TOP 5 Twilio Competitors & Alternatives (2023)
Alyssa Walker
Twilio is a well-known cloud communication service provider that empowers your customer engagement. It offers SMS, video, inbound and outbound calls, toll-free phone number, SIP trunking, and much more. Twilio’s virtual receptionist answers all your calls and resolves customer issues.
Although it is a popular unified communication solution Twilio has limitations, like time-consuming number porting. Its SMS API also has issues with messages not delivering and the users not receiving any notifications about undelivered texts.
The EU’s court has also made US-based cloud solutions illegal. Hence, Twilio, being a product of the US, is no longer a legal software in that region. The best alternative solution to this problem would be legally allowed service providers in the EU region with high delivery rates. These platforms must also have automated seamless number porting, reliable SMS API and other APIs, strong networks, ease of use, and more affordable rates.
Therefore, we have created an extensively researched list of the best Twilio competitors. In our research process, we considered these providers’ features, pricing, reliability, reputation, and pros and cons to find out why they give a tough competition to Twilio. Read more…
Best Twilio Alternatives & Competitors
| Name | Contracts | Type | Free Trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plivo | No, pay-as-you-go model | Software | Yes | Learn More |
| RingCentral | No | Software | 30 – Day Money Back | Learn More |
| Telnyx | No | Software | No, but free account. | Learn More |
| Bandwidth | No | Software | Yes | Learn More |
| Sinch | No | Software | Yes | Learn More |
1) Plivo
Plivo is a business communications software that is used by over 190 countries worldwide. It offers a cloud communication platform for personalizing and simplifying customer services. This software is easily scalable; hence, it fits all business sizes.
You can experience deep communications with modern high-tech software for navigating the current customer service needs. Plivo supports 16 languages in its text-to-speech feature, making its messages easy to understand. It also has exceptional service quality at low rates as it connects directly with businesses in supported countries without a middleman.
Features
- Delivery status: Receive real-time delivery status notifications of all your messages.
- Customer support: Plivo has 24×7 premium support.
- Dedicated API: It has a dedicated API for the Developers.
- API limits: All the Plivo accounts have a default 300 API request limit per five seconds.
- Incoming messages: It supports incoming messages in 14 countries.
- Two-factor authentication: You can secure your apps using its verification codes.
- Notifications: It lets you send automated push notifications, reminders, and account alerts.
- SMS marketing: Send SMS messages to leads, chat with customers, and assist them throughout their journey.
- SMS Autoresponder: Respond automatically to the customers even when you are not available.
- Multimedia Formats: Send and receive GIF, JPEG, emojis, audio, and video.
- Smart queueing: It has smart queueing for carrier compliance.
- Message queueing: Its MMS API queues and pushes your simultaneous message requests with the provider’s regulations and improves delivery.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Customize your sender ID to your company’s logo using alphanumeric characters. | It doesn’t have detailed API documentation. |
| It has updated optimizations and SDKs. | The dashboard is complicated for users. |
| This provider is a GDPR Compliance platform. |
👉 How is Plivo better than Twilio?
Plivo is a better alternative to Twilio, as it has an easy setup. It also offers better support than Twilio, as it comes with premium assistance and includes a consultative team. In the case of Plivo, you can also enjoy easier interaction, get more varieties of communication and have higher API call speed.
Key Specs:
Uptime: 99.99% API uptime.
Customer support: Phone, instant chat, email, FAQs, video tutorials, and e-guides.
Supports: iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, and Windows.
Pricing: Starts at $35 per month.
Free Trial: Yes, also get free credit after signing up.
Link: https://www.plivo.com/
2) RingCentral
RingCentral is a well-known cloud phone system with an intelligent system, video messaging, workflow automation, etc. It is available in above 110 countries and has less than six minutes of downtime. Your communications remain under strong seven layers of protection.
It has powerful APIs for voice, video, SMS/MMS, team messaging, fax, and more that let you accelerate your business communications.
Features
- Delivery: Get bulk SMS with fast delivery, regulatory compliance built-in, and deep insights.
- Cloud VoIP: No on-premises hardware required; get high-quality and reliable service anywhere.
- Virtual PBX: It has all the capabilities of a traditional PBX and offers auto-attendant, virtual extensions, advanced call routing, etc.
- Calling and Mobility: It has a flexible, powerful, and mobile cloud phone system that provides features like call forwarding, SMS, call flip, etc.
- Analytics and reporting: Get real-time reports and deep insights with its advanced call management system.
- Meets: Host larger meetings with up to 200 participants on desktop and mobile without downloading the application.
- File sharing: Share files from Google, Dropbox, etc.
- Voice messages: Listen to priority voice messages in real time while working on other things.
- Cloud walkie-talkie: You can use this solution on all your devices, like tab, rugged devices, and smartphones.
- Connection: Seamlessly connect your office and front-line teams for SMS, calling, etc.
- API limits: Its administrators can modify the rate limits on every app so it is personalized to the developer’s needs.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Switch devices with just a single button. | Call quality highly depends on the internet connection. |
| You can customize your dashboard with built-in 30+ KPIs. | Customer support is slow at times. |
| Includes Pre-built business SMS integrations. |
👉 How is RingCentral better than Twilio?
RingCentral can reach thousands of customers in just a few clicks with its business message integrations. You can connect and manage multiple locations, employees, and devices at once.
It enhances the Microsoft Team’s experience and has options for incorporating its capabilities for all features, like integrations, direct routing, etc.
Key Specs:
Uptime: 99.999% Uptime
Customer support: Live chat, call, FAQs, video demos, email
Supports: Web, Desktop, Android, iOS
Pricing: Starts at $20 per user per month, with the annual plan.
Free trial: 14-day free trial, supports up to 20 phone lines.
3) Telnyx
Telnyx has a distributed infrastructure that offers unified connectivity and simplifies your workflow. It lets you configure communications, networking, wireless, and storage from a centralized location.
Telnyx has innovative edge computing that provides improved connectivity to your business. It boosts your communication worldwide with its global, private, multi-cloud IP network and hyperlocal edge. All these edge infrastructures are accessible via intuitive APIs stored in one space.
Features
- Delivery: You can maximize your SMS delivery by consulting a Telnyx expert.
- Messaging: Send and receive SMS/MMS from your applications and put out campaigns.
- Voice: It lets you manage calls and outbound voice traffic and send and receive faxes.
- Voice SDK: You can embed real-time communication into the iOS and Android mobile apps and also your web.
- Numbers: It has products in its Number’s Family where you can configure, buy and search for phone numbers.
- Video: Telnyx video lets you embed real-time media into your mobile apps and web.
- Identity: You can verify, look up, identify the numbers, and get all emergency details.
- Wireless: Connect SIM cards, register for a VPN client, and manage media and documents.
- Storage Beta: This customer engagement platform has S3-compatible APIs for trouble-free migration.
- API limits: If the text is too lengthy, it splits it into two parts, each of them holding 140 bytes.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It has a competitive pricing model. | Has a steep learning curve. |
| You can access large teams on all channels. | Sometimes there are glitches and outages. |
| Its API documentation is intuitive and detailed. |
👉 Why is Telnyx better than Twilio?
Telnyx is better Twilio alternative as it has self-service porting that comes with real-time data validation. This platform doesn’t charge to receive SMS from local numbers, while Twilio charges for sending and receiving messages. You also get 24/7 support without charges with this free Twilio alternative, while the other requires you to pay if you need assistance apart from their business hours.
Key Specs:
Uptime: 99.999% Uptime
Customer support: Phone, ticket, email, chat
Supports: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Pricing: Starts at $0.002 per minute for making outbound calls, and messages start at $0.004 per message.
Free trial: No, but you get a free account and also receive a refund for unused services funds left in your account.
Link: https://telnyx.com/
4) Bandwidth
Bandwidth offers messaging, voice calls, and emergencies and can solve telecom complexities. It is communications software with unlimited flexibility. Bandwidth provides integrations, tools, and enterprise-class APIs for managing communications stack.
Using this platform, you can directly integrate into collaboration apps. Bandwidth lets you launch easily with its scalable API library. You can also unbundle the BYOC (Bring your own Carrier) and telecom, which provides you flexibility. It is available in more than 28 countries as a national operator.
Features
- Delivery: Recieve Real-time receipts of status and get reliable delivery.
- Conferencing: Connect up to 20 people at once in your conference meeting and call.
- Text-to-speech: You can build custom apps with SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) and Text-To-Speech in several languages.
- Call control: It lets you build custom call flows like call forwarding, transfer, recording, tracking, voicemail transcription, etc.
- Interactive voice response: You can use its DTFM (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) detection and media capabilities like text-to-speech, playback audio files, etc.
- Answering machine detection: It helps you build flexibility into your application to connect a call based on who or what answered it.
- Media streaming: You can stream with real-time call audio to your preferred software through its WebSocket.
- SMS API: With this feature, you can embed programmable text messaging into your apps.
- Toll-Free SMS: It gives high-volume messaging with the highest delivery insight.
- Group messaging API: This tool offers group messaging without any additional plug-ins.
- MMS API: Send videos, images, emojis, gifs, audio, etc.
- API limits: It has a default limit of 5 calls per second and allows 100 active sessions.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It has a click-to-call app that removes barriers and helps customers reach you easily. | There are occasional service disruptions. |
| Provides constant webinars for improving processes. | It does not provide 24/7 support service. |
| Offers emergency calling API. |
👉 Why is Bandwidth better than Twilio?
Bandwidth is a better Twilio alternative, as it is much simpler to learn and offers a higher quality of support. Its communication APIs support your future product upgrades without any interference. It also offers competitive pricing and is a Direct-to-Carrier model, which saves almost 50% of the extra cost.
Key Specs:
Uptime: It gives prior notice in any event of planned maintenance downtime.
Customer support: Call, ticket, and note.
Supports: It supports distributions of Linux like, CentOS, OpenSUSE, and Fedora.
Pricing: Starts at $0.010 per minute for domestic outbound and inbound at $0.0055 per minute.
Free trial: Trial account available at request.
Link: https://www.bandwidth.com/
5) Sinch
Sinch is a communications platform that is capable of creating and delivering customized text campaigns that improve your brand’s experience. It also includes chatbots and voice bots for an innovative service. Get unified communications as it provides all the tools in one place with this VoIP software.
This platform also secures your data and prioritizes the customer’s safety. It has over 600 operator connections which let you scale your communication worldwide. Sinch has a 100% reach that allows you to access every mobile phone that can receive texts and calls.
Feature
- Messaging: It lets you message over SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, etc., and supports MMS and RCS.
- Delivery: Sinch offers over 600 direct carriers globally; hence, it has a high delivery rate.
- Voice: You can make calls straight linked to the largest tier 1 network with this communications API provider.
- Toll-free: This helps callers to reach you easily.
- SIP trunking: This SIP trunk provider allows you to call long-distance and toll-free while getting HD quality services.
- Operator connects for Teams: You can enable Microsoft Teams calling with this capability as it has a direct routing to Teams.
- In-App Video Calling: It lets you create a customizable and smooth in-app video experience on the web and your mobile.
- Cloud Connect for Webex calling: You can transform the audio precision of Webex meetings.
- Reduce spam: Mitigate robocalls, increase call answer rates, and build customer trust.
- Fax API: Send and receive faxes in a scale.
- API limits: Its projects are limited to 300 requests per second for all apps and endpoints.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It comes with verifications like Flash Call and Sinch’s unified verification, which makes it cost-effective. | Doesn’t offer a desktop application. |
| Sinch has an easy number porting. | There are issues with SMS delivery at times. |
| Its Number Look-up feature helps you engage customers with the right numbers. |
👉 Why is Sinch better than Twilio?
Sinch is a Twilio competitor that has a complete suite of APIs that are developer friendly for voice, messaging, video, and verification. These are all backed by a global tier-1 highly reliable network with 24/7 support. It offers its users more than 600 local mobile network provides worldwide with smart message routing via carrier-grade structure.
Key Specs:
Uptime: 99.95% uptime
Customer support: Chatbot, community, website form.
Supports: Android, iOS, JavaScript SDK with REST support.
Pricing: SMS services start at $0.0078 and $0.01 per minute mobile calling.
Free trial: 14 days.
FAQ
Best Twilio Alternatives & Competitors
| Name | Contracts | Type | Free Trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plivo | No, pay-as-you-go model | Software | Yes | Learn More |
| RingCentral | No | Software | 30 – Day Money Back | Learn More |
| Telnyx | No | Software | No, but free account. | Learn More |
| Bandwidth | No | Software | Yes | Learn More |
| Sinch | No | Software | Yes | Learn More |
Verdict
Our verdict states Plivo, RingCentral, and Telnyx as the top alternatives. Especially in terms of pricing, you can choose these tools as they have lower rates with more advantages, and Plivo has a pay-as-you-go model. These platforms outperform Twilio in several aspects, like ease of use, pricing, easy setup, and advanced features.