---
title: How are credits charged for long and Unicode messages?
description: "You are charged **per message part, per recipient**. The length and encoding of your text decide the number of parts, and your rate plan decides the price of each. ## The calculation **Parts per recipient × recipients × your rate…"
url: "https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/how-are-credits-charged-for-long-and-unicode-messages/"
updated: "2026-10-31"
category: "Bulk SMS / Message Length & Encoding"
---

# How are credits charged for long and Unicode messages?

You are charged **per message part, per recipient**. The length and encoding of your text decide the number of parts, and your rate plan decides the price of each.

## The calculation

**Parts per recipient × recipients × your rate = what the campaign costs.**

So a 200-character English message to 1,000 people is charged as 2 parts × 1,000 = 2,000 chargeable messages. The same text in Hindi would be 3 parts × 1,000 = 3,000.

## Units or wallet amount

Depending on how your account is set up, your balance is held either as **credits (units)** or as a **wallet amount**. Your **Profile** shows which under Membership Information, and the Calculation Units Display feature shows a wallet balance converted into units.

## Where to see real figures

- **Before sending:** the **SMS Length Calculator** gives the parts per recipient. Your **Rate Plan** gives the rate.
- **The dashboard estimate** of how many messages your balance allows is approximate only, as the page itself notes. Real deductions follow the pricing applied at send time.
- **After sending:** the **Delivery Report** shows the amount charged per message, and **Campaign Summary** totals it per campaign. **Credit History** shows each deduction against your balance.

## Keeping costs predictable

1. Write templates to land just under 160 characters, or 70 for Unicode.
2. Avoid accidental Unicode from pasted quotes and emoji.
3. Remember that a failed message may still be charged depending on where it failed; the Refund column in your Delivery Summary shows what was credited back.

### More Related Articles

- [How do I send SMS in Hindi or another Indian language?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/how-do-i-send-sms-in-hindi-or-another-indian-language/)
- [Which characters make my message Unicode, and which ones count as two?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/which-characters-make-my-message-unicode-and-which-ones-count-as-two/)
- [Why was my message charged as more than one SMS?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/why-was-my-message-charged-as-more-than-one-sms/)

Found this useful?[Add as Preferred Source on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=smsgatewaycenter.com)