Send sms

SmsManager’s JSON API v2 lets you send SMS messages to any phone number worldwide with a single HTTP request. This guide walks you through everything from a minimal one-liner to a fully configured message with a custom sender, Unicode support, and delivery callbacks.

Prerequisites

An active SmsManager account
An API key from app.smsmanager.com
Base URL: https://api.smsmngr.com/v2
Authentication header: x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

Send your first SMS

The simplest request needs only two fields: body (the message text) and to (an array of recipients). Each recipient is an object with a phone_number field in international format, without the leading +.

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.smsmngr.com/v2/message \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "body": "Hello from SmsManager!",
    "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}]
  }'

Request body

{
  "body": "Hello from SmsManager!",
  "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}]
}

A successful response returns a request_id and an array of accepted recipients, each with a unique message_id you can use to track delivery.

Set a sender name

Use the flow array to configure channel-specific options. For SMS, add an sms object inside the flow step with a sender field. Alphanumeric sender names can be up to 11 characters. If you are using a virtual number as the sender, omit the leading +.

Request body

{
  "body": "Your order has shipped!",
  "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}],
  "flow": [
    {
      "sms": {
        "sender": "MyShop"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Alphanumeric sender names may require pre-registration in some countries (for example, the UK, India, and several Asian markets). Contact SmsManager support to register your sender name before sending to those destinations.

Choose a gateway

The gateway field inside the sms flow object controls how SmsManager routes your message:

Gateway	Description
`high`	Default. Best delivery rate via aggregator network.
`direct`	Required when using a virtual number as the sender. Routes through direct carrier connections.
`custom`	For SIM-hosting setups where you supply your own SIM hardware.

Request body

{
  "body": "Your verification code is 482910",
  "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}],
  "flow": [
    {
      "sms": {
        "sender": "420600123456",
        "gateway": "direct"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Handle Unicode characters

Standard SMS uses the GSM-7 character set. If your message contains characters outside that set — such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, or emoji — set type: "utf" inside the sms flow object to switch to UCS-2 encoding.

UCS-2 messages have a reduced per-segment capacity of 70 characters (versus 160 for GSM-7). Long Unicode messages will be split into more segments and cost more.

Request body

{
  "body": "Ваш код подтверждения: 482910",
  "to": [{"phone_number": "79161234567"}],
  "flow": [
    {
      "sms": {
        "sender": "MyApp",
        "type": "utf"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Tag	Description
`promotional`	Default. Marketing and bulk messages.
`transactional`	Order confirmations, receipts, account alerts.
`priority`	Highest priority queue. Use for time-sensitive OTPs and alerts.

Time-to-live

Set ttl (in minutes) inside the sms flow object to control how long SmsManager attempts delivery before abandoning the message. This is useful for time-sensitive codes that are worthless after a short window.

{
  "body": "Your one-time code is 847201. Valid for 5 minutes.",
  "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}],
  "flow": [
    {
      "sms": {
        "sender": "MyApp",
        "ttl": 5
      }
    }
  ]
}

Full example

The following examples show a complete SMS request with a sender name, priority tag, TTL, and a delivery callback URL.

curl -X POST https://api.smsmngr.com/v2/message \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "body": "Your login code is 482910. Valid for 10 minutes.",
    "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}],
    "tag": "priority",
    "callback": "https://yourapp.com/webhooks/sms",
    "flow": [
      {
        "sms": {
          "sender": "MyApp",
          "gateway": "high",
          "ttl": 10
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.smsmngr.com/v2/message",
    headers={
        "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "body": "Your login code is 482910. Valid for 10 minutes.",
        "to": [{"phone_number": "420777123456"}],
        "tag": "priority",
        "callback": "https://yourapp.com/webhooks/sms",
        "flow": [
            {
                "sms": {
                    "sender": "MyApp",
                    "gateway": "high",
                    "ttl": 10,
                }
            }
        ],
    },
)

print(response.json())

const response = await fetch("https://api.smsmngr.com/v2/message", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    body: "Your login code is 482910. Valid for 10 minutes.",
    to: [{ phone_number: "420777123456" }],
    tag: "priority",
    callback: "https://yourapp.com/webhooks/sms",
    flow: [
      {
        sms: {
          sender: "MyApp",
          gateway: "high",
          ttl: 10,
        },
      },
    ],
  }),
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

Next steps

Batch Sending

Send up to 100 messages in a single API call using the /messages endpoint.

Webhooks

Receive real-time delivery status updates at your callback URL.

Send Viber

Add Viber Business Messages with rich content and SMS fallback.

Phone Verification

Verify phone numbers with OTP using the SmsManager Verify API.

Sending messages

Receiving & verification

Access & keys

Prerequisites

Tags

Time-to-live

Full example

Next steps

Batch Sending

Webhooks

Send Viber

Phone Verification

​Prerequisites

​Tags

​Time-to-live

​Full example

​Next steps

Batch Sending

Webhooks

Send Viber

Phone Verification

Prerequisites

Tags

Time-to-live

Full example

Next steps