If you want a Twilio alternative, compare Telnyx and SMS.to: Telnyx lists US SMS from $0.004 per part against Twilio’s $0.0083 per segment, while SMS.to offers pay-as-you-go international SMS from $0.023 per message over direct routes run by Intergo Telecom, a licensed operator. Twilio still has the broadest product range, so the right choice depends on where your users are, which channels you need and how you want to be billed.
This comparison uses each company’s own pages as of September 2026, linked throughout. US figures are shown because Twilio and Telnyx publish them in full; international rates vary by country on all three, and you can check every destination on SMS.to’s pay-as-you-go SMS pricing list.
How do SMS.to, Twilio and Telnyx compare at a glance?
| SMS.to | Twilio | Telnyx | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay as you go, no contracts, no setup fees, volume discounts | Pay as you go, enterprise discounts via sales | Pay as you go with automatic tier discounts; committed plans from $500/month |
| SMS list price | From $0.023 per SMS, varies by country | US: $0.0083 per segment (long code, toll-free, short code) | US: $0.004 per part (local), $0.0055 (toll-free), $0.007 (short code) |
| US carrier fees | See the US rate on the price list | Listed separately per carrier | Passed through, vary by carrier |
| Messaging channels | SMS, Viber, WhatsApp, RCS, Telegram (Verify and fallback) | SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Facebook Messenger, in-app chat | SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp |
| Voice API | No | Yes | Yes |
| Connectivity | HTTP API and SMPP | REST API | REST API |
| OTP / Verify | Channel fee plus a Verify fee only when the user verifies | $0.05 per successful verification plus channel fees | $0.03 per successful verification plus channel costs |
| Support | Developer support and account management | Free Developer plan with no guaranteed response times; paid plans from the greater of $250 or 4% of monthly spend | 24/7 support, $0 support fee listed |
| Network | Licensed operator with direct connections to MNOs and MVNOs | Messaging to 180+ countries | Carrier licences in 30+ countries, privately owned fibre between PoPs |
How much does each platform charge for SMS?
The headline per-message price is only part of the bill. Here is what each company publishes.
Twilio
Twilio’s US SMS pricing page lists $0.0083 per outbound or inbound segment on long codes, toll-free numbers and short codes, and $0.022 per outbound MMS (published list price as of September 2026). Carrier fees are added per message and listed by carrier: for example $0.0035 to AT&T and $0.0045 to T-Mobile or Verizon for outbound SMS. Messages that end in a “Failed” status carry a $0.001 processing fee.
So 10,000 outbound segments to T-Mobile subscribers from a long code cost $83 in Twilio fees plus $45 in carrier fees. On top of that sit number rental ($1.15 a month for a local number, $2.15 for toll-free, $1,000 a quarter for a random short code) and 10DLC registration: Twilio lists a $44 one-time brand fee for standard registration ($4 for low-volume standard and sole proprietors), a $15 vetting fee per campaign and $1.50 to $10 per campaign per month.
Telnyx
Telnyx’s messaging pricing lists US SMS at $0.004 per part outbound and inbound on local numbers, $0.0055 on toll-free and $0.007 on short codes, with MMS from $0.015 per part (published list price as of September 2026). Carrier fees are passed through and vary by carrier. Numbers are $1.00 a month, there is a $0 platform fee, and automatic tier discounts apply at high volumes.
Telnyx’s 10DLC fee article lists a $4.50 brand registration fee, a $15 campaign review fee and $1.50 to $10 per campaign per month, billed three months up front and then monthly.
SMS.to
SMS.to publishes one rate per destination, from $0.023 per SMS, with a downloadable price list for every country. There are no contracts, no commitments and no setup fees, you get free credits when you sign up, and sales can offer further discounts at high volume. Viber and WhatsApp are priced on request.
To be fair about the comparison: $0.023 is SMS.to’s starting price across all destinations, not a US rate. For US traffic, compare SMS.to’s rate for SMS to the United States against Twilio’s or Telnyx’s total including carrier and 10DLC fees. Where SMS.to tends to be simpler is outside the US, where one per-country rate replaces a stack of separate fees.
What the headline price leaves out
- Segments. A message over 160 GSM-7 characters, or 70 with any Unicode character, is billed as several parts. Check drafts with the SMS length calculator.
- Carrier fees. On Twilio’s US list prices, the T-Mobile carrier fee alone adds more than half again to the per-segment price.
- Registration. 10DLC in the US, and sender ID or template registration in many other countries.
- Numbers. Monthly rental for long codes, toll-free numbers and short codes.
Which platform has better coverage outside the US?
All three reach most of the world, but they get there differently.
Twilio says its messaging reaches 180+ countries, with long codes, toll-free, short codes and alphanumeric sender IDs where supported. Telnyx says it holds carrier licences in 30+ countries and runs a privately owned fibre backbone between its points of presence; its messaging page lists local, national and toll-free numbers in 130+ countries.
SMS.to is operated by Intergo Telecom, a licensed telecom and CPaaS operator, and uses direct connections with mobile network operators and MVNOs. That matters most in emerging markets, where routing quality varies widely and sender ID rules change often. If you send to Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt or Indonesia, each country page sets out the local sender and delivery rules.
From the operator side, weak routes in these markets show up in predictable ways: your alphanumeric sender ID is replaced by a random number, a delivery report says “delivered” when the handset never received the message, or promotional content is silently filtered. Whichever provider you trial, test with your real sender ID and message text, and confirm receipt on real handsets rather than trusting delivery reports alone. An HLR lookup before sending also cuts spend on dead numbers.
Which channels and number types does each support?
| Channel | SMS.to | Twilio | Telnyx |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MMS | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Viber | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| RCS | Yes, via sales | Yes | Yes |
| Telegram | Verify and fallback | Not listed | Not listed |
| Facebook Messenger | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| Voice calls | No | Yes | Yes |
Twilio’s messaging page lists SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Facebook Messenger and in-app chat, and it runs Programmable Voice alongside. Telnyx’s messaging page lists SMS, MMS, RCS and WhatsApp, with voice, SMS, MMS and fax on the same number.
SMS.to focuses on messaging. It adds Viber Business Messages, with up to 1,000 characters, images and a button, and routes to SMS if a contact cannot get Viber. WhatsApp, RCS and Telegram can be added as fallback from the same account. If you need MMS for US campaigns or a voice API, Twilio or Telnyx is the better fit.
On number types, Twilio and Telnyx both list 10DLC, toll-free numbers, short codes and alphanumeric sender IDs. SMS.to supports sender IDs where local rules allow, rents virtual mobile and toll-free numbers for two-way SMS, and offers short codes through your account manager. Our guide to 10DLC vs short code vs toll-free explains how US recipients see each one.
How do their OTP and Verify APIs compare?
Twilio charges $0.05 per successful verification plus channel fees, which in the US means $0.0083 per SMS on top. Telnyx lists $0.03 per successful verification over SMS, voice, flash call or WhatsApp, plus channel costs. Both are published list prices as of September 2026.
SMS.to Verify sends codes over SMS, WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram and falls back automatically if the first channel does not deliver in time. You pay the WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram fee only if it delivers, the SMS fee when it is sent, and the Verify fee only when the user confirms the code. For the full provider picture, see our comparison of the best OTP API providers.
What is the developer experience like?
All three offer REST APIs with public documentation, so the day-to-day difference is in the details. Sending a single SMS with SMS.to is one authenticated POST:
curl -X POST https://api.sms.to/sms/send \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"message": "Your order has shipped.",
"to": "+35799999999",
"sender_id": "SMSto",
"callback_url": "https://example.com/dlr"
}'The callback_url receives the delivery report, so a migration from Twilio or Telnyx is mostly a matter of mapping your recipient, sender and body fields to to, sender_id and message, and pointing your status webhook at the new format. SMS.to also offers SMPP for high-volume senders, designed for 2,000+ messages per second on supported setups. Our post on SMPP vs HTTP API covers when that is worth it.
Support models differ more than APIs do. Twilio’s support plans start with a free Developer plan that has no guaranteed response times; Production costs the greater of $250 or 4% of monthly spend, Business the greater of $1,500 or 6%, and Personalized the greater of $5,000 or 8%. Telnyx lists 24/7 support with a $0 support fee on its pricing pages. SMS.to gives you developer support plus account managers who can advise on sender IDs, routing and throughput for each market.
Which one should you choose?
- Choose Twilio if you want messaging, voice, Facebook Messenger and the widest set of verification methods in one account, and paid support with guaranteed response times.
- Choose Telnyx if most of your traffic is in the US, the lowest per-part list price matters, and you want voice and messaging on the same numbers from a licensed carrier.
- Choose SMS.to if your users are spread across international and emerging markets, you want one simple rate per country, you need Viber, WhatsApp or Telegram fallback for OTP with pay-on-verify billing, or you need SMPP throughput.
Many teams run two providers and route by country or as failover. That is sensible practice for OTP traffic, where a single route outage means users cannot log in.
How SMS.to handles international messaging
The SMS.to SMS API is built and run by a licensed operator: Intergo Telecom runs the routing, the direct operator connections and the compliance guidance behind it. You get delivery receipts by webhook, two-way SMS, opt-out tools, short-link tracking, GDPR-aligned processing and a DPA on request, plus guidance on sender ID registration in each market, including 10DLC in the US.
Pricing stays pay as you go per destination, and you can check every country on the SMS.to price list before you commit a single message.
FAQs
Is SMS.to a good Twilio alternative?
Yes, if your traffic is mainly SMS and chat apps across international markets. SMS.to offers pay-as-you-go per-country pricing from $0.023 per SMS, direct routes from a licensed operator, and multichannel Verify. It does not offer voice or MMS.
Is Telnyx cheaper than Twilio for US SMS?
On published list prices as of September 2026, yes per part: $0.004 on a Telnyx local number against $0.0083 per segment on Twilio. Both add carrier fees and 10DLC registration fees, so compare the full cost.
Do carrier fees apply on top of the SMS price in the US?
On Twilio and Telnyx, yes. Both list carrier fees separately from their own per-message price, and the fee depends on the recipient’s carrier and your number type.
Can I move from Twilio to SMS.to without rewriting my app?
Mostly. You change the endpoint and auth header, map your recipient, sender and body fields to SMS.to’s to, sender_id and message, and update your delivery-report webhook handler.
Does SMS.to support 10DLC in the US?
Yes. US A2P traffic on long codes requires 10DLC registration, and SMS.to guides you through the setup for your use case before you send.
Want a rate card for your destinations or help planning a migration from Twilio or Telnyx? Talk to our sales team and we will price your traffic country by country.
