Understanding the difference between unicode and standard GSM characters is important. These character sets affect how long your messages can be and, ultimately, your messaging costs.
Read about SMS character limits and message parts and why they matter.
What are standard GSM characters?
GSM characters are the standard encoding for SMS. In non technical terms, they’re the characters designed for Latin-based languages (like English, Spanish, and French).
Numbers, and common symbols are included in the standard GSM character set too.
Character | Example |
Uppercase | A-Z |
Lowercase | a-z |
Symbols | ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ |
Digits | 0-9 |
Special | € (euro), £, ¥, $ |
Type setting | Space, new line |
What are unicode characters?
Unicode covers all languages and symbols—including emojis, special characters, and non-Latin scripts like Arabic or Chinese.