Alimtalk, Brand Message or SMS — choosing a messaging channel in Korea

The three channels differ first of all in what content they are allowed to carry. That constraint decides more than cost or deliverability.

One-table summary

	Kakao Alimtalk	Kakao Brand Message	SMS · LMS · MMS
Allowed content	Informational only	Informational + advertising	Informational + advertising
Body	Pre-approved template	Pre-registered rich template	Free-form
Audience	Anyone whose number you have	Channel friends / non-friends / broadcast	Anyone whose number you have
Setup required	Kakao sender profile + template review	Kakao sender profile + template registration	Sending number registration only
Delivery depends on	Recipient uses KakaoTalk	Recipient uses KakaoTalk	Mobile network — effectively everyone
Relative unit cost	Lowest	Middle	Highest
Endpoint	/api/v2/notices/send	/api/v2/brand-messages/send	/api/v2/messages/send

Choosing by situation

Is the content promotional?
├─ Yes → Do you want to reach it through your Kakao channel?
│         ├─ Yes → Brand Message (adFlag: Y)
│         └─ No  → Advertising SMS/LMS — (광고) prefix + opt-out required
│         Either way: no sending 21:00-08:00 KST
│
└─ No (informational) → Is it a repeating, structured notification?
          ├─ Yes → Alimtalk (needs template review, cheapest)
          │        + replaceSms: Y if it must arrive
          └─ No  → SMS (verification codes, one-off notices, no template)

Order confirmations, delivery updates, booking confirmations

Alimtalk. The wording is structured and repeats, so one template review buys you the lowest unit price. Delivery matters here, so pair it with SMS fallback.

Verification codes

SMS. Alimtalk can carry them, but a verification code lives or dies on immediate delivery and you cannot know whether the recipient uses KakaoTalk. SMS is simpler and more certain. Do not swallow the failure — tell the user.

Discounts, events, coupons

Brand Message or advertising SMS. An Alimtalk template will not be approved for this. If you already run a Kakao channel, Brand Message wins on both expressiveness (list, carousel, commerce) and price.

Long notices, such as maintenance announcements

LMS. Up to 2,000 bytes of free text with a subject line. Making this an Alimtalk template means re-review every time the wording changes.

Promoting to people who are not channel friends

Brand Message with targeting: N. Impossible with Friendtalk, and more expressive than an advertising SMS.

Common misjudgements

• "Alimtalk is cheap, so we'll promote through it too." It will not be approved. Attempts to disguise promotion get rejected, and repeated attempts put the channel at risk.
• "SMS is legacy, move everything to Alimtalk." Alimtalk only reaches KakaoTalk users. Migrating without fallback means a share of your messages quietly disappears.
• "We'll just use Friendtalk." It shut down on 2025-12-31. New work goes to Brand Message.
• "Template review will be quick." It takes business days. Start it with sending number registration, before the code.

Using all three

Most production systems do.

<?php

// Order confirmation — Alimtalk, falling back to SMS
$sendgo->alimtalk->send([
    'templateCode' => config('sendgo.templates.order_confirm'),
    'replaceSms'   => 'Y',
    'smsSubject'   => '[Order confirmed]',
    'smsContent'   => 'Order #{var1} is confirmed.',
    'contacts'     => [['contact' => $phone, 'var1' => $orderNo]],
]);

// Verification code — SMS
$sendgo->sms->sendSms([
    'content'  => "[Acme] Verification code: {$code} (valid 5 minutes)",
    'contacts' => [['contact' => $phone]],
]);

// Autumn sale — Brand Message (advertising; check the night window first)
$sendgo->brandMessage->send([
    'targeting'          => 'M',
    'messageType'        => 'FL',
    'friendTemplateUuid' => config('sendgo.templates.autumn_sale'),
    'adFlag'             => 'Y',
    'contacts'           => $optedInContacts,
]);

Next

• Send a Kakao Alimtalk
• Send SMS, LMS and MMS
• Send a Kakao Brand Message