# Twilio vs Plivo

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/twilio-vs-plivo/

Every value below is read from Twilio's and Plivo's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Twilio | Plivo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | Pay as you go per SEGMENT, not per message — a text longer than one segment is billed as several. Carrier fees are added on top of the quoted rate, US A2P 10DLC carries registration onboarding fees, and a message that ends in a failed status still costs $0.001. | Pay as you go, quoted per SMS rather than per segment — the page's only segment footnote is about RCS, and the SMS table says nothing about character limits. Carrier surcharges apply to inbound and outbound usage on top. |
| Outbound SMS, US | $0.0083 per outbound segment sent to a US long code. Inbound is the same rate. The carrier fee is separate and roughly doubles it. | $0.0077 per SMS sent to a US long code or short code, and $0.0079 toll-free. Inbound is the same. Carrier surcharge is separate. |
| Carrier fees on top | Added per message on top of the quoted rate, and published: on a US long code, $0.0035 to AT&T, $0.0045 to T-Mobile, $0.005 to US Cellular and $0.004 to all other carriers. Five separate tables cover long code, toll-free, short code, free-to-end-user short code and RCS. | Published in full on the pricing page itself: on a US long code, $0.0035 to AT&T, $0.0045 to T-Mobile and Verizon, and $0.005 to US Cellular and other networks. Verizon inbound is marked na rather than zero. |
| Phone number, per month | $1.15 a month for a leased US long code, or $0.50 a month to bring your own. A toll-free number is $2.15 leased. | $0.50 a month for a US long code and $1.00 for a toll-free number. A regular short code is $500 a month billed quarterly, on top of a $1,500 one-time fee; a vanity short code is $1,000 a month. |

## Where they differ

### Pricing model

- Twilio: Pay as you go per SEGMENT, not per message — a text longer than one segment is billed as several. Carrier fees are added on top of the quoted rate, US A2P 10DLC carries registration onboarding fees, and a message that ends in a failed status still costs $0.001. ([source](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/us))
- Plivo: Pay as you go, quoted per SMS rather than per segment — the page's only segment footnote is about RCS, and the SMS table says nothing about character limits. Carrier surcharges apply to inbound and outbound usage on top. ([source](https://www.plivo.com/sms/pricing/us/))

### Outbound SMS, US

- Twilio: $0.0083 per outbound segment sent to a US long code. Inbound is the same rate. The carrier fee is separate and roughly doubles it. ([source](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/us))
- Plivo: $0.0077 per SMS sent to a US long code or short code, and $0.0079 toll-free. Inbound is the same. Carrier surcharge is separate. ([source](https://www.plivo.com/sms/pricing/us/))

### Carrier fees on top

- Twilio: Added per message on top of the quoted rate, and published: on a US long code, $0.0035 to AT&T, $0.0045 to T-Mobile, $0.005 to US Cellular and $0.004 to all other carriers. Five separate tables cover long code, toll-free, short code, free-to-end-user short code and RCS. ([source](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/us))
- Plivo: Published in full on the pricing page itself: on a US long code, $0.0035 to AT&T, $0.0045 to T-Mobile and Verizon, and $0.005 to US Cellular and other networks. Verizon inbound is marked na rather than zero. ([source](https://www.plivo.com/sms/pricing/us/))

### Phone number, per month

- Twilio: $1.15 a month for a leased US long code, or $0.50 a month to bring your own. A toll-free number is $2.15 leased. ([source](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/us))
- Plivo: $0.50 a month for a US long code and $1.00 for a toll-free number. A regular short code is $500 a month billed quarterly, on top of a $1,500 one-time fee; a vanity short code is $1,000 a month. ([source](https://www.plivo.com/sms/pricing/us/))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Twilio if The most published detail in a market that publishes little. Its US carrier fees are broken out in five tables by number type, so the real cost of a segment is knowable before you send one — and the failed-message fee and 10DLC onboarding charge are stated rather than discovered on an invoice.

Pick Plivo if The cheapest number and a genuinely cheaper message. $0.50 a month for a US long code against Twilio's $1.15, and $0.0077 a message against $0.0083 — on an identical published carrier surcharge table, so the saving is real rather than an artefact of counting something different.

Consider something else: Twilio — You are price-sensitive at volume. At $0.0083 a segment it is the dearest of the three, and because Plivo publishes an identical carrier table the entire gap is Twilio's own margin rather than a difference in what is counted. Its long code costs $1.15 a month against Plivo's $0.50.

Consider something else: Plivo — You need to know how a long text is billed. The page quotes a flat $0.0077/sms and its only segment footnote is about RCS, so unlike Twilio and Telnyx it never says whether a message past one segment costs once or twice. It states no free tier either.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: Twilio: No
- Kind of free offer: Twilio: Free trial
- Credit card to start: Twilio: No
- Rate limits: Plivo: Message queueing is included with SMS usage rather than sold as an add-on.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Should I choose Twilio or Plivo?**

Pick Twilio if The most published detail in a market that publishes little. Its US carrier fees are broken out in five tables by number type, so the real cost of a segment is knowable before you send one — and the failed-message fee and 10DLC onboarding charge are stated rather than discovered on an invoice.
Pick Plivo if The cheapest number and a genuinely cheaper message. $0.50 a month for a US long code against Twilio's $1.15, and $0.0077 a message against $0.0083 — on an identical published carrier surcharge table, so the saving is real rather than an artefact of counting something different.