5 Best Twilio Alternatives for Small Businesses

Twilio is a popular communication platform as a service (CPaaS) provider, however, it lacks collaboration tools, pre-built integrations, and a user-friendly interface. The best Twilio alternatives offer more comprehensive features, such as unified communication services, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and powerful application programming interfaces (APIs) that support widely-used communication channels.

We compared five competitors and evaluated them based on pricing and additional features:

• Telnyx: Best overall Twilio alternative and best budget-friendly option for sending and receiving text messages
• Sinch: Best for companies that want an easy-to-use platform for optimizing mass communications like email marketing campaigns
• Podium: Ideal for teams wanting to manage all customer interactions through text messaging
• Bitrix24: Suitable for companies looking for a feature-rich customer relationship management (CRM) system
• Messagebird: Best provider for businesses wanting to connect with customers through popular social media channels

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Telnyx: Best Overall Twilio Alternative

Telnyx is the best overall Twilio alternative offering a budget-friendly platform for communications over phone, text, fax, and video. If you’re looking to save money for your text marketing campaigns, Telnyx has significantly lower pricing than most CPaaS providers. Sending SMS starts at $0.0025, while receiving SMS is completely free.

Telnyx has a private multi-cloud network for real-time voice and data communications, allowing calls to stay secure and crystal-clear with lower latency levels. This provider also owns its network infrastructure, so it has complete control over routing, quality, and traffic for high-quality calls. For its voice API, Telnyx offers powerful features, such as conference calls, media streaming, answering machine detection (AMD), and agent coaching.

Despite its reliable and feature-rich platform, Telnyx only allows users to connect with customers across voice, SMS, video, and WhatsApp. If you’re looking to support conversations across various communication channels, choose Messagebird. Messagebird features an omnichannel widget, enabling customers to communicate with your team on any messaging service, such as Messenger, LINE, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and WeChat.

Telnyx Pricing at a Glance

• Voice API: $0.002 per minute to make or receive calls
• SMS API: $0.0025 per SMS message
• Fax: $0.007 per page
• WhatsApp Business API: $0.003 per message

Telnyx Features

• Voice API: Use Telnyx’s programmable voice API to manage calls globally and embed voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services into any browser, phone, or mobile app. It offers a host of powerful features, such as conference calls, call recording, and a smart IVR.
• SMS API: Integrate messaging into your applications using Telnyx’s easy-to-use API referral docs. It allows you to trigger SMS alerts to keep customers informed, enhance existing communications with chatbots, and spread message delivery across a group of numbers.
• Number Lookup: Find out the details behind every phone number using the Number Lookup tool. Data gathered will help you format and validate numbers and identify the number type, carrier, and even the owner’s name (for US numbers only).

Sinch: Best Twilio Alternative for Optimizing Email Marketing Campaigns

Sinch is a customer engagement platform that optimizes email marketing campaigns through its integrations with email service providers such as Mailjet and Mailgun. These email platforms ensure quick and easy setup, thanks to their intuitive interfaces, accessible documentation, and visual tools that eliminate the need for coding skills.

Mailjet has a drag-and-drop email builder for creating engaging email marketing campaigns and newsletters. Users have the option to choose from pre-designed email templates or create their own using branded content, photos, or videos. Mailgun offers unmatched deliverability rates to ensure emails are delivered faster to the right recipients.

One downside of Sinch is its limited video API capabilities. It doesn’t offer additional video calling features except to let users embed video calling into their existing applications. Also, users won’t find a detailed pricing guide for all Sinch product offerings. Visit its contact page and fill out a form to request a pricing quote.

ConsiderTelynx if you’re looking for a provider with more transparent pricing and low-cost plans. For advanced video calling capabilities, Messagebird offers a secure video platform, one-click video chatting tool, and built-in video scheduling.

Sinch Pricing at a Glance

Sinch doesn’t publish its pricing on its website. Contact the sales team to get a quote.

Sinch Features

• Verification APIs: Sinch offers multi-factor authentication solutions, enhancing app security and reducing account takeovers and unauthorized payments. It has verification APIs for SMS, phone call, flash call, and data verification.
• Voice API: Build a custom voice flow for your business with Sinch Voice API. It features call management tools such as IVR menus, voice-based IVR, number masking, call recording, and text-to-speech.
• Messaging API: Reach customers on their preferred channel through a single omnichannel API. Whether it’s WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, or Instagram, Sinch streamlines customer interactions and engages customers with personalized conversations.

Podium: Best Twilio Alternative for Managing Customer Interactions via SMS

Podium ranks as our top text messaging service provider for businesses wanting to manage the entire customer journey—from capturing website leads to sending review invitations. This provider uses text messaging to manage interactions, process payments, and improve reputation. It has a modern customer database that lets you search client profiles, organize customers based on attributes, and manage conversation history.

If you’re looking to generate more inbound leads for your marketing campaigns, Podium offers Webchat, a text-based tool that lets you stay connected with customers even after they leave your website. This enables customers to start a conversation through text without being tied down to their computer, while you readily answer questions, set appointments, and close deals from the same inbox.

While Podium offers a text-based solution for managing customer communications, it may not be enough for businesses wanting an all-in-one CRM platform for managing sales, leads, business processes, tasks, and team collaboration. If you’re looking for a robust CRM system that combines automation, project management, and lead generation, Bitrix24 is a good choice.

Podium Pricing at a Glance

• Essentials: $289 per month for three team members, 1,000 contacts, text-based web chat, text marketing, and payment processing
• Standard: $449 per month for unlimited team members, unlimited contacts, app integrations, website reporting and customization, and automated review invitations
• Professional: $649 per month for unlimited team members, unlimited contacts, automation, lead routing, advanced payment options, and multimedia marketing messages

Podium Features

• Reviews: Send customers a review invitation through text. Through Podium’s dashboard, users are able to automate review invites and manage reputation across websites.
• Contacts: Manage conversation history and customer data in one convenient place. Podium brings all your leads into a single platform that supports text, email, and video messaging. This enables you to respond faster, organize customers, and manage all the ways your customers want to reach you.
• Payments: Podium makes payments a powerful part of the customer journey by offering simple, contactless text-to-pay options, allowing you to initiate conversations and collect payments immediately. It enables you to gather more reviews, produce high-quality leads, and centralize customer data.

Bitrix24: Best Twilio Alternative With Robust CRM Tools

Bitrix24 is a feature-rich online workspace that offers extensive tools for team collaboration, project management, and CRM. It is designed to help businesses streamline their marketing, sales, and customer service activities in one convenient platform. Paid plans include essential CRM features such as workflow automation, lead generation, custom sales pipelines, and customer service.

Bitrix24 CRM offers free and unlimited API access to help its clients enhance their cloud solutions or extend the platform’s functionality. Its CRM is easily connected to web services such as telephony services, cloud accounting, email marketing platforms, and data migration services.

While Bitrix24 has plenty of features to offer, many users find its interface overwhelming and difficult to set up. If you want a solution with a user-friendly installation process, we recommend Telnyx, which offers top-tier documentation and 24/7 customer support. It offers a full API reference and tutorials, making it quick and easy to set up.

Bitrix24 Pricing at a Glance

• Free: Free for unlimited users, 5GB of cloud storage, video conferencing, company workspace, and simple visual website builder
• Basic: $39 per month for five users, 24GB of cloud storage, advanced project management, omnichannel contact center, and greater CRM functionality
• Standard: $79 per month for 50 users, 100GB of cloud storage, marketing tools, and document sharing
• Professional: $159 per month for unlimited users, 1,024GB of cloud storage, and full access to CRM functionality, contact center, project management, and automation

*Pricing is based on an annual payment plan with 20% discount. Monthly and quarterly plans are available.

Bitrix24 Features

• Project management: Bitrix24 offers a variety of project management tools for remote team collaboration. Get access to an online time clock, virtual presence indicator, and task planner.
• Websites: Create your business website or landing page with Bitrix24’s visual website and online store builder. It offers hundreds of industry-specific templates and marketing tools to ensure hassle-free website building.
• HR and automation: Manage your team and workflows efficiently with HR automation software. It allows you to monitor employee attendance, collect work reports, and store HR files.

Messagebird: Best Twilio Alternative for Managing Social Media Interactions

Messagebird is a cloud communications platform offering a host of APIs, enabling businesses to communicate with customers through various social media channels. It comes with a unified omnichannel thread that allows you to see all messages across every channel of communication, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and WeChat. This includes activities like appointments, bookings, delivery progress, and order information.

To build better, omnichannel experiences, Messagebird features Flow Builder, a user-friendly visual editor that lets you create a communications workflow without coding. The platform also supports AI capabilities to view suggested replies, identify topics, translate languages, and predict customer sentiments.

On the downside, Messagebird doesn’t have a mobile app. This puts remote teams at a disadvantage if they want to reach customers wherever they are. If you’re looking for an omnichannel platform supporting mobile devices, try Sinch. It is a cloud-based in-app calling platform, allowing you to add voice and video calling to apps using their SDKs for iOS, Android, and JavaScript.

Messagebird Pricing at a Glance

Application

• Free: Live chat, two named inbox seats, access to all channels, and basic flow builder
• Custom: Contact sales for pricing, custom inbox seats, unlimited live chat conversations, custom monthly flow invocations

Channel

• SMS: $0.006 per message
• Voice: $0.015 per minute
• WhatsApp: $0.005 per message
• Numbers: $1 per month

Support Plans

• Coach+: $500 per month for up to eight hours response time
• Business: $2,500 per month for up to four hours response time, additional phone support, technical account manager, and customer success manager
• First Class: $5,000 per month for up to one hour of response time, dedicated conversation channel, and dedicated escalation
• Private: Contact sales for a quote, up to one hour of response time, dedicated conversation channel, dedicated escalation, and dedicated customer success manager

Messagebird Features

• Flow Builder: This automation tool enables you to create more meaningful interactions on the platforms your customers frequently use. It also allows you to create data pipelines across departments, set business hours, create auto-responses, and automate workflows.
• Omnichannel widget: Let customers reach out to your business whether on your website, mobile app, live chat, or messaging service. This provides customers the flexibility to use their preferred channel and choose where to continue the conversation.
• Video scheduling: Messagebird uses an integrated meeting scheduler that allows customers to book a video meeting directly on your team’s agenda. From there, the tool will send appointment reminders via email and text and connect to your major calendars to sync agent availability.

Honorable Mention: RingCentral

As one of the best business phone systems, RingCentral is known for its comprehensive features and reliability. While it isn’t a complete CPaaS solution, it joins our list of the best Twilio alternatives, offering communication channels and APIs for developers. The programmable voice API incorporates voice and phone functionality to let you intelligently route calls, listen to recorded messages, handle voicemail, and customize your app to make and receive calls.

RingCentral offers a full suite of APIs for voice, SMS, team messaging, video, fax, and data configuration. If you want to look deeper into your team’s call performance data, the platform offers analytics APIs that lets you gain a comprehensive understanding of your company’s call handling trends, including abandonment rates, total handle time, and call volumes.

Unfortunately, RingCentral has few omnichannel capabilities to connect customer experiences across platforms. If you’re looking for a CPaaS provider that supports various communication channels, consider Messagebird. Messagebird is an omnichannel communications platform that lets you communicate with customers across popular channels.

RingCentral Pricing at a Glance

• Local Number: Free unlimited calling within the US and Canada
• Toll-free voice: 3.9¢ per minute
• Domestic SMS (U.S): 0.85¢ per message
• Long-code MMS (U.S): 1.3¢ per message
• Toll-free faxing: 3.9¢ per fax

RingCentral Features

• Analytics: Gain real-time insights and access in-depth reports for various call metrics with RingCentral Analytics portal. It supports 30+ pre-built key performance indicators (KPIs) such as average speed of answer, number of refused calls, and number of missed calls.
• Multi-site support: Manage and support your distributed offices based on their unique operational needs. It simplifies workflows by letting you manage users, devices, and phone numbers across all sites directly from your admin portal.
• Call monitoring: This feature enables managers to monitor calls in real time, enter conversations, whisper to employees, or completely take over calls. Hearing how your agents are handling calls is a great source for training and evaluation.

How We Evaluated the Best Twilio Alternative

CPaaS solutions are designed to help businesses deliver a more flexible and customizable communications system. As a CPaaS provider, Twilio is lacking in many essential features like collaboration tools and pre-built integrations. In this case, we considered Twilio competitors that offer more comprehensive omnichannel support, customization, and robust communication tools.

Learn how we evaluated the best Twilio Alternative by clicking on the tabs below:

Bottom Line

The right CPaaS solution allows your business to enhance and integrate real-time communications features and channels on any existing app or website. Instead of buying a complete solution with preconfigured features, a CPaaS provider offers the freedom to develop the tools you need through powerful APIs. This leads to an enriching customer experience by making it easy to reach them on the channels where they like to be reached.

Based on our evaluation, Telnyx is the best overall Twilio alternative with a total score of 4.73 out of 5. This provider offers a cheaper rate for sending text messages, and receiving text messages is completely free, allowing you to support bulk text messaging campaigns. Since it’s also built on a global, private, multi-cloud network, Telnyx ensures consistently reliable call quality and availability.

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