MMS vs. SMS Messaging: What Are the Differences?

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Today’s consumers expect to communicate with brands across multiple channels with their preferred devices and platforms. The ability to reach customers and prospects via text messaging has become a safe bet.

In fact, 25% of US consumers say they frequently or very frequently interact with SMS/MMS messages from brands, while 91% want to receive text messages from businesses. Meanwhile, SMS marketers report generating up to $71 for every dollar spent.

You may have noticed that we use the terms SMS and MMS to refer to this channel of communication with the customer. But what are they, how do they differ, and when should you use each of them?

MMS vs. SMS Messaging: A Comparison
While both SMS and MMS are messaging role of working moms in modern society services that send messages between mobile devices or computers, they have some important differences. Here's what you need to know:

What is an SMS message?
SMS (Short Message Service) is a text message sent from one device (e.g. mobile phone) to another over a mobile network.

What is an MMS message?
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is based on the same technology as SMS, but can send multimedia content such as images, videos, audio and contacts.

Formats and length of messages
The ability to transmit multimedia content makes MMS a more complex message format than SMS. MMS messages are typically larger in size, with a limit of 1600 characters, while SMS has a maximum length of 160 characters per message.

Multimedia Features
MMS can transmit various file formats (e.g. video, audio, etc.), while SMS is limited to text-only messages. You can send alphanumeric characters, special symbols, and emojis via SMS, but not images, videos, etc.

Prerequisites and network compatibility
MMS messages use a mobile data connection to transmit multimedia content, which requires both the sending and receiving devices to be MMS-capable and connected to a compatible mobile network. SMS messages, on the other hand, are sent over the control channel of a mobile network. They are not dependent on mobile data availability, are more reliable, and work on virtually any mobile phone.