Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Clickatell vs Twilio: What are the differences?
Key Differences between Clickatell and Twilio
Clickatell and Twilio are both popular communication platforms that offer SMS, voice, and other messaging services. However, there are several key differences between these two platforms.
Pricing Model: Clickatell operates on a pay-as-you-go model, where users are charged for each message sent. On the other hand, Twilio offers various pricing options, including pay-as-you-go, volume pricing, and enterprise plans, allowing for more flexibility in pricing based on usage.
Global Reach: Clickatell provides extensive coverage in over 1000 networks across 220 countries, making it a suitable option for businesses with a global customer base. Twilio, although also providing international coverage, has a slightly more limited reach and may not offer the same level of global accessibility as Clickatell.
Messaging Channels: While both platforms support SMS messaging, Twilio offers a wider range of messaging channels, including voice, video, chat, and WhatsApp. This additional capability enables businesses to provide a more diverse and enriched communication experience to their customers compared to Clickatell.
API Integrations: Twilio provides a highly advanced and developer-friendly API, allowing for seamless integration with other applications and services. This comprehensive API capability makes it easier for developers to customize and control the communication features. While Clickatell also offers API integrations, the scope and flexibility may not be as extensive as Twilio.
Developer Community: Twilio has an extensive and active developer community, with a vast range of resources, documentation, and support available. This vibrant community fosters innovation and provides developers with a wealth of knowledge and assistance. Clickatell also has a developer community, but it may not have the same level of engagement and resources as Twilio.
Additional Services: Apart from messaging services, both platforms offer additional features. Twilio provides services like video conferencing, authentication, and phone number verification, which can enhance the overall communication experience. Clickatell, on the other hand, focuses primarily on messaging services and may not offer the same level of additional features as Twilio.
In summary, Clickatell and Twilio have similarities in terms of messaging services, but Twilio stands out with its wider range of communication channels, more extensive API integrations, a robust developer community, and additional services such as video conferencing and authentication. Clickatell, however, offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model and has a broader global reach.
Hey! We need an omnichannel inbox that's housed within Salesforce Sales Cloud that makes it super easy for our reps to respond to inbound communication (needs: clean inbox, provides historical context, etc.). We're a high-volume call center, and we get a ton of incoming SMS and email every day. We'd love a solution that lets us view all of that in one place — ideally Salesforce, as that's where our reps work, and we want to avoid needing them to switch between windows. Thanks!
if the inbound SMS are sales rep specific you could potentially have twilio fwd that msg to a google voice phone number which will in turn put an email in their inbox (so they're looking at 1 inbox instead of multiple places) Just an idea. Probably way off in left field compared to what you're thinking and I also invision. I'm not all familiar with MessageBird nor am I at all familiar w/ your data flow / business process. Would be happy to help brainstorm anytime! 10+ years experience on the sfdc platform
Check out Centro. We built this to solve this exact problem! We used tools like Twilio but wrapped it up in a application that runs on Slack.
Hello! We need to integrate an SMS gateway into our app for user phone verification. As we are just starting, we are searching for the most affordable/best price/performance option for SMS gateway to verify client phone numbers with the code, maybe you can suggest something between those two or maybe something else. We are planning to do business in Europe
Twilio is the leader. Strong API, excellent documentation and reliable service. I suggest Nexmo since their API has smaller learning curve, offering better prices and also reliable solution. Also Nexmo offers more call per sec. 3 vs 2 and 2, out of the box. Good luck
Twilio documentation is very good and as a platform it just works. It's robust and reliable. We road-tested plivo and it wasn't anywhere near in terms of docs or support. In fact their support was terrible at replying to us. 48 hours to answer basic questions.
That's said, were also using sendgrid by twilio and that's not been pleasant . Their email builder appears to be react based but written by a team who don't understand react very well. That's a nightmare as yet
Twilio might be not cheapest, but they have awesome documentation (a lot of examples), easy to use API and libraries. I think it's a very good product to start. If the bill will become too heavy, you can shop around for economical options.
stackshare doesn't seem to have this in the stack list yet, but in my experience Twillio is attractive. It's good for basics, their acquisition of SendGrid gives them a bit more market share.. They are stronger at marketing to those that benefit them. That said from my understanding SendGrid leases the networks, channels, and lines. While their interface is friendly, their pricing suited for lower volume, you want to look at what they are using via an API, a contract, etc. Is it a more friend UI to a combination of others. What redunancies do to they have, try their support. It's not that Twillio is bad, it's about the volume, the use case, the liabiitlies you might have to your end-users if Twillio isn't the right choice. Another option is Bandwidth. You ask for affordable, Twillio is an option, but front end costs v/s the costs of support you'll need to consider. Bandwidth has more reliability but requires more engineering and more skillset. Another option that is worth considering, not the most affordable, but https://www.zipwhip.com/ have perhaps options that might be higher and the cost is relative. Wight costs, of support costs of integration, cost of scale, costs of a volume..
Pros of Clickatell
Pros of Twilio
- Powerful, simple, and well documented api148
- RESTful API88
- Clear pricing66
- Great sms services61
- Low cost of entry58
- Global SMS Gateway29
- Good value14
- Cloud IVR12
- Simple11
- Extremely simple to integrate with rails11
- Great for startups6
- SMS5
- Great developer program3
- Hassle free3
- Text me the app pages2
- New Features constantly rolling out1
- Many deployment options, from build from scratch to buy1
- Easy integration1
- Two factor authentication1
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of Clickatell
Cons of Twilio
- Predictable pricing4
- Expensive2