Free developer tools

Handy, no-sign-up utilities for anyone building on SMS, voice, and messaging. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type is sent to us.

SMS segment & cost calculator

Paste a message to see how it splits into billable SMS segments, whether it encodes as GSM-7 or Unicode (UCS-2), and the estimated cost to send it. No sign-up required.

Message

Characters

Encoding

GSM-7

Segments

Chars left in segment

GSM-7: 160 characters in a single segment, 160 per segment once it splits.

Destination country

Recipients

Rate / segment

$0.0165

Billable segments

1,000

1 × 1,000 recipients

Estimated cost

$16.50

no monthly fee · PAYG

Estimate uses public starter rates for US. Pricing can vary by destination and carrier — your account's live rates appear in the dashboard once you sign in. See the full pricing breakdown.

E.164 phone number formatter & validator

Paste a phone number in any format to validate it and convert it to canonical E.164 — the international format every messaging and voice API expects. Detects the country, calling code, and line type. No sign-up required.

Phone number

Valid E.164 number

E.164: +14155552671
International: +1 415 555 2671
National: (415) 555-2671
tel: URI: tel:+14155552671
Country: 🇺🇸 United States (US)
Calling code: +1
Line type: Fixed line or mobile

E.164 is the ITU standard for international phone numbers: a leading +, the country calling code, then the national number — up to 15 digits total, no spaces or dashes. Validation uses Google's libphonenumber, the same engine our messaging and voice APIs use.

Frequently asked questions

How many characters are in one SMS segment?: A GSM-7 message fits 160 characters in a single segment; once it is longer it splits into 153-character segments. A message containing any non-GSM-7 character (an emoji, curly quotes, or many accented letters) encodes as Unicode (UCS-2), which fits 70 characters in a single segment and 67 per segment once it splits. Each segment is billed separately.
What is E.164 phone number format?: E.164 is the ITU international standard for phone numbers: a leading plus sign, the country calling code, then the national subscriber number, up to 15 digits in total, with no spaces, dashes, or parentheses — for example +14155552671. Messaging and voice APIs expect recipient numbers in E.164.
Are these tools free to use?: Yes. The SMS segment/cost calculator and the E.164 formatter run entirely in your browser, with no sign-up and no account required. Orbit itself is pay-as-you-go — no monthly fee — and the calculator's cost estimates use our published starter rates.

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Frequently asked questions

How many characters are in one SMS segment?

A GSM-7 message fits 160 characters in a single segment; once it is longer it splits into 153-character segments. A message containing any non-GSM-7 character (an emoji, curly quotes, or many accented letters) encodes as Unicode (UCS-2), which fits 70 characters in a single segment and 67 per segment once it splits. Each segment is billed separately.

What is E.164 phone number format?

E.164 is the ITU international standard for phone numbers: a leading plus sign, the country calling code, then the national subscriber number, up to 15 digits in total, with no spaces, dashes, or parentheses — for example +14155552671. Messaging and voice APIs expect recipient numbers in E.164.

Are these tools free to use?

Yes. The SMS segment/cost calculator and the E.164 formatter run entirely in your browser, with no sign-up and no account required. Orbit itself is pay-as-you-go — no monthly fee — and the calculator's cost estimates use our published starter rates.