Plivo vs Twilio
Compare Plivo and Twilio 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 Twilio only. Comparison charts will appear once both providers have sufficient data.
| Provider | Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 6 | 15 |
| 100M–500M | 1st of 7 → | 25 | 25 |
From April 17th to July 16th, Knock routed 100M–500M messages through Twilio. Twilio reported 25 status page updates over the last 90 days, while Plivo reported 15.
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.
Twilio has a median response time (p50) of 56ms, a p90 of 120ms, and a p99 of 159ms from April 17th to July 16th. 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% | Apr 17 | 91 | 0 |
Averaged across April 17th to July 16th, Twilio 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 Plivo incidents
Recent status page incidents for Plivo
Ongoing since Jul 17, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Jul 17, 18:30 - 20:30 UTC Jul 16, 11:41 UTC Scheduled - Dear Valued Customer, One of our carrier partners will be performing planned maintenance on their network infrastructure. During the maintenance window, customers may experience intermittent call failures for voice calls terminating to India. When is the maintenance? 17th July 2026 18:30 - 17th July 2026 20:30 UTC 17th July 2026 11:30 - 17th July 2026 13:30 PDT What services will be affected? Voice calls te
Started Jul 16, 2026 — Resolved Jul 16, 2026
Jul 16, 20:30 UTC Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed. Jul 16, 18:30 UTC In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary. Jul 16, 03:15 UTC Scheduled - Dear Valued Customer, One of our carrier partners will be performing planned maintenance on their network infrastructure. During the maintenance window, customers may experience intermittent call failures for voice calls terminating to India. When is the maintenance?
Started Jul 11, 2026 — Resolved Jul 11, 2026
Jul 11, 09:57 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jul 11, 09:32 UTC Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Jul 11, 07:47 UTC Investigating - Dear Valued Customer, We have identified an issue causing failures for outbound MMS messages sent from Toll-Free numbers (US & Canada). The failures are due to a connectivity issue with an upstream carrier partner, and affected messages are failing to be delivered. SMS traffic and MMS sent over other r
Started Jul 2, 2026 — Resolved Jul 2, 2026
Jul 2, 16:29 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jul 2, 13:45 UTC Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Jul 2, 13:40 UTC Investigating - Dear Valued Customer, We are currently experiencing a full outbound call outage. Our team is actively engaged and working to identify the root cause and restore service as quickly as possible. We will share our next update within 30 minutes, or sooner if there is a material change. For urgent concern
Started Jun 30, 2026 — Resolved Jun 30, 2026
Jun 30, 09:45 UTC Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Jun 30, 09:38 UTC Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Jun 30, 08:00 UTC Investigating - Dear Valued Customer, We are observing outbound call failures in the India region. Calls from 9180 caller IDs are impacted. All other services are operating normally. We are working with out carrier partners to restore the service.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plivo | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0077 | $770 |
| Twilio | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0083 | $830 |
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.
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
Plivo
Twilio
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
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
- 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
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 Plivo and Twilio?
Plivo is a cost-effective communications platform with direct carrier connections, a Twilio-compatible API design, and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Twilio is the most widely adopted cloud communications platform, offering SMS, MMS, voice, and WhatsApp through a unified API. Plivo is best suited for cost-effective high-volume sms, while Twilio is geared toward full-featured sms at scale.
Which is cheaper, Plivo or Twilio?
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. 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, Plivo or Twilio?
Based on real-world data from Knock, Twilio has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 56ms. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to make a direct comparison.
Which is more reliable, Plivo or Twilio?
From April 17th to July 16th, Twilio 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.
Which is more popular, Plivo or Twilio?
On the Knock platform, Twilio handled 100M–500M messages from April 17th to July 16th. Twilio volume has remained stable. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to compare popularity.
Can I use both Plivo and Twilio together?
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use Plivo 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 Plivo vs Twilio?
Plivo strengths include among the lowest per-message rates with automatic volume discounts and familiar api design modeled after twilio, making migration straightforward. 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, Plivo drawbacks include narrower feature set with no native support for whatsapp or other messaging channels, 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 Plivo, 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.