Plivo vs Telnyx
Compare Plivo and Telnyx 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 Telnyx only. Comparison charts will appear once both providers have sufficient data.
| Provider | Message volume | Growth | Status page updates (30d) | Status page updates (90d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 2 | 7 |
| <1M | 3rd of 7 ↑ | 67 | 176 |
From July 29th to October 27th, Knock routed <1M messages through Telnyx. Telnyx reported 176 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.
Telnyx has a median response time (p50) of 459ms, a p90 of 788ms, and a p99 of 1127ms from July 29th to October 27th. 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% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 0.02% | 0.55% | Aug 10 | 77 | 14 |
Averaged across July 29th to October 27th, Telnyx shows a 0.02% 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
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
Recent Telnyx incidents
Recent status page incidents for Telnyx
Ongoing since Oct 27, 2026
Status: Investigating We’re investigating an issue with MMS delivery & receipts, we will update the status page accordingly. Affected components NORAM (Degraded performance)
Started Oct 27, 2026 — Resolved Oct 27, 2026
Status: Complete Maintenance has completed Affected components Programmable Wireless (Operational)
Ongoing since Oct 27, 2026
Status: Scheduled Our Telephony Engineers will perform maintenance on our inbound SIP proxy servers in the US (sip.telnyx.com: http://sip.telnyx.com) and Europe (sip.telnyx.eu: http://sip.telnyx.eu) regions. During this maintenance, our TLS certificate for each proxy server will be renewed; the four proxy servers will get the update on separate days. These important changes will happen. - We'll switch Certificate Authority from Digicert to LetsEncrypt (which means that the entire certificate
Started Oct 26, 2026 — Resolved Oct 26, 2026
Status: Complete Maintenance has completed Affected components Programmable Wireless (Operational)
Started Oct 26, 2026 — Resolved Oct 26, 2026
Status: Complete Maintenance has completed Affected components San Jose, CA (Operational) Chicago, IL (Operational) Ashburn, VA (Operational) Chennai, India (Operational) Dubai, UAE (Operational) London, UK (Operational) Amsterdam, Netherlands (Operational) Frankfurt, Germany (Operational) Melbourne, Australia (Operational) Mumbai, India (Operational) Montreal, Canada (Operational) Sydney, Australia (Operational) Toronto, Canada (Operational)
Pricing comparison
Compare Plivo and Telnyx as your SMS volume grows.
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plivo | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0077 | $770 |
| Telnyx | Pay-as-you-go | $0.004 | $400 |
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.
Telnyx
No free tier. Outbound SMS to US numbers costs $0.004 per message. Inbound messages are $0.004 each. Phone numbers start at $1.00/month for local numbers. Carrier surcharges are passed through at cost with no markup.
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
Strengths and tradeoffs for Plivo and Telnyx.
Plivo
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
- 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
Telnyx
Pros
- Among the lowest per-message rates for US domestic SMS
- Private IP network provides lower latency than providers using the public internet
- Transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing with no monthly minimums
- Strong developer experience with well-documented APIs and SDKs
Cons
- Smaller community and ecosystem compared to Twilio
- No free trial credits for new accounts
- Feature set is narrower than full-suite platforms like Twilio
Frequently asked questions
Plivo is a cost-effective communications platform with direct carrier connections, a Twilio-compatible API design, and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Telnyx is a developer-first communications platform with competitive pricing and a private IP network for reliable SMS delivery. Plivo is best suited for cost-effective high-volume sms, while Telnyx is geared toward cost-effective developer sms.
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. No free tier. Outbound SMS to US numbers costs $0.004 per message. Inbound messages are $0.004 each. Phone numbers start at $1.00/month for local numbers. Carrier surcharges are passed through at cost with no markup. The best value depends on your sending volume and destination countries.
Based on real-world data from Knock, Telnyx has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 459ms. We don't yet have enough data for Plivo to make a direct comparison.
From July 29th to October 27th, Telnyx showed an error rate of 0.02%. 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, Telnyx handled <1M messages from July 29th to October 27th. Telnyx is currently trending upward in adoption. 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 Plivo and Telnyx side by side, route traffic between them, or migrate from one to the other without changing your application code.
Plivo strengths include among the lowest per-message rates with automatic volume discounts and familiar api design modeled after twilio, making migration straightforward. Telnyx strengths include among the lowest per-message rates for us domestic sms and private ip network provides lower latency than providers using the public internet. On the other hand, Plivo drawbacks include narrower feature set with no native support for whatsapp or other messaging channels, while Telnyx drawbacks include smaller community and ecosystem compared to twilio.
Use either provider with Knock
Knock enables you to integrate Plivo, Telnyx, or any combination of SMS providers into a single notification workflow. Manage templates, orchestrate cross-channel delivery, and switch providers without changing your code.