MessageBird vs Plivo
Compare MessageBird 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 MessageBird only. Comparison charts will appear once both providers have sufficient data.
| Provider | Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <1M | 7th of 7 → | 4 | 12 |
| — | — | 2 | 7 |
From July 26th to October 23rd, Knock routed <1M messages through MessageBird. MessageBird reported 12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 249ms | 317ms | 340ms | 370ms |
| — | — | — | — |
MessageBird has a median response time (p50) of 249ms, a p90 of 317ms, and a p99 of 370ms from July 26th 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 26 | 82 | 0 |
| — | — | — | — | — |
Averaged across July 26th to October 23rd, MessageBird 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 MessageBird incidents
Recent status page incidents for MessageBird
Started Oct 23, 2026 — Resolved Oct 23, 2026
Oct 23, 16:44 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. All messages have been sent. Oct 23, 16:31 CEST Monitoring - The backlog has caught up. All messages have been sent. We are monitoring to ensure the fix holds. Oct 23, 16:16 CEST Identified - We are currently pushing a fix for an issue we noticed with a some Whatsapp messages not getting sent.
Started Oct 5, 2026 — Resolved Oct 5, 2026
Oct 5, 21:12 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Oct 5, 21:11 CEST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Oct 5, 20:40 CEST Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. Oct 5, 20:18 CEST Investigating - We are currently investigating an increase in 5xx errors and delayed email deliveries. Please note: There is no impact to our Marketing Platform or SparkPost APIs.
Started Oct 4, 2026 — Resolved Oct 4, 2026
Oct 4, 18:13 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Oct 4, 17:41 CEST Monitoring - The situation has improved since 3:30 PM UTC. We are monitoring the services. Oct 4, 17:27 CEST Investigating - Since 2:55 PM UTC, we are experiencing increased latency with our SMS service (API, SMPP, Mail to SMS). We are investigating the issue and will provide an update as soon as we have more information.
Started Sep 26, 2026 — Resolved Sep 26, 2026
Sep 26, 18:17 CEST Resolved - Thank you for your patience. We are seeing a full recovery. No more errors are being returned, and all queues have caught up. Sep 26, 18:11 CEST Monitoring - We are monitoring the systems while they recover. All errors have stopped and all queues are recovering. Sep 26, 18:06 CEST Identified - We have found the cause of the issue cycling the bad instances. Recovery expected soon. Sep 26, 17:59 CEST Investigating - We are investigating an issue with the US
Started Sep 21, 2026 — Resolved Sep 21, 2026
Sep 21, 23:36 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Sep 21, 23:30 CEST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Sep 21, 21:09 CEST Identified - We have identified the issue and are testing a fix. We expect logs to be available again with in an hour. Sep 21, 20:13 CEST Update - The current failure is in log retrieval not flow runs. Flows are running with out impact. Logs are failing to load upon request. Sep 21, 20:12 CEST Update - We are
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MessageBird | Local number | $0.0003 | $31 |
| Plivo | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0077 | $770 |
MessageBird
Bird (formerly MessageBird) publishes per-country rate cards rather than a single headline price. US outbound SMS via local numbers costs $0.00031 per message, with short codes at $0.0009 and toll-free at $0.00147. Carrier surcharges apply on top. International rates vary widely by destination.
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
MessageBird
Plivo
Pros
- Strong global coverage with direct carrier connections in 190+ countries
- Unified API across SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and other channels
- Visual flow builder enables non-technical users to create messaging workflows
- Now part of Bird, offering an expanded platform for customer engagement
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
- Pricing is published as per-country rate cards rather than simple headline rates, making comparison harder
- Rebranding to Bird has caused some confusion in documentation and branding
- Smaller developer community compared to Twilio
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
MessageBird (now Bird) is an omnichannel communications platform with global SMS coverage and a unified messaging API. Plivo is a cost-effective communications platform with direct carrier connections, a Twilio-compatible API design, and a 99.99% uptime SLA. MessageBird is best suited for global omnichannel messaging, while Plivo is geared toward cost-effective high-volume sms.
Bird (formerly MessageBird) publishes per-country rate cards rather than a single headline price. US outbound SMS via local numbers costs $0.00031 per message, with short codes at $0.0009 and toll-free at $0.00147. Carrier surcharges apply on top. International rates vary widely by destination. 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, MessageBird has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 249ms. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to make a direct comparison.
From July 26th to October 23rd, MessageBird 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, MessageBird handled <1M messages from July 26th to October 23rd. MessageBird volume has remained stable. 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 MessageBird and Plivo side by side, route traffic between them, or migrate from one to the other without changing your application code.
MessageBird strengths include strong global coverage with direct carrier connections in 190+ countries and unified api across sms, whatsapp, telegram, and other channels. 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, MessageBird drawbacks include pricing is published as per-country rate cards rather than simple headline rates, making comparison harder, 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 MessageBird, 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.