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Real-time, branded messaging on Google’s Rich Communication Services network. Verified sender badges, read receipts, rich cards, suggested replies and in-thread actions — delivered to Android handsets natively, no app required.

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How RCS pricing works

Every RCS message is priced as two components stacked together:
  1. Carrier surcharges — passed through at cost from US mobile carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Spectrum, Dish).
  2. Tied platform fee — routing, delivery, orchestration and the verified sender layer. Flat across all carriers and both directions.
All-in = carrier surcharge + Tied platform fee. Throughout, MT means outbound (mobile-terminated) and MO means inbound (mobile-originated).

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RCS Rich — per segment

Text-only RCS with verified sender, rich cards, suggested replies and read receipts. Charged per 160-character segment.

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All-in

$0.00747 per segment, flat across all six carriers and both directions.

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RCS Rich Media — per message

Messages containing images, carousels, video or interactive media. Charged per message, not per segment.

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All-in

$0.01980 per message, flat across all six carriers and both directions.

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RCS agent setup

Each RCS agent carries a one-time setup fee and an ongoing monthly fee covering Google RBM Partner network registration, brand verification, identity maintenance and infrastructure monitoring. Every agent also gets its own SMS fallback number, so phones that can’t receive RCS still get your message as an SMS from a number set up for that agent. The number is charged at cost, with no markup. From an account’s 21st agent on, the agent fee is $25 a month, so $50 a month with its SMS fallback number. If we can’t set up an agent’s SMS fallback number, the $100 is refunded. The agent keeps working on RCS. An agent represents a single verified RCS business identity, typically one per brand or sub-brand. Multi-brand operations can provision multiple agents, and each one gets its own SMS fallback number. Agent fees are billed separately from per-message channel fees.

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Fallback to SMS

If a recipient’s device doesn’t support RCS, or RCS isn’t available on their carrier, Tied automatically falls back to SMS at the SMS platform fee, sent from the agent’s SMS fallback number once that number is active; until then a message to a phone that can’t get RCS is not sent. The number itself is billed once and monthly as shown in RCS agent setup, at cost.
You only pay for the message that actually delivers. There is no double-billing for the fallback decision.
SMS rates: SMS, MMS and short code channel fees.

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What’s included

  • Verified sender registration and maintenance via the Google RBM Partner network
  • Branded sender profile — logo, brand colour, verified badge
  • Read receipts and typing indicators
  • Suggested replies, action buttons, rich cards and carousels
  • Full delivery analytics and opt-out management
  • Compliance validation and sender registration support
  • Automatic SMS fallback if RCS is unavailable on the recipient’s device

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Notes

Inbound RCS messages are billed only when they are a freeform text reply, a quick-reply button response, or a shared location. All other inbound RCS events are recorded but free.
  • All prices in USD. International rates vary by destination country.
  • RCS Rich is billed per 160-character segment; RCS Rich Media is billed per message.
  • On T-Mobile, Rich Media covers up to 5MB per message. Additional MB, up to 100MB, incur a carrier surcharge of $0.001/MB per direction, passed through at cost.
  • Number rental and registration fees are not included — see SMS, MMS and short code channel fees.
  • Test and sandbox traffic is free and unbilled.
  • Per-conversation and per-resolution pricing is also available — see How pricing works.

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Channels overview

Every channel compared — capabilities, handoff, plan availability and region.

All channel fees

How channel fees are built, and rates for every other channel.