---
title: Why was my message charged as more than one SMS?
description: "Because it was longer than one SMS can hold and was split into parts. Each part is charged, even though the recipient sees a single joined-up message. The split costs a few characters per part for the information phones need…"
url: "https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/why-was-my-message-charged-as-more-than-one-sms/"
updated: "2026-10-27"
category: "Bulk SMS / Message Length & Encoding"
---

# Why was my message charged as more than one SMS?

Because it was longer than one SMS can hold and was split into parts. Each part is charged, even though the recipient sees a single joined-up message.

The split costs a few characters per part for the information phones need to rejoin them, which is why the parts after the first are slightly shorter.

## GSM7 messages (plain English text)

| Total characters | Parts charged |
| --- | --- |
| 1 – 160 | 1 |
| 161 – 306 | 2 |
| 307 – 459 | 3 |
| 460 – 612 | 4 |

The first part holds 160 characters; each part after that holds 153.

## Unicode messages (Hindi, other scripts, emoji)

| Total characters | Parts charged |
| --- | --- |
| 1 – 70 | 1 |
| 71 – 134 | 2 |
| 135 – 201 | 3 |
| 202 – 268 | 4 |

The first part holds 70 characters; each part after that holds 67.

## How to keep the count down

1. Run the message through **Extra > SMS Length Calculator** and read the **Cost** and **Max Cost Length** values. Max Cost Length is how far you can go before the next part is charged.
2. Trim to just under a boundary. Cutting a 165-character message to 160 halves its cost.
3. Remove one emoji or curly quote and a message may drop from Unicode back to GSM7, raising the limit from 70 to 160.
4. Shorten links and drop unnecessary line breaks, each of which costs two characters.

### More Related Articles

- [How many characters fit in one SMS?](https://www.smsgatewaycenter.com/blog/kb/how-many-characters-fit-in-one-sms/)

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