--- title: "Bird SMS alternative" description: "How Unitpost compares to Bird for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Bird is still the better choice." url: https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/bird section: Alternatives updated: 2026-11-02 --- # Bird SMS alternative ## Unitpost vs Bird > A messaging platform, called MessageBird until 2024, with APIs for SMS, email, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and voice, plus verification and a marketing suite. **Bird free tier:** No free SMS tier: texts draw on a prepaid balance. Email is free up to 1,000 a month (50 a day) **Bird pricing shape:** Pay as you go from one prepaid balance shared by every channel: US long-code texts at $0.0035 per outbound segment and $0.001 inbound, carrier fees extra, numbers from $0.50 a month, and 10DLC fees on top. Monthly plans give up to 10% off. ## What Bird does well - Very low published US prices, with the full carrier-fee table on the page - One balance across SMS, email, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and voice - A hosted MCP server with OAuth that can send, run Verify, and manage numbers, 10DLC and contacts - Idempotent sends, and Standard Webhooks signing with a 24-hour rotation window - Verify over email and SMS with failover and no per-verification fee ## Choose Bird if - The price per US text matters most - You need WhatsApp, Apple Messages or voice alongside SMS - You want one-time codes managed for you, at no fee beyond the message ## Choose Unitpost if - You want to schedule texts and campaigns, with quiet hours and consent enforced on marketing sends - You want STOP and HELP handled in every country you text, not a subset - You want a larger free email tier: 5,000 emails a month instead of 1,000 - You want transactional email, marketing email and SMS in one product with one contact list ## Feature comparison | Capability | Unitpost | Bird | | --- | --- | --- | | Price of a US text | $0.014 per segment, carrier fees included | $0.0035 per outbound segment on a long code, plus carrier fees of up to $0.005 | | Monthly minimum | A paid plan from $10 a month, which includes $10 of sending allowance for texts or email | None. Pay as you go from a prepaid balance | | Free email tier | 5,000 emails/month, 200/day, no credit card | 1,000 emails a month, 50 a day | | Other channels | Email. No WhatsApp, voice or Apple Messages | Email, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and voice on the same balance | | Marketing text compliance | Enforced on every send: consent on record per contact, recipient-local quiet hours for marketing, STOP and HELP handled, double opt-in by text, a content check before a sender's first send | STOP and HELP handled by default only in the countries in Bird's keyword catalog; consent records and quiet hours are left to you | | Contacts, segments and campaigns | SMS templates, topics, segments and scheduled campaigns in the product, shared with email | Contacts, audiences and campaigns in Bird Marketing; the SMS API can't schedule a send | | Two-way texting | Replies to numbers in the United States and Canada arrive as an sms.received webhook, 1¢ per received text | Replies arrive as an sms.received webhook event | | One-time codes | Send codes through the SMS or email API and check them yourself. No managed verification API | Bird Verify over email and SMS with failover, no fee beyond the message | | Idempotent sends | Idempotency-Key on sends, 24-hour dedupe window, on SMS as on email | Idempotency-Key header on sends, kept for about three hours | | Webhook signing | svix-compatible HMAC-SHA256 with a 24-hour dual-signing rotation grace | Standard Webhooks (HMAC-SHA256) with a 24-hour dual-signing rotation | | SMS pumping protection | On by default: texts reach only the countries we offer, with fraud filtering and per-workspace limits on new destinations | Every country blocked until you enable it, with per-country daily spend limits | | MCP server for AI agents | Hosted, with every SMS and email operation as a tool and OAuth sign-in | Hosted with OAuth, covering sends, Verify, numbers, 10DLC, contacts and webhooks | ## How do I switch from Bird? There is no one-key import from Bird, and Unitpost doesn't port numbers in. You get new numbers or Sender IDs, and in the US you register your brand and campaign with Unitpost (10DLC or toll-free verification), which the carriers review before you can send. Import your contacts with their phone numbers and record the consent you already hold, opt-outs included, so nobody who texted STOP to your Bird number hears from the new one. Then change the send call to POST /sms and point delivery callbacks at Unitpost webhooks (sms.sent, sms.delivered, sms.failed; replies arrive as sms.received). Keep Bird sending until the new sender is approved and live. ## FAQ ### Is Bird cheaper than Unitpost for SMS? Per US text, yes, by a wide margin: $0.0035 per segment on a long code plus carrier fees, against $0.014 per segment on Unitpost with carrier fees included, and Bird has no monthly plan. Unitpost costs more per text and includes more around it: scheduled SMS campaigns, consent and quiet hours enforced on marketing sends, STOP handling everywhere, and 5,000 free emails a month. ### Is Bird the same company as MessageBird? Yes. MessageBird rebranded as Bird in February 2024. Older integrations may still use the MessageBird-era Channels API, which runs alongside Bird's newer API. ## Related - [Vonage SMS alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/vonage): How Unitpost compares to Vonage for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Vonage is still the better choice. - [Sinch SMS alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/sinch): How Unitpost compares to Sinch for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Sinch is still the better choice. - [Plivo SMS alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/plivo): How Unitpost compares to Plivo for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Plivo is still the better choice.