# typpo/textbelt

Free API for outgoing SMS

Repository: https://github.com/typpo/textbelt
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/textbelt
Homepage: https://textbelt.com/
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: sms, sms-api
Last push: 2024-03-28T11:26:33+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5263, "days_push": 888, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3377, forks 579 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:58.528253+00:00)

## What it is
TextBelt Open Source is a REST API and Node.js/Express server that sends outgoing SMS for free using carrier-specific email-to-SMS gateways, backed by nodemailer and Redis. It can be self-hosted as a standalone server or used as a Node.js module, and is the open-source counterpart to the paid textbelt.com service.

## Use cases
- send free SMS messages from a script or cron job
- self-host an SMS notification server for alerts
- send text messages from Node.js code via a simple module
- set up SMS notifications for a NAS or home server
- send texts via curl with a simple POST request
- notify admins by SMS when monitoring triggers

## When to choose
- you want free, ad-free outgoing SMS via carrier email-to-SMS gateways
- you can self-host the service on a private server with Redis and an SMTP transport
- you need a dead-simple HTTP POST or Node module interface for texting
- you only need outgoing SMS and can tolerate variable delivery reliability

## When to avoid
- you need guaranteed, reliable SMS delivery or delivery receipts
- you need to receive inbound SMS or MMS
- you are sending high volumes or messages with URLs where carrier gateways may fail
- you need a production messaging service without self-hosting burden - use the paid textbelt.com or a provider like Twilio instead

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: maintenance
- function: http-server, email, api-framework
- domain: messaging-platforms, apis, developer-tools
- platform: self-hosted, cross-platform
- tags: sms, sms-api, email-to-sms-gateway, notifications, express, redis, rest-api, automation, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- typpo/textbelt (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:58.528253+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:39:43.076216+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/typpo/textbelt (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:58.528253+00:00, sha 4d8322d7d5bb)
  - homepage: https://textbelt.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:33:39.384697+00:00, sha aa3482c80dd2)
  - site_page: https://docs.textbelt.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:33:39.390082+00:00, sha cbbbd146e156)
  - site_page: https://textbelt.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T09:33:39.392988+00:00, sha e1541dfa4eb6)
  - site_page: https://docs.textbelt.com/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T09:33:39.395845+00:00, sha e37d11e5eb94)
  - site_page: https://textbelt.com/purchase (fetched 2026-08-29T09:33:39.387612+00:00, sha befd803ac2bd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.