A2P 10DLC Registration: Requirements, Cost & Timeline (2026)

A2P 10DLC registration is required for any business that sends text messages to US mobile numbers from a standard 10-digit local number. You register your business (the brand) and what you'll send (the campaign) with The Campaign Registry, carriers review it, and once you're approved your texts get delivered instead of filtered. This guide covers the requirements, the cost, and how long it takes, so you know what you're signing up for before you start.

Key takeaways

• A2P 10DLC registration is required for any business texting US numbers at scale, from a real estate team to a nonprofit to a wholesaler.
• It has two parts: brand registration (your business identity, EIN) and campaign registration (your use case, sample messages, opt-in proof).
• Budget a one-time brand fee plus a recurring monthly campaign fee (commonly ~$10/mo through The Campaign Registry), separate from your texting platform's pricing.
• Brand approval is usually 1–3 business days; campaign review is running about 10–15 days in mid-2026 because of submission volume.
• A clean, accurate application is the single biggest lever on speed. Every rejection sends you back to the queue.

What is A2P 10DLC, and who has to register?

A2P stands for application-to-person — messages sent by software (your CRM, a texting platform, an automation) rather than typed by a person on a phone. 10DLC is the 10-digit long code, the standard local number US carriers let businesses use for that traffic. Put them together and "A2P 10DLC" is simply business texting from a normal local number, done the way carriers require.

For the full background on why this system exists, see what is 10DLC. The short version: carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) built a registration system to cut down on spam. Tell them who you are and what you'll send, and they trust your traffic. Skip it, and your messages get filtered or blocked.

So who has to register? Effectively any business sending A2P texts to US numbers — marketing blasts, appointment reminders, order updates, two-way sales follow-up. An insurance agency, a recruiting firm, an e-commerce shop, a church sending service reminders — same rule for all of them. If software sends the text to a US mobile number, A2P 10DLC registration is required for it to reliably land.

A2P 10DLC registration requirements

Registration has two stages, and you need both. Carriers check that the two are consistent with each other and with your public website.

Brand registration (who you are)

Brand registration identifies your business. You'll provide:

• Legal business name — exactly as it appears on your IRS paperwork.
• EIN (tax ID) — it must match the IRS record. A mismatch is the most common rejection reason, and re-verification carries a fee. New businesses (under ~12 months) may need to submit their SS-4/EIN letter because they aren't in the IRS database yet.
• Business address, contact, and website — a live site with a privacy policy that mentions SMS data collection.

Once your brand is approved it's assigned a trust score (0–100) that sets how many messages carriers let you send per day. An optional one-time vetting fee can raise a borderline score.

Campaign registration (what you'll send)

Campaign registration describes your actual messaging. 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 send, with real values (not {placeholders}). At least two should include opt-out language.
• 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."

Some content won't be approved at all: lead generation and affiliate marketing, high-risk financial offers, and SHAFT categories (sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco). For the consent rules behind all of this, see our TCPA compliance guide.

For the complete walkthrough of filling each field out, our 10DLC registration step-by-step guide goes field by field. Here we're focused on the requirements, cost, and timeline so you can plan.

How long does A2P 10DLC registration take?

This is the question everyone asks first, so here's the straight answer for mid-2026:

Timelines vary by provider and carrier queue depth. As a general guide from current provider documentation, read June 2026.

Brand approval is usually the quick part. Campaign review is the longer leg and depends on how deep the carrier queue is. The biggest delay you control is a sloppy application — every rejection sends you back to the end of the line, so getting it right the first time is the fastest path, not the most cautious one.

How much does A2P 10DLC registration cost?

There are two kinds of registration 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. Special use cases (charity, political) can carry different monthly campaign fees than basic marketing campaigns.

This is registry and carrier cost — not your platform's subscription. With PitchPrfct, the $10/mo Campaign Registry fee is the customer's, but PitchPrfct absorbs the initial registration submission and files everything for you. The rest of the pricing is flat: $99/month plus $0.007 per SMS segment, all-in.

This article is educational, not legal advice. For the authoritative rules, see the FCC and the CTIA Messaging Principles.

A2P 10DLC compliance: staying approved after you register

Registration gets you in the door. Staying compliant on every send is what keeps you there. A2P 10DLC compliance comes down to the same handful of habits that the TCPA requires:

1. Get consent first. Specific to your business, not bought, not buried in terms. A checkbox, a keyword, a signed form, or point-of-sale opt-in.
2. Identify yourself in your messages — your brand or DBA name.
3. Honor opt-outs instantly. STOP means stop, permanently.
4. Respect quiet hours — 8am to 9pm in the recipient's local time.

Carriers watch the traffic from your registered campaign. Sending content that doesn't match your registered use case, or ignoring opt-outs, is what gets a campaign flagged. Keeping your sends consistent with what you registered is the whole job.

How PitchPrfct makes A2P 10DLC registration easy

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. There's even a generated opt-in landing page, so "I need a website first" stops being a blocker.

Here's how the registration-to-sending flow looks end to end:

1. Sign up and start your account.
2. Submit your brand and campaign — PitchPrfct guides each field and absorbs the initial registration submission so you're not paying to file.
3. Approval, usually in days — brand first, then your campaign.
4. Connect your number and go live with an onboarding call to build your first workflow and campaign.

And compliance doesn't stop at registration. PitchPrfct keeps you on the right side of the rules automatically: STOP handling, quiet-hour enforcement, and list hygiene on every send, so you stay approved without tracking it by hand.

Related reading

• What is 10DLC? — the plain-English definition and why carriers require it.
• 10DLC registration step by step — the field-by-field how-to.
• TCPA compliance for business texting — the consent rules behind registration.
• What is SMS marketing? — start here if you're new to the channel.

Want A2P 10DLC registration handled for you? Start with PitchPrfct.