How SMS verification pricing works: per code, per country, per operator, or per rental

The unit is a code from a country

Every service here sells the same thing: a temporary number in a chosen country that receives one code for one service. The price depends on the country first, then on the operator or pool behind the number. 5SIM's guest API priced a Telegram code at $0.10 in Colombia, $0.77 in the United States and $8.89 in Italy on the read date; SMSPool's feed ran from $0.20 to $24.02 for the same service across 158 countries, with a median of $1.63.

The same country can carry several prices. GrizzlySMS listed the United Kingdom Telegram code from $0.45 with offers at $2 and $4 beside it; 5SIM listed the United States from four operators between $0.77 and $0.89. Cheaper rows tend to be virtual pools, dearer rows real SIM operators, though no feed we read labels which is which.

Rentals are a different product

A rental keeps the number for days or weeks and receives more than one code. Textverified prints $1.50 per rental and a $5 a month line beside its $0.25 verification; OnlineSim's homepage offers 15-minute numbers and rentals that can be extended. Rentals are the answer when a service sends a second code later, a login confirmation weeks after the sign-up.

What you are not paying for

None of the feeds we read publishes a delivery time or a success rate. What they publish instead is stock, the number of numbers available per country, and a refund rule: Textverified charges only when a code arrives, SMSBower returns the money to the balance when an activation is cancelled after five to ten minutes without a code. Read the rule before the price; a cheap code that never arrives costs the time, and on some services the money.