SMS is the better channel for short, time-sensitive messages to people who have agreed to hear from you by text, and email is the better channel for longer content, newsletters and anything that needs links, images or a record. Most small businesses end up using both, so the useful question is which one to use for which message. This guide compares the two on reach, response, cost, consent rules and setup, then works through a real example with the cost at 500, 3,000 and 10,000 messages.

SMS vs email at a glance

SMS wins on speed and attention, email wins on length and cost per message, and both need permission before you send marketing.

	SMS	Email
Best for	Reminders, confirmations, alerts, flash offers	Newsletters, receipts, long explanations, attachments
Message length	160 characters per segment (longer texts are split into segments)	No practical limit
Open rate (vendor estimates)	95 to 98%	20 to 28%
Replies	Natural, one tap	Possible, but people rarely answer marketing email
Consent rules (US)	Prior consent required, TCPA	Opt-out model, CAN-SPAM
Cost model	Per message segment	Usually per list size or send volume

The open rate figures come from

vendor benchmarks, and the same source admits the 98% number measures a message showing up on a lock screen, not careful reading. SMS has no tracking pixel, and email open counts are distorted by privacy tools, so the two numbers are not measured the same way. Treat them as directional.

Which gets better results?

SMS gets faster responses, but open rate alone is the wrong yardstick, so compare replies, clicks and the action you wanted.

The same vendor source puts replies at about 45% for SMS against 6% for email, and clicks at 19 to 20% against 2 to 4%. Those are vendor figures with no independent method behind them, and they describe opt-in campaigns, not every text a business sends. What holds up across sources is the pattern: a text gets read within minutes, so it suits anything that expires, such as “your appointment is tomorrow at 3” or “your delivery arrives in an hour.” Email gets read later, so it suits content people want to keep.

What does each channel cost?

Email is usually cheaper per message at scale, and SMS cost is easy to predict because you pay per 160-character segment.

Email tools mostly price by list size, so the cost per message falls as you grow, and prices vary widely by vendor. Check the current pricing page of whichever tool you use. SMS is billed per segment, so a message longer than 160 characters costs more than one.

For Sheet Gurus SMS, paid plans do not include bundled message credits. You pay the plan fee plus a per-segment rate: Starter is $9 a month at $0.04 per segment, Growth is $49 a month at $0.03, and Pro is $99 a month at $0.02. Here is the monthly total for one-segment messages sent from a sheet, all on the same monthly basis:

Messages per month	Starter	Growth	Pro
500	$29	$64	$109
3,000	$129	$139	$159
10,000	$409	$349	$299

The cheapest plan changes with volume: Starter at 500 and 3,000 messages, Pro at 10,000. These totals assume one segment per message, US or Canada recipients, and no replies. Replies are billed at the plan’s segment rate on Starter and Growth and are free on Pro. See the pricing explainer and how segments are counted before you budget.

What are the consent rules?

SMS needs prior consent before marketing texts, while email only needs a working opt-out, so SMS carries the heavier obligations.

In the US, commercial email falls under CAN-SPAM, which is an opt-out system: the FTC’s compliance guide says you must honor an opt-out within 10 business days, and each violating email can cost up to $53,088. Marketing texts fall under the TCPA, which expects consent before you send. Having someone’s phone number does not mean they agreed to marketing texts, so do not copy an email list into a text list. Collect consent first, as covered in the guide to opt-in text messaging. Sheet Gurus SMS applies automatic message filtering that flags opt-out language and undeliverable numbers, which helps but does not replace getting consent. Business texting in the US also involves carrier registration, explained in what A2P 10DLC is. Nothing here is legal advice.

Worked example: a plumbing company confirming jobs

A local service business with 500 jobs a month can send each customer an appointment text from the sheet it already keeps, and keep email for invoices and quotes.

Suppose the sheet has one row per job with the headers FirstName, Phone, JobDate and Tech in row 1. The sidebar sends from the tab that is open, and each variable reads the column with the same header. The message:

Hi {FirstName}, {Tech} from Green Valley Plumbing is booked for {JobDate}. Reply Y to confirm.

The sidebar previews each recipient’s message before you send. Two limits matter here. A variable has no fallback, so an empty Tech cell leaves a gap in the sentence, and a variable inserts the date exactly as the cell shows it, so format JobDate the way you want it to read. To text only some rows, such as jobs still marked Pending, put them on a separate tab with a FILTER formula and send from that tab.

At about 120 characters, this is one segment. Five hundred of them cost $20 in usage plus the plan fee, so $29 on Starter. Scheduling a send for the evening before is available on Growth and Pro, and it goes out at one time for the whole batch. The batch is read when you schedule it, so rows added afterwards are not included. There are no triggers yet, so every send is started or scheduled from the sidebar. Replies land in the two-way inbox linked to each customer’s row, and you can send the quote and invoice by email as before.

When should you use SMS, email or both?

Use SMS for anything urgent or short, email for anything long or keepable, and both when a message matters and you have consent for each.

• Use SMS for appointment reminders, delivery updates, shift changes, event day alerts and quick confirmations.
• Use email for newsletters, receipts, onboarding material, long how-to content and anything with attachments.
• Use both for important notices: send the email with the detail, then a short text pointing to it.

If your list is small, splitting it across two channels can leave each too thin to learn from, so start with the channel that fits your most common message and add the other later. To start sending texts from a spreadsheet, follow the bulk SMS sidebar guide. Sheet Gurus SMS works in Google Sheets and in Microsoft Excel, and the 30-day free trial includes 50 credits. It covers the US and Canada only.

FAQ

Is SMS better than email? For urgent, short messages to people who opted in, yes. For long content and newsletters, email is better.

Is SMS more expensive than email? Per message, usually yes, because SMS is billed per segment. At small volumes the gap is small.

Do I need permission to text customers? Yes. Marketing texts need prior consent in the US, and having a phone number is not consent.

Can I text people from a spreadsheet? Yes. Sheet Gurus SMS sends from a sidebar in Google Sheets or Excel using your columns as variables.

Can I use the same list for both? Only if each person agreed to both. Consent for email does not cover texts.