Telnyx vs Twilio
Compare Telnyx 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–10M | 3rd of 7 → | 70 | 172 |
| 100M–500M | 1st of 7 → | 25 | 25 |
From May 9th to August 7th, Knock routed 1M–10M messages through Telnyx and 100M–500M through Twilio. Telnyx reported 172 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.
The chart above shows each provider's daily median response time (p50) from May 9th to August 7th. The top-line number is an average of these daily values: Telnyx averaged 288ms compared to 55ms for Twilio. Telnyx's highest daily p50 was 743ms; Twilio's was 67ms. Twilio is 233ms 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, Telnyx has a p90 of 611ms compared to 120ms for Twilio. The highest daily p90 was 2295ms for Telnyx and 127ms for Twilio. Twilio handles these slower requests 491ms 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, Telnyx reached 1185ms at p99 while Twilio reached 156ms. The highest daily p99 was 10115ms for Telnyx 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% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.17% | 6.47% | Aug 5 | 19 | 44 |
| 0.00% | 0.00% | May 9 | 91 | 0 |
Averaged across the date range, Telnyx shows a 0.17% daily error rate compared to 0.00% for Twilio. The highest single-day error rate was 6.47% for Telnyx and 0.00% for Twilio. Twilio demonstrates a lower error rate, indicating slightly more consistent availability during this period. 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 Telnyx incidents
Recent status page incidents for Telnyx
Ongoing since Aug 7, 2026
Status: Monitoring We continue to monitor following the earlier mitigation. Services remain stable and no new reports of impact have been received. A final update will follow once resolution is confirmed. Affected components Europe (Partial outage) Canada (Partial outage) US (Partial outage) Australia (Partial outage) Asia (Beta) (Partial outage) Middle East (Partial outage)
Started Aug 7, 2026 — Resolved Aug 7, 2026
Status: Resolved This issue is now confirmed resolved as of 13.25 UTC by our engineering team. We continue to monitor traffic signs. Affected components Europe (Operational)
Ongoing since Aug 7, 2026
Status: Scheduled Telnyx will be applying software patches on network nodes in the European Pop. No impact to service is expected as this will be done on a rolling basis across redundant nodes. Affected components Programmable Wireless (Under maintenance)
Started Aug 7, 2026 — Resolved Aug 7, 2026
Status: Complete Maintenance has completed Affected components Programmable Wireless (Under maintenance)
Started Aug 6, 2026 — Resolved Aug 6, 2026
Status: Resolved This incident has been resolved. All services are operating normally Affected components API V2 (Operational) US (Operational) API V2 (Operational) API V1 (Operational) API V1 (Operational) US (Operational)
Recent Twilio incidents
Recent status page incidents for Twilio
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 Sep 18, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Sep 18, 08:00 - 11:00 PDT Aug 6, 03:33 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will perform a scheduled maintenance in our SG1 region during a 3-hour window on 18 September 2026 from 08:00 PDT to 11:00 PDT. During this maintenance, we will perform a Junos OS software upgrade of the SG1 QFX10K Edge1 Switch in the TNX Production SG1 environment. This maintenance represents the second phase of a two-part infrastructure upgrade. During this time, Voice, Interconnect, and Flex customers
Ongoing since Sep 4, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Sep 4, 08:00 - 11:00 PDT Aug 6, 05:04 PDT Scheduled - Twilio will perform a scheduled maintenance in our SG1 region during a 3-hour window on 4 September 2026 from 08:00 PDT to 11:00 PDT. During this maintenance, we will perform a Junos OS software upgrade of the SG1 QFX10K Edge2 Switch in the TNX Production SG1 environment. During this time, Voice, Interconnect, and Flex customers with SG1 interconnections may experience a brief interconnection service interruptio
Ongoing since Aug 31, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 31, 13:00 - 17:00 PDT Jul 31, 08:38 PDT Scheduled - The Tele2 network in Russia is conducting a planned maintenance from 31 August 2026 at 13:00 PDT until 31 August 2026 at 17:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to Tele2 Russia handsets.
Ongoing since Aug 30, 2026
THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Aug 30, 12:00 - 14:00 PDT Jul 30, 14:53 PDT Scheduled - The Globe Telecom network in the Philippines is conducting a planned maintenance from 30 August 2026 at 12:00 PDT until 30 August 2026 at 14:00 PDT. During the maintenance window, there could be intermittent delays delivering SMS to Globe Telecom Philippines handsets.
Pricing comparison
| Provider | Plan | Per message | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telnyx | Pay-as-you-go | $0.004 | $400 |
| Twilio | Pay-as-you-go | $0.0083 | $830 |
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.
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
Telnyx
Twilio
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
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
- Smaller community and ecosystem compared to Twilio
- No free trial credits for new accounts
- Feature set is narrower than full-suite platforms like 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 Telnyx and Twilio?
Telnyx is a developer-first communications platform with competitive pricing and a private IP network for reliable SMS delivery. Twilio is the most widely adopted cloud communications platform, offering SMS, MMS, voice, and WhatsApp through a unified API. Telnyx is best suited for cost-effective developer sms, while Twilio is geared toward full-featured sms at scale.
Which is cheaper, Telnyx or Twilio?
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. 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, Telnyx or Twilio?
Based on real-world data from Knock, Telnyx has a median SMS API response time (p50) of 288ms compared to 55ms for Twilio.
Which is more reliable, Telnyx or Twilio?
From May 9th to August 7th, Telnyx showed an error rate of 0.17% 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, Telnyx or Twilio?
On the Knock platform, Telnyx handled 1M–10M messages from May 9th to August 7th compared to 100M–500M for Twilio. Telnyx volume has remained stable, while Twilio volume has remained stable.
Can I use both Telnyx and Twilio together?
Yes. Knock enables you to integrate multiple SMS providers into a single notification workflow. You can use Telnyx 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 Telnyx vs Twilio?
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. 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, Telnyx drawbacks include smaller community and ecosystem compared to twilio, 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 Telnyx, 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.