Bank SMS Alert Charges in Pakistan 2026: 14 Banks Compared, From Rs 950 to Rs 5,100 a Year

We compared the SMS alert lines in 14 banks' own schedules of charges for July to December 2026. Our team read each schedule on the bank's own website between 28 October and 8 November 2026, and each bank has a full fee guide on Pakera, linked below. Most of these fees carry federal excise duty on top, which we note where the bank prints it.

Khushhali, JS Bank and BankIslami charge the least for SMS alerts

Khushhali Microfinance Bank charges Rs 95 a month or Rs 950 a year. JS Bank charges Rs 1,800 a year, and BankIslami Rs 2,200 a year. Bank of Khyber and Samba charge Rs 200 a month, which is Rs 2,400 a year. Meezan Bank charges Rs 2,800 a year.

The yearly column is our arithmetic: 12 times the monthly fee, or the bank's own yearly price where it prints one. FED is extra where the schedule says so. Each bank also has account types that waive the fee, which we cover in the full guides, such as the Meezan Bank schedule of charges and the JS Bank schedule of charges.

Alerts for app, ATM and card transactions are free at most banks

Nine of the 14 schedules say plainly that SMS alerts on digital transactions are free: Meezan, MCB, UBL, HabibMetro, Bank of Khyber, Samba, Khushhali, JS Bank and MCB Islamic. That covers app and internet transfers, ATM withdrawals and card purchases. At these banks the paid fee is for alerts on cash deposits, cheques and other branch activity.

Bank Alfalah is different. Its Rs 250 fee covers SMS on branch, counter and digital transactions, and Alfa app activity is sent as free in-app notifications. Al Baraka lists its app and email alerts as free, not SMS. The Allied Bank and Standard Chartered fees are for counter and branch alerts, and BankIslami prices a single SMS banking service. Ask these banks what the fee covers.

The wording differs between banks. UBL calls its free tier Go Green SMS. MCB Islamic says all digital channel transactional SMS are free. Khushhali says there are no charges for SMS and email on any digital transaction, including ATM, card and internet banking. Bank of Khyber lists digital alerts as nil.

So at most banks, a customer who only uses the app and the card gets the important alerts at no cost. These are the alerts that warn you of fraud. Our guide to debit card rights, SMS alerts and tap limits explains why you should never switch them off.

Branch alerts are deducted every month at most banks

At most banks the branch SMS fee is a flat monthly charge, not a per message charge. UBL's schedule says the deduction is mandatory every month whatever the number of messages. So a customer who visits the branch twice a year still pays Rs 3,000 a year at UBL.

Some banks waive the fee for chosen accounts or balances. We found these waivers in the schedules:

• Meezan Bank: free for Senior Citizen and Asaan Student accounts, and the first subscription is free on Rupee Current and Asaan Current accounts.
• Samba Bank: not charged for individual branch customers with an average monthly relationship balance of Rs 1 million or more.
• Bank of Khyber: unlimited free SMS alerts on its package accounts.
• UBL: SMS alerts are free on the Mukammal account.
• MCB Bank: a lower fee of Rs 135 a month on Asaan accounts.
• Roshan Digital Accounts at JS Bank and Allied Bank: SMS alerts free.

You can stop paying for branch alerts in four steps

If you rarely use the branch, you can ask the bank to stop the paid branch SMS service and keep the free digital alerts. Not every bank separates the two, so ask in writing and keep the reply. SBP rules also give you a 15 day free look period on new paid subscriptions.

1. Check your statement for a monthly line called SMS alert, SMS banking or similar.
2. Call the bank's helpline or visit the branch and ask whether you can stop branch alerts and keep digital alerts.
3. Ask for the request in writing, or send it by email from your registered address.
4. Check next month's statement to confirm the charge has stopped and the free alerts still arrive.

Our guide to how to cancel a bank SMS alert subscription covers the 15 day rule. If the bank refuses, the full fee list for your bank is linked in the table above.

Full fee guides for each bank

Each bank's full schedule covers far more than SMS: IBFT, ATM, debit card, cheque and locker fees. These are our guides to each one, every one read from the bank's own July to December 2026 schedule.

• MCB Bank schedule of charges
• UBL schedule of charges
• Allied Bank schedule of charges
• Bank Alfalah schedule of charges
• HabibMetro schedule of charges
• BankIslami schedule of charges
• MCB Islamic schedule of charges
• Al Baraka Bank schedule of charges
• Standard Chartered schedule of charges
• Samba Bank schedule of charges
• Bank of Khyber schedule of charges
• Khushhali Bank schedule of charges

HBL, NBP, Askari, Faysal and Soneri are not in this list. Their schedule pages refused our automated request or published a scanned file we could not read accurately, so we did not guess their fees.

Common questions

Which bank has the cheapest SMS alerts in Pakistan?

Of the 14 banks we checked, Khushhali Bank is cheapest at Rs 950 a year, then JS Bank at Rs 1,800 and BankIslami at Rs 2,200.

Are SMS alerts for ATM and app transactions free?

At 9 of the 14 banks we checked, yes: their schedules list SMS on digital transactions as free. Bank Alfalah charges for SMS on digital transactions too, but its app notifications are free.

How much does UBL charge for SMS alerts?

Rs 250 a month plus FED for branch alerts, deducted every month whatever the number of messages. Digital transaction alerts are free.

How much does Meezan Bank charge for SMS alerts?

Rs 2,800 a year for individuals and Rs 7,000 for companies, for branch alerts. Digital SMS, push and in-app alerts are free.

Can I stop bank SMS charges?

You can ask the bank to stop paid branch alerts and keep the free digital ones. Ask in writing and check the next statement.

Do the fees include tax?

Not always. UBL, Bank Alfalah, Bank of Khyber and MCB Islamic print the fee plus FED, so the amount taken from your account is higher.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Every figure comes from the bank's own schedule of charges for July to December 2026, read by our team between 28 October and 8 November 2026. Examples include Meezan Bank, MCB Bank, UBL, JS Bank, BankIslami and MCB Islamic. The yearly costs and the ranking are our arithmetic. Banks can change fees for the January to June 2027 schedule, which we will check when it is published.