# Plivo

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/sms/plivo/

A messaging API quoting a flat per-SMS rate, with the US carrier surcharge table published on the same page rather than behind a link.

## Who it suits

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 if 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.

## iScore

62 / 100 (80% interval 59–66), rank 3 of 3 in sms.

inetGeek's own reading, computed from sourced facts against category peers by disclosed rules. Not a provider claim. Intervals are 80%; a provider with few documented facts is pulled toward the category middle rather than scored on what little is known.
Method: https://inetgeek.com/iscore/. Full output with every criterion's basis: https://inetgeek.com/scores.json. Every sms peer ranked: https://inetgeek.com/sms/plivo/alternatives/

- Price: 59 (53–65), weight 50%, 1 of 4 criteria scored; scored for peers, not here — undocumented or stated without a number or a yes/limited/no: free_card_required, free_offer_type, free_tier
- Trust and compliance: 50 (44–56), weight 30%, 0 of 1 criteria scored; scored for peers, not here — undocumented or stated without a number or a yes/limited/no: hipaa_eligible
- Evidence: 89 (89–89), weight 20%, 4 of 4 criteria scored

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Pricing model: 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/), read 2026-09-15)

### Inference

- Rate limits: Message queueing is included with SMS usage rather than sold as an add-on. ([source](https://www.plivo.com/sms/pricing/us/), read 2026-09-15)

### Messaging

- Outbound SMS, US: $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/), read 2026-09-15)
- Carrier fees on top: 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/), read 2026-09-15)
- Phone number, per month: $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/), read 2026-09-15)

## Compared with

- [Plivo vs Twilio](https://inetgeek.com/compare/twilio-vs-plivo/)
- [Plivo vs Telnyx](https://inetgeek.com/compare/telnyx-vs-plivo/)