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 → | 4 | 9 |
| 25M–100M | 1st of 7 → | 25 | 25 |
From June 19th to September 16th, Knock routed <1M messages through MessageBird and 25M–100M through Twilio. MessageBird reported 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 258ms | 329ms | 346ms | 374ms |
| 114ms | 137ms | 147ms | 175ms |
The chart above shows each provider's daily median response time (p50) from June 19th to September 16th. The top-line number is an average of these daily values: MessageBird averaged 258ms compared to 114ms for Twilio. MessageBird's highest daily p50 was 353ms; Twilio's was 123ms. Twilio is 144ms 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 329ms compared to 137ms for Twilio. The highest daily p90 was 376ms for MessageBird and 151ms for Twilio. Twilio handles these slower requests 192ms 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 374ms at p99 while Twilio reached 175ms. The highest daily p99 was 502ms for MessageBird and 271ms 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% | Jun 19 | 79 | 0 |
| 0.00% | 0.31% | Sep 1 | 90 | 1 |
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 0.31% 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 Sep 17, 2026 — Resolved Sep 17, 2026
Sep 17, 19:44 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Sep 17, 18:46 CEST Update - We are continuing to monitor for any further issues. Sep 17, 18:46 CEST Monitoring - A fix has been implemented and we are monitoring the results. Sep 17, 18:22 CEST Investigating - We are investigating elevated error rates and increased latency for API requests in our US region, beginning approximately 15:31 UTC. Write operations are the most affected and may return errors or time out. Voice ca
Started Sep 16, 2026 — Resolved Sep 16, 2026
Sep 16, 13:43 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Sep 13, 17:08 CEST Update - We are working with the carrier to investigate and analyze this issue. We are observing this issue on some inbound calls to certain UK numbers. Sep 11, 13:38 CEST Investigating - We are currently investigating the issue with calls to UK numbers resulting in one-way audio
Started Sep 10, 2026 — Resolved Sep 10, 2026
Sep 10, 12:27 CEST Resolved - Between 9:48 and 9:57 UTC, some SMS messages were not processed as expected for the Engagement Platform. The issue has been resolved, and normal SMS processing has resumed.
Started Aug 19, 2026 — Resolved Aug 19, 2026
Aug 20, 00:23 CEST Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed. Aug 19, 22:00 CEST In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary. Aug 19, 15:53 CEST Scheduled - We will perform an unexpected maintenance in order to assure continuity of our services. During the time window short delays and intermittent unavailability may occur. This maintenance doesn't impact SMS or Voice services.
Started Aug 13, 2026 — Resolved Aug 13, 2026
Aug 14, 00:17 CEST Resolved - This incident has been resolved. Aug 13, 19:21 CEST Update - We are seeing stabilization of Inbox availability. Users should now be able to access conversations. We are continuing to monitor closely to confirm the issue is fully resolved before closing this incident. We will provide a further update within 60 minutes. Aug 13, 19:10 CEST Monitoring - We have confirmed that our hosting provider is currently experiencing capacity issues which are affecting the a
Recent Twilio incidents
Recent status page incidents for Twilio
Ongoing since Oct 29, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Oct 28, 20:00 PDT - Oct 29, 00:00 PDT Sep 4, 00:24 PDT Scheduled - Twilio is conducting a planned maintenance from 28 October 2026 at 20:00 PDT until 29 October 2026 at 00:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays or failures delivering SMS and MMS to and from United States and Canada handsets when sending via long codes, short codes and toll free numbers.
Ongoing since Oct 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Oct 21, 22:00 - 23:30 PDT Sep 15, 15:09 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will conduct infrastructure maintenance on the San Jose (US2) PoP on October 21, 2026, from 10:00pm PDT until 11:30pm PDT. Overall service impact is expected to be minimal. However, there could be intermittent message delivery failures and delivery delays during traffic re-convergence for traffic routing to and from Twilio’s US2/San Jose edge location.
Ongoing since Oct 22, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Oct 21, 20:00 PDT - Oct 22, 00:00 PDT Sep 4, 00:24 PDT Scheduled - Twilio is conducting a planned maintenance from 21 October 2026 at 20:00 PDT until 22 October 2026 at 00:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays or failures delivering SMS and MMS to and from United States and Canada handsets when sending via long codes, short codes and toll free numbers.
Ongoing since Oct 16, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Oct 16, 14:00 - 22:00 PDT Jul 29, 00:27 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will perform scheduled network maintenance in our IE1 region during an 8-hour window from 16 October 2026 at 14:00 PDT to 16 October 2026 at 22:00 PDT. During this window, customers may experience a brief service interruption of up to 90 seconds affecting the following: Interconnected Customers: All IE1 interconnected customers will experience a brief interconnection service interruption of up to 90 seco
Ongoing since Oct 15, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Oct 14, 22:00 PDT - Oct 15, 04:00 PDT Sep 4, 13:02 PDT Scheduled - Our SMS carrier partner in the United States and Canada is conducting a planned maintenance from 14 October 2026 at 22:00 PDT until 15 October 2026 at 04:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to and from United States and Canada handsets via United States and Canada long codes.
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 258ms compared to 114ms for Twilio.
Which is more reliable, MessageBird or Twilio?
From June 19th to September 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 June 19th to September 16th compared to 25M–100M for Twilio. MessageBird volume has remained stable, 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.