MessageBird vs Twilio
Compare MessageBird 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 | 7th of 7 ↓ | 2 | 11 |
| 100M–500M | 1st of 7 → | 25 | 25 |
From April 19th to July 16th, Knock routed <1M messages through MessageBird and 100M–500M through Twilio. MessageBird reported 11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 333ms | 438ms | 464ms | 554ms |
| 56ms | 120ms | 130ms | 159ms |
The chart above shows each provider's daily median response time (p50) from April 19th to July 16th. The top-line number is an average of these daily values: MessageBird averaged 333ms compared to 56ms for Twilio. MessageBird's highest daily p50 was 519ms; Twilio's was 76ms. Twilio is 277ms 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, MessageBird has a p90 of 438ms compared to 120ms for Twilio. The highest daily p90 was 649ms for MessageBird and 126ms for Twilio. Twilio handles these slower requests 318ms 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, MessageBird reached 554ms at p99 while Twilio reached 159ms. The highest daily p99 was 4875ms for MessageBird and 252ms 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% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00% | 0.00% | Apr 19 | 80 | 0 |
| 0.00% | 0.00% | Apr 17 | 91 | 0 |
Averaged across the date range, MessageBird shows a 0.00% daily error rate compared to 0.00% for Twilio. The highest single-day error rate was 0.00% for MessageBird and 0.00% for Twilio. Both providers show similar reliability levels, with error rates well within acceptable thresholds. 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 MessageBird incidents
Recent status page incidents for MessageBird
Started Jul 8, 2026 — Resolved Jul 8, 2026
Jul 9, 00:28 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jul 9, 00:10 CEST Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented. Jul 8, 22:12 CEST Investigating - We are observing delays in processing of Message & Contact Objects. We are actively investigating the issue The impact is limited to Customers in Bird Box platform, hosted in the us-west-1 region.
Started Jul 5, 2026 — Resolved Jul 5, 2026
Jul 5, 18:12 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jul 5, 18:07 CEST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Jul 5, 17:50 CEST Investigating - We are seeing a spike in errors in the Journeys logs right now. We are investigating the issue.
Started Jun 12, 2026 — Resolved Jun 12, 2026
Jun 12, 20:22 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jun 12, 17:05 CEST Identified - We are continuing to monitor increased WhatsApp message delivery failures caused by ongoing disruptions in Meta’s services, as confirmed by Meta. Jun 12, 16:10 CEST Investigating - We are investigating increased WhatsApp message delivery failures caused by connectivity issues with Meta services. Customers may experience delays or failures when sending WhatsApp messages. Our team is actively mon
Started Jun 4, 2026 — Resolved Jun 4, 2026
Jun 4, 14:02 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jun 4, 13:13 CEST Investigating - Flows and Journeys are unable to retrieve the Message Body property for Conversation Messages. We are investigating the issue.
Started Jun 4, 2026 — Resolved Jun 4, 2026
Jun 4, 13:42 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jun 4, 11:57 CEST Monitoring - Between 9:30 AM and 9:34 AM UTC, there has been an intermittent increase in delivery latency for messages sent. The issue has been resolved. We are monitoring the situation.
Recent Twilio incidents
Recent status page incidents for Twilio
Ongoing since Aug 27, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 26, 20:00 PDT - Aug 27, 00:00 PDT Jul 6, 19:26 PDT Scheduled - Twilio is conducting a planned maintenance from 26 August 2026 at 20:00 PDT until 27 August 2026 at 00:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays or failures delivering SMS and MMS to United States and Canada handsets when sending via subset of long codes and short codes.
Ongoing since Aug 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 22, 14:00 - 21:00 PDT Jul 14, 19:15 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will conduct planned infrastructure maintenance on the London (IE1) PoP from August 22, 2026, at 14:00 PDT until August 22, 2026, at 21:00 PDT. Overall service impact is expected to be minimal; however, Authentication Services (Verify and/or Lookup) through the IE1/London edge location may experience a brief interruption or intermittent impact of up to 90 seconds during traffic reconvergence. Customers w
Ongoing since Aug 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 22, 14:00 - 21:00 PDT Jul 14, 19:09 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will conduct planned infrastructure maintenance on the London (IE1) PoP from August 22, 2026, at 14:00 PDT until August 22, 2026, at 21:00 PDT. Overall service impact is expected to be minimal; however, Interconnect Services through the IE1/London edge location may experience a brief interruption or intermittent impact of up to 90 seconds during traffic reconvergence. Customers with redundant connections
Ongoing since Aug 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 22, 14:00 - 21:00 PDT Jul 14, 05:43 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will conduct infrastructure maintenance on the London (IE1) PoP from August 22, 2026, at 14:00 PDT until August 22, 2026, at 21:00 PDT. Overall service impact is expected to be minimal. However, there could be intermittent message delivery failures and delivery delays of up to 90 seconds during traffic reconvergence for traffic routing to and from Twilio’s IE1/London edge location. Customers with redunda
Ongoing since Aug 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 22, 14:00 - 21:00 PDT Jul 14, 05:38 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will conduct planned infrastructure maintenance on the London (IE1) PoP from August 22, 2026, at 14:00 PDT until August 22, 2026, at 21:00 PDT. Overall service impact is expected to be minimal; however, Voice traffic routing through the IE1/London edge location may experience a brief interruption or intermittent impact of up to 90 seconds during traffic reconvergence. Customers with redundant connections
Pricing comparison
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| MessageBird | Local number | $0.0003 | $31 |
| Twilio | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0083 | $830 |
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.
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
MessageBird
Twilio
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
- 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
- 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
- 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 MessageBird and Twilio?
MessageBird (now Bird) is an omnichannel communications platform with global SMS coverage and a unified messaging API. Twilio is the most widely adopted cloud communications platform, offering SMS, MMS, voice, and WhatsApp through a unified API. MessageBird is best suited for global omnichannel messaging, while Twilio is geared toward full-featured sms at scale.
Which is cheaper, MessageBird or Twilio?
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. 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, MessageBird or Twilio?
Based on real-world data from Knock, MessageBird has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 333ms compared to 56ms for Twilio.
Which is more reliable, MessageBird or Twilio?
From April 19th to July 16th, MessageBird showed an error rate of 0.00% 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, MessageBird or Twilio?
On the Knock platform, MessageBird handled <1M messages from April 19th to July 16th compared to 100M–500M for Twilio. MessageBird is currently seeing declining volume, while Twilio volume has remained stable.
Can I use both MessageBird and Twilio together?
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use MessageBird 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 MessageBird vs Twilio?
MessageBird strengths include strong global coverage with direct carrier connections in 190+ countries and unified api across sms, whatsapp, telegram, and other channels. 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, MessageBird drawbacks include pricing is published as per-country rate cards rather than simple headline rates, making comparison harder, 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 MessageBird, 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.