Talkdesk Express was designed for growing businesses that want enterprise-grade customer experience without enterprise complexity. One of the ways we make that possible? Pay-as-you-go pricing - no licenses, no contracts, no hidden fees. In this article, we’ll walk you through how pricing works, what’s included for free, and how to track and manage your usage.
How billing works: The wallet system
When you sign up for Talkdesk Express, you get a wallet, pre-loaded with $100 in credit. Think of it like a prepaid balance - your usage (calls, SMS, AI, etc.) is deducted from this wallet in real time.
As long as there’s credit in your wallet, your Express services will continue to run smoothly.
You can always track your current balance and transaction history in your Express Admin dashboard, so there are no surprises. And to make things even easier, you can add a credit card on file and set up auto-recharge.
Auto-recharge lets you:
Choose when to top up (for example, when your balance drops below $25)
Define how much to add automatically (e.g., add $250 when low)
This helps you avoid service interruptions - which can happen if your wallet hits $0.
Important: If your wallet balance reaches zero, your Express account is suspended.
That means:
You won’t be able to make or receive calls
AI and messaging features will stop working
You'll still be able to login to your account
To resume service, just add funds to your wallet using a valid credit card as a payment method.
Even if your account becomes suspended, you’ll have 90 days to replenish your wallet. If no payment is made within that window, your account will be automatically canceled, and you’ll lose access to the platform and your data.
Of course, you can cancel your account at any time directly from the Admin dashboard - no need to jump through hoops.
Voice Calls
The unit of measure is seconds, but Express bills in 60-second increments. That means if a call lasts 45 seconds, you’re charged for 60 seconds. A call that lasts 2 minutes and 5 seconds would be billed as 3 increments (180 seconds).
Example:
đź“ž 1 min 5 sec call = 120 seconds billed = 2 units (aka interactions)
Charges vary based on destination and number type (mobile, landline, toll-free). You can check detailed pricing in your Admin portal under Billing > Usage > Download Usage Pricing.
Phone Numbers
Every Express account includes 1 local number free of monthly charge.
Need more? You can add additional numbers:
đź“ž Example: A U.S. local number costs $3/month
Other countries may vary - full pricing is available in your Admin dashboard.
Messages
For SMS and MMS for example, the unit of measure is message segments - not just message count.
1 SMS segment = 160 characters
If your message goes over 160 characters, it will be split into multiple segments, as you are charged per segment sent, not per message
Example:
đź’¬ 1 message with 280 characters = 2 segments = 2x the cost of a standard SMS
Pricing varies depending on the type of message (example: Facebook and WhatsApp unit of measure is per conversation). Once you sign-up for Express you can have access to the full pricing in your Admin dashboard.
AI-Powered Interactions
Express includes several AI capabilities, and these follow the same flexible pay-as-you-go model.
Here’s an example of how some of the features available in Express are charged:
Voice AI Agent
Unit of measure: seconds
Billed in 180-second increments (3 minutes)
Digital AI Agent
Unit of measure: seconds
Billed in 900-second increments (15 minutes)
AI Rewriter
Unit of measure: interaction
Each interaction includes 5 rewrites
Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Unit of measure: characters
Charged in 100-character increments
AI usage costs and unit of measure vary by feature. Your Admin portal is your best source for real-time pricing info.
What’s free with Express?
You get a lot of value without ever reaching for your wallet:
Up to 25 users – no license fees
1 local number
Access to:
The Express Admin Dashboard
3rd party integrations
The Express Online Community
Live Demos and Weekly Q&A Sessions
Academy training and self-service tools
You’ll only pay for usage-based features, like calls, SMS, or AI interactions.
Full pricing in your Admin Dashboard
Want to see the full pricing breakdown for all available features and destinations?
You can download your complete usage pricing sheet directly from the Admin > Billing section of your Express account. Just look for the “Download Usage Pricing” button to access the latest rates.
Have questions?
You can always reach out to [email protected]. We’re here to help you scale smartly, transparently, and affordably.