playSMS
playSMS is free, open-source SMS management software that provides a web interface for SMS gateways and bulk messaging services.
What playSMS is
playSMS is free, open-source SMS management software that provides a web interface for SMS gateways and bulk messaging services. It sends individual or bulk text, flash, and Unicode messages, and can receive private SMS. Incoming messages can be forwarded to email or mobile phones, or routed to users and URLs. Other tools include autoreply, polls, quizzes, subscriptions, SMS-to-email, and email-to-SMS through mailbox polling. It connects with Gammu, Kannel, SMS Server Tools, Jasmin, Playnet, Uplink, and several SMS providers. Web services support sending messages, retrieving delivery reports, checking credits, and other operations. Plugins can add features, tools, themes, and gateway modules; outgoing messages can be routed by prefix or user, rated by destination prefix, and assigned per-user credits. One user tested handling 200,000 SMS per day. That is a reported test, not a stated universal capacity. playSMS itself cannot send or receive messages without another application or service acting as an SMS gateway. It is licensed under GPLv3 or later without warranty.
Good
- Handles individual and bulk text, flash, and Unicode SMS
- Supports inbound message forwarding and routing
- Offers delivery reports and credit checks through web services
- Can be extended with plugins and gateway modules
Watch out
- Requires another application or service as an SMS gateway
- Distributed without warranty under GPLv3 or later
Who it suits
playSMS suits organizations and operators who need web-based SMS management and can connect a separate SMS gateway. Its routing, credits, plugins, and web services may also suit users building customized messaging workflows.
Verdict
playSMS covers sending, receiving, routing, and related SMS workflows in one management interface. It is not a standalone messaging gateway, so a separate gateway is essential.
Plans and prices
From playSMS's own pricing page, checked 14 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| playSMS | Free | Self-hosted web SMS management · Separate SMS gateway required · Free and open source; no paid tier stated |
The facts
Each one read from playSMS's own pages, with the date it was checked.
Where it runs
- Android client
- The Android client uses the playSMS web-services API to control sending and receiving functions.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Android client licence
- The Android client repository identifies the application as GPLv3 licensed.checked 14 Oct 2026
What it does
- API
- Webservices support sending SMS, retrieving delivery reports, checking credits, and other operations.checked 8 Oct 2026
- API protocol
- The API uses an index.php app=ws endpoint with username, token, operation, destination, message and format parameters, returning JSON or XML examples.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Credits and rates
- Administrators can assign per-user SMS credits and rate messages by destination prefix.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Customization
- Users can create features, tools, themes, and gateway modules as plugins.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Docker deployment
- The official how-to documents a Docker image running playSMS 1.4.3 on Ubuntu 20.04 with docker pull and docker run commands.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- Official documentation is mainly a how-to category and installation articles, with a warning that some articles describe old vulnerable versions.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Extensibility
- Developers can add features, tools, themes and gateway modules through plugins.checked 14 Oct 2026
- External API
- The web-services API supports sending SMS, reading incoming messages, retrieving delivery reports, checking credits and administrative operations.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Founder and maintainer
- Official project pages name Anton Raharja as founder and maintainer.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Gateway dependency
- playSMS cannot send or receive SMS by itself and requires another application or service acting as an SMS gateway.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Gateway integrations
- Documented gateway support includes Gammu, Kannel, SMS Server Tools, Jasmin, Playnet, Uplink and multiple SMS providers.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Inbound messages
- It can receive private SMS, forward messages to email or mobile phones, and route incoming SMS to users or URLs.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Inbound messaging
- Incoming SMS can be placed in an inbox, forwarded to email or phones, and routed to users or URLs.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent listing: G2
- G2's PlaySMS listing shows 0.0 user-satisfaction information and 0 ratings, with headquarters listed as unavailable.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent listing: SourceForge activity
- SourceForge lists 10 reviews, Linux support, PHP implementation, a web interface and a last update of 2 March 2021.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent review: legacy features
- The Nixbit review highlighted bulk messaging, autoreply, SMS boards, polls, web services and custom gateway modules.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Independent review: legacy requirements
- A Nixbit review of playSMS 0.8.1 described Linux or another Unix system, Apache, MySQL, PHP, SMTP and administrator command-line skills as prerequisites.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- It lists support for Gammu, Kannel, SMS Server Tools, Jasmin, Playnet, Uplink, and several SMS service providers.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Latest release
- GitHub lists prerelease 1.4.8-2508131200 from 13 August with watchdog, multiline-template, environment-variable and Jasmin Docker callback changes.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The main application is licensed under GNU GPL version 3 or any later version, without warranty.checked 14 Oct 2026
- License
- The software is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 or, at the user's option, a later version, without warranty.checked 8 Oct 2026
The company
- Company identity
- The GitHub organization identifies itself as playSMS, lists Indonesia and links to playsms.org.checked 14 Oct 2026
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