Messaging limits cap how many messages your account sends at the account, country/region, and phone number levels, and let you exempt or block individual phone numbers. Use messaging limits to prevent phone number abuse, control sending costs, and keep specific phone numbers exempt from the limits.
How messaging limits work
Messaging limits combine two control mechanisms. Sending thresholds cap the number of messages for a period at the account level, the country/region level, or the phone number level. The allowlist and the blocklist control whether individual phone numbers can receive messages.
The mechanisms are evaluated in the following order: allowlist, then blocklist, then sending thresholds. If a phone number is in both the allowlist and the blocklist, the allowlist takes precedence and messages are sent.
The three threshold levels serve different control scenarios. Configure one or more levels as needed.
| Threshold level | What it controls | Periods | When a limit is reached |
| Account level | The total number of messages sent to all countries and regions under your account. | Hour, day, and month | Sending is blocked for all countries and regions. |
| Country/region level | The number of messages sent to each country or region, counted separately. | Hour, day, and month | Only messages to that country or region are blocked. Other countries and regions continue to receive messages. |
| Phone number level | The number of messages that a single phone number can receive. | Minute, hour, and day | Additional messages to that phone number are blocked. |
Threshold data is counted in Singapore Time (SGT), which is UTC+8. This time zone applies to both threshold periods and blocked message data.
Considerations
Before you configure messaging limits, review the following constraints. In any threshold field, enter -1 to apply no limit, or a positive integer to set a limit. All fields in a threshold dialog box are required.
Account-level thresholds — The alert threshold must be smaller than the block threshold for the same period. The value
0is not allowed.Country/region-level thresholds — Set an hourly, daily, and monthly limit for each country or region rule.
Phone number-level thresholds — The system enforces a hard upper limit of 20 messages per period, so a limit must be from 1 to 20. You cannot submit a greater value.
Allowlist format — Only full phone numbers are supported. A phone number must be in E.164 format, which starts with
+followed by digits, such as+6512345678. Number prefixes are not supported.Allowlist capacity — You can add up to 50 phone numbers at a time, and the allowlist for an account can contain up to 500 phone numbers. A remark is optional and can be up to 100 characters in length.
Blocklist format — Two matching modes are supported: a full phone number in E.164 format, and a number prefix. A number prefix is a digit sequence, such as
62812, that matches all phone numbers starting with that sequence.Blocklist capacity — You can add up to 50 entries at a time, and the blocklist for an account can contain up to 500 entries. A remark is optional.
Open the messaging limit settings
Log on to the Alibaba Cloud SMS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Configure> General Settings.
Click the Message Sending Limit tab.
The page provides three sub-tabs. Switch between the sub-tabs to configure settings or view data.
The Threshold Management tab: set account-level, country/region-level, and phone number-level thresholds. See Configure sending thresholds.
The Blacklist and Whitelist Management tab: exempt or block individual phone numbers. See Manage the allowlist and the blocklist.
The Block Trend Analysis tab: review how many messages were blocked. See View blocked message data.
Configure sending thresholds
On the Threshold Management tab, configure sending thresholds separately at the account, country/region, and phone number levels. A threshold takes effect shortly after you save it.
Account-level threshold
Configure an account-level threshold
The Account-Level Threshold threshold controls the total number of messages sent to all countries and regions under your account. Set an alert threshold and a block threshold for each hour, each day, and each month.
In the Account-Level Threshold section, click Edit.
In the dialog box that appears, set the following parameters. For valid values, see Considerations.
Parameter Description Hourly alert threshold The number of messages sent in each hour that triggers an alert. Hourly block threshold The maximum number of messages that can be sent in each hour. Daily alert threshold The number of messages sent in each day that triggers an alert. Daily block threshold The maximum number of messages that can be sent in each day. Monthly alert threshold The number of messages sent in each month that triggers an alert. Monthly block threshold The maximum number of messages that can be sent in each month. Click OK.
Country/region-level threshold
Configure a country/region-level threshold
The Country/Region Threshold threshold controls the number of messages sent to each country or region separately. When a country or region exceeds its limit, only messages to that country or region are affected. Other countries and regions continue to receive messages.
Add a country rule
In the Country/Region Threshold section, click + Add Country Rule.
In the dialog box that appears, set the following parameters. When a limit is reached, the system stops sending messages to that country or region. For valid values, see Considerations.
Parameter Description Country/region Required. Select the target country or region from the drop-down list. Search is supported. Hourly limit The maximum number of messages that can be sent to the country or region in each hour. Daily limit The maximum number of messages that can be sent to the country or region in each day. Monthly limit The maximum number of messages that can be sent to the country or region in each month. Click OK.
The rule appears in the country/region rule list. Search for a rule by country/region name or country code, and filter the list by status to check whether a rule is normal or already triggered.
Edit and delete country rules
Edit — In the Actions column of the target country/region rule, click Edit, change the limits for each period, and then click OK.
Delete — In the Actions column of the target country/region rule, click Delete, and then confirm the deletion.
Block sending to regions without a threshold rule
The Country/Region Threshold section provides the Block SMS to Regions Without a Threshold switch at the bottom, which is turned off by default. Use the switch when your list of target countries and regions is stable and you want to narrow the sending scope to an allowlist. You must confirm the change when you switch the setting.
Turn on — Messages are sent only to countries and regions that have a threshold rule. Messages to countries and regions without a rule are blocked. Before you turn on the switch, make sure that you have configured a threshold rule for every target country and region, so that messages are not blocked by mistake.
Turn off — Countries and regions without a threshold are not restricted.
Phone number-level threshold
Configure a phone number-level threshold
The Number-Level Threshold threshold limits how many messages a single phone number can receive within a period. Use it to prevent abuse of a single phone number and complaints caused by excessive messaging. Set a limit for each minute, each hour, and each day.
In the Number-Level Threshold section, click Edit.
In the dialog box that appears, set the following parameters. For valid values, see Considerations.
Parameter Description Per-minute limit The maximum number of messages that a single phone number can receive in each minute. Per-hour limit The maximum number of messages that a single phone number can receive in each hour. Per-day limit The maximum number of messages that a single phone number can receive in each day. Click OK.
The Number-Level Threshold section shows one card for each period — per minute, per hour, and per day — and each card shows the current limit.
Manage the allowlist and the blocklist
On the Blacklist and Whitelist Management tab, use the allowlist and the blocklist to control whether specific phone numbers can receive messages. Both lists are evaluated before sending thresholds. For the full evaluation order, see How messaging limits work.
| List | Effect | Matching mode |
| Allowlist | Phone numbers are not subject to sending thresholds. | Full phone numbers only |
| Blocklist | Phone numbers cannot receive messages. | Full phone numbers or number prefixes |
Frequency limit allowlist
Phone numbers added to the Frequency Limit Whitelist are not subject to sending thresholds. For format and capacity constraints, see Considerations.
Add phone numbers to the allowlist
In the Frequency Limit Whitelist section, click Add Number.
In the dialog box that appears, select how to add the phone numbers and enter them.
Bulk add — Enter multiple phone numbers in the text box, one per line.
Add one by one — Enter a phone number and an optional remark.
Click OK. The phone numbers appear in the allowlist.
Manage the allowlist
The allowlist supports the following operations:
Search — Enter a phone number in the search box to query it.
Show or hide phone numbers — Switch the masked display of phone numbers.
Batch delete — Select the target phone numbers, click Batch Delete, and then confirm the deletion.
Refresh — Click the refresh button to update the list.
Deleted phone numbers cannot be recovered.
Phone number blocklist
Phone numbers and number prefixes added to the Number Blocklist cannot receive messages. For format and capacity constraints, see Considerations.
Add phone numbers to the blocklist
In the Number Blocklist section, click Add Number.
In the dialog box that appears, select the number type and how to add the entries.
Number type — Select a full phone number or a number prefix.
Bulk add — Enter multiple entries in the text box, one per line.
Add one by one — Enter a phone number or a number prefix and an optional remark.
Click OK. The entries appear in the blocklist, which shows the number type, the phone number or number prefix, and the remark.
Manage the blocklist
The blocklist supports the same operations as the allowlist:
Search — Enter a phone number in the search box to query it.
Show or hide phone numbers — Switch the masked display of phone numbers.
Batch delete — Select the target entries, click Batch Delete, and then confirm the deletion.
Refresh — Click the refresh button to update the list.
Deleted entries cannot be recovered.
View blocked message data
On the Block Trend Analysis tab, view blocked message data across dimensions to understand how your messaging limits work in practice.
At the top of the page, select a time range to view data for the last 7 days or the last 30 days. Data is available for up to 30 days.
| Metric | Description |
| Total blocked messages | The total number of messages blocked within the selected time range. |
| Account-level blocked messages | The number of messages blocked because they triggered an account-level threshold. |
| Country/region-level blocked messages | The number of messages blocked because they triggered a country/region-level threshold. |
| Phone number-level blocked messages | The number of messages blocked because they triggered a phone number-level threshold. |
The page also provides two charts:
Blocking trend line chart — Shows the date on the horizontal axis and the blocked message count on the vertical axis, with one trend line each for the account level, the country/region level, and the phone number level.
Blocked messages by country bar chart — Located at the bottom of the page, shows the top 10 countries and regions by blocked message count, so that you can quickly identify where blocking is concentrated.