Twilio review
Twilio is an SMS API and gateway provider founded in 2008, with its head office in San Francisco, California. Outbound US SMS segments cost $0.0083 each at the entry band, read October 4, 2026. Carrier fees and number rental are charged separately, and volume discounts apply in graduated bands above the entry rate. The free trial runs 30 days with no credit card and includes 100 free SMS messages, read September 9, 2026. We score Twilio 7.42 out of 10.
Alain Grossbard OAM, with Justin Grossbard Updated How we rate Reader supported, we may earn a commission Reader supported. We may earn a commission when you sign up through a link on this page, and it never changes a score. How we make money.
Twilio cost at your volume
$8.30 in message charges a month, at 0.83c (long code (10DLC))
The same rule prices Twilio on the versus pages and the price guides: the band, top-up or number type your volume reaches, from Twilio's own US rates read 8 September 2026. Number rental and carrier fees are billed on top and sit in the tables below.
Twilio scores
| Value for money | 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 8 | |
| Reliability | 8 | |
| Reputation | 4.5 | |
| Compliance | 10 | |
| Customer service | 7 | |
| Gateway fit | 10 |
Six criteria, equally weighted, each scored out of 10 from Twilio's own published pages (how we rate). The gateway fit score counts eight published API features and is not part of the overall score.
Twilio US rates
| As published | Price | How it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Long codes | 0.83c | Lower than 21 of 32 other providers' lowest US rates |
| Toll-free | 0.83c | Lower than 21 of 32 other providers' lowest US rates |
| Short codes | 0.83c | Lower than 21 of 32 other providers' lowest US rates |
| Long code rental | $1.15 a month (Twilio leased); $0.50 a month to bring your own number | Billed on top of message charges |
| Toll-free number rental | $2.15 a month (Twilio leased); $0.50 a month to bring your own number | Billed on top of message charges |
Read from Twilio's own US pricing page on 8 September 2026. By number type. Each row is read against the lowest published US rate of every other provider we price. Source.
Twilio fees, trial and support
| What | Twilio | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MMS rate | MMS $0.022 outbound on every US number type; inbound $0.0165 on long code and short code, $0.02 on toll-free | Read Source 1 |
| 10DLC registration fees | Two Twilio pages disagree. Help center: standard brand $46 one time (includes secondary vetting), low volume standard and sole proprietor brand $4.50, campaign vetting $15, monthly campaign fee $1.50 to $10 by use case ($2 sole proprietor, $3 charity, $5 emergency). The 10DLC product page (read today) still prints $44 standard brand and $4 low volume and sole proprietor brand, same $15 vetting and $1.50 to $10 monthly. Twilio says it passes these through at no added cost. | Read Source 1 Source 2 |
| Toll-free verification | Required before a toll-free number can text US or Canadian numbers; submitted from the Twilio Console; Twilio charges nothing for it | Read Source 1 Source 2 |
| Carrier fees | Passed through per SMS segment by carrier. Long code outbound: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.0045, US Cellular $0.005, all other carriers $0.004. Toll-free outbound: AT&T $0.0035, T-Mobile $0.0045, Verizon $0.0045, US Cellular $0.0045, others $0.004. | Read Source 1 |
| Free trial | Free 30 day trial with no credit card; includes 100 free SMS messages (product units, not a dollar balance); trial accounts can text only verified numbers | Read Source 1 |
| Minimum plan or spend | No minimum plan, minimum spend or platform fee for messaging; pay as you go. Paid support plans are separate (from the greater of $250 or 4% of monthly spend). | Read Source 1 |
| API and SDKs | REST Messages API with helper libraries for Node.js, Python, C#, Java, Go, PHP and Ruby. The cited source does not establish an SMPP offering. | Read Source 1 |
| Web app | No first party dashboard for sending a campaign to a contact list. The Console offers Studio, a low code drag and drop flow builder, and Messaging Insights reporting; Twilio's mass texting page points non coders to partners. | Read Source 1 |
| Integrations named | Salesforce, Replit, OpenAI, Twilio Segment (catalog of data integrations) | Read Source 1 |
| Support channels | Web support (AI bot and tickets) on every account; phone and live chat on paid support plans; technical account manager and escalation line on higher plans; Help Center and developer docs. No public US support phone number is printed. | Read Source 1 |
| Support hours | 24/7 on a paid support plan; the free Developer plan gets web support with no guaranteed response time (estimated 3 business days for business critical issues) | Read Source 1 |
| Support plan prices | Developer free; paid plans from the greater of $250 or 4% of monthly spend, then $1,500 or 6%, then $5,000 or 8% | Read Source 1 |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type II and Type I listed as organization level certifications across Twilio, Segment and SendGrid; Twilio says they do not apply to every product | Read Source 1 |
| ISO 27001 | ISO/IEC 27001 certified, plus ISO/IEC 27017 and 27018; same caveat that credentials do not cover every product | Read Source 1 |
| HIPAA | HIPAA eligible only through a HIPAA Account: requires a signed Business Associate Addendum and the Security or Enterprise Edition, neither priced publicly | Read Source 1 |
| GDPR | Trust center says customers can handle data in a way that complies with GDPR; Binding Corporate Rules listed; Twilio Inc. certified to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework | Read Source 1 |
| Opt-out handling (TCPA) | Opt out tooling: standard STOP style keywords handled by default; Advanced Opt-Out for custom keywords and replies; Compliance Toolkit add-on at $0.015 per SMS that uses AI to flag possibly non compliant messages. No page read names the TCPA itself. | Read Source 1 Source 2 |
| 10DLC registration | Twilio registers brands and campaigns through its Trust Hub in three steps (brand, campaign, numbers) and estimates under a week | Read Source 1 |
| Founded | 2008 | Read Source 1 |
| Head office | San Francisco, California (101 Spear Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco CA 94105) | Read Source 1 |
| Ownership | Twilio Inc., a US company; it runs the Twilio Segment and Twilio SendGrid brands. No parent company, acquisition or rename is stated on the pages read; listing status not read (investor site returned 403). | Read Source 1 Source 2 |
| Company scale | 180+ countries and territories, 400 patents filed, 400K+ customers (Twilio's own figures, customer count footnoted) | Read Source 1 |
| Uptime or SLA | Contractual: the legal SLA sets 99.99% monthly availability for Twilio Services APIs, remedied only by a 10% service credit. Twilio's editions page says standard coverage is 99.95% and 99.99% comes with a paid Edition. The SLA covers API availability, not message delivery, and excludes carrier problems. | Read Source 1 Source 2 |
| Delivery rate | The 10DLC page shows '99.9% average delivery rate' beside a Klaviyo customer story; it is a customer case figure, not a Twilio wide or contractual rate | Read Source 1 |
| Throughput | Up to 225 messages per second per campaign on 10DLC; 100+ per second on short codes; toll-free figure not found | Read Source 1 |
| Email to SMS | Not offered; Twilio prohibits commercial use of email to SMS gateways and enforces it since 31 July 2024 | Read Source 1 |
| Price changes | No price guarantee: prices may change without notice | Read Source 1 |
| Trustpilot | 1.1 out of 5 from 965 reviews | Read Source 1 |
Not published means Twilio's own pages were checked on that day and state no figure. Nothing here is carried over from the earlier version of this review.
When Twilio fits
Choose Twilio when your developers will build around an SMS API. The REST Messages API ships with helper libraries for Node.js, Python, C#, Java, Go, PHP and Ruby, read September 21, 2026. There is no minimum spend or platform fee for messaging, read September 9, 2026, so you pay per message. Our compliance sub-score is 10 out of 10. Twilio holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification, read September 9, 2026, and offers HIPAA eligibility through a signed Business Associate Addendum. Throughput reaches up to 225 messages per second per campaign on 10DLC, read September 22, 2026. Twilio's education solutions, read September 28, 2026, cover student engagement over SMS, voice, video and email, with a mass texting app and campaign management aimed at texting for schools.
When to look elsewhere
Look elsewhere when no developer is on staff. Twilio offers no first party dashboard for sending a campaign to a contact list, read September 9, 2026, and its mass texting page points non coders to partners. Reputation is our lowest sub-score at 4.5 out of 10. Trustpilot shows 1.1 out of 5 from 965 reviews, read September 21, 2026. Email to SMS is prohibited for commercial use, enforced since July 31, 2024. The standard SLA covers 99.95 percent API availability, and 99.99 percent requires a paid Edition, read September 22, 2026. Toll-free throughput is not published, checked September 22, 2026.
Twilio compared
Twilio questions
How much does Twilio cost per message?
Twilio charges $0.0083 per outbound US SMS segment for the first 150,000 segments a month, and the next 150,000 at $0.0081, read October 4, 2026. The bands are graduated, so the discount applies to later segments. Carrier fees and number rental are charged separately. See the Twilio US SMS pricing page and its mass texting use case page.
Does Twilio have a free trial?
The free trial lasts 30 days with no credit card required, read September 9, 2026. It includes 100 free SMS messages, counted as product units rather than a dollar balance. Trial accounts text only verified numbers during that period.
What is Twilio?
Twilio is an SMS API and gateway provider founded in 2008, with its head office in San Francisco, California. It offers a REST Messages API and helper libraries for seven languages, read September 21, 2026. We score it 7.42 out of 10.