Allotment and Usage FAQs

Managing your messaging allotment in Text In Church is straightforward once you understand how messages are counted, how overages work, and what options you have when you need more. This article answers the most common questions about message counting, billing charges, overages, and plan management — so you can keep your church’s communication running smoothly without unexpected costs.

Each outgoing text message counts as one message per recipient. When you send to a group, it counts once for every person who receives it.

Here are a few examples:

Incoming texts do not count toward your allotment — receiving replies is always free.

Any outgoing text you send in reply to an incoming message does count against your allotment once it is successfully sent.

Attaching a file — such as a photo, graphic, or document — to a text converts it from SMS to MMS (multimedia message). Carriers count MMS messages as two messages each, so attaching an image doubles the usage for that send.

For example, a text with a photo sent to 100 people would use 200 messages from your allotment. This applies to all attachment types and all group sizes.

If you're managing a tight allotment, consider sending image-heavy messages to smaller targeted groups, or add a bundle during high-volume seasons.

No. All incoming messages are completely free and do not count toward your monthly allotment. Only outgoing messages you send are counted.

Text In Church supports up to 459 standard characters (plain text) per message, or up to 3 message segments. If your message is long enough to span multiple segments on the recipient's device, it still counts as a single message from your monthly allotment.

Segmentation happens automatically for better deliverability and does not affect your usage count.

No. Only outgoing text messages count toward your monthly allotment. Emails do not affect your text quota and incur no additional charges. All Text In Church plans include unlimited email sending.

Unused text messages do not roll over at the end of your billing cycle. Both your standard monthly allotment and any unused add-on bundle credits reset to zero at the start of each new billing period.

If you consistently have leftover messages each month, it may be worth considering a lower-tier plan that better matches your actual usage.

A message counts against your allotment when it is successfully sent from your account to the carrier. Messages that fail before leaving your account are not counted. This includes messages sent to contacts who have opted out, contacts without a phone number, or messages sent while your account is inactive.

To check delivery status, go to the Sent tab on the desktop, select the message, and click View next to each recipient.

Automated compliance messages — like opt-in confirmations and carrier-mandated communications — do count toward your monthly allotment when successfully sent. These messages are required by carriers and cannot be disabled.

Keep this in mind when setting up Keywords or large automated workflows that trigger compliance messages for many contacts at once.

Text In Church does not offer an unlimited text plan. However, all plans include unlimited emails, Keywords, Groups, People, Connect Cards, Workflows, and Account Users.

If you need more texts than your current plan provides, you can add 500-message bundles from the Marketplace tab or upgrade your plan via the Subscriptions tab in your Settings. The system will not block you from sending after your allotment runs out — you'll simply incur overage charges at $0.03 per message.

You can review all available plans at textinchurch.com/pricing.

Within your account, you can only see the next plan up or down from your current plan. For larger Premier plans, click here. For our largest plans, click here.

If no plan is an exact match, you have two flexible options:

If keeping costs precise matters most, bundles offer flexibility. If budget allows, upgrading typically provides better long-term value.

When you approach or exceed your monthly allotment, a purple banner appears at the top of your account. Once over your limit, you move to a pay-as-you-go system charged at $0.03 per message. Overage charges are billed on your next regular invoice date when your allotment resets.

To address or avoid overages, you can:

Check your allotment reset date in Settings → Subscriptions. The reset date appears in grey text beneath the usage bar:

Actions that can quickly consume your allotment include sending a workflow to a large group or sending MMS to many recipients. For example, sending a workflow to 9,300 people uses 9,300 messages at once.

To see your current usage and remaining allotment, go to Settings → Subscriptions in your Text In Church account. The usage bar shows how much of your monthly allotment you've used, along with your billing reset date.

For a breakdown of sent messages, visit the Sent tab on the desktop. If you need a report of contacts who have opted out of SMS, go to People and filter by Opt-Out Status to see a full list.

Yes — you can upgrade to a larger plan at any time from the Subscriptions tab in your Settings. Text In Church plans range from 500 to 100,000 messages per month, so there's a plan to fit churches of any size.

For seasonal spikes — like Christmas, Easter, or post-VBS follow-up — you can add temporary message bundles from the Marketplace tab without changing your base plan.

Once your busy season ends, remove the bundles by going to Settings → Subscriptions and clicking Remove next to the bundles you want to cancel. Bundles renew automatically each month, so don't forget to remove them when you're done.

Each bundle contains 500 text messages and adds $12/month to your invoice.

Important: Bundles renew automatically each billing cycle. They do not expire after one month — you'll need to manually remove them from Settings → Subscriptions once you no longer need the extra messages.

To add extra messages during a busy period, go to the Marketplace tab in your Text In Church account and select the message bundle option. Bundles are added to your account immediately and appear on your next invoice.

No — credits from PastorsLine, including scheduled messages or rollover credits, cannot be transferred to Text In Church. If you're transitioning from PastorsLine, any unused credits will remain in PastorsLine and cannot be applied to your Text In Church account.