Messaging and chat commerce
Clickatell
SMS pioneer founded in Cape Town in 2000, now selling a chat commerce platform over SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and regional USSD.
Built around payments and transactions inside the conversation, not only message delivery.
Clickatell's Chat Commerce Platform sits on its messaging layer and adds payment links with card tokenisation and chat banking. The company was founded in South Africa and its recent press releases are datelined Redwood City, California. Worth a look for banks, retailers and service companies that want customers to pay or transact inside SMS or WhatsApp.
Where it shines
- Payments and transactions inside SMS and WhatsApp conversations
- Per-country SMS rates and a self-serve WhatsApp bundle published
Check before signing
- The legacy SMS Gateway no longer takes new accounts; new integrations use the One API
- Published WhatsApp bundles apply to self-serve accounts; paid packages are quoted
- USSD is offered only in selected territories and networks
What it offers
- Solves
- Selling inside the conversationTransactional notifications & alertsCustomer support & service
- Channels
- SMSWhatsAppApple Messages for Business
- Industries
- Any industryBanking, fintech & insuranceRetail & e-commerce
- Markets
- Global
- Languages
- English
- Security and privacy attestations
- SOC 2 reportPCI DSSGDPR (DPA offered)Each one cites its source below.
Technical details
- Type of solution
- CPaaS & messaging APIsSMS & A2P messagingWhatsApp Business provider
- Deployment
- Programmable APIReady-to-use cloud service
- Company size
- Small businessMid-sized companyEnterprise
- Pricing
- Published pay-as-you-go
Something is listed only when it can be checked. A connection we could not confirm is left off, and Find providers then credits the API at half weight.
Our six checks
- Operational transparencyNot assessed
Not yet worked through.
- Documented interfacesMet
Public API reference, integrable without a sales call.
- Delivery accountabilityNot assessed
Not yet worked through.
- Consent and complianceNot assessed
Not yet worked through.
- Data handlingNot assessed
Not yet worked through.
- Commercial clarityMet
List pricing published.
Not assessed is not a failure — it means we have not checked yet. Methodology
Evidence
Sources
- Clickatell celebrates 25 years as it enters the age of agentic commerce — Clickatell, 2025-10
- Clickatell raises $91M to scale its chat commerce platform and US expansion — TechCrunch, 2022-02
- Chat Commerce Platform guide: WhatsApp Business — Clickatell
- SMS Gateway docs — Clickatell
- SMS promotions and pricing — Clickatell
- Clickatell Achieves Record Growth of its Chat Commerce Platform — Clickatell, 2026-10To re-check
- How Clickatell is maintaining GDPR compliance — Clickatell, 2026-10To re-check
Every attribute
The same attributes, measured by the same rules, for every listing. "Not recorded" means we have not checked yet — never a "no". Spot something missing or wrong? Suggest an edit.
What it does
Where, and for whom
Setup and connections
The company
- Same owner as cpaas.co
- No
Our checks
The community
- "Looks right" confirmations
- 0
- Community reviews
- 0
- Community rating
- Not applicable
Experiences and ratings
Share your experienceNo experiences with Clickatell yet. Used it? Yours could be the first.
Reviews are read by a moderator before they appear, are shown beside the facts, and never feed a score or a ranking. You may not review a product you work for, sell, compete with or are paid to promote.
Profile shape
- Channels
- 38
- Reach
- 100
- Connectors
- 17
- Deployment
- 67
- Price clarity
- 100
- Criteria shown
- 33
Breadth measures from recorded facts — not a quality score.
Alternatives