---
id: smpplib
version: "2.2.4"
license: unclear
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: dormant
---

# smpplib — SMPP library for python

License: copyleft · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 74.8K/mo

## What it is and what it does

smpplib is a Python SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer) protocol client that enables applications to send and receive SMS messages through an SMPP gateway. It handles the low-level protocol details—PDU encoding/decoding, connection management, and message sequencing—so you can focus on application logic. The library supports multi-part messages with automatic splitting, multiple character encodings (including UCS2 for non-Latin scripts), delivery receipts, and bidirectional message handling via callback handlers.

You instantiate a client with a gateway hostname and port, authenticate with credentials, then send messages by specifying source and destination phone numbers, message content, and encoding flags. The library can listen for incoming messages either synchronously (blocking) or in a background thread, automatically managing keep-alive signals to the SMPP server. It also allows custom sequence number generation for persistence across application restarts.

Use it for:

- Send transactional SMS notifications (alerts, confirmations, OTPs) from a Python application to an SMPP gateway.
- Build a two-way SMS application that receives and responds to incoming messages via SMPP.
- Handle multi-part SMS with automatic splitting and character encoding for international text.
- Integrate SMS delivery tracking by processing delivery receipts from the SMPP server.
- Implement a persistent sequence number generator to maintain message tracking across application restarts.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

SMPP protocol client library for sending and receiving SMS messages over SMPP connections, with support for multi-part messages, character encoding, and delivery receipts.

Yes, if you need to integrate SMPP-based SMS into a Python application and have access to an SMPP gateway. The library is stable (Production/Stable classifier), has low install friction, and carries no known vulnerabilities. The dormant maintenance is a minor concern—no releases in 574 days—but the recent repository activity and broad Python version support suggest it remains functional. LGPLv3 copyleft licensing is a consideration if you plan to redistribute modified versions.

## Install

pip install smpplib
uv add smpplib
poetry add smpplib

## Installing smpplib

Before you install: Low install friction with a single lightweight dependency (six). Maintenance is dormant—no releases in 574 days—but the repository remains active with a recent commit on 2025-01-17 and 189 stars, suggesting the codebase is stable rather than abandoned.

License in practice: Licensed under LGPLv3 (copyleft). You may use and modify the library freely, but any modifications must be released under the same license, and the library itself must remain open-source in derivative works.

Quickstart:

import smpplib.client
import smpplib.consts

client = smpplib.client.Client('example.com', SOMEPORTNUMBER)
client.connect()
client.bind_transceiver(system_id='login', password='secret')
pdu = client.send_message(
    source_addr='SENDER',
    destination_addr='PHONENUMBER',
    short_message=b'Hello',
    source_addr_ton=smpplib.consts.SMPP_TON_INTL,
    dest_addr_ton=smpplib.consts.SMPP_TON_INTL
)
client.listen()

Requires an SMPP server endpoint (hostname and port) to connect to; credentials (system_id and password) must be valid for the target SMPP service.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the dormant maintenance status poses a risk for future Python or SMPP protocol compatibility.
- Whether six dependency will remain maintained as Python 2 support is phased out industry-wide.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (copyleft)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 74.8K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

SMPP client library, SMS gateway protocol, send SMS programmatically, SMPP protocol python, SMS delivery receipts, multi-part message handling, telecommunications protocol, sms-gateway, telecommunications, protocol-client

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