Africa's Talking vs Plivo
Compare Africa's Talking and Plivo based on observed SMS API performance, features, and pricing
Live performance comparison
Real-world performance data from messages sent through Knock
We don't have enough message volume through Knock for Plivo to publish statistically meaningful benchmarks yet. The data below reflects Africa's Talking only. Comparison charts will appear once both providers have sufficient data.
| Provider | Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <1M | 5th of 7 ↓ | 0 | 0 |
| — | — | 2 | 7 |
From July 25th to October 23rd, Knock routed <1M messages through Africa's Talking. Africa's Talking reported 0 status page updates over the last 90 days, while Plivo reported 7.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 321ms | 363ms | 465ms | 847ms |
| — | — | — | — |
Africa's Talking has a median response time (p50) of 321ms, a p90 of 363ms, and a p99 of 847ms from July 25th to October 23rd. Comparison charts for Plivo will appear once enough data is available.
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% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00% | 0.00% | Jul 25 | 91 | 0 |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Averaged across July 25th to October 23rd, Africa's Talking shows a 0.00% daily error rate. Comparison data for Plivo will appear once enough message volume is available. Knock automatically retries failed requests to minimize 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 Plivo incidents
Recent status page incidents for Plivo
Started Oct 23, 2026 — Resolved Oct 23, 2026
Oct 23, 21:30 UTC Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed. Oct 23, 19:30 UTC In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary. Oct 22, 14:03 UTC Scheduled - Dear Valued Customer, We will perform planned maintenance on our Plivo CX database to improve the overall availability of our database engines. During that time Plivo customers may find intermittent issues on console and flow runs. When is the maintenance? 23rd Oct
Started Oct 10, 2026 — Resolved Oct 10, 2026
Oct 10, 08:34 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Oct 10, 08:25 UTC Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Oct 10, 08:25 UTC Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. Oct 10, 08:09 UTC Investigating - Dear Valued Customers, We are currently observing intermittent call failures affecting outbound calls to India. Our team is actively working with our carrier partner to identify the root cause and restore s
Started Sep 11, 2026 — Resolved Sep 11, 2026
Sep 11, 06:35 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved Sep 11, 06:27 UTC Monitoring - carrier partner fixed the issue and we are monitoring the results. Sep 11, 06:02 UTC Identified - Dear Valued Customers, We are currently observing intermittent call failures affecting both inbound and outbound calls to India. Our team is actively working with our carrier partner to identify the root cause and restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide our next update within the nex
Started Aug 25, 2026 — Resolved Aug 25, 2026
Aug 25, 14:16 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Aug 25, 07:41 UTC Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Aug 25, 07:25 UTC Identified - Dear Valued Customers, We are currently observing an intermittent issue where a subset of voice calls are not triggering status callbacks, including ringing, hangup, and call-status webhook events. Call processing itself is unaffected, and calls are connecting and completing normally. We have identified
Started Aug 14, 2026 — Resolved Aug 14, 2026
Aug 14, 00:30 UTC Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed. Aug 13, 22:30 UTC In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary. Aug 5, 05:57 UTC Scheduled - Dear Valued Customer, We will be performing planned maintenance on our carrier layer to improve the overall reliability and resilience of our network infrastructure. Maintenance Window 2026-08-13 22:30 UTC to 2026-08-14 00:30 UTC 2026-08 14 04:00 IST to 2026-08-14 06
Pricing comparison
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa's Talking | Pay-as-you-go | $0.03 | $2,960 |
| Plivo | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0077 | $770 |
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.
Plivo
Pay-as-you-go with no minimums or monthly fees. US outbound SMS costs $0.0077 per message. Inbound messages are $0.0055 each. Volume discounts available for high monthly usage. Carrier surcharges apply on top of the base rate.
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 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | $0.0045 | $0.0025 | |
| AT&T | $0.003 | $0.003 | |
| Verizon | $0.004 | $0.00 | Increased May 1, 2026 |
| US Cellular | $0.005 | $0.00 | Increased Jan 19, 2026 |
Pros and cons
Africa's Talking
Plivo
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 rates with automatic volume discounts
- Familiar API design modeled after Twilio, making migration straightforward
- 99.99% uptime SLA with direct carrier connections to 190+ countries
- Free inbound messages and no monthly minimums or base fees
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
- Narrower feature set with no native support for WhatsApp or other messaging channels
- Smaller community and fewer third-party tutorials compared to Twilio
- Web dashboard is functional but not polished for managing large number inventories
Frequently asked questions
Africa's Talking is a Pan-African communications platform with deep carrier integrations across the continent. Plivo is a cost-effective communications platform with direct carrier connections, a Twilio-compatible API design, and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Africa's Talking is best suited for africa-focused messaging, while Plivo is geared toward cost-effective high-volume sms.
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. Pay-as-you-go with no minimums or monthly fees. US outbound SMS costs $0.0077 per message. Inbound messages are $0.0055 each. Volume discounts available for high monthly usage. Carrier surcharges apply on top of the base rate. The best value depends on your sending volume and destination countries.
Based on real-world data from Knock, Africa's Talking has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 321ms. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to make a direct comparison.
From July 25th to October 23rd, Africa's Talking showed an error rate of 0.00%. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to compare reliability directly. Knock automatically retries failed requests to minimize the impact of transient errors.
On the Knock platform, Africa's Talking handled <1M messages from July 25th to October 23rd. Africa's Talking is currently seeing declining volume. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to compare popularity.
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use Africa's Talking and Plivo side by side, route traffic between them, or migrate from one to the other without changing your application code.
Africa's Talking strengths include best-in-class coverage across african countries with local carrier relationships and competitive per-message pricing for african destinations. Plivo strengths include among the lowest per-message rates with automatic volume discounts and familiar api design modeled after twilio, making migration straightforward. On the other hand, Africa's Talking drawbacks include limited coverage outside of africa, while Plivo drawbacks include narrower feature set with no native support for whatsapp or other messaging channels.
Use either provider with Knock
Knock enables you to integrate Africa's Talking, Plivo, or any combination of SMS providers into a single notification workflow. Manage templates, orchestrate cross-channel delivery, and switch providers without changing your code.