Sent vs Twilio: Advantages of a modern messaging API
Send SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS through one API. Sent brings channel-aware contacts, reusable templates, and automatic routing into the same messaging workflow, so your team can focus on what the message needs to do.
Compare the workflow behind every message
Both platforms support multichannel messaging. The useful comparison is how each handles the decisions and setup around a send.
| What matters |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging API | One send interface for SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS. | Programmable Messaging supports SMS, MMS, RCS, and WhatsApp. |
| Route selection | Automatic selection uses recipient availability and account routing rules. | Messaging Services manage sender selection; channel behavior depends on the product and configuration. |
| Cross-channel fallback | Eligible automatic routes can try another channel; pinned sends do not cross-fallback. | RCS supports SMS/MMS fallback; Bulk Messaging supports configurable channel fallback. |
| Message templates | Reusable definitions with channel-specific rendering and approval states. | Content API and Template Builder manage cross-channel templates. |
| Recipient context | Channel availability and routing state live on the contact. | Messaging Services can retain sender-to-recipient mappings through Sticky Sender. |
| Sender registration | Channel setup includes sender and approval requirements. | A2P 10DLC registration is supported through Twilio’s registration workflow. |
| Delivery visibility | Dashboard, API, and webhook status tracking. | Message status callbacks and message records. |
Showing 5 of 7
Compare the cost of your conversations
Look at active contacts, message frequency and delivery costs together.
Sent
$0.015 per active contact
One platform fee per billing period, plus message delivery at cost. Repeat messages do not add another platform fee.
Twilio
Usage per SMS segment
Each message carries two costs: Twilio’s per-message markup and the applicable carrier fees (e.g. AT&T). You pay both on every message.
| Contacts / messages | | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100K contacts300,000 messages | $3,090Observed billing projection | $3,480Observed billing projection | −$390 |
| 500K contacts1,500,000 messages | $15,450Observed billing projection | $17,400Observed billing projection | −$1,950 |
| 1M contacts3,000,000 messages | $30,900Observed billing projection | $34,800Observed billing projection | −$3,900 |
Team sample: 100,000 contacts × 3 single-segment US SMS → Sent $3,090 / Twilio $3,480. Small, unmatched observed samples: Sent 380 messages; Twilio 5. Excludes number, registration and negotiated rates. Illustrative, not a quote.
Let the message find its channel
Routes messages to the best available channel, transforms templates for that channel, and respects configured quiet hours. Leave the channel unpinned to use automatic routing.
Twilio: You configure channels and senders. Messaging Services can automatically fall back from RCS to SMS/MMS.
Build customer messaging into your product
Create a Sender Profile within your organization; send for that customer by passing its profile ID.
Twilio: Create a subaccount and configure its messaging resources; send through that customer’s account SID.
Before you switch
No. Sent charges its platform fee once per active contact, so the saving grows with how often you message the same people. The sample above sends three messages to each contact in a billing period. If most of your contacts hear from you only once, pricing per message can cost less. The estimator on the pricing page works it out for your own mix.
On Sent, each customer you send for is a Sender Profile inside your own organization, and you send on their behalf by passing that profile’s ID. On Twilio, each customer is a subaccount with its own messaging resources, and you send through that customer’s account SID.
Yes. Sender registration, such as A2P 10DLC in the US, WhatsApp business verification and template approvals, is decided by the carriers and by Meta, whichever platform you send through. We run the submissions with you and tell you where each one stands, but the review itself belongs to them.
Start with one flow, such as order updates or verification codes. Route a share of that traffic through Sent, compare delivery against Twilio on the same messages, and move the rest once the numbers agree. Your current setup keeps running the whole time.