Beginning July 23, 2025, usage tracking will apply for all outbound SMS message credits. Message costs will only be assessed when purchasing additional credits, which are sold in bundles of 5,000 at $99.
Message credit usage includes SMS, MMS, appointment reminders, and mass messages. This is a new billing policy.
Please visit your Message Overview dashboard (in your Admin settings) to review current usage or purchase additional message credits as needed.
Email messaging remains free and is unaffected by this change.
How to Track Your Message Usage
You can review your message credit usage in the Message Overview Dashboard, located under Admin -> Client Communication -> Message Overview.
This dashboard gives you visibility into your messaging activity and helps you track:
Total credits used
Messaging volume and trends
Estimated messaging costs
It’s a helpful tool to stay in control of your communication usage and make informed decisions.
Take a Look
Understanding the Message Overview Dashboard
Messaging Balance
Quickly check how many message credits are available, scheduled to be used, or used.
Scheduled Messages
Scheduled messages include both direct messages and mass communications that have been set to send at a future time. These messages appear in the dashboard to give teams visibility into upcoming outreach.
Scheduled messages do not reserve message credits in advance. This means that they do not reduce your available message credit balance until they are actually sent.
Messages that fail to send do not subtract from your available message credit
Low Balance Threshold
Set a threshold to receive alerts when your credit balance falls below a certain number. This is set to 350 by default and can be adjusted at any time. To change it, enter your new value and click Save.
Auto-Renew Message Credits
Ensure you never run out of credits by enabling auto-renewal. This is enabled by default and can disabled at any time if preferred
Purchase Additional Messages
Purchase additional message credits anytime with just a few clicks from the dashboard.
Messaging Overview
View a graphical summary of your messaging usage across key categories, including:
Appointment Notifications
SMS Texting
Mass Messaging
MMS Usage
Payment Link Messages
Automatic Messages
The graph defaults to the past 30 days of usage, but you can adjust the date range using the dropdown.
Appointment notifications were previously grouped under SMS Texting but are now tracked separately starting June 24, 2025. This update gives teams more accurate visibility into how messages are being used across automated and manual workflows.
A Note on Payment Link Messages
Shepherd Pay Text to Pay links are shown in the message overview for visibility, but do not subtract from your available message credit balance.
Other payment link tools, such as Sunbit payment links, do use message credits. These are tracked alongside other SMS messages and count toward your total usage.
Message Usage Info
Each SMS counts as one message per 160 characters - longer messages may use multiple credits despite sending as a singular message. MMS messages are listed separately for visibility, but are also counted within each message category overall total. To help manage usage, try shortening your messages where possible.
Messaging Purchase History
View a complete history of your message credit purchases. Each entry includes:
Date of purchase
Previous balance
Number of credits purchased
