specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: ClickSend
providerId: clicksend
created: '2026-07-01'
modified: '2026-07-01'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Communications
- SMS
- MMS
- Voice
- Email
- Post
- Messaging
- FinOps
- Cost Management
- FOCUS
description: >-
  FinOps view of ClickSend spend. ClickSend bills on a prepaid, pay-as-you-go
  basis: account credit is drawn down per SMS segment, per MMS, per voice
  message, per email, and per physical post item (letters, postcards), with
  per-unit rates that vary by destination country and, for post, by page count,
  colour, and duplex. Dedicated numbers carry recurring monthly charges. Because
  billing is prepaid, spend is naturally capped by the credit balance, and each
  channel exposes a /price endpoint for pre-send cost estimation.
notes: >-
  Use the per-channel /*/price endpoints to estimate charges before sending and
  GET /account to monitor the remaining credit balance. Per-unit rates change by
  country; reconcile against the ClickSend pricing pages.
sources:
- https://www.clicksend.com/us/pricing/
- https://developers.clicksend.com/
- https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: ClickSend
serviceCategory: Communications
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Usage-Based
  billingFrequency: Prepaid
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
  - Usage
  - Purchase
  - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: ClickSend
  ServiceCategory: Communications
  ProviderName: ClickSend
  PublisherName: ClickSend
  InvoiceIssuerName: ClickSend
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
  PricingCategory: Usage-Based
meters:
- name: sms_segments
  description: SMS message segments sent, billed per segment by destination country.
  unit: messages
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
  - country
- name: mms_messages
  description: MMS messages sent, billed per message by destination country.
  unit: messages
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
  - country
- name: voice_messages
  description: Voice / text-to-speech messages placed, billed per message by destination and duration.
  unit: messages
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
  - country
- name: emails
  description: Transactional emails sent, billed per email.
  unit: emails
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
- name: post_letters
  description: Physical letters printed and mailed, billed per item by pages, colour, duplex, and destination.
  unit: items
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
  - country
- name: post_postcards
  description: Physical postcards printed and mailed, billed per item by destination.
  unit: items
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - subaccount
  - country
- name: dedicated_numbers
  description: Recurring monthly charge per provisioned dedicated / inbound number.
  unit: numbers
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - country
principles:
- name: Visibility
  description: Pull usage via GET /account and /account/usage/{year}/{month}/subaccount; monitor prepaid balance.
- name: Allocation
  description: Use subaccounts and custom_string tags to attribute messaging spend to teams and workloads.
- name: Optimization
  description: Estimate cost with the /*/price endpoints before sending; batch recipients; grow prepaid balance to reach lower SMS rate tiers; retire unused dedicated numbers.
- name: Accountability
  description: Assign owners per subaccount and review monthly usage-by-subaccount reports against budget.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com