# Clickatell review (2026): is it worth it? > Chat commerce platform and SMS APIs for large brands Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Clickatell is a chat commerce platform for large consumer brands. It sends broadcasts and automated conversations over SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages, web chat and USSD, and adds AI chatbots, a live agent inbox and in-chat payments. SMS pricing is calculated by country, and the platform itself is sold through sales. - **Category:** SMS & Chat Marketing - **Made by:** Clickatell (since 2000) - **Website:** https://www.clickatell.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a published price, as platform pricing goes through sales. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing Clickatell's current pricing could not be confirmed from its own site. ## Key features - **Broadcasts:** Campaigns are defined, personalized and scheduled across countries and time zones, from a web interface or through the API, with sign-up and opt-out management. - **Automations:** A drag-and-drop workflow editor and integration hub build automated self-service journeys, with buttons, lists and catalogs inside chat. - **AI chatbots:** Chatbots can be trained on business-specific information, and Clickatell describes a private model kept in a secure environment. - **Live agent inbox:** A unified inbox lets agents take over chats, transfer them between agents and departments, and use tags, notes and chat history. - **In-chat payments:** Customers can pay inside the chat thread through a hosted checkout page or a one-tap tokenized flow. ## Good for - Banks, telecoms, airlines and retailers messaging customers at scale - Developers who need an SMS API with country coverage - Teams that want payments inside WhatsApp or SMS chats ## Worth knowing - No plan prices are published: platform pricing goes through the sales team, and SMS rates come from a country-by-country calculator. - The pricing page we could read is an interactive estimate tool, so the rates for a given country were not captured. - The site says it serves large global brands, so small teams may find it heavier than they need. - Pages read list a web platform and APIs only, with no separate desktop or mobile apps. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Clickatell is a chat commerce platform and SMS API aimed at large global brands, with broadcasts, chatbots and in-chat payments. No plan prices are published and the SMS rate depends on a country-by-country calculator, so a small team will find it heavier than it needs. - **Value for money: C.** No plan price is published; platform pricing goes through sales and SMS rates come from a calculator, so it sits at the middle. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan and no trial on the pages read. - **Features: C.** Broadcasts, automations, AI chatbots, a live agent inbox and in-chat payments. It is aimed at large brands, and the pages show little for small teams. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Platform and API setup with sales involvement. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web platform and APIs only; no separate mobile or desktop apps are listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Clickatell's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among SMS and chat marketing tools - Clickatell's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 0 of the 31 other SMS and chat marketing tools we grade, and level with 2. - It stands best on value for money (C, above 6 of 31) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/chat-marketing ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Clickatell you would be making texts to thousands of numbers, registered with the carriers. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 29 of the 31 other SMS and chat marketing tools grade higher. - You could not: Texts to thousands of numbers, registered with the carriers. - You could not: The WhatsApp Business API, which Meta opens only through approved partners. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: A chatbot builder hooked into the messaging apps. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** SMS marketing, WhatsApp messaging, Chatbots, AI agents, Workflow automation, Public API ## Alternatives - [Infobip](https://toolgpa.com/tools/infobip): Omnichannel messaging platform with SMS, WhatsApp, RCS and AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clickatell-vs-infobip) - [Sinch](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sinch): Messaging, voice and email APIs plus campaign apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clickatell-vs-sinch) - [ClickSend](https://toolgpa.com/tools/clicksend): Prepaid SMS and MMS sending by app, API or email, with no monthly fee. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clickatell-vs-clicksend) - [Kudosity](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kudosity): Pay-as-you-go SMS, MMS, WhatsApp and RCS platform from Australia. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clickatell-vs-kudosity) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://www.clickatell.com - https://www.clickatell.com/pricing-and-coverage/message-pricing/ - https://www.clickatell.com/about-us/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/clickatell Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).