All comparisons
Sparetext vs httpSMS
httpSMS is an open-source Android app and API that sends SMS from your phone, with end-to-end encryption by passphrase.
httpSMS does MMS, send windows and passphrase encryption. Sparetext does all three, with authenticated encryption (AES-256-GCM) that covers pictures and binds each text to its number, and adds iPhone, an MCP server for AI agents, part-by-part delivery reports and a phone that keeps sending with the screen off, without Google Play services.
Ask your AI about this page:ChatGPT (opens in a new tab)Claude (opens in a new tab)Perplexity (opens in a new tab)
Choose Sparetext if
- You have an iPhone, or a Mac next to one.
- An AI agent should text and wait for the reply through MCP.
- The phone has no Google Play services, or sleeps with the screen off: Sparetext wakes without them and polls every minute.
- You want webhooks signed over the body, tried 8 times.
Choose httpSMS if
- You want to self-host it (Docker, your own Firebase).
- You want an open-source (AGPL) codebase you can change.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Sparetext | httpSMS |
|---|---|---|
| Texts come from your own number | Yes: Your phone's SIM | Yes: Your Android's SIM |
| iPhone | Yes: Through a Mac relay, a Shortcut, or tap to send | No: Android only |
| MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and other agents | Yes: Hosted, with OAuth sign-in: send, send a text per person, wait for a reply, read threads, check phones | No: None found |
| An agent can wait for the person's reply | Yes: wait_for_reply returns the reply, or a code in it | Partly: Your own code, by webhook |
| Connect an assistant without pasting a key | Yes: Add the URL as a connector in Claude or ChatGPT and sign in | No: No MCP |
| Cost per text | Yes: None from us; your carrier plan | Yes: None from them; your carrier plan |
| Free plan | Yes: 1 phone, 300 texts a month | Yes: 200 texts a month |
| Paid plan | Yes: $12.74 a month or $84.99 a year: 5 phones, 10,000 texts; from $5 in many countries | Yes: $10 a month or $100 a year: 5,000 texts |
| Registration before US texts (A2P 10DLC) | Partly: No registration step; carriers can still filter business texts from a personal SIM | Partly: The same |
| Delivery reports | Yes: Per part; a failure names the carrier's TP-Status | Partly: Only the last part counts |
| Android's limit of 30 parts a minute | Yes: Counted per part; texts wait instead of failing | Partly: 10 texts a minute, counts texts not parts |
| Retries when the radio refuses | Yes: Held and sent when service is back, up to 30 min | No: Fails |
| Webhooks | Yes: HMAC with a timestamp, 8 tries over 28 hours | Partly: JWT not covering the body, 2 tries |
| A different text per recipient | Yes: messages[] in one call; CSV with {{column}} in the dashboard | Yes: CSV or Excel upload, under 1,000 rows |
| Choose the SIM per text | Yes: sim: 1 or 2; never falls back to the other number | Yes: Each SIM is its own from number |
| Scheduling and expiry | Yes: scheduledAt, and ttl per text | Yes: send_at; expiry per phone |
| Sending hours | Yes: Per phone, by weekday, in its time zone | Yes: Weekly send windows per phone |
| Open source, self-hosted | No: Hosted only | Yes: Docker, with your own Firebase |
| End-to-end encryption | Yes: Opt-in: AES-256-GCM on your devices, words and pictures both ways; each text bound to its number | Partly: Passphrase AES without integrity check |
| MMS | Yes: Android, and the Mac relay, so iPhone owners too | Yes: Yes |
| Thousands of texts a day, short codes, sender IDs | No: Carriers filter bulk texts from a personal SIM | No: Same limit: a phone |
Swipe the table sideways for every column. →
Questions people ask
- Does httpSMS work on iPhone?
- No, httpSMS is Android only. Sparetext sends from an iPhone's number through a Mac relay, a Shortcut, or tap to send.
- Does Sparetext encrypt texts end to end like httpSMS?
- Yes, with private mode: a passphrase on your phones and browser derives an AES-256-GCM key (PBKDF2, 600,000 rounds) that never reaches us. Unlike httpSMS's AES-CFB, GCM detects any change to a text, pictures are encrypted too, and each text is bound to its number, so your phone won't send a text to anyone it wasn't written for. AI agents can't read encrypted texts, so it's off by default.
- Can I send in working hours only?
- Yes, both can. Sparetext sets sending hours per phone, by weekday and in the phone's time zone; texts outside them wait and go when the hours start.
More comparisons
Checked on October 29, 2026 against each product's own docs, pricing pages and source code. Something out of date? Write to hello@sparetext.dev and we'll fix it. Sources: httpSMS on GitHub, httpSMS docs, httpSMS pricing.
Try it on the phone you have.
Free for 1 phone and 300 texts a month. An Android pairs in two minutes.