fast2SMS | about ₹0.16 | ₹0.16 to ₹0.22 | Yes | Basic rate limits | Under 50,000 a month |
Per-OTP figures for MSG91, Gupshup, Kaleyra, Twilio and Message Central follow Message Central's May 2026 benchmark; the rest are from quotes I have reviewed. Under 50,000 SMS a month, MSG91 or Fast2SMS onboard faster at similar rates. Gupshup's edge shows past 5 lakh SMS a month, or when you want one vendor for SMS plus WhatsApp Business API plus RCS.
For a feature-and-price comparison across WhatsApp BSPs, see my WATI vs Interakt vs AiSensy guide.
Gupshup RCS pricing: no public rate, here is the operator benchmark
Gupshup does not publish RCS rates either. The useful public reference is the operator side. Jio's tiered RCS pricing, as reported in 2026, puts marketing RCS at ₹0.27 to ₹0.30, transactional at ₹0.25 and OTP at ₹0.11 to ₹0.16 per message. MoEngage reported Indian RCS marketing rates moving from 6 to 7 paise toward 20 to 25 paise per message from 1 September 2026.
Two things to ask Gupshup in an RCS quote: the rich-card rate versus the basic-text rate, and the fallback-to-SMS rate for handsets that are not RCS-enabled. The fallback is where RCS campaigns quietly cost more than the headline number.
Who should use Gupshup SMS
| Business profile | Gupshup fit |
|---|---|
| Enterprise (5 lakh plus SMS a month) | Strong fit: best blended rates, cross-channel |
| D2C brand running OTP plus marketing | Strong fit if WhatsApp is also on Gupshup |
| BFSI / insurance | Strong fit: audit trails, uptime SLAs |
| Startup (under 50,000 SMS a month) | Overkill: MSG91 or Fast2SMS is faster |
| Global multi-country sender | Consider Twilio for single-SDK convenience |
| Lucknow / Tier-2 SME | Talk to Codingclave before you pick a BSP |
What Gupshup customers say
On G2, Gupshup averages 4.4 to 4.5 out of 5 across 100 plus reviews. The themes repeat.
Positives: reliable for large-volume campaigns, strong customer success team on managed plans, one dashboard for SMS plus WhatsApp plus RCS, 98 percent plus delivery on transactional SMS.
Negatives: slow dashboard reporting, support lag during urgent issues on self-serve, pricing that feels custom every time, wallet minimums that tie up cash.
Founded in 2004, Gupshup reports 120 billion plus messages a year for 50,000 plus customers across 100 plus countries. It became a unicorn in April 2021 at a $1.4 billion valuation and raised $60 million in equity and debt in July 2025 from Globespan Capital Partners and EvolutionX Debt Capital. Those are useful scale signals when you are choosing a long-term SMS partner.
My take: when Gupshup wins and when it does not
Choose Gupshup if you send 5 lakh plus SMS a month, want one vendor across SMS, WhatsApp and RCS, work in a regulated sector (BFSI, healthcare, government), or need Indian-language compliance support.
Skip Gupshup if you send under 50,000 SMS a month (MSG91 or Fast2SMS onboard faster at similar rates), you want a self-serve rate card without sales calls, or you only need OTP delivery at startup scale (try 2Factor or MSG91 first).
Negotiate hard. Gupshup's sales team typically has 8 to 15 percent flex on per-SMS rates for bundled commercials. Benchmark against MSG91 and one more BSP before a 12-month deal.
If you want a neutral second opinion on which SMS provider to pick, WhatsApp our team at Codingclave for a free 15-minute consult. We have audited Gupshup, MSG91, Kaleyra and Twilio commercials for Indian businesses in Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and beyond. No commission, no kickback.
Related guides
- WATI vs Interakt vs AiSensy 2026: WhatsApp BSP comparison
- WhatsApp API pricing India 2026: complete comparison
- WhatsApp marketing cost India 2026
- WhatsApp Business API guide India 2026
- API integration services India 2026
About the author
Ashish Sharma is the founder of Codingclave, a Lucknow software agency founded in 2017 with 200+ projects shipped, a 4.9-star Google rating across 76 reviews and Top Rated status on Upwork. He has audited Gupshup, MSG91, Kaleyra, Twilio, WATI, Interakt and AiSensy commercials in real procurement work for retail, BFSI, healthcare, EdTech and D2C clients.
Need an honest SMS or WhatsApp setup recommendation? WhatsApp Ashish directly. The first 15 minutes are free.
Frequently asked questions
Gupshup charges roughly Rs 0.17 per OTP SMS in India, with transactional SMS landing between Rs 0.10 and Rs 0.18 per message depending on operator mix and monthly volume. Promotional SMS is cheaper at Rs 0.08 to Rs 0.12 because it goes only to non-DND numbers. Gupshup does not publish an India SMS rate card: I checked gupshup.ai/pricing on 4 October 2026 and it lists only the WhatsApp self-serve fee, so every SMS price is a negotiated quote. The tiers I have seen in proposals start at Rs 0.11 plus GST for 15,000 to 10 lakh SMS a month and drop to about Rs 0.105 plus GST above 10 lakh. Add 18 percent GST to every figure.
Gupshup OTP pricing sits around Rs 0.17 per OTP SMS at starting volumes, which matches the May 2026 benchmark published by Message Central (MSG91 about Rs 0.15, Gupshup about Rs 0.17, Kaleyra about Rs 0.18, Twilio about Rs 0.45). OTPs ride a priority transactional route so delivery stays under five seconds, which is why they cost a little more than plain alerts. Above 1 lakh OTPs a month, Gupshup sales will usually quote custom slabs that move toward Rs 0.10 per OTP. If you also send OTPs on WhatsApp, note that Meta charges Rs 0.115 per authentication message in India, so a WhatsApp OTP through Gupshup costs about the same as an SMS OTP once you add Gupshup's platform fee.
Transactional SMS covers order updates, payment confirmations and account alerts. It bypasses the DND registry, can be sent 24 hours a day, and costs Rs 0.10 to Rs 0.18 per SMS on Gupshup. OTP SMS is a transactional sub-route with a priority queue, priced around Rs 0.17 per OTP. Promotional SMS is for discounts, launches and festival offers; it is the cheapest at Rs 0.08 to Rs 0.12 because it cannot reach DND numbers and is limited to the 9 AM to 9 PM IST window under TRAI rules. Your DLT template category (Service Implicit, Service Explicit or Promotional) decides which rate applies, so register templates correctly or you will pay the wrong rate or get blocked.
Indian wholesale rates for DLT-compliant SMS in 2026 are roughly Jio at Rs 0.10 to Rs 0.12, Airtel at Rs 0.13 to Rs 0.15, Vi at Rs 0.16 to Rs 0.18, and BSNL at Rs 0.16 to Rs 0.20 per SMS. Gupshup blends these into one quoted price, but your real cost tracks your audience mix: a consumer app heavy on Jio numbers lands near the low end, while an enterprise messaging PSU staff on BSNL pays the high end. Ask Gupshup for a route-wise breakdown before you sign. Most BSPs will share it under NDA, and it is the only way to compare two quotes fairly.
DLT registration is a TRAI mandate, not a Gupshup fee. Principal Entity registration costs Rs 5,900 including GST as a one-time charge on any one operator portal (Jio TrueConnect, Airtel, Vi VILPower or BSNL), and the registration is shared across all operators through the ledger. Header (Sender ID) approval is free on some portals and charged on others, so check the portal you pick. Template approval is free and takes 24 to 48 hours. Gupshup's onboarding team walks you through the paperwork, but you pay the Rs 5,900 directly to the operator portal, not to Gupshup, and Gupshup will not deliver a single SMS until your entity ID, headers and templates are approved.
Yes. Gupshup prices SMS on a telescopic curve: the more you commit to per month, the lower the per-SMS rate. In proposals I have audited, transactional SMS starts at Rs 0.11 plus GST for 15,000 to 10 lakh SMS a month, drops to Rs 0.105 plus GST above 10 lakh, and goes under Rs 0.10 on enterprise commercials above 1 crore a month. Promotional SMS follows a similar curve from about Rs 0.085. OTP slabs kick in above 1 lakh OTPs a month. Negotiate on your three-month projection, not your current month, and ask for an 8 to 15 percent bundle discount if you also route WhatsApp or RCS through Gupshup.
Six items usually surprise first-time buyers. One, the Rs 5,900 DLT entity fee paid to the operator portal. Two, 18 percent GST on every per-SMS quote, because most proposals show pre-GST rates. Three, a failed-delivery buffer of 3 to 8 percent if you are billed on submitted rather than delivered SMS, so confirm which one your contract says. Four, a Rs 0.05 to Rs 0.15 premium on Aadhaar OTP and RBI-regulated KYC routes. Five, wallet top-up minimums of Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 that lock cash. Six, inbound long-code replies at Rs 0.30 and up per message. Expect the all-in cost to run 25 to 40 percent above the sticker rate.
For Indian OTP traffic in 2026, indicative per-OTP SMS rates are MSG91 about Rs 0.15, Gupshup about Rs 0.17, Kaleyra about Rs 0.18, Message Central Rs 0.20 falling to Rs 0.10 above 1 lakh a month, and Twilio about Rs 0.45 because it bills in dollars. On anti-fraud features, Twilio Verify bundles Fraud Guard (velocity and geo blocking) into its per-verification fee, while Indian vendors mostly give you rate limits and number lookups in the dashboard and may charge separately for HLR checks. MSG91 is cheapest at sticker price and fastest to self-serve. Gupshup wins on enterprise reliability and SMS plus WhatsApp plus RCS bundling. Get three quotes and ask each vendor what the fraud layer costs per lookup.
Gupshup does not publish RCS rates either; RCS is quoted alongside SMS and WhatsApp in the same sales cycle. The useful public benchmark is the operator side: Jio's tiered RCS pricing, as reported in 2026, puts marketing RCS at Rs 0.27 to Rs 0.30, transactional at Rs 0.25 and OTP at Rs 0.11 to Rs 0.16 per message, and MoEngage reported Indian RCS marketing rates moving from 6 to 7 paise toward 20 to 25 paise from 1 September 2026. Budget above your transactional SMS rate for rich cards and carousels, and ask Gupshup for the fallback-to-SMS rate for handsets that are not RCS-enabled, because that fallback is where RCS campaigns quietly cost more.
Gupshup is overkill under 50,000 SMS a month. The wallet minimums, sales-led onboarding and account-management friction outweigh the price benefit at that scale, and MSG91, Fast2SMS or 2Factor will get you live faster at similar rates. Gupshup becomes the right call once you cross 5 lakh SMS a month, want one vendor for SMS plus WhatsApp Business API plus RCS, need Indian-language template support, or work in BFSI or insurance where audit trails and uptime SLAs matter. At Codingclave we help Indian businesses pick an SMS provider based on monthly volume, use case and budget; message us on WhatsApp for a free 15-minute consult.