RCS for Business message types and RCS Agent billing categories

Shahzad_Ismail — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 01:19:57 GMT

Carriers that approve RCS for Business content on their networks also price and bill for delivering RCS for Business messages to their subscribers. There are RCS for Business Message types and Billing categories and it's important to distinguish between these concepts - RCS Agent billing categories are different from RCS message types.

Message types and supported billing may vary by region, but for the most part, Google and carriers define these as follows:

Message types (all countries except US)

Basic messages: text-only messages <160 characters (like SMS).
Single messages: plain text messages >160 characters, or content-rich messages (e.g. media, suggested actions/replies, cards, carousels, etc).

Message types (US)

Rich messages:
- Text-only (< 160 characters). Text above that character count will result in multiple Rich messages.
- Suggested replies
- Suggested action: Open URL
- Suggested action: Dial a number.
Rich Media messages: Content-rich, including media, videos, files, and all other suggested actions including webview.
Note: Rich messages in the US behave like SMS. If a message is classified as Rich but has > 160 characters, it will be billed as 2 (or more) messages. If it’s classified as Rich Media, the character limit doesn’t apply.

Billing categories

A billing category is a classification for your RCS Agent that tells carriers how to charge for the messages your agent sends. You choose this category when you create your agent, and it cannot be changed later.
Businesses register their RCS Agents as Non-conversational (Basic or Single agents) or Conversational. The difference is how they are billed and pricing is set by the carriers.
- Messages on Non-conversational RCS Agents will always be billed per message - charged as Basic, Single, Rich or Rich Media message depending on what is sent.
- Messages sent on Conversational RCS Agents:
  - Will be billed as one Single/Basic message, unless the consumer replies.
  - If the consumer replies, billing switches to the session-based price. All messages sent and received in a period (generally 24h) are included in the session.
  - The clock starts from the time the consumer replies, as long as that message is sent within 24 hours of the MO.
  - If a consumer sends in a message to an Agent outside of an existing session, a new session will be started when the business replies.

Important Notes:

There is no longer any difference between Basic and Single RCS Agent billing categories. An agent in either category will be billed as a Non-conversational agent.
You can have two-way interactions/messaging with consumers on both Non-conversational and Conversational agents. However, you will be charged per message versus per session, respectively.
You can change your agent's billing category before you create and launch your agent, but not after. Contact your Sinch Account Manager to discuss changing to a different billing category post-launch.
If multiple A2P messages are sent before the first P2A message (customer reply), only the A2P message immediately preceded by that P2A message is part of the conversation. The initial messages are billed as Basic or Single messages individually.

article RCS for Business message types and RCS Agent billing categories in RCS

RCS for Business message types and RCS Agent billing categories