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What are the top SMS API providers in 2023?

Category api Posted On 2023-01-05 12:30:17

What are the top SMS API providers in 2023?

If you search for the top SMS API providers in the online search, numerous providers will come into the list. You can't configure which one is best you're looking for? Firstly, developers try for the freemium usage to check and justify the functionality for its business use-case scenario.

Free SMS APIs for Startups

Business startups always intend to avail elite service with minimum expenditure. The startups always look for free messaging APIs having some appropriate test balance. If you are the one searching for the API trial pack, I would adopt free SMS API, which offers on time delivery, fair-pricing deduction model, easy API integration and high end trail credit.

Time has changed, the conventional manual methods of business text messaging in the previous decade turned into automation messaging through SMS API integration. It is always necessary to change your business strategies towards automated messaging. To do so we need to understand the basics of SMS API. 

What is an SMS API?

An SMS API is a set of software codes that enables the communication of short messages between different platforms. It is an interface code that offers the sending capabilities of text messages to your existing software via an intermediate SMS gateway. It built an automated web interface to send SMS. More precisely, SMS API enables the functional service of an SMS gateway to another software program.

The functional aspects of SMS API integration to your software code: 

  • Send and receive text messages.

  • Auto trigger transactional SMS.

  • Live delivery status analytic reports. 

The software applications are developed in various programming languages. The SMS API code fits best with software code of the belonging language. Software developers are responsible for SMS API integration, depending upon the choice of programming language that best fit for the software code.

You can have SMS API code in programming languages i.e php, java, javascript, ruby, python, C#, etc. 

SMS API: How does it work?

SMS API code sets the communication bridge to exchange the messaging protocols with the established networks. SMS APIs enable businesses to send bulk SMS across a variety of networks in various formats. A smart message service provider will guide you through the integration process. A working SMS API will be linked to your business system. A successful integration is followed by a thorough test of the system. SMS API allows businesses to communicate seamlessly with both customers and business.

What are the best SMS API providers?

Search SMS API providers on google will give you a long list that certainly squeezes your mind. Here, we have considered the best messaging API that offers quality services. These are best SMS API providers globally: 

  • Twilio

  • Authkey.io

  • Plivo

  • Nexmo SMS Messaging API

  • Sinch

  • Telnyx API

  • MessageBird API

  • ClickSend API

  • Gupshup

Lets know the best chosen SMS API provider

If you are sending the business messages manually, it seems that you are not using the modern engagement strategies. Occurrence of uncertainty in the same conventional method can lead to losing your business to other competitors.

You can make your SMS marketing campaigns more effective and superior by choosing one of the following SMS APIs or SMS API providers:

Twilio    

Twilio is a renowned name in programmable SMS API. It operates worldwide with best in class services. 

Programmable Messaging API

  • Send transactional SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp messages with a single API.

  • Drive two-way engagement over SMS and other preferred channels with a single API

  • Track the delivery of sent messages, Schedule SMS messages to send at a later time, and retrieve and modify message history.

  • Lookup API: It provides a way to retrieve additional information about a phone number.

Pricing Model:

  • Twilio’s message API model charges as pay per usage. 

  • The charges are nominal but increase and decrease depending on sending location.

SMS API sample code:

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use Twilio\Rest\Client;

// Your Account SID and Auth Token from twilio.com/console

$account_sid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';

$auth_token = 'your_auth_token';

// In production, these should be environment variables. E.g.:

// $auth_token = $_ENV["TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN"]

// A Twilio number you own with SMS capabilities

$twilio_number = "+15017122661";

$client = new Client($account_sid, $auth_token);

$client->messages->create(

    // Where to send a text message (your cell phone?)

    '+15558675310',

    array(

        'from' => $twilio_number,

        'body' => 'I sent this message in under 10 minutes!'

    )

);

Reference: https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/quickstart/php 

Authkey.io

Authkey.io is a product by Datagen internet service pvt. ltd. that has been an excellent hand in Bulk messaging for the last decade. It offers SMS messaging, Voiceand Email API services globally.

Multichannel SMS API:

  • The communication platform that binds SMS, Voice & Email channels in one robust API. You can integrate a powerful HTTP API that allows you to use one or multiple channels simultaneously.

  • Highly dedicated to trigger transactional SMS and OTP verification(2FA).

  • Fallback API that can process the alternate channel medium on failure of prime trigger. If SMS OTPis failed to reach, an automated voice OTP call is aligned to pass the one time password within the time limit. It uses the multiple channels intelligently or as per user preference. 

Pricing Model:

  • Free SMS API integration, you only pay for the SMS messages you send. 

  • Pay as per send- wallet deduction model. SMS, voice and emails are deducted from main balance respectively. 

  • Volume based discounts available. See pricing plan. 

  • Authkey offers you the best SMS trial plan in the market. Check this out. 

SMS API sample code:

<?php

$authkeyUrl = "https://api.authkey.io/request?";

$paramArray = Array(

     'authkey' => 'AUKHKEY',

     'mobile' => 'RecepientMobile',

     'country_code' => 'CountryCode',

     'sms' => 'Hello this is a test message',

     'sender' => 'SENDERID'

     );

 $parameters = http_build_query($paramArray);

 $url = $authkeyUrl . $parameters;

 $curl = curl_init();

 curl_setopt_array($curl, array(

     CURLOPT_URL => $url,

     CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,

 ));

 $response = curl_exec($curl);

 $err = curl_error($curl);

  curl_close($curl);

  if ($err) {

     echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;

 } else {

     echo $response;

 }

 ?>

Reference: https://authkey.io/sample-code-for-sending-sms-in-php


HTTP API:

https://api.authkey.io/request?authkey=AUTHKEY&mobile=RecepientMobile&country_code=CountryCode&sms=Hello, your OTP is 1234&sender=SENDERID&pe_id=ENTITY_ID&template_id=DLT_TEMPLATE_ID

Plivo      

Plivo is an excellent communication platform that enables SMS and voice API. You can target your customers globally using the plivo’s SMS messaging API. A platform for SMS APIs, Voice APIs, MMS API, number lookup and SIP Trunking(Zentrunk). 

In order to serve B2C customers, Plivo offers a dedicated platform called Contacto, an omnichannel contact center.

Pricing model:

  • SMS API Platform- $0.00187/sms*

  • Voice API Platform- $0.03300/min

  • Zentrunk SIP Trunking- (To make a call)$0.03000/min, (to receive a call)$0.00380/min, Business plans start at $35 per user, per month.

  • Provides free trial credits to limited products. Refrence https://www.plivo.com/pricing/ 

SMS API sample code:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Plivo\Resources\PHLO\PhloRestClient;

use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestException;

$client = new PhloRestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");

$phlo = $client->phlo->get("<phlo_id>");

try {

    $response = $phlo->run();

    print_r($response);

} catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {

    print_r($ex);

}

Reference: https://www.plivo.com/docs/sms#trigger-the-phlo 

Nexmo     

The Nexmo(Vonage) is a trusted communication service provider using their REST messaging API. The Nexmo API is one of the most widely used APIs for integrating SMS messages into Android or iOS apps.

Privacy Feature: In order to prevent the leakage of personally identifiable information (PII) in Vonage logs, customers can enable Auto-redact which replaces any such information with the string REDACTED. 

Pricing Model

  • The Nexmo API has a pay per use pricing structure.

  • SMS API: $0.0430 per message.

SMS API sample code:

$response = $client->sms()->send(

new \Vonage\SMS\Message\SMS(TO_NUMBER, BRAND_NAME, 'A text message sent using the Nexmo SMS API')

);

$message = $response->current();

if ($message->getStatus() == 0) {

    echo "The message was sent successfully\n";

} else {

    echo "The message failed with status: " . $message->getStatus() . "\n";

}

Reference: https://developer.vonage.com/messaging/sms/overview 

Sinch     

Sinch has a reputed business communication solutions for application. It offers you the high-end services globally. Software developers can add SMS, MMS, IM, voice, video, and verification to their apps with Sinch's communication API platform. Sinch provides perfect business communication solutions for all business sizes that look for faster communication integration in their application. 

Pricing model:

  • Free trial available but credit remains low. 

  • SMS messaging: $0.01 per SMS.

SMS API sample code:

<?php

$service_plan_id = "YOUR_servicePlanId";

$bearer_token = "YOUR_API_token";

//Any phone number assigned to your API

$send_from = "YOUR_Sinch_virtual_number";

//May be several, separate with a comma ,

$recipient_phone_numbers = "recipient_phone_numbers"; 

$message = "Test message to {$recipient_phone_numbers} from {$send_from}";

// Check recipient_phone_numbers for multiple numbers and make it an array.

if(stristr($recipient_phone_numbers, ',')){

  $recipient_phone_numbers = explode(',', $recipient_phone_numbers);

}else{

  $recipient_phone_numbers = [$recipient_phone_numbers];

}

// Set necessary fields to be JSON encoded

$content = [

  'to' => array_values($recipient_phone_numbers),

  'from' => $send_from,

  'body' => $message

];

$data = json_encode($content);

$ch = curl_init("https://us.sms.api.sinch.com/xms/v1/{$service_plan_id}/batches");

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Content-Type: application/json'));

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BEARER);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_XOAUTH2_BEARER, $bearer_token);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);

$result = curl_exec($ch);

if(curl_errno($ch)) {

    echo 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);

} else {

    echo $result;

}

curl_close($ch);

?>

Reference: https://developers.sinch.com/docs/sms/getting-started/php/send-sms-php 

Telnyx    

The Telnyx API allows developers to implement voice and SMS functionality in real-time. It is a highly rated company on G2 review platform, over 1000+ verified user reviews give you push to trust it. It provides you the SMS, voice, elastic SIP trunking, video API, verify APIand more. 

Pricing model: 

  • SMS pricing: Pay as you go structure.

  • SMS: To send: $0.0040 & To receive: $0.0040.

  • MMS: To send: $0.0150 & To receive: $0.0050.

MessageBird    

MessageBird is a cloud communications platform that connects enterprises to their global customers. Its products and solutions are the foundational building blocks to business communications across preferred channels, like SMS, Voice, WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger, Email and more.

Pricing model:

  • Pay as you send.

  • Sending $0.041 per message. Bulk Messaging $0.041.

 

SMS API sample code:

Request code:

$MessageBird = new \MessageBird\Client('ACCESS_KEY');

$Message = new \MessageBird\Objects\Message();

$Message->originator = 'MessageBird';

$Message->recipients = array(31612345678);

$Message->body = 'This is a test message.';

$MessageBird->messages->create($Message);

Response code:

{ 'id' => 'e60a6f90453a19019c56ed6b20170831',

 'href' => 'https://rest.messagebird.com/messages/e60a6f90453a19019c56ed6b20170831',

 'direction' => 'mt',

 'type' => 'sms',

 'originator' => 'MessageBird',

 'body' => 'This is a test message.',

 'reference' => NULL,

 'validity' => NULL,

 'gateway' => 240,

 'typeDetails' => {},

 'datacoding' => 'plain',

 'mclass' => 1,

 'scheduledDatetime' => NULL,

 'createdDatetime' => '2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00',

 'recipients' => array(

   'totalCount' => 1,

   'totalSentCount' => 1,

   'totalDeliveredCount' => 0,

   'totalDeliveryFailedCount' => 0,

   'items' => array (

     {

       'recipient' => 31612345678,

       'status' => 'sent',

       'statusDatetime' => '2016-05-03T14:26:57+00:00',

     },

   )

 )

}

Reference: https://developers.messagebird.com/api/sms-messaging/#handle-a-status-report 

ClickSend    

ClickSend offers a powerful and flexible set of SMS APIs so you can programmatically send text messages. You can use the SMS, Voice, Fax, Letters, Postcards and Chat APIs in your software. Build powerful apps using the fastest and most reliable cloud communications APIs.

Pricing model:  outbound

  • Under 2k - ₹5.3271

  • 100k or more - ₹4.3360

  • DEDICATED NUMBER - ₹11205.99 / month

Gupshup 

   

Gupshup has a lot of services trending in the market if we talk about the APIs like messaging API, whatsapp, conversation API, Bot platform, Google's Business Messaging, RCS, Viber, Telegram, Voice, instagram and many more API functionalities. 

Pricing model:

  • Pricing on request by Gupsup

  • Free trial available

 

SMS API sample code:

<?php

require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('POST', 'https://api.gupshup.io/sm/api/v1/msg', [

  'headers' => [

    'Content-Type' => 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',

    'accept' => 'application/json',

  ],

]);

echo $response->getBody();

Reference: https://docs.gupshup.io/reference/msg 

 

Note: All the above mentioned SMS API service providers offer API in almost all suitable programming languages. The codes are just for reference in php. 

The SMS API providers are vendors that automate your communication flawlessly without any resource.


Written By

Pankaj Singh

SEO & Marketing Enthusiast

 


Tags: sms api