Key answers
- What is a Smart Bundle?
- A Smart Bundle is a discounted block of SMS credits that expires 24 hours after purchase. Bundles start at KSh 100 for 125 SMS (KSh 0.80 per SMS) and go up to KSh 2,000 for 5,000 SMS (KSh 0.40 per SMS).
- Do Smart Bundle credits expire?
- Yes. Any bundle credits still unused at the 24-hour deadline are lost. Bundle credits are tracked separately from your standard credits, so expiry never touches your regular balance.
- Which credits are used first when I send?
- Bundle credits. The send flow consumes Smart Bundle credits before standard credits, so your permanent balance is the last thing touched.
- Are Smart Bundles cheaper than standard credits?
- At every bundle tier the per-SMS price sits below the KSh 0.90 starting rate on the standard table, and the KSh 2,000 bundle reaches KSh 0.40 per SMS. That saving only materialises if you send within the 24 hours.
Standard Bulkit credits are built for steady sending: you load them once, they never expire, and the per-SMS rate drops as your load tier grows. That model works well when you send every week, but it asks small senders to judge months ahead — a shop running one flash sale often ends up buying credits it will not use for a while.
Smart Bundles change the entry point rather than the core rates. You buy a fixed block of credits at a discount, use it within 24 hours, and let it go. The discount comes from the shorter validity, not from undercutting the volume tiers that larger accounts rely on.
The tiers are simple: KSh 100 buys 125 SMS at KSh 0.80 each, KSh 300 buys 429 at KSh 0.70, KSh 500 buys 833 at KSh 0.60, KSh 1,000 buys 2,000 at KSh 0.50, and KSh 2,000 buys 5,000 at KSh 0.40. That last figure is the lowest rate on the standard table.
Mechanically, bundle credits live in a separate bucket from your standard balance. When you send, bundle credits are deducted first and standard credits only make up any shortfall. Because the two are tracked independently, an expired bundle cannot eat into the credits you paid to keep permanently, and your standard balance and its rate tier stay exactly where they were.
Buying is a separate step as well. Smart Bundles appear as their own option in the dashboard, distinct from standard credit top-ups. You can keep a standard balance running in the background and still buy a bundle for a specific campaign.
The practical rule is volume matching. Work out how many messages the campaign needs, buy the tier that covers it, and send early enough that a failure or retry still lands inside the 24 hours. A KSh 2,000 bundle is poor value if you only have 800 messages to send, and a KSh 100 bundle will run out mid-broadcast if your list is larger than 125.
For anything continuous — transactional alerts, weekly announcements, month-round onboarding — standard credits remain the better buy. They never expire, they reach the same KSh 0.40 rate at the top tier, and they do not put a timer on when your traffic has to go out.
- KSh 100 → 125 SMS at KSh 0.80 per SMS
- KSh 300 → 429 SMS at KSh 0.70 per SMS
- KSh 500 → 833 SMS at KSh 0.60 per SMS
- KSh 1,000 → 2,000 SMS at KSh 0.50 per SMS
- KSh 2,000 → 5,000 SMS at KSh 0.40 per SMS
- Bundle credits are used before standard credits and expire 24 hours after purchase
- Standard credits are tracked separately and never expire
Smart Bundles are the right tool for a flash offer, a same-day event reminder, a verification burst, or a pilot before you commit to a standard load. They are the wrong tool for always-on traffic.
The tiers are live on the pricing page under Smart Bundles and appear as a separate purchase option in your dashboard.
