A2P 10DLC Registration: Requirements and Step-by-Step Guide

A2P 10DLC registration is a two-part process: you register your brand (who you are) and then a campaign (what you'll text and why). Your messaging provider submits these for review through The Campaign Registry. This guide brings the requirements, preparation checklist, registration steps, costs, and follow-up checks into one place.

What 10DLC registration is

10DLC stands for "10-digit long code" — the standard local number U.S. carriers let businesses use for application-to-person (A2P) texting. Registration is how you tell the carriers who you are and what you'll send, so they trust your traffic and let it through. For the full background on why this system exists, see what is 10DLC. This guide is the how-to: the actual steps to get registered and approved.

You don't submit directly to the carriers. Your messaging provider (or a platform like PitchPrfct) files your brand and campaign with The Campaign Registry, which routes everything to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon for review.

Who needs A2P 10DLC registration?

The A2P 10DLC process applies to application-to-person messages sent to U.S. recipients from local 10-digit numbers. The use case might be a promotion, appointment reminder, order update, or customer conversation. Toll-free numbers and short codes use different registration or verification processes.

For the underlying terminology, read what 10DLC means. For the application itself, start with the checklist below.

What to prepare before you apply

Keep your business information and messaging examples together before opening the registration form:

• Business identity: the legal name, tax ID where required for your brand type, address, and a contact who can answer questions about the application.
• Public website: working pages that identify your business and explain how you handle messaging and consent.
• Campaign purpose: the type of messages you plan to send and who will receive them.
• Sample messages: realistic examples that match that purpose and identify the sender.
• Opt-in and opt-out details: how people subscribe, how you record that choice, and how they can stop messages or get help.

This is the same information you will use in the brand and campaign steps. If a business detail cannot be verified, your provider may request supporting documentation; resolve that request before submitting conflicting information.

The 10DLC registration process, step by step

Step 1 — Register your brand

Brand registration identifies your business. You'll provide your legal business name, EIN (tax ID), business address, and website. Carriers verify these against public records, so they have to match exactly — the name on your application must be the name on your IRS paperwork.

A live, functional website with a privacy policy that mentions SMS data collection is part of this too. Brand approval is usually the quick part: often a couple of business days.

Step 2 — Register your campaign (use case)

Campaign registration describes what you'll send. This is where most of the work — and most of the rejections — happen. You'll submit:

• A use case — marketing, customer care, appointment reminders, 2FA, and so on.
• 2–5 sample messages that read like real texts you'd actually send (not {placeholders}).
• Your opt-in process — exactly how people consent, including any keyword.
• Opt-out language — your messages must show how to stop, e.g. "Reply STOP to opt out."

Carriers compare your samples and use case against your brand and your website. Consistency across all three is what gets you approved.

Step 3 — Vetting and your trust score

When your brand is approved it gets a trust score on a 0–100 scale. The higher the score, the more messages carriers let you send per day. The score comes from your business details and, optionally, third-party vetting you can pay for to raise a borderline score.

Vetting matters most if you plan to send at volume, since trust score directly feeds your throughput tier. A standard brand with a strong score can scale far higher than a low-volume one.

Step 4 — Connect numbers and start sending

Once the campaign is approved, you associate your 10-digit number (or numbers) with it. That link is what authorizes delivery. From there you're live, sending within the daily limits your tier and score allow.

Throughput is real, and T-Mobile enforces hard daily caps. As a rough guide from carrier documentation:

Source: Twilio A2P 10DLC documentation, read June 18, 2026.

Here's the whole flow in one demo, registration through sending:

10DLC registration costs

There are two kinds of fees, and they're separate from whatever your texting platform charges per message.

Exact dollar amounts vary by provider, and carriers periodically adjust their pass-through fees, so check your platform's current pricing rather than trusting a number you read somewhere. Higher-trust and special use cases (charity, political) often carry different monthly campaign fees than basic marketing campaigns.

With PitchPrfct, the $10/mo Campaign Registry fee is the customer's, but PitchPrfct absorbs the initial registration submission and handles the filing for you. The rest of the pricing is flat — see pricing for the full breakdown.

How long 10DLC registration takes

Brand and campaign reviews are separate stages. PitchPrfct's July 10, 2026 guidance put brand approval at 1–3 business days and campaign review at 2–5 business days. These are planning estimates, not an approval deadline; confirm the current estimate with your provider before scheduling a launch.

A clean application is the single biggest lever on speed. Every rejection sends you to the back of the line, so getting it right the first time is the fastest path, not the most cautious one.

Top 10DLC rejection reasons (and how to avoid them)

Most rejections trace back to a short list of fixable problems:

• Business name or EIN doesn't match the IRS record. Copy it character for character — "LLC" vs "L.L.C." matters.
• Weak or broken website. Carriers want a live site with a privacy policy that mentions how you handle SMS data.
• Sample messages don't match the use case. Write realistic texts, not templates full of brackets, and make sure they match what you registered.
• No clear opt-in. Show exactly how people consent — a checkbox, a keyword, a form. "We have their numbers" isn't consent.
• Prohibited content. Lead generation, affiliate offers, high-risk loans, and SHAFT content (sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco) won't be approved.

Fix these before you submit and approval is usually smooth.

After approval: keep your campaign information current

Approval is the start of an ongoing messaging program. Keep the messages you send consistent with the use case and opt-in process in your application. If your business details or messaging purpose change, check with your provider whether the registration needs an update.

Keep consent records, identify your business, honor opt-out requests, and review the sending-time rules that apply to your audience. Registration does not replace those responsibilities. Our TCPA guide covers the consent side, and our SMS opt-in examples show ways to explain a messaging program to subscribers.

This article is educational. For current requirements, consult your messaging provider, The Campaign Registry, the FCC, and the CTIA Messaging Principles.

How PitchPrfct makes registration guided

Registering yourself means learning carrier rules the hard way — by getting rejected. PitchPrfct files your brand and campaign for you, pre-checks the details carriers care about, and guides your opt-in setup so the application matches what reviewers expect.

Compliance doesn't stop at registration. PitchPrfct keeps you on the right side of the TCPA automatically: STOP handling, quiet-hour enforcement, and list scrubbing on every send. If you're newer to the channel, start with what SMS marketing is and how an SMS blast works once you're approved.

Want 10DLC handled for you? Start a free trial.