--- title: "Plivo SMS alternative" description: "How Unitpost compares to Plivo for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Plivo is still the better choice." url: https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/plivo section: Alternatives updated: 2026-11-02 --- # Plivo SMS alternative ## Unitpost vs Plivo > A communications platform, now led by voice AI agents, with APIs for voice, SIP, SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp and verification. **Plivo free tier:** No free tier. $10 of trial credit with no card, texting verified numbers only **Plivo pricing shape:** Plivo's pricing page lists SMS and Verify under its Enterprise plan, from $1,000 a month. Its US SMS page still lists pay-as-you-go rates per segment plus carrier surcharges. Ask Plivo which applies to a new account. ## What Plivo does well - Low US list prices: $0.0077 per segment plus carrier surcharges, with numbers from $0.50 a month - Plivo Verify with no per-verification fee and free Fraud Shield pumping protection - Per-country Geo Permissions with hourly caps, and no charge for blocked messages - Broad stated coverage (226 countries on its SMS page) and short codes - Voice, SIP and voice AI agents on the same account ## Choose Plivo if - You already have an Enterprise agreement and want SMS on it - You want free managed one-time codes (Verify with Fraud Shield) - You need voice or voice AI agents alongside SMS - You need short codes or want to port US or Canadian numbers in ## Choose Unitpost if - You want to start SMS on a self-serve plan from $10 a month, not an enterprise contract - You send marketing texts and want consent records, quiet hours and STOP handling enforced for you - You want email and SMS on one contact list, one API key and one bill - You want idempotent sends, so a retried request never texts anyone twice ## Feature comparison | Capability | Unitpost | Plivo | | --- | --- | --- | | How SMS is sold | Self-serve on paid plans from $10 a month, which includes $10 of sending allowance | Listed under the Enterprise plan from $1,000 a month on the pricing page; pay as you go on the US SMS page | | Price of a US text | $0.014 per segment, carrier fees included | $0.0077 per segment plus carrier surcharges of up to $0.005 | | Countries | 177 countries | 226 countries (its SMS page) | | Numbers | New toll-free and 10DLC numbers in the US, local numbers in Canada, Sender IDs where a country allows them; no porting | Long codes, toll-free and short codes; Sender IDs on approval; porting in for the US and Canada | | Email | Transactional, marketing and inbound email on the same contacts, templates and bill | No email API | | 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 on US and Canadian long codes and toll-free numbers; 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 | A message API that takes several recipients per request; no scheduling, contact lists or campaigns documented | | Two-way texting | Replies to numbers in the United States and Canada arrive as an sms.received webhook, 1¢ per received text | Two-way SMS via webhook | | One-time codes | Send codes through the SMS or email API and check them yourself. No managed verification API | Plivo Verify: no per-verification fee (you pay the channel), with Fraud Shield and voice fallback | | Idempotent sends | Idempotency-Key on sends, 24-hour dedupe window, on SMS as on email | No idempotency key on message sends | | SMS pumping protection | On by default: texts reach only the countries we offer, with fraud filtering and per-workspace limits on new destinations | Geo Permissions per country with hourly caps; Fraud Shield on Verify | | MCP server for AI agents | Hosted, with every SMS and email operation as a tool and OAuth sign-in | Hosted, but it only searches Plivo's docs and cannot send | | Track record | New. SMS has been in production since October 2026 | Years of production SMS and voice | ## How do I switch from Plivo? There is no one-key import from Plivo, 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 Plivo 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 Plivo sending until the new sender is approved and live. ## FAQ ### Is Plivo SMS enterprise-only now? Plivo's pricing page lists SMS and Verify under its Enterprise plan, which starts at $1,000 a month, while its US SMS pricing page still shows pay-as-you-go rates. Ask Plivo which applies before you plan around it. On Unitpost, SMS is self-serve on any paid plan. ### Is Plivo cheaper than Unitpost for SMS? Per US text, on its pay-as-you-go list price, yes: $0.0077 per segment plus carrier surcharges, against $0.014 per segment on Unitpost with carrier fees included. If your account falls under Plivo's Enterprise plan, the $1,000 monthly minimum changes that math for anyone sending fewer than tens of thousands of texts a month. ### Does Unitpost have something like Plivo Verify? No. Unitpost has no managed verification API. You generate the code, send it with the SMS or email API, and check it yourself. If you want codes, fallback and fraud checks managed for you, Plivo Verify is the better fit. ## Related - [Resend alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/resend): How Unitpost compares to Resend — pricing, free tier, API design, and where Resend is still the better choice. Plus a one-key migration path. - [SendGrid alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/sendgrid): How Unitpost compares to SendGrid — pricing, free tier, API design, and where SendGrid is still the better choice. Plus a one-key migration path. - [Postmark alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/postmark): How Unitpost compares to Postmark — pricing, free tier, API design, and where Postmark is still the better choice. Plus a one-key migration path.