Answers

What should I ask an iMessage vendor before buying?

Six questions expose most of the field: Is the number dedicated to me or shared? What is the all-in first-year price, setup and add-ons included? What happens to messages that fall back to SMS, and who handles the registration that traffic needs? How are opt-outs enforced? Who does implementation, me or you? And can I see the price without a sales call?

The dedicated-number question comes first because it decides whether you own your deliverability. The all-in price question comes second because headline prices in this category routinely omit setup fees and required add-ons; the pricing-transparency audit in the report documents exactly which vendors disclose what.

The fallback question is the compliance question in disguise. Any platform reaching non-iMessage contacts is sending carrier traffic for that slice, and a vendor without a clear answer on registration for fallback sends is handing you the risk. The same goes for opt-out enforcement: automatic and account-wide, or a manual list someone forgets.

Implementation decides your first ninety days. Ask who provisions the number, connects the CRM, writes the first messages, and checks in after launch; what white-glove setup covers is a reference for what a complete answer sounds like. Score the whole field against these questions on the roundup.

Updated August 10, 2026