Africa's Talking vs Twilio
Compare Africa's Talking and Twilio 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 |
 | 100M–500M | 1st of 7 → | 25 | 25 |
From January 2nd to April 2nd, Knock routed <1M messages through Africa's Talking and 100M–500M through Twilio. Africa's Talking reported 0 status page updates over the last 90 days, while Twilio reported 25.
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 |
| 74ms | 107ms | 116ms | 139ms |
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 74ms for Twilio. Africa's Talking's highest daily p50 was 347ms; Twilio's was 79ms. Twilio is 246ms 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 107ms for Twilio. The highest daily p90 was 20317ms for Africa's Talking and 117ms for Twilio. Twilio handles these slower requests 254ms 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 Twilio reached 139ms. The highest daily p99 was 31903ms for Africa's Talking and 192ms for Twilio, indicating the worst-case response time during spikes or provider-side congestion. Twilio 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 Twilio. The highest single-day error rate was 20.37% for Africa's Talking and 0.00% for Twilio. Twilio 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 Twilio incidents
Recent status page incidents for Twilio
Ongoing since Apr 30, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 29, 20:00 PDT - Apr 30, 00:00 PDTMar 12, 00:34 PDT Scheduled - Twilio is conducting a planned maintenance from 29 April 2026 at 20:00 PDT until 30 April 2026 at 00:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays or failures delivering SMS to and from United States and Canada handsets when sending via long codes, short codes and toll free numbers.
Ongoing since Apr 29, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 29, 13:00 - 17:00 PDTMar 31, 07:43 PDT Scheduled - The Tele2 network in Russia is conducting a planned maintenance from 29 April 2026 at 13:00 PDT until 29 April 2026 at 17:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to Tele2 Russia handsets.
Ongoing since Apr 27, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 27, 13:00 - 17:00 PDTMar 31, 07:42 PDT Scheduled - The Tele2 network in Russia is conducting a planned maintenance from 27 April 2026 at 13:00 PDT until 27 April 2026 at 17:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to Tele2 Russia handsets.
Ongoing since Apr 23, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 22, 20:00 PDT - Apr 23, 00:00 PDTMar 12, 00:33 PDT Scheduled - Twilio is conducting a planned maintenance from 22 April 2026 at 20:00 PDT until 23 April 2026 at 00:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays or failures delivering SMS to and from United States and Canada handsets when sending via long codes, short codes and toll free numbers.
Ongoing since Apr 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 22, 13:00 - 17:00 PDTMar 31, 07:42 PDT Scheduled - The Tele2 network in Russia is conducting a planned maintenance from 22 April 2026 at 13:00 PDT until 22 April 2026 at 17:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to Tele2 Russia handsets.
Pricing comparison
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa's Talking | Pay-as-you-go | $0.03 | $2,960 |
| Twilio | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0083 | $830 |
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.
Twilio
Outbound SMS to US numbers costs $0.0083 per message. Inbound messages are $0.0075 each. Phone numbers start at $1.15/month for local numbers. Carrier surcharges of ~$0.003–$0.005 per message 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 |
|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | $0.0045 | $0.0025 |
| AT&T | $0.003 | $0.003 |
| Verizon | $0.004 | $0.00 |
| US Cellular | $0.005 | $0.00 |
Pros and cons
Africa's Talking
Twilio
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
- Largest ecosystem of SDKs, tutorials, and community resources for SMS
- Trusted by Airbnb, Uber, and Netflix for mission-critical messaging
- Comprehensive compliance tooling with opt-out management and content filtering
- Supports SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, and voice in a single platform
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
- Per-message pricing can add up at high volumes without committed-use discounts
- Phone number provisioning and compliance setup can be complex for new users
- Support response times vary by plan tier
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Africa's Talking and Twilio?
Africa's Talking is a Pan-African communications platform with deep carrier integrations across the continent. Twilio is the most widely adopted cloud communications platform, offering SMS, MMS, voice, and WhatsApp through a unified API. Africa's Talking is best suited for africa-focused messaging, while Twilio is geared toward full-featured sms at scale.
Which is cheaper, Africa's Talking or Twilio?
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. Outbound SMS to US numbers costs $0.0083 per message. Inbound messages are $0.0075 each. Phone numbers start at $1.15/month for local numbers. Carrier surcharges of ~$0.003–$0.005 per message apply on top of the base rate. The best value depends on your sending volume and destination countries.
Which is faster, Africa's Talking or Twilio?
Based on real-world data from Knock, Africa's Talking has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 320ms compared to 74ms for Twilio.
Which is more reliable, Africa's Talking or Twilio?
From January 2nd to April 2nd, Africa's Talking showed an error rate of 0.16% while Twilio 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 Twilio?
On the Knock platform, Africa's Talking handled <1M messages from January 2nd to April 2nd compared to 100M–500M for Twilio. Africa's Talking is currently seeing declining volume, while Twilio volume has remained stable.
Can I use both Africa's Talking and Twilio together?
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use Africa's Talking and Twilio 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 Twilio?
Africa's Talking strengths include best-in-class coverage across african countries with local carrier relationships and competitive per-message pricing for african destinations. Twilio strengths include largest ecosystem of sdks, tutorials, and community resources for sms and trusted by airbnb, uber, and netflix for mission-critical messaging. On the other hand, Africa's Talking drawbacks include limited coverage outside of africa, while Twilio drawbacks include per-message pricing can add up at high volumes without committed-use discounts.
Use either provider with Knock
Knock enables you to integrate Africa's Talking, Twilio, or any combination of SMS providers into a single notification workflow. Manage templates, orchestrate cross-channel delivery, and switch providers without changing your code.