--- title: "Telnyx SMS alternative" description: "How Unitpost compares to Telnyx for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Telnyx is still the better choice." url: https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/telnyx section: Alternatives updated: 2026-11-02 --- # Telnyx SMS alternative ## Unitpost vs Telnyx > A licensed carrier with its own network, selling voice, SIP, SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp, email, numbers, verification and IoT connectivity. **Telnyx free tier:** No free tier. $5 of trial credit, texting one verified number on a long code, up to 100 a day **Telnyx pricing shape:** Pay as you go: a price per message part by sender type, with US carrier fees passed through at cost, plus monthly number fees and 10DLC fees at cost. Volume tiers start automatically at very high volume; optional plans carry monthly minimums. ## What Telnyx does well - Its own network and telecom licence, which shows in the price: a 10DLC text in the US is $0.004 plus carrier fees - Every sender type, including short codes, plus porting your existing numbers in - Voice, SIP, MMS, WhatsApp and IoT on the same account - Telnyx Verify for one-time codes over SMS, voice, flash call, WhatsApp and silent authentication - Idempotency keys on message sends, and free 24/7 support ## Choose Telnyx if - The price per US text matters most and you send at volume - You want to keep your existing numbers by porting them - You need voice, SIP, MMS or WhatsApp alongside SMS - You want one-time codes managed for you (Verify) ## Choose Unitpost if - You send marketing texts and want consent records, quiet hours and STOP handling enforced for you - You want SMS templates, segments and scheduled campaigns in the product rather than built on a message API - You send marketing email too and want campaigns, contacts and both channels in one product - You want an AI agent to run your texting and email through a hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in ## Feature comparison | Capability | Unitpost | Telnyx | | --- | --- | --- | | Price of a US text | $0.014 per segment, carrier fees included | $0.004 per part on 10DLC ($0.0055 toll-free), plus carrier fees at cost 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 on pay as you go | | Numbers | New toll-free and 10DLC numbers in the US, local numbers in Canada, Sender IDs where a country allows them; no porting | Numbers in 130+ countries, short codes, Sender IDs, and porting existing numbers in | | Email | Transactional, marketing and inbound email on the same contacts, templates and bill, with campaigns and automations | An email API, generally available since August 2026, with marketing broadcasts | | 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 START handled automatically, customizable per profile; 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 with send scheduling up to five days ahead; no contact lists, segments 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 and MMS via webhook | | One-time codes | Send codes through the SMS or email API and check them yourself. No managed verification API | Telnyx Verify over SMS, voice, flash call, WhatsApp and silent authentication, priced per verification | | Idempotent sends | Idempotency-Key on sends, 24-hour dedupe window, on SMS as on email | Idempotency-Key header on message sends, replayed for 24 hours | | SMS pumping protection | On by default: texts reach only the countries we offer, with fraud filtering and per-workspace limits on new destinations | Each messaging profile must list the countries it may text | | MCP server for AI agents | Hosted, with every SMS and email operation as a tool and OAuth sign-in | Hosted, able to call any Telnyx API, authenticated with an API key | | Track record | New. SMS has been in production since October 2026 | Years as a carrier with its own network | ## How do I switch from Telnyx? There is no one-key import from Telnyx, 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 Telnyx 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 Telnyx sending until the new sender is approved and live. ## FAQ ### Is Telnyx cheaper than Unitpost for SMS? In the US, yes. A 10DLC text on Telnyx is $0.004 per part plus carrier fees of up to $0.005, against $0.014 per segment on Unitpost with carrier fees included, and Telnyx has no monthly plan. Unitpost costs more per text and earns it with the product around the text: campaigns, segments, consent records and quiet hours enforced for you, and marketing email on the same contacts and bill. ### Telnyx has email now. What's the difference? Telnyx Email, generally available since August 2026, is an API for sending email. Unitpost covers transactional and marketing email: campaigns, segments, topics and unsubscribes, a visual and code template editor, inbound email, and automations that send email or SMS to the same contacts. ### Can I port my Telnyx numbers to Unitpost? No. Unitpost doesn't port numbers in. You get new toll-free or 10DLC numbers in the US, local numbers in Canada, or Sender IDs where a country allows them, and US numbers need carrier registration before they send. ## Related - [Bird SMS alternative](https://www.unitpost.com/alternatives/bird): How Unitpost compares to Bird for SMS — per-country pricing, sender registration, compliance, and where Bird is still the better choice. - [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.