# FaithDash pricing

> FaithDash is free to use. You pay only for the SMS you send — UGX 35 per SMS part from a prepaid mobile-money balance — and every church gets 100 free test SMS.

## What's free and what you pay for

| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| FaithDash platform: members, visitors, attendance, events, automation, team access | **Free** |
| Your first 100 SMS, after verifying your church phone number | **Free** (one-time) |
| Each SMS part after that | **UGX 35** |
| Monthly subscription | None |
| Setup fee or contract | None |

Every feature is included for every church. There are no paid tiers and no locked features.

## How an SMS is counted

An SMS is billed per **part**. A standard text (GSM-7 encoding) fits **160 characters in one part**. A longer message is split into parts of **153 characters** each. If a message contains even one character outside the GSM-7 set, such as a curly quote (’), an em dash (—) or most emoji, the **whole message** switches to Unicode. Unicode fits only **70 characters in one part, or 67 per part when split**.

| Message length (GSM-7) | Parts | Cost per recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 160 characters | 1 | UGX 35 |
| 161–306 characters | 2 | UGX 70 |
| 307–459 characters | 3 | UGX 105 |

| Message length (Unicode) | Parts | Cost per recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 70 characters | 1 | UGX 35 |
| 71–134 characters | 2 | UGX 70 |
| 135–201 characters | 3 | UGX 105 |

FaithDash's composer shows the character count, the encoding, the number of parts and the total cost while you type, so none of this is a surprise. To check a message now, use the [SMS cost calculator](/sms-cost-calculator).

## Worked examples

These are illustrative scenarios, not specific customers.

| Scenario | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| One-part Sunday reminder to 200 members | 200 × 1 × UGX 35 | UGX 7,000 |
| The same reminder every week for a month (4 Sundays) | 4 × UGX 7,000 | UGX 28,000 |
| Two-part announcement to 500 members | 500 × 2 × UGX 35 | UGX 35,000 |
| Day-1 welcome text to 15 new visitors | 15 × 1 × UGX 35 | UGX 525 |
| Practice notice to a 40-person choir tag | 40 × 1 × UGX 35 | UGX 1,400 |

Sending to a **tag** instead of the whole church is the simplest saving. If only the choir needs to know about practice, only the choir gets charged.

## How paying works

1. **Verify your church phone number** in Settings. No message can be sent until you do, and verifying unlocks your 100 free test SMS (worth UGX 3,500 at the standard rate).
2. **Top up the church balance by mobile money.** Payments are processed by Flutterwave.
3. **Send.** Each send is deducted from the balance. The Billing page shows your current balance, total topped up, total spent, the last 30 days of usage, your top-up history and a full transaction ledger.
4. **Top up when low.** Low-balance warnings show roughly how many more SMS the balance covers, with a one-click top-up beside them.

The balance belongs to the church, not to one person's phone, so a change of secretary or treasurer doesn't strand your airtime.

## Why it isn't cheaper per SMS

FaithDash sends through the **BulkSMS Uganda** gateway, the same class of telco-connected infrastructure other bulk SMS platforms in Uganda use. **UGX 35 per part reflects that underlying rate.** We don't claim to undercut it. What you get for it is the work you no longer do: no spreadsheet exports, no CSV uploads, no forgetting who the new visitors were, and reminders that send themselves. See [how FaithDash compares](/compare).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is FaithDash really free?

Yes. Member records, visitor check-in, attendance, events, automation and team access cost nothing. The only charge is UGX 35 per SMS part you send, taken from a prepaid balance.

### Is there a free trial?

There's no time-limited trial, because the platform itself is free with no time limit. Every church also gets 100 free test SMS once it verifies its contact phone number.

### Do unused balances expire?

No. The prepaid church balance has no expiry date. It stays on the church's account until it's spent on SMS.

### Does an emoji really double the cost?

It can. One emoji or curly quote switches the whole message to Unicode, which cuts a part from 160 characters to 70. A 120-character message is 1 part in GSM-7 but 2 parts in Unicode. FaithDash's composer warns you, and the [calculator](/sms-cost-calculator) shows you exactly which characters caused it.

### What currency is used?

Uganda shillings (UGX) by default. Currency is stored per church, so the balance and pricing model also support other currencies.

Last updated: 2026-10-10  
Source: https://faithdash.com/pricing