A2P 10DLC Compliance Checker: SMS Registration Self-Test
Score your A2P 10DLC setup across registration, opt-in, content, and sending behavior. Get a 0-100 score and see which areas are putting your traffic at risk.
Registration
0%Is your brand registered with The Campaign Registry under a real EIN, not a placeholder?
Have you registered at least one campaign for the specific use case you actually send?
If you have no EIN, did you register correctly through the sole proprietor path?
Does your registered brand info (legal name, address, website) match what you actually send?
Do you know your current trust score or vetting tier and whether it fits your volume?
Opt-In
0%Is express consent collected from each contact before you text them?
Does your consent language disclose message frequency?
Does your consent language include the message and data rates may apply disclosure?
Do you store proof of opt-in, like a timestamp and the method of consent?
Do you have a documented process for removing contacts who reply STOP?
Message Content
0%Is STOP honored automatically and immediately across your sending platform?
Does replying HELP return real support information?
Is your business identified by name in the first message a contact receives?
Is your message copy free of SHAFT content: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco?
Sending Behavior
0%Do you only message contacts with logged consent, never purchased or scraped lists?
Do you honor quiet hours, avoiding sends before 8am or after 9pm local time?
Do your links use a branded or custom domain instead of a public shortener?
Does your actual sending volume match the throughput of your registered campaign?
This is an educational self-assessment, not legal advice. Actual carrier filtering and registration outcomes depend on your specific setup and each carrier's own review.
What this tool does
This is an 18-question self-assessment covering the four areas carriers and The Campaign Registry actually check before letting A2P traffic through unfiltered: brand and campaign registration, opt-in consent, message content, and sending behavior. Answer yes, no, or not sure to each question and the tool calculates an overall score out of 100, plus a subscore for each of the four sections. Sections that score low are flagged with a one-line explanation of why that gap matters, for example why an unregistered EIN brand gets throughput-limited or why public link shorteners trip carrier spam filters. This is a scoring tool, not a fix-it guide: it tells you where the risk is, not how to resolve it line by line.
Who it's for
Small businesses and marketing teams who registered a 10DLC brand and campaign themselves, or through a CRM's built-in wizard, and want a gut check on whether they did it right. It is also useful for agencies inheriting a client's existing SMS setup and needing a quick way to spot obvious gaps before sending on that client's behalf.
How to use it
- Answer each of the 18 questions across the four sections honestly, using not sure when you genuinely do not know.
- Review your overall 0 to 100 score and its color band.
- Check the per-section subscores to see which of the four areas is weakest.
- Read the one-line explanation for any section flagged as failing.
- Use the score as a starting point for a conversation with whoever manages your registration and sending, not as a legal determination.
Good to know
This is an educational self-assessment based on common carrier and TCR requirements as of 2026, not legal advice and not a guarantee of carrier approval or deliverability. Actual filtering and registration outcomes depend on your specific brand, campaign use case, and each carrier's own vetting, which changes over time. Consult a qualified compliance professional or your registered SMS provider before making registration decisions based on this score alone.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a passing A2P 10DLC compliance score?
Generally a score in the green band above 80 means your fundamentals, registration, opt-in, content, and sending behavior, are all reasonably in place. A score in the amber band between 50 and 79 usually means one or two sections have real gaps worth addressing soon, and a red score below 50 means multiple sections have foundational problems that are likely already affecting deliverability.
Why does my score drop so much for using a public link shortener like bit.ly?
Carriers treat unbranded public shorteners as a strong spam signal because they hide the true destination of a link, which is a common phishing and smishing tactic. Messages with those links get filtered or flagged at a much higher rate than the same message using a branded or custom domain, which is why sending behavior is one of the four scored sections.
Do I need an EIN to register an A2P 10DLC brand?
No, there is a sole proprietor registration path for businesses without an EIN, but it comes with lower default throughput and stricter volume limits than an EIN-registered standard brand. The checker asks separately whether you used the sole proprietor path correctly, since treating a sole prop registration like a standard brand is a common source of filtering issues.
What is SHAFT content and why does it matter for message content scoring?
SHAFT is shorthand carriers and aggregators use for Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco content, categories that are restricted or banned outright on standard A2P campaigns regardless of your registration status. Even incidental mentions in promotional copy can get a campaign suspended, which is why the message content section asks about it directly.
Why does storing proof of opt-in matter if I already have consent?
Verbal or assumed consent is not defensible if a recipient disputes receiving your messages or files a complaint, and carriers and TCPA enforcement both expect documented proof: a timestamp, the method of consent, and the exact language shown at signup. Consent you cannot prove functions the same as no consent during an audit or dispute.
Can I use this checker for a client's SMS program instead of my own?
Yes, agencies commonly run this against a client's existing setup before taking over sending, since it surfaces obvious gaps like missing STOP handling or unregistered campaigns without needing access to the client's TCR dashboard. Just answer based on what you can verify or what the client confirms, and mark anything uncertain as not sure rather than guessing.