A2P 10DLC Brand Registration — Complete Guide
A2P 10DLC (Application-to-Person, 10-Digit Long Code) is the vetting system US carriers built after being flooded with unregistered spam traffic on regular local numbers. The Brand is where you register your business identity with TCR — The Campaign Registry, the industry body carriers actually check against.
Brand vs. Campaign
These are two separate registrations. The Brand identifies who your business is. The Campaign (a separate step, see A2P Campaign Registration) describes what kind of messages you'll actually send. You need both approved before carriers reliably deliver your traffic.
Your real options, accurately
Twilio's Console tends to present this as a simple binary choice, which glosses over what's actually happening underneath. There are really three distinct paths:
| Path | Who it's for | Cost | Throughput |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole Proprietor | Individual, no EIN | $4 one-time | Lower, fixed by use case |
| Standard — Low Volume | Business, has EIN | $4.50 one-time | Up to ~6,000/day |
| Standard — full vetting | Business, has EIN | ~$46 one-time | Up to 200,000/day |
Here's the part most guides skip: Sole Proprietor is a genuinely different Brand type in Twilio's API. But "Low Volume" vs. "full vetting" for a business Brand is not a different Brand type at all — both are the same Standard brand. The difference is whether you opt into Twilio's paid Secondary Vetting process, which assigns your brand a Trust Score that unlocks higher throughput. Skip it, and you're capped around 6,000 messages/day for $4.50; pay for it, and the cap rises to 200,000/day for about $46.
What filing costs. The brand fee is one-time and charged only when the registry accepts the brand. Each campaign then has a $15 carrier review fee and a monthly fee by use case. If you file in your own Twilio console, editing and resubmitting a rejected campaign is free; deleting it and creating a new one is a new $15. If you file through Linxi or on Telnyx, every submission that reaches carrier review is charged $15, resubmissions included. A filing the registry refuses before review is not charged.
See A2P Campaign Registration for the campaign fees by use case.
Where to register
In the console: Products and services → Communications → Messaging → Trust & compliance. Or let Linxi do it — Linxi Settings → Number → Brand Profile (also step 5, A2P Brand, of Setup Progress) submits this via the API directly once your Compliance Profile is approved. On a number bought through Linxi with Search & Buy a Number, the brand is filed for you from the business details you give in the number wizard.
Using your existing Compliance Profile
Brand registration references your already-approved Trust Hub Compliance Profile rather than asking you to re-enter your business details from scratch. Behind the scenes, Twilio actually requires a second, near-identical Trust Hub bundle specifically flagged for A2P use — Linxi's wizard builds this automatically by reusing the same business/representative information, so you never have to fill it out twice.
Brand friendly name and notification email
The friendly name is just how the Brand shows up in your own Twilio console — it can differ from your exact legal name (e.g. "Northside Medical" instead of "NORTHSIDE MEDICAL, INC."). The notification email is where Twilio sends status updates, so use one you actually check.
Review before submitting
Double-check every field against your Compliance Profile before hitting submit — especially which tier you're choosing.
Processing time
Low Volume Standard brands (no Secondary Vetting) typically clear in minutes to a few hours. Brands going through Secondary Vetting can take longer since TCR is running an actual reputation check, not just a completeness check.
Finish setting up your number
Once your Brand is approved, four things need to be true before your number can send A2P traffic:
- Compliance Profile approved
- Brand approved (this page)
- Campaign approved (next — see A2P Campaign Registration)
- Your phone number attached to a Messaging Service that's linked to that approved Campaign
Missing any one of these four is the most common reason a newly-purchased number still can't send SMS.