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What are SMS Credits?

SMS credits are used to send text message notifications when incidents occur. Each SMS sent consumes one credit.
SMS notifications are perfect for critical alerts that require immediate attention, like production outages.

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Monthly Credits

All paid plans include monthly SMS credits:
PlanMonthly CreditsExpiry
Free0 creditsN/A
Solo Basic3 credits3 months
Solo Pro5 credits3 months
Team10 credits3 months
Organization Basic25 credits3 months
Organization Standard50 credits3 months
Organization Enterprise100 credits3 months
Monthly credits expire after 3 months. Use them or lose them!

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How Monthly Credits Work

1

Credits Added Monthly

On your billing date, new credits are added to your account.Example: Team plan receives 10 credits on the 1st of each month.
2

Credits Accumulate

Unused credits accumulate for up to 3 months.Example:
  • Month 1: Receive 10, use 2 → Balance: 8
  • Month 2: Receive 10, use 3 → Balance: 15
  • Month 3: Receive 10, use 5 → Balance: 20
  • Month 4: Receive 10, Month 1 credits expire (8) → Balance: 22
3

Oldest Credits Used First

When sending SMS, oldest credits are consumed first to minimize expiry.

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Purchasing Additional Credits

Need more SMS notifications? Purchase credits in bulk at volume discounts.

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Credit Packages

10 Credits - $3.00

$0.30 per SMSBest for: Testing, occasional use

100 Credits - $15.00

$0.15 per SMS (50% savings)Best for: Regular monitoring

200 Credits - $25.00

$0.125 per SMS (58% savings)Best for: Multiple services

500 Credits - $55.00

$0.11 per SMS (63% savings)Best for: Large teams

1,000 Credits - $100.00

$0.10 per SMS (67% savings)Best for: Enterprise monitoring
Purchased credits never expire! Buy in bulk and use them whenever you need.

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Credit Usage Priority

When sending SMS notifications, credits are consumed in this order:
  1. Oldest monthly credits (expiring soonest)
  2. Newer monthly credits
  3. Purchased credits (never expire)
This ensures you maximize the value of your monthly credits before they expire.

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Example Usage Flow

Account Balance:
- 5 monthly credits (expire in 10 days)
- 8 monthly credits (expire in 40 days)
- 100 purchased credits (never expire)

Send 10 SMS:
1. Use 5 credits expiring in 10 days → 0 left
2. Use 5 credits expiring in 40 days → 3 left
3. Purchased credits untouched → 100 left

New Balance:
- 0 monthly credits (expire in 10 days)
- 3 monthly credits (expire in 40 days)
- 100 purchased credits (never expire)

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SMS Pricing by Region

SMS costs vary by destination country. UptimeIO uses Bird.com for SMS delivery.

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Supported Regions

CountryCost per SMS
United States1 credit
Canada1 credit
Mexico1 credit
All SMS notifications cost 1 credit regardless of destination country.

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Viewing Your Balance

Check your SMS credit balance anytime:
1

Go to Settings

Navigate to Settings → Billing in your dashboard.
2

View Credits

Your SMS credit balance is displayed at the top:
SMS Credits
├─ Monthly Credits: 8 (expire in 25 days)
├─ Monthly Credits: 10 (expire in 55 days)
└─ Purchased Credits: 100 (never expire)

Total: 118 credits
3

View Usage

Scroll down to see SMS usage history:
  • Date sent
  • Recipient number
  • Incident triggered
  • Credits consumed

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SMS Best Practices

SMS should be reserved for incidents requiring immediate action:✅ Use SMS for:
  • Production service failures
  • Critical API downtime
  • SSL certificate expiry (7 days)
❌ Don’t use SMS for:
  • Recovery notifications (use email)
  • Slow response alerts (use Slack)
  • Non-critical monitors
  • Test notifications
Fine-tune which events trigger SMS:
SMS Integration: +1234567890
Events:
  on_failure: true          # Critical
  on_recovery: false        # Use email instead
  on_ssl_expiry: true       # Important
  on_slow_response: false   # Too noisy
This prevents alert fatigue and conserves credits.
Create separate profiles for different severity levels:
Profile: "Critical Alerts"
  - SMS: +1234567890 (failures only)
  - Email: [email protected] (all events)

Profile: "Important Alerts"
  - Email: [email protected] (all events)
  - Slack: #monitoring (failures, recoveries)
Assign critical monitors to “Critical Alerts”, others to “Important Alerts”.
Review SMS usage monthly:
  1. Check which monitors send the most SMS
  2. Identify false positives
  3. Adjust notification settings
  4. Consider increasing check intervals for noisy monitors

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Purchasing Credits

1

Go to Billing

Navigate to Settings → Billing in your dashboard.
2

Click Purchase Credits

Click the “Purchase SMS Credits” button.
3

Select Package

Choose your credit package:
  • 10 credits ($3.00)
  • 100 credits ($15.00)
  • 200 credits ($25.00)
  • 500 credits ($55.00)
  • 1,000 credits ($100.00)
4

Complete Payment

Enter payment details and complete purchase.
Credits are added to your account immediately.

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Credit Expiry Notifications

UptimeIO sends email notifications when:
  • Monthly credits expiring soon: 7 days before expiry
  • Low balance warning: When total credits < 10
  • Out of credits: When balance reaches 0
When you run out of credits, SMS notifications will not be sent. Email and other integrations continue to work normally.

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FAQ

SMS notifications stop, but all other notifications (email, Slack, webhooks) continue working normally. You’ll receive an email alert when credits run low.
No! Purchased credits never expire. Only monthly credits expire after 3 months.
Purchased credits are non-refundable, but they never expire so you can use them anytime. Monthly credits are included with your subscription and cannot be refunded separately.
Yes! All credits (monthly and purchased) are preserved when upgrading or downgrading plans.
No. Credits are tied to a specific organization and cannot be transferred.
If SMS delivery fails due to invalid number or carrier issues, the credit is refunded to your account automatically.
No. SMS credits are only available on paid plans (Solo, Team, Organization).

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SMS vs Other Notification Channels

FeatureSMSEmailSlackWebhooks
CostCreditsFreeFreeFree
SpeedInstantFastInstantInstant
ReliabilityHighHighMediumVaries
Best ForCritical alertsAll eventsTeam awarenessCustom integrations
Seat LimitYesYesNoNo
Use a mix of channels: SMS for critical alerts, email for audit trail, Slack for team awareness.

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Next Steps

Plans & Pricing

View all plan features and pricing

Seats Explained

Understand team and notification seats

SMS Integration

Set up SMS notifications

Notification Profiles

Configure notification routing