10DLC registration is the sign-up US carriers require before a business can send texts from software, such as a CRM, scheduling app or missed-call text-back, using a regular 10-digit number. Unregistered texts get blocked. Through Twilio it costs about $19.50 up front plus $1.50 to $10 a month, and approval usually takes a few business days to a few weeks.
If your CRM sends follow-up texts, your job software sends “on my way” messages, or a missed call gets an automatic text back, this is about you. It's also why some contractors find out months later that customers never got their texts. Amounts below are in US dollars, and the rules are US carrier rules unless a section says Canada. We're a marketing company, not lawyers, so treat the legal parts as a starting point.
What Is 10DLC Registration, and Does a Contractor Need It?
You need it if software sends texts for your business from a regular local number. 10DLC stands for 10-digit long code, which is just a normal local phone number. Twilio, the messaging company many business texting apps are built on, puts it plainly: “Anyone sending SMS/MMS messages over a 10DLC number from an application to the US must register for A2P 10DLC”.
The catch is what counts as an application. Twilio's documentation says “US telecom carriers consider any messages sent from a Twilio number (or any other messaging provider) to be application to person”. Texts you type on your own cell phone, on its normal plan, are person-to-person. Anything that goes out through a texting platform is treated as application-to-person. For a contractor, that usually means:
- Quote follow-ups and reminders from a CRM
- Appointment confirmations and “on my way” texts from job software
- Review requests after the job
- Missed-call text-back
- An AI receptionist that texts the caller a booking link or a summary
- A shared inbox where your office texts customers from the business number
Registration has two parts. The brand tells carriers who you are, using your legal business name and tax ID. The campaign describes what you'll send, gives sample messages and explains how customers agree to get texts. Both get reviewed before your number can send.
Why Aren't My Business Texts Being Delivered?
The most common reason is that the number isn't registered, or it's registered but not attached to the approved campaign. Twilio's notice on unregistered numbers says “Messages sent to the U.S. using unregistered +1 10DLC numbers will be blocked”. That has applied since September 1, 2023. A blocked text comes back with error code 30034. The same notice adds that “Twilio messaging rates will still apply, even for blocked messages”. So you can pay for texts nobody receives.
Twilio's page for that error lists the usual causes. The brand or campaign registration isn't finished. The number isn't in the sender pool tied to the approved campaign. Or a sole proprietor campaign has more than one number on it, when only one 10DLC number can be registered for that kind of campaign.
A registered number can still get filtered for what's in the message, and links are a common trigger. The wireless industry group CTIA says that where a link shortener is used, “Message Senders should use a shortener with a web address and IP address(es) dedicated to the exclusive use of the Message Sender”. Twilio's approval guide says “Third-party redirects aren't permitted”. In plain terms, send links on your own domain, not through a free public shortener.
To check your own texts, open the message log in your texting app and look at the delivery status, not just “sent.” A failed or undelivered status with an error code tells you far more than a customer saying they never got it. If you can't see a log, ask your vendor what it shows for your last 20 texts.
What Does 10DLC Registration Cost, and How Long Does It Take?
On Twilio's cheaper brand types, a small contractor pays $19.50 once and $1.50 to $10 a month, plus a carrier fee on each message. Here's Twilio's fee list. Twilio says it passes these fees through with no added cost. Apps built on Twilio or a similar provider set their own prices, and some bundle the fees or mark them up.
| Fee | Amount (US$) | When it’s charged |
|---|---|---|
| Brand registration, sole proprietor or low-volume standard | $4.50 | Once |
| Brand registration, standard (includes secondary vetting) | $46 | Once |
| Campaign vetting | $15, non-refundable | Once per campaign |
| Low-volume mixed campaign | $1.50 | Every month |
| Sole proprietor campaign | $2 | Every month |
| Standard campaign | $10 | Every month |
| Carrier fees | Set by each carrier | Every message segment |
Which brand type fits? If you have a tax ID (an EIN in the US, or a Business Number in Canada) and send fewer than 6,000 messages a day, Twilio points you to low-volume standard. Standard is for more than that. Sole proprietor is for businesses with no tax ID. It's limited to one campaign and one number, and about 3,000 message segments a day across US carriers.
The fees went up on August 1, 2025. Brand registration rose from $4.00 to $4.50 and standard vetting from $40 to $41.50, so a guide quoting a $4 brand fee is out of date. Our breakdown of what a contractor CRM costs shows where these fees land on a software bill.
Allow time for review. Twilio's registration guide says campaign reviews take up to 5 business days for standard use cases, and to contact support if one is still in progress after 10 days. A brand that goes to manual review takes seven business days or more. Register before you need to send, not the week a promotion goes out.
Who Registers It: You or Your Software?
Usually your software files it, but the registration has to be in your business's name. Twilio's approval guide is direct about this: “If you provide software for dentists, don't register your software company. Register the specific dental practice that's actually sending the messages”. Swap dentists for contractors and that's your CRM. Some apps register you in the background from your account details. Others have you fill in the brand and campaign forms yourself.
Either way, ask your vendor five questions:
- Is my number registered and linked to an approved campaign?
- What business name, website and email address did you register? They have to match what customers see.
- Which campaign type did you pick, and does it cover everything I send, including any promotions?
- What do you charge me for registration and the monthly campaign fee?
- If I leave, what happens to the registration and the number?
If you're choosing software that texts leads for you, our AI integration page shows how we put calls, texts and forms in one place. An AI voice agent that texts callers needs the same registration as any other app.
Why Do 10DLC Campaigns Get Rejected?
Most rejections come from the opt-in, or from business details that don't line up. Twilio's campaign onboarding guide says this about the message flow, the part where you explain how customers agree to texts: “This is the heart of your registration, and it's also where most rejections happen”. These are the problems it lists that a contractor is most likely to hit:
- No visible consent where you collect phone numbers. If your quote form takes a phone number with no texting checkbox, the reviewer has no opt-in to approve. The next section shows the wording.
- A website that doesn't work. The guide says “Sites that don't load, return errors, or aren't live yet won't pass review”.
- A privacy policy without the texting line. Twilio asks you to include this sentence: “We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes”. Plenty of contractors have no policy to add it to. An earlier Osprey study found 42% of contractor websites don't link a privacy policy at all.
- Missing terms. Your terms page needs the program name, how often you text, HELP and STOP instructions in bold, a link to the privacy policy and the line “Carriers are not liable for any delayed or undelivered messages”.
- Details that don't match. The business name in your texts has to match the one you registered. Your brand name, website and email domain should all point to the same business, and Twilio says brands “should use matching email domains, not gmail or yahoo addresses”. That's one more reason to move your business email off Gmail.
- Weak sample messages. You give reviewers 2 to 5 examples. Each should name your business, and at least one should include “Reply STOP to opt out.”
Fix the cause before you resubmit. If a campaign fails vetting, Twilio's FAQ says “the $15 Campaign vetting fee is non-refundable”.
Not sure your texts are arriving? Book a free 20-minute call. We'll look at your quote form, your privacy page and how your texts get sent, then tell you what a reviewer would flag first.
Book a Free Texting Check →What Should the Text Consent on Your Quote Form Say?
Use a separate, unchecked box that says who will text, what about, how often and how to stop. Twilio's guide lists what a compliant web form needs, and here's how that looks on a contractor's quote form:
| On the form | Example wording |
|---|---|
| A texting checkbox, unchecked by default | Yes, [Your Business] can text me about my quote, appointments and job updates. |
| How often | Message frequency varies. |
| Cost line | Msg & data rates may apply. |
| Help and opt-out | Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out. |
| Policy links | Links to your Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. |
| A second, separate checkbox, only if you send promotions | Yes, also send me occasional offers by text. |
Three rules trip people up. The texting box can't be pre-checked. If you send promotions as well as job texts, Twilio says “Marketing and transactional message consent must be consented to separately with two checkboxes”. And a box that agrees to your terms and privacy policy has to be separate from the texting boxes. If the form sits on your website, the fix is a checkbox and two lines of text.
After someone opts in, send a confirmation right away. It should name your business and repeat the frequency, the rates line and how to get help or stop. For example: “[Your Business]: Thanks, you'll get texts about your quote and appointment. Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.”
A phone call doesn't count for promotions. Twilio says “Verbal consent is not enough for marketing use cases”, so promotional texts need written consent, such as that second checkbox. Our post on texting and emailing past customers covers what that means for an old customer list.
What Happens When a Customer Texts STOP?
You stop texting them, no matter which word they use, and you have 10 business days at most. FCC rules that took effect on April 11, 2025 treat replies such as “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” as an opt-out. A request made in any reasonable way has to be honored “within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days”. And you “may not designate an exclusive means to request revocation of consent”, so you can't insist people opt out only through one form or one number.
A bigger change is still pending. Under the FCC's revoke-all rule, an opt-out from one kind of message would apply to all your future robotexts and robocalls on unrelated matters. An FCC order adopted January 6, 2026 pushed that part to January 31, 2027, while the FCC reviews comments on whether to change it. It may move again. The simplest way to be ready either way is to treat any STOP as a stop for every text from your business.
Promotions have one more rule. The same federal rules bar telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the customer's location, so keep promotional texts inside that window and check your own state's rules too.
Do Canadian Contractors Need 10DLC Registration?
Yes if you text customers in the US, and possibly even if you only text Canadians. Twilio's registration covers Canadian businesses. A Business Number qualifies you for the standard brand types, and sole proprietor registration is open to businesses in the US and Canada that have no tax ID.
For texting within Canada, the answer depends on your provider. GoHighLevel's support article on Canadian numbers, updated September 4, 2026, sets out its rules:
- Canadian number texting US customers: registration required, whenever you got the number.
- Texting Canadians from a number bought before March 26, 2025: no registration needed for that route.
- Texting Canadians from a number bought on or after March 26, 2025: registration, or GoHighLevel's Persona identity check instead.
That's one platform's policy, not a law, so ask your own provider what it requires. Consent works differently in Canada too. Canada's anti-spam law, CASL, has its own consent rules for commercial texts, and the post on past-customer lists linked above explains its implied consent periods.
Where This Comes From
This guide is built from primary sources read on November 6, 2026. They include Twilio's A2P 10DLC documentation, its help center articles on fees, vetting and campaign approval, its error 30034 page and its September 2023 blocking notice. They also include the FCC's January 2026 order, the current text of the FCC's rule at 47 CFR 64.1200, the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023) and GoHighLevel's article on Canadian numbers. The fees and review times are Twilio's. Other providers price differently.
One Twilio support address refused our automated reads. Twilio's own documentation links to the same articles on its help site, and that's where we read them. You'll also find guides saying carriers started blocking unregistered texts in February 2025. Twilio's notice puts its block at September 1, 2023, so that's the date used here. None of this is legal advice. If you send promotional texts in any volume, have a lawyer look at your consent wording.