Africa's Talking vs Amazon SNS
Compare Africa's Talking and Amazon SNS based on observed SMS API performance, features, and pricing
Live performance comparison
Real-world performance data from messages sent through Knock
| Provider | Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | <1M | 6th of 7 ↓ | 0 | 0 |
 | 25M–100M | 2nd of 7 → | 0 | 0 |
From January 2nd to April 2nd, Knock routed <1M messages through Africa's Talking and 25M–100M through Amazon SNS. Africa's Talking reported 0 status page updates over the last 90 days, while Amazon SNS reported 0.
Response time
Response time measures how long each provider takes to accept an SMS API request from Knock, including connection overhead and any automatic retries. Lower values mean faster message hand-off.
| Provider | Median (p50) | p90 | p95 | p99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 320ms | 361ms | 396ms | 528ms |
| 77ms | 378ms | 778ms | 794ms |
The chart above shows each provider's daily median response time (p50) from January 2nd to April 2nd. The top-line number is an average of these daily values: Africa's Talking averaged 320ms compared to 77ms for Amazon SNS. Africa's Talking's highest daily p50 was 347ms; Amazon SNS's was 81ms. Amazon SNS is 243ms faster at the median, which can add up at high volumes.
The 90th percentile (p90) captures the slowest 10% of requests, revealing how each provider handles moderate stress. Averaged across all days, Africa's Talking has a p90 of 361ms compared to 378ms for Amazon SNS. The highest daily p90 was 20317ms for Africa's Talking and 772ms for Amazon SNS. Africa's Talking handles these slower requests 17ms faster, suggesting more consistent performance across the board.
The 99th percentile (p99) represents the long tail — the slowest 1% of requests. Averaged across all days, Africa's Talking reached 528ms at p99 while Amazon SNS reached 794ms. The highest daily p99 was 31903ms for Africa's Talking and 865ms for Amazon SNS, indicating the worst-case response time during spikes or provider-side congestion. Africa's Talking shows a tighter tail, which may matter for time-sensitive SMS notifications like one-time passwords or real-time alerts where even rare delays can impact user experience.
Error rate
Error rate tracks the ratio of 5xx responses and timeouts to total SMS API requests. Knock automatically retries failed requests, so transient provider errors rarely affect end-user delivery.
| Provider | Avg. daily error rate | Highest daily rate | Peak error date | Zero-error days | Days above 0.01% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.16% | 20.37% | Jan 14 | 89 | 2 |
| 0.00% | 0.00% | Jan 2 | 91 | 0 |
Averaged across the date range, Africa's Talking shows a 0.16% daily error rate compared to 0.00% for Amazon SNS. The highest single-day error rate was 20.37% for Africa's Talking and 0.00% for Amazon SNS. Amazon SNS demonstrates a lower error rate, indicating slightly more consistent availability during this period. Knock automatically retries failed requests to both providers, minimizing the impact of transient errors on end-user delivery.
About these metrics: Data represents messages sent through Knock during the specified period. Response time measures time from Knock to provider acceptance. Error rate includes only provider 5xx responses and timeouts.
Recent Africa's Talking incidents
Recent status page incidents for Africa's Talking
No incidents reported in the last 90 days
Recent Amazon SNS incidents
Recent status page incidents for Amazon SNS
No incidents reported in the last 90 days
Pricing comparison
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa's Talking | Pay-as-you-go | $0.03 | $2,960 |
| Amazon SNS | Pay-as-you-go | $0.007 | $700 |
Africa's Talking
Free sandbox for testing. Production SMS pricing varies by country. US outbound messages cost approximately $0.0296 per message. African destinations range from $0.001 to $0.05 per message depending on the country.
Amazon SNS
US outbound SMS costs $0.007 per message. Origination numbers are billed separately. Amazon SNS charges a flat $0.00302 carrier fee per message, regardless of destination carrier.
US carrier surcharges
All US A2P SMS sent via 10DLC incurs mandatory carrier fees on top of the provider base rate. Most providers pass these through at cost.
| Carrier | Outbound SMS | Inbound SMS |
|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | $0.0045 | $0.0025 |
| AT&T | $0.003 | $0.003 |
| Verizon | $0.004 | $0.00 |
| US Cellular | $0.005 | $0.00 |
Amazon SNS flat carrier fee. Amazon SNS charges a flat $0.00302 carrier fee per message, regardless of destination carrier. This makes costs more predictable compared to providers that pass through variable per-carrier fees.
Pros and cons
Africa's Talking
Amazon SNS
Pros
- Best-in-class coverage across African countries with local carrier relationships
- Competitive per-message pricing for African destinations
- Free sandbox environment for development and testing
- Supports USSD, voice, and airtime in addition to SMS
Pros
- Among the lowest per-message costs for US domestic SMS
- Deep integration with the AWS ecosystem and IAM permissions
- Reliable infrastructure backed by Amazon's global network
- Supports 200+ countries and regions
Cons
- Limited coverage outside of Africa
- Smaller developer ecosystem and fewer SDKs than global providers
- US messaging rates are higher than domestic-focused providers
Cons
- New accounts are sandboxed and require a support request to go to production
- SMS features are a subset of the broader SNS pub/sub service, which can be confusing
- Limited built-in analytics compared to dedicated SMS platforms
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Africa's Talking and Amazon SNS?
Africa's Talking is a Pan-African communications platform with deep carrier integrations across the continent. Amazon SNS is a cost-effective SMS service built on AWS infrastructure, ideal for applications already in the AWS ecosystem. Africa's Talking is best suited for africa-focused messaging, while Amazon SNS is geared toward aws-native applications.
Which is cheaper, Africa's Talking or Amazon SNS?
Free sandbox for testing. Production SMS pricing varies by country. US outbound messages cost approximately $0.0296 per message. African destinations range from $0.001 to $0.05 per message depending on the country. US outbound SMS costs $0.007 per message. Origination numbers are billed separately. Amazon SNS charges a flat $0.00302 carrier fee per message, regardless of destination carrier. The best value depends on your sending volume and destination countries.
Which is faster, Africa's Talking or Amazon SNS?
Based on real-world data from Knock, Africa's Talking has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 320ms compared to 77ms for Amazon SNS.
Which is more reliable, Africa's Talking or Amazon SNS?
From January 2nd to April 2nd, Africa's Talking showed an error rate of 0.16% while Amazon SNS showed 0.00%. Both rates are within acceptable thresholds for production SMS delivery, and Knock automatically retries failed requests to minimize the impact of transient errors.
Which is more popular, Africa's Talking or Amazon SNS?
On the Knock platform, Africa's Talking handled <1M messages from January 2nd to April 2nd compared to 25M–100M for Amazon SNS. Africa's Talking is currently seeing declining volume, while Amazon SNS volume has remained stable.
Can I use both Africa's Talking and Amazon SNS together?
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use Africa's Talking and Amazon SNS side by side, route traffic between them, or migrate from one to the other without changing your application code.
What are the main pros and cons of Africa's Talking vs Amazon SNS?
Africa's Talking strengths include best-in-class coverage across african countries with local carrier relationships and competitive per-message pricing for african destinations. Amazon SNS strengths include among the lowest per-message costs for us domestic sms and deep integration with the aws ecosystem and iam permissions. On the other hand, Africa's Talking drawbacks include limited coverage outside of africa, while Amazon SNS drawbacks include new accounts are sandboxed and require a support request to go to production.
Use either provider with Knock
Knock enables you to integrate Africa's Talking, Amazon SNS, or any combination of SMS providers into a single notification workflow. Manage templates, orchestrate cross-channel delivery, and switch providers without changing your code.