Incoming SMS Gateway — Receive SMS Online on Virtual Numbers, Long Codes & Short Codes
Let customers text you and capture every reply online. Receive inbound SMS on a virtual number, shared long code or short code, then push each message to your inbox, email, mobile or API in real time. Free inbound reception — pay only for the number or keyword rental.
What is an incoming SMS gateway?
An incoming SMS gateway lets you receive text messages online from your customers on a dedicated virtual number, shared long code or short code. Every reply a person sends — a keyword, a confirmation, feedback or a STOP request — is captured and routed straight to your web inbox, email, mobile or application in real time.
These inbound messages are called MO (Mobile-Originated) messages because they originate on the customer’s handset and travel into your platform. They are the mirror of outbound MT (Mobile-Terminated) messages you send with a bulk or transactional SMS gateway. Receiving replies is what turns one-way broadcasting into a genuine two-way conversation — and with us, inbound reception is free; you pay only to rent the number or keyword.
How receiving SMS online works
Customer texts
A user sends an SMS to your virtual number, or a keyword to a shared long code or short code.
Operator to gateway
The mobile operator delivers the MO message to our incoming SMS gateway over direct binds.
Keyword routing
The gateway matches the keyword or number and routes the message to the right campaign or app.
Delivered to you
The message lands in your web inbox and is pushed by webhook to your URL, email or mobile.
Auto-reply & store
An optional auto-reply fires back, and every message is stored for 90 days with export.
Ways to receive incoming SMS
Dedicated virtual number / long code
Rent a 10-digit virtual mobile number that’s exclusively yours. Receive on unlimited keywords — or with no keyword at all — ideal for support inboxes and always-on reply lines.
Shared long code + keyword
Share a common long code and reserve a unique keyword. The lowest-cost way to start capturing leads and opt-ins without renting a full number.
Short code + keyword
A memorable 5–6 digit short code with your keyword — the premium choice for high-volume campaigns, TV and print calls-to-action, and mass opt-ins.
Compare inbound options
| Dimension | Shared Long Code + Keyword | Dedicated Long Code | Short Code + Keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number format | Shared 10-digit number | Private 10-digit number | Memorable 5–6 digit code |
| Keywords | One reserved keyword | Unlimited keywords | Multiple keywords |
| Best for | Low-cost lead capture, opt-ins | Support inbox, two-way replies | High-volume & mass campaigns |
| Cost | Lowest | Moderate | Premium |
| Memorability | Low | Low | High |
| Sub-keywords | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Forward to email / URL / mobile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-reply | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DLT support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Delivery & forwarding options
Every inbound message can reach you through one channel or several at once — choose per number or per keyword.
Web inbox
Read, search and reply to every incoming message from your online dashboard, with 90-day history and export.
Forward to email
Auto-forward each inbound SMS to one or more email addresses the moment it arrives.
Forward to URL / webhook
Real-time HTTP push to your callback URL — sub-second delivery with an automatic failover secondary URL.
Forward to mobile
Relay incoming texts to a team member’s mobile so replies are never missed on the move.
Auto-reply
Send an instant, keyword-based automated response to confirm opt-ins or share info without lifting a finger.
API pull
Poll our REST API to fetch queued inbound messages on your own schedule when webhooks aren’t practical.
Receive SMS online via API
Register a callback URL and we push every inbound message to your endpoint by HTTP POST or GET the instant it arrives. Return a 200 OK to acknowledge; if your endpoint is unreachable we retry and fail over to your secondary URL. Lock it down with IP whitelisting and a verify token on every callback.
Inbound webhook payload
- originator — sender’s mobile number
- destination — your virtual number / short code
- message — the full text body
- timestamp — when the operator received it
- network — originating operator
- message_id — unique inbound ID
- encoding — GSM-7 or Unicode
# We POST to your registered callback URL POST https://yourapp.com/sms/inbound Content-Type: application/json X-Verify-Token: "your-secret-token" { "originator": "919812345678", "destination": "56161", "message": "JOIN offers", "timestamp": "2026-08-14T10:42:07+05:30", "network": "Airtel", "message_id": "in_9f83c1a20b", "encoding": "GSM-7" } # Your endpoint acknowledges HTTP/1.1 200 OK # Non-200 or timeout -> retry, then failover to secondary URL
Keyword routing & sub-keywords
Keywords decide where each inbound message goes. On a dedicated number you can run unlimited keywords, and layer sub-keywords for finer routing — all built for opt-in and opt-out compliance.
Primary keywords
Text JOIN, OFFERS or INFO to your number to trigger the right campaign, list or auto-reply.
Sub-keywords
Route deeper — JOIN DELHI vs JOIN MUMBAI — to segment subscribers into the correct group automatically.
Opt-in / opt-out & STOP
An opt-in keyword builds your consented list; STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE auto-blacklists the sender so they are never messaged again.
Incoming SMS use cases
Lead capture
Turn TV, print and web calls-to-action into leads — customers text a keyword to enquire.
Support inbox
Give customers a text line for queries and route each message to your helpdesk or team.
Opt-in & subscription building
Grow consented lists as users text a keyword to subscribe to alerts and offers.
Confirmations & verification replies
Receive YES/NO confirmations, appointment replies and inbound verification responses.
Feedback, polls & surveys
Collect ratings, votes and open feedback by SMS and pipe responses straight to your app.
STOP handling
Honour opt-outs automatically — STOP requests blacklist the sender to keep you compliant.
Incoming SMS & DLT compliance in India
Receiving a customer’s inbound text needs no template, but the moment you send an auto-reply or two-way response back, TRAI’s TCCCPR rules apply — that outbound message must go over DLT-registered headers and templates.
Inbound is open
Customers can text your virtual number or keyword freely — incoming MO messages don’t require DLT registration.
Replies need DLT
Auto-replies and conversational responses are outbound SMS, so they use your DLT entity, header and approved templates.
We support it end to end
We help register your entity, headers and templates — see DLT registration & support.
An incoming SMS gateway built for reliability
Trusted by 5,000+ businesses across India and 190+ countries, with 15+ years in messaging — direct routes, secure callbacks and the uptime to catch every reply.
Real-time webhooks
Sub-second push to your URL with an automatic failover secondary URL so nothing is lost.
Secure callbacks
IP-whitelisted, token-verified callbacks keep your inbound data authenticated end to end.
99.9% uptime
Redundant infrastructure with 90-day message history and one-click export.
Free inbound + 24×7 support
Receiving costs nothing — pay only for number/keyword rental — backed by human support any time.
Pay only for the number or keyword
Receiving inbound SMS is free. Your only cost is renting a dedicated virtual number, or a keyword on a shared long code or short code — with unlimited keywords included on dedicated numbers.
