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Compare 10 AI voice agents for real estate in 2026. Evaluate response time, CRM integration, multi-channel support, and scalability to find the right solution.

AI voice agents in real estate are all about response time, coverage and quick follow-through. If your system can't answer calls immediately, qualify intent, book tours and update your CRM without manual cleanup, it's not helping you win more deals; it's adding another layer for you to manage.

This guide isn't for browsing tools. It's for operators deciding whether to commit to AI voice agents in 2026 and ship something that actually helps you scale. We compare 10 platforms based on how they perform after signup, how fast you can go live, what breaks under real lead volume, and what it takes to keep them working week after week.

Top 10 AI Voice Agents for Real Estate (2026)

The goal here is simple: Helping you choose an option that you can launch confidently, not replace after the first integration headache.

1. Plivo

When aiming to build and scale AI voice agents for real estate, you care about two things: reaching prospects first and converting more inquiries into confirmed showings. Plivo excels here since it gives you production-ready AI voice agents that place instant callbacks, answer listing questions from your data, and book tours directly on your agents' calendars. They operate reliably across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat without stitching together telephony, AI models and messaging vendors.

Plivo is the AI agent builder platform for voice-first, omnichannel experiences—built on a carrier-grade telephony network trusted by Uber, Meta, Zomato, and thousands of businesses worldwide. Business teams can launch agents without writing code using Vibe agent. Engineering teams can orchestrate custom voice agents in code with full control. The foundation is Plivo's global communications infrastructure spanning 190+ countries: 15+ years of proven reliable infrastructure, low latency, and the call quality enterprises demand.

Core Capabilities:

Inbound & Outbound AI Voice Agents: Handle live calls end-to-end, qualify intent, route intelligently and escalate to human agents when needed.
Multi-Channel Agent Coverage: Run the same AI agent across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat with shared context across channels.
No-Code AI Agent Builder (Vibe): Build and deploy voice agents using plain-English instructions, no prompt engineering or coding required.
Build your way: Business teams launch with no-code tools; engineering teams build custom voice agents with full-code control. You're never forced into a single way of working.
Vertically Integrated Telephony (CPaaS): Voice runs on Plivo's own global telephony infrastructure, avoiding third-party carrier dependencies.
Low-Latency Voice AI Stack: Integrated TTS, STT and LLM orchestration enables sub-500ms response latency, critical for natural voice conversations.
Enterprise-Grade Reliability: Built on Plivo's proven CPaaS platform with 99.99% uptime, 15+ years of reliable infrastructure, and global carrier connectivity across 190+ countries.
CRM & Workflow Integrations: Pull customer context in real time and write call outcomes back to CRMs and support tools automatically. Connect Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Calendar, Outlook, and your MLS/IDX feed.
You own the stack: You get to choose your speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and LLM while keeping prompts and data portable and avoiding lock-in.

Best fit if you:

Need real-time voice agents that can operate continuously at scale.
Want to avoid stitching telephony, AI and messaging vendors together.
Plan to deploy across multiple channels, not voice alone.
Have defined workflows for lead qualification, routing or follow-ups.

Not a fit if you:

Only need a lightweight voice demo, basic IVR or short-term experiment.
Want a fully turnkey, real estate-specific tool with no configuration or workflow control.
Don't plan to integrate voice agents into your CRM, data stack or operations.

2. Luron AI

Luron AI is best suited for teams that need 24/7 AI voice agents that never miss calls and qualify leads automatically. It supports multilingual conversations and keeps pacing tight across accents and speaking styles. The system handles inbound and outbound voice conversations in dozens of languages and automates bookings and follow-ups without human staffing.

Core Capabilities:

Instant call answer & qualification: AI answers every call, gathers intent, and qualifies leads without hold times.
Multilingual support: Handles AI conversations in 45+ languages to cover diverse lead sources.
Inbound & outbound support: Manages both types of calls and can also run outbound follow-ups.
SMS, chat & email automation: Extends voice agents to text and messaging channels for a unified engagement approach.
CRM & integration options: Connects to existing phone systems via SIP trunking and can integrate with CRMs and ticket systems.

Best fit if you:

Want 24/7 lead capture and qualification without adding staff.
Need multilingual voice conversations for global or diverse markets.
Expect to automate bookings, follow-ups and reminders on voice and messaging channels.
Have a CRM or existing phone system you must integrate with.

Not a fit if you:

Only need a simple inbound answering or IVR replacement without automation.
Want a solution focused on voice only, with limited channel reach.
Prefer fixed, transparent pricing tiers publicly listed.

3. Callers AI

Callers AI is a platform for automating customer conversations with human-like voice agents that handle both inbound & outbound calls and messaging channels, powered by your brand's data and tone. It's focused on scaling high-volume voice interactions while maintaining contextual continuity across channels in a single branded voice experience.

Core Capabilities:

Omni-channel AI interactions: Voice agents run across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat from a central AI brain.
Human-like voice calls: Agents answer and place calls in a natural conversational style.
Lead workflows & use cases: Supports lead qualification, cold call automation, appointment confirmation, retention flows and more.
24/7 availability & language breadth: Designed to handle calls and messaging around the clock, in multiple languages.
Context remembering: Conversations carry context across voice and messaging so follow-ups feel continuous.
Integrations & automation: Connects to CRMs and tools (300+ integrations) so call outcomes can update your systems.

Best fit if you:

Want both inbound and outbound AI calling with consistent, natural-tone responses across channels.
Need an AI system that can qualify leads, confirm appointments and manage follow-ups automatically.
Are scaling high call volumes 24/7.
Prefer a central "brain" that keeps context across channels and workflows.

Not a fit if you:

Only want a basic voice or outbound dialer with limited cross-channel logic.
Need a tool focused exclusively on simple IVR or basic routing without AI conversation layers.
Prefer a product you can set up and forget in minutes without upfront configuration or workflow definition.

4. SquadStack AI

SquadStack AI is best suited for teams that want AI-assisted sales and voice engagement workflows supported by configurable human-in-the-loop automation. It blends automated outreach and qualification with options to escalate to human agents where needed, helpful for revenue teams that are focused on pipeline speed.

Core Capabilities:

Automated Lead Engagement: AI enabled workflows proactively contact prospects and qualify them using data-driven sequencing.
Voice & Messaging Channels: Supports outbound dialing, ringless voicemail, SMS and multi-touch sequences.
Human-in-the-Loop Escalation: Configurable handoffs to live agents when conversations need human judgment.
Sales Workflow Automation: Built-in logic for lead routing, prioritization and follow-ups across channels.
CRM Integration + Data Sync: Sync outcomes and engagement data back to CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.

Best fit if you:

Want inbound and outbound automated voice interactions with natural conversation flows and multilingual capability.
Need AI that handles lead qualification, follow-ups and reminders as part of sales or customer engagement sequences.
Are automating sales outreach and conversational workflows alongside voice calls.

Not a fit if you:

Need an AI platform focused on low-latency, bespoke voice agent infrastructure tied tightly to your own telephony stack.
Are building a multi-channel bot with CRM/telephony hooks and developer control from the ground up at scale.

5. Telgent

Telgent leans into MLS and portal context. It is best for businesses that want always-on voice AI calling with automated scheduling, intelligent call handling and quick setup. Its platform emphasizes immediate activation, seamless integration with existing phone systems and natural AI responses that handle calls, schedule meetings and engage customers day and night.

Core Capabilities:

24/7 AI voice calling agents: Always-on call automation that answers and routes customer calls at any hour.
Lead engagement & scheduling: Automatically books appointments, meetings and showings based on natural language conversations.
Inbound call handling: AI answers incoming inquiries, qualifies intent and routes prospects with minimal human intervention.
Automated inquiry responses: Provides instant answers to property questions and responds to rental or sales leads.
Integration with real estate systems: Works with Zillow, Realtor.com, MLS platforms, Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, Salesforce and HubSpot for CRM continuity.

Best fit if you:

Need round-the-clock call handling that captures leads and books appointments without missing inquiries.
Want your voice AI to integrate with core real estate tools and CRM systems so client details are synced automatically.
Are focused on lead conversion and showing scheduling as part of your customer engagement workflows.

Not a fit if you:

Only require basic outbound calling with simple scripts rather than inbound + scheduling automation.
Expect a no-config, plug-and-play voice bot that requires zero setup or customization.
Want a platform that handles only one channel (voice only) without extending into SMS/WhatsApp/chat automation.

6. AIOnCalls

AIOnCalls is positioned as a virtual receptionist that never misses calls or opportunities. Best for teams that want an always-on voice AI assistant that handles inbound and outbound calls around the clock, engages callers in natural language, qualifies leads, books appointments and updates CRM data.

Core Capabilities:

24/7 Inbound & Outbound Voice Handling: AI answers and places calls around the clock across all hours and holidays.
Lead Qualification & Follow-Up Automation: Qualifies callers in real time and automates follow-ups via voice, SMS and email.
Appointment Scheduling & Calendar Invites: Books appointments and sends confirmations during calls.
CRM & Workflow Integrations: Integrates with CRMs like Zoho, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Google Calendar for real-time lead syncing and activity logging.
Multilingual Conversations: Supports multiple languages and can handle simultaneous call sessions.
Live Agent Escalation: Transfers complex calls to human agents when needed.
Real-Time Analytics & Transcriptions: Provides live call monitoring, transcripts, sentiment analysis and dashboards.

Best fit if you:

Need an AI voice agent that never misses inbound calls and engages leads immediately, 24/7.
Want automated lead qualification, booking and follow-ups in voice, SMS, and email without human staffing.
Are integrating call outcomes and engagement data into CRM or calendar workflows.
Operate in industries where speed-to-lead matters and missed calls are costly.

Not a fit if you:

Only need simple IVR or on-premise call routing without conversational automation.
Prefer a pure telephony or developer API platform without built-in AI conversational layers.
Are looking for a voice agent with deep, specialized industry templates.

7. Brilo AI

Brilo AI is a business-focused AI phone and voice call agent platform that enables teams to automate real-time voice interactions across industries like real estate. It promises fast setup, natural human-like voice responses, 24/7 coverage, integration with business tools and built-in analytics, all without needing a technical team to get started.

Core Capabilities:

24/7 AI voice call agents: Always-on AI phone agents handle inbound calls and customer engagements at any hour.
Human-like voice interactions: Conversational voice responses built to sound natural and engaging.
Appointment booking & scheduling: Voice agents can book appointments with synced calendars and handle reminders.
CRM and business integrations: Integrates with a broad range of business apps (6,000+ app connections claimed) to sync customer context and outcomes.
Real-time analytics & insights: Live call transcripts, sentiment analysis, intent tracking and topic detection support actionable insights post-call.
Lead qualification automation: Agents engage prospects, capture intent and route high-value leads in real time.

Best fit if you:

Need 24/7 automated voice engagement that never misses inbound or high-volume calls for lead capture, scheduling or support.
Need a platform that books appointments, manages follow-ups and drives customer engagement without manual management.
Plan to integrate the voice agent with CRM, calendar tools and analytics pipelines to maintain context across systems.

Not a fit if you:

Simply need a basic phone tree, IVR or traditional call routing system.
Are focused solely on developer-centric API telephony without AI built in.
Require industry-specific compliance guarantees (HIPAA, PCI, etc.) documented publicly.

8. VocalDesk

VocalDesk is an AI-enabled voice and contact automation platform that helps teams automate calling, lead follow-up, support interactions and scheduling. Its focus is on automated voice conversations and multi-channel engagement with CRM integration and configurable workflows that replace manual outreach tasks.

Core Capabilities:

Automated Voice Conversations: Handles inbound and outbound calls using AI to engage, qualify, and route callers.
AI-Driven Lead Qualification: Automated conversation flows that marks lead intent and priority.
Appointment Booking & Reminders: Schedules meetings and sends reminders as part of automated flows.
Multichannel Messaging: Engages customers across voice, text and messaging platforms.
CRM & Workflow Sync: Connects with CRM systems and business tools to log interactions and maintain records.

Best fit if you:

Want to automate call handling and lead follow-up without manual dialing.
Need a solution that combines voice and messaging outreach with CRM context.
Are focused on lead qualification and scheduling as part of broader sales engagement.

Not a fit if you:

Only need basic call routing or IVR without AI handling.
Require explicit developer control over telephony APIs.
Rely on hard metrics like latency, concurrency limits or multi-region telephony SLAs.

9. Calldock

Calldock is an AI voice agent platform intended for instant lead engagement, automatic qualification and scheduling. Its system calls leads within seconds of form submission, conducts natural conversations and integrates with calendars and workflows to automate follow-ups and booking.

Core Capabilities:

Instant lead callbacks: Calls website leads within ~60 seconds of a submission, boosting early engagement.
Calendar booking: Agents can book appointments directly to your calendar during live calls.
Multi-channel follow-up: Agents send SMS and email follow-ups as part of the call workflow.
Seamless handoff & callbacks: You can trigger human handoffs in natural language and schedule intelligent callbacks.
API, webhooks, & integration ecosystem: Support for APIs and pre-call webhooks lets you fetch context before calls and connect with Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Zapier and thousands more.
Developer playground & documentation: Provides API documentation and code examples for triggered calls and automated workflows.

Best fit if you:

Want immediate lead engagement that happens in seconds.
Need voice agents that qualify, book and follow up automatically across voice, SMS and email.
Plan to integrate voice engagements with calendar and business workflows.
Need a voice agent that works with easy templates for common industries with minimal setup.
Want a low-code or no-code setup that goes live with simple configuration.

Not a fit if you:

Need proper inbound/outbound calling with API integration.
Require deep telephony infrastructure control or enterprise telephony SLAs.
Are building highly custom dialogue systems that need proprietary LLM tuning beyond the existing templates.

10. Ylopo

Ylopo is a digital marketing and lead gen platform built for the real estate industry. It combines lead capture, nurturing, AI voice calling, AI texting, branded websites and marketing automation into one system that integrates with CRMs and helps real estate teams generate and convert leads.

Core Capabilities:

AI Voice Follow-Up: Automatically calls new and existing leads to qualify interest and connect them to agents.
AI Text Conversations: Runs two-way SMS conversations to nurture leads until they're ready to talk.
AI² Voice + Text System: Combines calling and texting into one coordinated follow-up engine.
Automated Appointment Transfers: Delivers live transfers or booked appointments when leads are qualified.
Lead Generation & Nurture: Includes PPC ads, remarketing and IDX websites to capture and feed leads into AI follow-up.
CRM & Website Integration: Syncs AI conversations and lead activity with CRMs and branded real estate websites.

Best fit if you:

Want lead capture with nurturing as a unified system rather than isolated voice interaction tools.
Are a realtor or team that wants AI to automatically engage leads by text and phone, not just manage manual contacts.
Need branded websites with IDX search and integrated lead capture feeding into automated follow-up.
Plan to keep leads engaged over longer time horizons (e.g., 90-day voice follow-up).
Value combined marketing + AI follow-up rather than a single channel (voice only).

Not a fit if you:

Are looking for pure AI voice agent infrastructure like a telephony-first CPaaS platform.
Need tools focused on enterprise-grade telephony performance, low-latency voice systems or custom telephony workflows.

What Matters Most in AI Voice Agents (Beyond the Basics)

1. Telephony Ownership vs. Vendor Stitching

Many AI voice tools rely on third-party telephony stitched together with AI layers. This often introduces latency, call drops and limited routing control at scale.

What to prioritize:

Built-in telephony with direct carrier connectivity
End-to-end control over call routing and quality
Fewer external dependencies

Plivo runs on its own global CPaaS and carrier-grade telephony stack, removing third-party voice dependencies.

2. Real-Time Performance (Latency & Uptime)

Voice conversations break down quickly when responses lag or calls fail. Sub-second latency and high uptime aren't "nice to have"—they're mandatory.

What to validate:

Sub-500ms voice response latency
99.99% uptime or better
Real-time STT, TTS, and LLM orchestration

Plivo's vertically integrated Voice AI stack is designed for low-latency, real-time conversations on proven infrastructure.

3. Multi-Channel Context, Not Disconnected Bots

Leads move between calls, SMS, WhatsApp and chat. Treating each channel as a separate bot creates broken experiences and duplicate work.

What to look for:

Shared context across voice and messaging
Unified conversation history
Seamless handoffs between channels

Plivo supports multi-channel agents that share context across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat from a single system.

4. Integration Depth (CRM, Calendars, Workflows)

Voice agents don't operate in isolation. Without deep integrations, they become another silo your team has to manage.

Prioritize platforms that:

Read from and write to CRMs in real time
Trigger workflows during live calls
Integrate cleanly with calendars and support tools

Plivo integrates directly with CRMs and business systems, allowing agents to act on live data and update records automatically.

5. Built for Scale, Not Just Launch

Many tools work well for pilots but struggle under sustained call volume or multi-region deployment.

Ask:

Can this run continuously without degradation?
Are pricing and performance predictable as usage grows?
Will this still work when channels or regions expand?

Plivo's AI agents are built on infrastructure that already powers enterprise-grade voice and messaging at global scale.

FAQs

What's the fastest way to go live without breaking existing operations?

Start with a single, contained flow like after-hours inbound calls or instant lead callbacks. Connect your phone numbers, CRM and calendar, define escalation rules and launch! You can expand coverage once live data validates the flow.

How do I ensure voice quality doesn't feel robotic or laggy?

Voice quality depends on latency and telephony control. Platforms with integrated telephony and real-time STT/TTS orchestration keep responses sub-second, which is critical for natural conversations that callers don't hang up on.

How does the agent stay accurate and compliant with real estate data?

The agent should pull from a restricted, curated knowledge source (MLS, IDX, listings) and operate within defined guardrails. When questions exceed scope like pricing nuance, legal terms, fair-housing-sensitive topics, it escalates to a human automatically.

What happens when call volume spikes or multiple leads call at once?

Calls don't fail—they should queue. High-intent conversations can be routed to live agents, while others are qualified, scheduled or followed up asynchronously. Every outcome is logged so nothing gets lost.

How does this fit into my CRM and follow-up workflows?

The agent reads live CRM data during calls and writes outcomes back automatically in the form of notes, disposition, next steps and booked appointments. Your team picks up conversations with full context instead of starting from scratch.

Try Plivo Free

Curious how an AI voice platform performs in your workflows, not just in theory? Plivo offers a free trial account with credits so you can experiment with voice, SMS, WhatsApp and chat services before committing. When you sign up, you get trial credits, can add a phone number and start testing features like real-time voice interactions and multi-channel engagement using APIs or visual tools like PHLO. This lets you validate performance, integrations, and call flows with your actual data—all without upfront cost.

Plivo's trial lets you test core capabilities immediately, making it easy to see how quickly you can build, launch, and refine agents that handle calls, qualify leads and update systems in real time.

Get started with your free trial now and begin building your first agent today.

Jan 20, 2026

5 mins

Best AI Voice Agents for Customer Support and Service (2026): What to Deploy Now

Compare 10 AI voice agent platforms for customer support. Get a practical 30-day pilot framework, implementation workflow, and outcome-driven selection guide.

1) Plivo — The fastest path to production-grade AI voice agents for customer support

A recent Gartner survey found that most customer service leaders plan to explore or pilot conversational GenAI in 2025—making a clear, near-term mandate to deliver something that works on the phone channel, not just in chat. That's your cue to build a reliable voice front door with an AI agent builder platform designed for voice-first, omnichannel experiences.

Why Plivo is #1

Plivo is the AI agent builder platform that lets you build your way. Whether you're a business leader who needs to launch fast or an engineering team building custom workflows, Plivo meets you where you are. Start with no-code tools that let non-technical teams deploy agents in hours. Go deeper with low-code orchestration for more control. Or build from scratch with full-code frameworks that integrate into your existing stack. You're never forced into a single way of working.

What it does for you

Plivo's Voice AI stack is modular by design. Want speed? Use the fully integrated platform—STT, LLM, TTS, and telephony—pre-configured and ready to go. Want control? Orchestrate your agents using code with Plivo's Agentic STT models and Telephony, alongside your preferred LLM providers. Want just the connectivity layer? Use audio streaming or SIP trunking and bring everything else yourself. You decide where Plivo ends and your stack begins.

Underlying it all is a reliable, carrier-grade telephony platform that scales for enterprises—global PSTN/SIP connectivity, number provisioning and porting, call routing with failover, recording with consent, and clean human handoff with full context into your CRM or help desk.

Segment-by-segment fit

If you're SMB, launch fast with no-code tools that let you deploy agents in hours, plus a simple dashboard and connectors for Shopify and Calendly. If you're mid-market, use low-code orchestration for more control, with a modular stack that lets you use what you need—swap in your preferred LLM, STT, or TTS. If you're enterprise, build with full-code frameworks that integrate into your existing stack, plus a modular Voice AI stack to pick-and-choose what you need, governance features (RBAC, audit transcripts, data residency), and contact center integration for high availability and reporting.

Start with Voice, go everywhere

Voice is the hardest channel to get right—and it's where Plivo leads. But the same flexible building experience extends to WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and Chat. Build once, deploy across channels, and meet customers wherever they are.

Suitable for

Fintech customer service: consent-first flows, secure keypad capture, dispute status, and callbacks.
Healthcare scheduling: multilingual intake, appointment changes, escalations with a summarized handoff.
Retail and logistics: order status, returns, delivery windows, and SMS/WhatsApp follow-ups.

No more choosing between a locked-in platform that's easy but limiting, or a DIY approach that's flexible but painful. Plivo gives you both—simplicity when you want it, depth when you need it.

Explore the Voice API, check pricing, review compliance, handle numbers & porting, browse case studies, or jump into the quickstart.

2) Google Dialogflow CX — Complex, branching flows without spaghetti

Key features

Dialogflow CX uses a flow-and-page model to capture state and branching, so you can manage multi-step intents like returns, warranty claims, and multi-factor verification without dozens of brittle intents. It supports voice and text and includes versioning, experiments, and test tools. For telephony, you can use partner gateways or SIP; for global reach, put Plivo at the edge and connect to CX.

Why it matters

Complicated support journeys need explicit state. CX gives you that structure. If your "Where's my order?" workflow forks based on identity checks, fulfillment method, and policy windows, you can keep logic readable and testable. CX also plays well with multilingual experiences and mixed initiative, so callers can change course mid-conversation.

Implementation steps

Start with a single high-volume journey and draw it as a CX flow. Add a fallback page with a short menu for noisy lines. Ground the bot in your knowledge base and order system, then add handoff rules. Put Plivo in front for numbers, routing, and recording consent, and pass summaries back to your ticketing system.

Suitable for

Teams with multiple brands or product lines, where branching grows quickly and consistency matters across regions.

3) Amazon Lex + Amazon Connect — AWS-first voice automation that ops can own

Key features

Lex handles the speech and NLU for voice and text. Connect adds the contact-center fabric: routing, IVR, call recording, and agent desktop. It's a natural fit if your data and apps live in AWS and security prefers IAM-managed access. For global numbers or bring-your-own carrier control, front with Plivo and route into Connect.

Why it matters

Staying inside AWS accelerates procurement, security reviews, and monitoring. You can call Lambdas for tool use, search knowledge with Kendra, and use Connect metrics and contact flows your ops team already knows. That shortens time to value and concentrates governance in one place.

Implementation steps

Define one call flow in Connect (ID&V → status lookup → handoff). Build Lex intents from your top FAQs. Add Plivo for number management, routing, and failover. Send summaries back to your CRM or help desk. Keep a barge-in plan for noisy environments and a keypad fallback for payment flows.

Suitable for

IT-led programs where AWS standardization, auditability, and a single pane of glass for monitoring are priorities.

4) IBM Watson Assistant — Governance-first deployments in regulated industries

Key features

Watson Assistant supports omnichannel conversations with documented security and governance options, including deployment paths designed for regulated workloads. If your risk office leads the decision, IBM provides clear guidance on audit logging, data handling, and architectural choices. Add Plivo to handle PSTN/SIP, call consent prompts, and compliant recording policies.

Why it matters

Financial services and healthcare teams often need auditability from day one. When you need clear data-handling boundaries and deployment models that align with internal controls, IBM's documentation and support track help you pass reviews without months of back-and-forth.

Implementation steps

Map your data-classification rules to Watson's deployment options. Keep contact recordings and transcriptions in your approved storage. Use Plivo's routing and consent prompts to standardize intake across regions. Summarize calls into your case system for full traceability.

Suitable for

Organizations with heavy compliance needs, strict data residency, or formal audit trails for every customer interaction.

5) Cognigy.AI — IVR modernization with fine-grained voice control

Key features

Cognigy combines a visual designer with a voice gateway that supports streaming ASR, interruptibility, and transfer control. It integrates with multiple speech providers and enterprise systems like SAP and Salesforce. This lets you tune barge-in sensitivity, error handling, and handoff cues rather than living with a one-size-fits-all IVR.

Why it matters

If callers still hear a menu tree, you're wasting time and goodwill. Cognigy helps you replace rigid menus with natural conversations and graceful escalation. You keep the levers you need—timing, sensitivity, fallback prompts—so the agent feels human, not scripted.

Implementation steps

Start with the two intents that create the most queue time. Set barge-in thresholds conservatively and widen them after you test in live traffic. Put Plivo at the edge to manage numbers, recording policies, and failover. Send summaries with disposition tags to your CRM.

Suitable for

Enterprises with legacy IVRs, high call volumes, and a clear need to reduce effort without ripping out the contact-center core.

6) Salesforce Agentforce — CRM-native service automation where your team works

Key features

Agentforce brings AI agents into the Salesforce console and data model. Your service team stays in the view they know, while the agent handles common intents, drafts summaries, and routes cases. Add Plivo for calling so every phone interaction lands in Salesforce with the right context.

Why it matters

When everything you need to resolve an issue already lives in Salesforce, keeping the agent there shortens integration time and improves analytics. Supervisors can coach on the same dashboard and review case summaries, while admins maintain clear governance over data and automations.

Implementation steps

Pick one queue with repetitive calls. Tie identity checks to account data and warranties. Keep a "press 0 for a human" fallback and make sure the agent passes a clean summary with next steps. Use Plivo for the phone edge so call recordings and consent are consistent across regions.

Suitable for

Service teams that treat Salesforce as the system of record and want automation to feel native—not bolted on.

7) Zoom Virtual Agent for Phone — A 24/7 receptionist and concierge

Key features

Zoom's Virtual Agent for Phone handles greetings, routing, and the most common requests. You train it from existing docs and site content, then turn it on for after-hours or full-time reception. It's built for quick wins like appointment scheduling, store hours, and simple status checks with transfers when needed.

Why it matters

If reception lines clog your switchboard, a front-door voice agent can deflect simple questions without new headcount. As you add skills, you can expand from triage to completing tasks. For broader reach, connect Plivo to add global numbers and transactional notifications via SMS or WhatsApp.

Implementation steps

Start with greeting, business hours, and routing. Add appointment booking next. Keep live-agent transfers one click away. If you outgrow the PBX perimeter, bring Plivo in to manage numbers and cross-channel follow-ups.

Suitable for

Single-number switchboards, high-volume reception desks, and teams that need a quick, always-on front door.

8) Sierra — Enterprise "autonomous" agents with category momentum

Key features

Sierra focuses on enterprise-grade AI agents for customer service with an emphasis on agentic workflows. The leadership and market traction give executives confidence to back bigger bets. If you're evaluating multi-channel automation with rigorous SLAs, Sierra is a credible short-list option. Plug it into Plivo for reliable telephony, recording consent, and global routing.

Why it matters

Momentum reduces perceived risk. When you need cross-functional buy-in, a vendor that's already in enterprise production helps. You still need the phone edge right: numbers, routing, and failover that won't buckle under peaks.

Implementation steps

Define two end-to-end journeys (e.g., ID&V + order update; returns approval). Keep human handoff one step away and capture every call summary in your case system. Instrument containment and transfers, then iterate weekly.

Suitable for

Large teams planning multi-channel agents and looking for vendor accountability with clear deliverables and timelines.

9) Tidio (Lyro) — SMB eCommerce chat that pairs well with voice

Key features

Tidio blends live chat, an AI agent, and eCommerce integrations. It's a practical way to resolve repetitive questions, free up your team, and capture intent while buyers are on your site. Add Plivo for a simple order-status line and SMS/WhatsApp updates so customers get answers by phone as well as chat.

Why it matters

eCommerce teams need fast coverage more than complex architectures. You can start with FAQs, then add checkout and account questions. When phone calls spike—promos, holidays—route a basic voice flow through Plivo and keep your agent consistent across channels.

Implementation steps

Load your top FAQs and shipping policies, add a returns flow, and set clear handoff rules. For voice, route a single Plivo number to a lightweight agent that authenticates by order ID and ZIP code, then offers a callback option during peaks.

Suitable for

Lean teams that want to reduce repetitive chat volume now and add phone coverage without standing up a full contact center.

10) Robylon — Multi-channel AI agents focused on support teams

Key features

Robylon specializes in AI-driven customer support across voice, chat, email, and messaging. It integrates with help desks like Zendesk and Freshdesk, supports multiple languages, and offers analytics dashboards designed for service leaders. It's a pragmatic fit if your help desk is the hub of your operation.

Why it matters

You want human-like conversations that escalate cleanly. Robylon's positioning around support workflows means your ticketing, SLAs, and dispositions stay intact. For reliable calling, use Plivo for numbers, routing, and recording consent so your phone channel matches the quality of your chat channel.

Implementation steps

Start with account updates and appointment scheduling. Ground the agent in your help-desk knowledge base and macros. Track resolution time and transfer reasons; refine weekly.

Suitable for

Mid-market support teams who want a focused system that plugs into existing help-desk processes and expands to voice without heavy lifting.

How to run a safe, high-signal pilot in 30 days

Define success first

Pick three metrics: containment, transfer rate, and average resolution time. Write a one-line target for each and a go/no-go threshold. Everyone should know what "good" looks like before you take your first call.

Start with narrow, high-volume intents

"Where's my order?", appointment changes, returns, account updates. These are predictable, frequent, and measurable. Script your handoff sentence so agents never start from zero.

Build the right guardrails

Add a consent prompt, a keypad fallback for sensitive inputs, and a short backup menu for noisy environments. Keep the escalations simple: one route for billing, one for everything else.

Ground every answer

Connect the agent to your CRM/help desk and knowledge base. If the answer doesn't exist in your source of truth, escalate. Summarize every call into the ticket with disposition and next steps.

Iterate weekly

Review 20 call transcripts together. Fix the top three friction points. Update prompts and knowledge. Ship changes. Repeat.

FAQ

What's the fastest way to launch a voice agent without changing my stack?

Keep your telephony and routing on Plivo, connect your preferred conversation engine, and ground it in your CRM/help desk and knowledge base. Start with one number, one intent, and a simple fallback.

How should I measure success in the first 30 days?

Track containment, transfer rate, and resolution time. Listen for barge-in moments and interruptions—they reveal prompt and timing issues that you can fix quickly.

How do I implement consent, recording, and PCI/PHI safely?

Play a clear consent prompt before any recording. Use keypad input for payments or sensitive data. Store recordings and transcripts in approved systems and keep audit logs.

When is Dialogflow CX better than Lex, IBM, or Cognigy?

Choose CX for complex branching flows and multilingual journeys; Lex when your team standardizes on AWS; IBM when governance and deployment control are paramount; Cognigy when you're modernizing IVR with fine-grained voice settings.

How do I handle accents, noise, and barge-in in production?

Use a robust ASR, tune your barge-in sensitivity, and keep a keypad fallback. Test in noisy environments and shorten prompts. Summaries help human agents pick up without asking callers to repeat themselves.

Conclusion: Build the voice edge once, then scale what works

A measured result to anchor ROI. McKinsey reported that, at one company with thousands of agents, applying generative AI raised issue resolution and lowered handling time—small percentage gains that compound into real savings at scale. That's the kind of lift your leadership expects—and the reason to start with a focused pilot that moves one metric.

Bring your "brain" of choice, but keep the phone edge on Plivo so every call connects, every consent is captured, and every handoff carries context. Define three KPIs, pick one journey, and go live with a human fallback. Review transcripts weekly, then scale to the next two intents.

Ready to hear what real-time voice feels like? Build your agent or talk to an expert today.

Jun 19, 2025

5 mins

RCS Marketing 101: Your Complete Guide

Discover how RCS marketing delivers rich, branded messages that drive engagement for your business.

SMS marketing works, but let’s be honest: it feels a bit outdated compared to modern apps.

But what if you could send rich, interactive messages with branded content, images, buttons, and carousels straight to your customers’ native messaging apps?

Rich communication services (RCS) makes that possible.

If you’re ready to explore how RCS marketing can transform your engagement strategy, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know. Let’s get started.

What is RCS marketing?

RCS marketing uses rich communication services to send interactive, branded messages through a customer’s default messaging app. It’s a modern upgrade to SMS that lets businesses share images, buttons, carousels, and more — all without needing third-party apps.

A user on Reddit summed up this perfectly:

Screenshot of a Reddit comment explaining what RCS is — *RCS explained by a Reddit user*

RCS lets you send messages that are visually branded with logos and colors while remaining interactive. This turns static updates into an app-like experience inside a message.

This shift is part of a broader industry move, led by Google and backed by major mobile carriers, to upgrade messaging infrastructure and make RCS the default standard on Android devices.

As support continues to grow, businesses are adopting RCS as part of their customer engagement strategy. Platforms like Plivo make that adoption easier with a reliable, enterprise-grade gateway to deliver rich, reliable RCS campaigns at scale.

RCS vs. SMS marketing: A quick comparison

Marketers today are looking for ways to deliver more interactive and visual communication, and RCS is clearly leading the way.

While SMS still works well for simple alerts, it lacks the creativity and engagement that RCS marketing offers.

Let’s take a quick look at RCS vs. SMS marketing.

Key feature	SMS marketing	RCS marketing
Message length	Limited to 160 characters; with longer messages split	Up to 8,000 characters in a single message
Multimedia	Supports only plain text and links; needs MMS for multimedia	Natively supports high-resolution photos, videos, audio, and GIFs
Security and verification	No built-in sender verification	Includes verified sender profiles with business name, logo, and custom colors
Read receipts	No standardized way to know if a message was delivered or read	Provides delivery and read receipts for real-time engagement tracking
Typing indicators	Doesn't show when the other party is typing	Displays typing indicators, creating a more conversational feel
Interactive buttons	Not supported; calls to action (CTAs) are limited to plain text links	Allows interactive buttons with predefined replies and actions
User experience	Static, text-heavy, and transactional	Dynamic, visually rich, and conversational — feels more like a mobile app
Analytics and reporting	Basic delivery tracking (if supported by carrier)	Advanced analytics: opens, clicks, conversions, and user behavior tracking

4 key benefits of RCS marketing

RCS marketing makes messaging feel more natural for both you and your customers. And since you can see what’s working and what’s not, it’s easier to pivot your strategy and get better results.

Here are its four key benefits.

1. Improved user interaction

One of the biggest advantages of RCS marketing is how seamless it makes the experience for your customers. Instead of typing out replies or clicking a link to open a website, users can just tap a button right inside the message.

Want them to book a demo, check order status, or browse products? It’s all possible with just a tap.

Fewer steps mean less effort, and that leads to more people following through. In fact, individuals spend up to 37 seconds engaging with RCS messages, which is a lot longer than most other types of mobile messaging.

Image showing the engagement results of RCS messaging — *People engage more with RCS than any other platform*

That extra time and interaction can make all the difference when you’re trying to convert interest into action.

2. Consistent brand experience

RCS marketing doesn’t just tell people who you are — it shows them.

Verified business profiles help people know they’re getting messages from the real brand. Every message shows your brand’s logo, name, colors, and a checkmark. These small details make it clear that the message is coming from a genuine source.

Image showing that MAYI - HOMES sends a verified RCS message with branding — *Verified RCS message from MAYI - HOMES*

This consistency matters because 88% of people are more likely to buy from a brand they trust.

3. In-depth analytics

With RCS marketing, you can track open rates, button clicks, and how people interact with each part of your message.

You get clear visibility into what’s working and where users are dropping off.

This makes it much easier to measure the return on investment (ROI) and fine-tune your campaigns. The more you understand how people engage, the better you can shape your messaging for results.

4. Higher conversion potential

RCS marketing makes it easier for customers to take action — whether that’s browsing products, booking a service, or making a purchase — all within the message itself.

With fewer clicks and no need to switch apps, the path to conversion feels effortless. And when it’s that easy, more people follow through.

For example, EaseMyTrip used RCS to run a post-COVID travel survey. They added quick-tap answer options and followed up with a thank-you coupon. The campaign saw a 4x higher click-through rate than email, 10x more survey completions, and a 2.7% increase in conversion rate.

5 major use cases of RCS marketing

Here are five major use cases showing how brands are using RCS marketing effectively.

1. Product promotions

RCS makes product promotions feel more like browsing a store than reading a message. Brands can send image carousels that customers can swipe through to explore new arrivals, check product details, and see what’s available without leaving their messaging app.

Verified RCS message highlights a 25% off promotion on all items — Verified RCS message from Daily-donuts

Example: A fashion retailer promoting its spring collection could send an RCS message featuring a carousel of outfits with styled images, prices, and buttons like “View Lookbook” or “Shop Now.”

Tapping a button could open a mini product page inside the chat, letting customers browse and buy without switching apps.

2. Abandoned cart reminders

The average cart abandonment rate is over 70%, which means most shoppers never make it to the finish line. RCS marketing can help bring them back by making the reminder more engaging and easier to act on.

You can send a message that shows exactly what they left behind, along with a clear button to complete the purchase. It’s visual, straightforward, and the entire experience stays within their messaging app.

Example: A home electronics store could follow up with customers who left a pair of wireless earbuds in their cart. The RCS message might include a product photo, the price, and a “Buy Now” button that takes them straight to checkout.

3. Appointment confirmations and reminders

A PhD thesis from Manchester Metropolitan University found that forgetfulness is the most common reason people skip their appointments.

RCS makes it easier for both businesses and customers to stay on the same page. You can send a message that shows the appointment details along with a simple calendar view. Add buttons to confirm, reschedule, or cancel — all within the chat.

Image depicting an interactive RCS booking confirmation message — Booking confirmation via RCS with quick action buttons

Example: A dental clinic could use RCS to remind patients of upcoming cleanings. The message might show the date, time, and location of the appointment, plus a “Confirm” button and options to “Reschedule” or “Cancel.”

Patients can respond instantly, helping the clinic manage its schedule more efficiently.

4. Customer surveys and feedback

Getting feedback is important, but most customers lack the time or patience to complete lengthy forms. RCS marketing makes it easier by allowing brands to ask short, targeted questions and receive quick responses.

Plus, the rich features of RCS let you include images, ratings, or multiple-choice options, making feedback feel more like a conversation.

Example: A restaurant could send an RCS message after a meal asking customers to rate their experience with simple buttons like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Needs Improvement.”

The message might also include a photo of the dish they ordered and a quick question like, “What did you like most?” This quick interaction makes it easy for customers to respond and gives the restaurant valuable insights.

5. Customer support follow-ups

After a support request is resolved, following up shows customers you care and helps close the loop on their experience. But if the follow-up message gets buried in an email inbox or goes unnoticed, that opportunity to connect is lost.

With RCS marketing, you can send a quick message to check if everything’s working fine. You can include helpful buttons like “Change Password,” “Manage Account,” or “Talk to Support.”

Support bot provides instant replies and follow-ups for customer queries — AI-powered support for account management

RCS marketing myths and realities

Despite RCS marketing’s growing adoption and proven results, some common misconceptions still hold businesses back from trying it. Let’s look at a few of the biggest myths and what’s actually true.

Myth 1: RCS marketing is too expensive

At first glance, RCS business messaging can seem like a pricey upgrade. Rich visuals, tap-to-action buttons, and branded layouts look premium, so it’s easy to assume they come with a hefty cost.

But cost alone doesn’t tell the full story.

What you get in return matters more. RCS drives significantly stronger engagement with higher click-through rates, increased interactions, and better overall outcomes.

Take Club Comex, the loyalty program of North American paint brand Comex. They sent two rich and interactive RCS campaigns to their members and saw a 10x higher click-through rate, which helped increase revenue by 115%.

That’s the value side of the equation. Better targeting and richer content mean more people click, engage, and convert.

Myth 2: RCS marketing doesn’t reach enough users to be worth it

This concern made sense in the early days of RCS, when adoption was still catching up. But the landscape looks very different now.

In June 2024, the 12-month growth of RCS users reached 36.3%, showing faster uptake than other messaging channels. More Android devices support RCS by default, and it’s being rolled out across more networks globally. Even Apple has announced support, which means RCS is on track to reach a massive number of smartphone users worldwide.

With that kind of growth and widespread support, the hesitation around RCS is starting to fade. Brands can confidently invest in RCS marketing knowing it will connect with more customers than ever before.

Myth 3: RCS gets treated like spam and ends up ignored just like emails

Unlike email, RCS messages appear directly in the user’s primary messaging app alongside personal conversations. They include rich media and interactive elements, making them more engaging and less likely to be ignored.

This creates a more natural, conversational experience that drives higher open and response rates than traditional marketing channels.

Why choose Plivo for your RCS marketing needs

With RCS, you can turn simple messages into rich, branded conversations that feel more like chatting than broadcasting.

Plivo gives you the tools to make that shift without the hassle. From verified messaging to smart automation, everything works together to help you connect better and respond faster.

When combined with AI Agents and a unified customer data platform, RCS becomes more than just messaging. You can deliver personalized experiences at scale, automate everyday interactions, and keep conversations flowing without lifting a finger.

Here’s what you get with Plivo’s RCS API:

Real-time personalization: AI Agents tailor conversations using customer profiles and behavior triggers to improve engagement and conversions.
Multi-channel fallback: If RCS isn’t supported, messages automatically switch to SMS to ensure delivery and maintain consistent communication.
Conversational automation: AI Agents handle FAQs, process orders, schedule deliveries, and route complex queries within RCS.
All-in-one messaging platform: Manage RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and more from a single dashboard.
Reliable performance: 99.99% uptime and global infrastructure keep your campaigns running smoothly.

With Plivo’s no-code tools, you can quickly launch AI-powered RCS messaging across channels and deliver a consistent customer experience from day one.

See how you can launch your first RCS marketing campaign with Plivo by requesting a demo today!

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Aug 10, 2020

5 mins

Introducing Automatic Speech Recognition

Configure engaging, voice-driven user experiences on Plivo with Speech Recognition (ASR) to text API

Voice API

Speech Recognition

Speech recognition has become increasingly pervasive in recent years. This technology helps businesses provide a better customer experience and reduce organizational costs.

You can now take advantage of automatic speech recognition (ASR) with Plivo’s GetInput XML, an easy way to configure engaging, voice-driven user experiences.

Plivo’s ASR technology eliminates the heavy lifting that’s often associated with building AI-driven voice interactions. Our ASR helps build responsive applications that act on partial recognition results as your customer speaks, and we’re able to make voice transcriptions available to your application in real time.

Here are some ways ASR can enhance your end user experience, as well as help your customer service agents work more efficiently.

Conversational IVR: Upgrade a manual, traditional IVR menu to a speech-driven experience that gets callers the answers they seek faster. Conversational IVR can do more than just say “Press 1.”
Voice search: Build virtual assistants that intelligently provide relevant information based on the user’s query.
Surveys and form fills: Prompt users with questions and automatically capture and transcribe their answers to fill out forms and surveys.

How does it work?

Plivo routes user responses based on a speech or a digit-selection prompt. When collecting a user’s speech as input, Plivo transcribes and relays the spoken phrases to the specified action URL in real time. When collecting input through digit press, the digits entered by the user are relayed to the specified action URL. For more information, see our documentation.

How much does it cost?

The amount you’re charged for ASR is based on the duration of the analyzed speech. Charges are calculated as USD $0.02 per 15-second pulse (rounded up). For example, if speech was recognized for 35 seconds, the account would be billed for 45 seconds (15 * 3) of speech.

What are some key features of Plivo’s ASR functionality?

Extensive language support: Plivo supports speech recognition for 27 major languages and their regional variants.

Speech adaptation with hints: Improve speech recognition accuracy by providing a set of hint words and phrases expected from the speaker. This feature can improve transcription accuracy of proper nouns, homophones (one, won), and domain-specific words rarely used in everyday conversation.

Prebuilt models: Reduce the amount of time spent configuring an IVR system and select from a range of prebuilt models, depending on your use case.

Profanity filter: Keep your transcriptions clean, and identify and monitor the use of profanity. The profanity filter masks specific words in the transcriptions programmatically forwarded to your application.

Simultaneous input detection: Augment your existing IVR applications with speech by enabling the simultaneous detection of DTMF and speech input — in other words, you can now prompt, “Press 1 or say ‘yes’ to accept.”

Advanced end-of-speech detection: Automatically detect the end of the user’s speech. Advanced timeout controls help configure end of speech detection behavior.

Interim transcription results: Reduce response times by receiving transcription results in real time with each word spoken by the caller.

Getting started

Getting started with ASR is easy. Head over to our product guide for detailed references and code samples. All Plivo server SDKs come with helper functions to work with GetInput XML. Read our language-specific guides on getting started with Plivo Voice API.

Not using Plivo yet? Getting started takes just five minutes. Sign up today!

Jul 30, 2020

5 mins

Best Practices for Using Short Codes with an SMS API

What you need to know about short codes — common use cases, capabilities, and regulations — and how to leverage your SMS API provider.

Short Codes

Short codes offer a clean, fast, and legally compliant option for sending high-volume, one-way application-to-person (A2P) communications. Before you consider them, however, you should understand the common use case for short codes; what makes short codes a powerful, fast, and reliable medium; and the requirements for short code approval.

Common uses cases for short codes

The regulation and logistics surrounding short code usage are complex. Companies sometimes jump into A2P messaging without a clear understanding of how they should use short codes rather than other number types.

One of the most common myths about short code usage is that it’s only effective for marketing campaigns. In fact, you can use short codes in a variety of high-impact transactional applications across different industries.

For example, restaurants and food delivery services use short codes to update customers on the status of their table, order, or food delivery. Hotel chains, airlines, and parking companies use short codes to remind their guests of upcoming reservations or to handle itinerary changes.

SaaS applications and data storage providers often use short codes and an SMS API to support two-factor authentication, which is a convenient, cost-effective way to keep sensitive customer information and data secure by leveraging SMS to provide the “something they have” layer of 2FA.

In the public sphere, schools use short codes to update parents and students about closures or announce events. Municipalities and safety agencies use short code SMS to deliver emergency alerts, such as sudden weather changes or AMBER alerts. Shipping services like FedEx, USPS, and UPS use short codes to update residents on package statuses, including delivery notifications or delays. Political organizations leverage short codes to support voting, polling, and surveys to gauge public opinion.

While short codes are a dynamic and an effective way to deliver a wide range of A2P communications, they’re not the best number type for all promotional or transactional messaging.

When not to use short codes

If you’re sending a low-volume promotional campaign — fewer than 10 messages per second — it’s more cost-effective to use a toll-free number enabled for SMS or number pooling over long codes. Plivo can help you select the most appropriate number format and optimize your campaigns so that you remain in compliance with the regulations for text messaging set by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).

What makes short codes powerful and reliable

SMS messages offer an immediate and powerful method for reaching customers. According to mobile research firm MobileSQUARED, 90% of people read their text messages within three minutes of receiving them.

When you combine this high read rate with the high-volume capabilities of A2P short code communications, you can reach more of your end users faster than you could with long codes or toll-free numbers. Plus, short codes are the only preapproved number type for sending promotional messages. This preapproval by the CTIA and Common Short Code Administration (CSCA) means short codes also have more consistent, reliable delivery rates than their long code or toll-free counterparts.

Similarly, short code communications are less likely to be blocked at the carrier level as spam because of their preapproved CTIA status. Before a company can use a short number, the CTIA reviews their program — a process that can take up to six weeks — to ensure that it meets the association’s guidelines.

Plivo can help you with the administrative legwork of getting approval, and advise you on how to compose short code campaigns so they have the best chance of getting approved. More on this later.

Rate limits on messaging via long codes makes them an inefficient way to send high-volume promotional or transactional messages, which often need to reach tens of thousands of recipients with time-sensitive information. While long code communications are limited to one message sent per four-second interval and up to 200 messages per day per number, short code messages can be sent out at the much faster rate of 50 messages per second.

Type	Send Rates	Advantage	Disadvantage
Long code SMS, two-way and conversational	1 SMS every 4 seconds, up to 200 messages per day per number	Can be the lowest cost option. Immediate provisioning.	Not good for one-to-many messages. Number pooling and rotation required.
Short code SMS, one-to-many communications	Up to 100 messages per second	Good for high volume	Can be expensive. Setup time may be up to six weeks.
Toll-free SMS, similar to long codes	Up to 10 messages per second in the US	Supports higher volume than long codes	Only available in the US. Some carrier limitations.
Alphanumeric sender ID, one-way SMS in select international destinations	No rate limits on alphanumeric and international	Can be used for branding. Does not always require registration.	Only available for outbound SMS and in select countries.
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Additionally, you can easily customize short code campaigns for different use cases, with campaign tracking for better deliverability.

Requirements for short code approval

Carriers must approve a short code and its content before rollout (and conduct audits at later dates). To gain approval, your short code must meet a few requirements.

A clear call to action (CTA)

A clear call to action doesn’t just encourage recipients to interact with the company sending the short code communication — it describes exactly what information customers will get if they sign up.

A clear CTA should include:

The company and program name
A program description, including how often recipients will get messages
A link to the program’s terms and conditions
Opt-in and opt-out instructions
Instructions on contacting customer support
Additional carrier cost disclosures for message and data rates

These requirements ensure that end users can recognize promotional and transactional messages.

An acceptable opt-in method

Before you can send promotional or transactional A2P messages to recipients, you need to get express written consent from end users. To do this, get opt-in via text message through a keyword, an online form, or an in-person, in-store signup.

Companies can get opt-in from customers in a number of ways:

Online phone number entry
A mobile-oriented message that includes the opt-in keyword
In-store, point-of-sale signup
Opt-in button on a mobile web page
Interactive voice response (IVR) opt-in via phone call

To ensure you can prove compliance with the CTIA opt-in regulations, you should store customer records electronically.

Templatized content and message flow

For each short code program, you must submit a template of the content you plan to send for CTIA approval. Additionally, you must use one of the three approved message flows when sending communications to customers:

One-time messages: These transactional, nonrecurring messages are triggered when a recipient sends in a keyword, resulting in a single, immediate text message.
Recurring messages: These subscription-based communications require customers to opt in to receive multiple ongoing messages and dictate that businesses must include opt-out instructions in the first communication.
Two-factor authentication: These communications are used to verify the identity of the customer with a third-party service using a combination of two of the following: a password, a mobile phrase or authentication, or a fingerprint.

By ensuring every company complies with the above criteria, the CTIA can maintain a consistent user experience for recipients.

Terms and conditions

If you’re using short codes for transactional or promotional messaging, you must include the full terms and conditions for your programs on a web-accessible page. These terms and conditions pages can be shared between programs (unlike opt-ins) but must all contain the following information:

Sponsor information and program description that tells the reader what the company does and what the program is for
Call to action that includes opt-in instructions
Statement of recurrence disclaimer for campaigns that are ongoing
Additional carrier cost disclosure that includes the phrase “message and data rates may apply” or “Msg&DataRatesMayApply”
Active keywords that are used to control the recipient’s involvement in the program (such as HELP or STOP)
An explanation of opt-out mechanisms that explain how people can opt out of the program
Customer support information in case recipients need additional information
Link to the privacy policy that details how the company ensures the privacy of user information

By following these terms and compliance regulations, you ensure that program recipients understand what you’ll be sending them as part of your program and how to get more information if issues or questions arise.

The CTIA also forbids companies from doing a few things with short code campaigns:

Using the same opt-in for multiple programs
Affiliate marketing
Using one short code for multiple use cases
Selling or sharing user information
Loan, debt consolidation, or other advertising for debt services
Deceptive marketing
Fraud or phishing scams
Work from home, “secret shopping,” and similar job advertising

Additionally, the CTIA does not allow you to promote any content advertising sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, or tobacco (SHAFT) in approved short code programs.

Getting started with short codes

The SMS regulatory landscape is in constant flux, and keeping up with changing rules is a challenge even for seasoned professionals.

Compared to other SMS number types, such as long codes and toll-free numbers, short codes are the most heavily regulated, take the longest to get approval for, and have the most expensive rates.

To get started with short code messaging, companies first have to lease a five- to six-digit short code. Regulations require companies submit a lengthy short code application that discloses who they are and how they plan to use the number. Then they must navigate the complicated short code provisioning process, which involves getting approval from every carrier network in the US and/or Canada before they can launch a communications program over their new short code number.

Fortunately, Plivo does the heavy lifting of getting your short code program through all the regulatory hoops. Plivo provides both the high-quality carrier network and the industry expertise you need to achieve superior message deliverability. As the leading Twilio alternative, Plivo brings depth of knowledge and direct Tier 1 carrier relationships to the table, so you don’t have to stress over regulations or reliability.

Download our white paper on how to optimize SMS communication to learn how to create and execute better SMS campaigns, or contact one of our short code experts today to get started.

Jul 24, 2020

5 mins

Introducing MMS Support on Toll-Free Numbers in the US and Canada

Twilio may be the best known name for SMS and voice API’s, but there are very strong alternatives that offer better quality, reach, pricing, and support.

MMS API

Toll-Free

You can now send and receive multimedia messages using Plivo on toll-free phone numbers in the US and Canada.

If you’re already utilizing toll-free numbers, this extended capability streamlines your customer service by letting you use the same number for all three channels: voice, SMS, and MMS. You can now offer a better, more consistent user experience for your customers. Toll-free numbers also provide a higher messaging throughput rate — resulting in increased delivery speed — and are cost-effective for businesses to provision and maintain.

We recommend adding multimedia messaging to your engagement strategy if you haven’t done so already. Multimedia messaging helps you create a unique, personalized, and consistent experience for customers. MMS messaging also boosts the total character count for messages from 160 to 1,600, giving you ample room to convey your message effectively. You can send an image, a slideshow of multiple images, animated GIFs, audio, and up to 40 seconds of video.

With Plivo, you can leverage:

Message queuing: As a safeguard to keep you within carrier regulations and guidelines, Plivo automatically queues your concurrent outbound messages for delivery in the order they were received.
Built-in multimedia storage: Plivo provides built-in unlimited multimedia storage for both inbound and outbound MMS messages, so you can find and reuse your multimedia easily.
Support for a variety of formats: Send JPEGs, GIFs, emojis, audio (MP3), and video (MP4) for a rich multimedia experience.

How much does it cost?

Like all of Plivo’s pricing models, you pay only for what you use, and there’s no upfront commitment to get started.

United States
Number Type	To Send MMS (Outbound)	To Receive MMS (Inbound)
Local number*	$0.0160 per message	$0.0080 per message
Toll-free	$0.0320 per message	$0.0320 per message
Short code	Coming soon	Coming soon

* Additional carrier passthrough fees applicable

Canada
Number Type	To Send MMS (Outbound)	To Receive MMS (Inbound)
Local number*	$0.0160 per message	$0.0080 per message
Toll-free	$0.0470 per message	$0.0470 per message

* Additional carrier passthrough fees applicable

How do I get started?

To buy an SMS- or MMS-enabled toll-free number, go to Phone Numbers in the Plivo console, then click on Buy Number. Tick Toll-Free as the number type, and check-mark SMS and/or MMS as the capability. Not every toll-free number is enabled for SMS or MMS messaging, but you can have Plivo enable yours.

Once you’ve acquired a toll-free number that can send and receive MMS messages, you can upload multimedia directly to our system and start sending messages instantly. We also take care of the media hosting, if you need that.

Want to learn more? Read our detailed use case guide for sending MMS messages for step-by-step information. Not using Plivo yet? Getting started takes just five minutes. Sign up today!

Jul 19, 2020

5 mins

SMS and Voice API Features to Look for in a Twilio Alternative

Twilio may be the best-known name for SMS and voice APIs, but strong Twilio alternatives offer better quality, reach, pricing, and support.

Twilio Alternative

Comparison

By automating SMS and voice communication and integrating those communication channels with your applications, your business can more easily communicate with customers and meet their needs. But choosing the right communications API provider is critical to delivering the best experience for your customers.

While you may have started out with Twilio or another API provider to connect with your customers via SMS and voice, your first partner may not be the best long-term solution.

For many companies, Twilio’s communications APIs aren’t the right fit for three reasons:

You notice inconsistent quality or deliverability in certain regions.
You feel frustrated by lackluster customer support and ongoing technical issues that you can’t get resolved.
Their pricing seemed great at the beginning, but costs have risen as your customer base has grown, and the expense doesn’t fit your ROI plan.

If your goal is to improve uptime and reliability, you need to diversify your provider mix so you don’t rely on one partner alone and expose your business to the risks of a single point of failure. To do that, figure out your use case, then evaluate new platforms.

Twilio alternative: primary provider or backup?

The first key question is whether to replace Twilio or add a second platform to provide high availability and more throughput.

Adding a backup provider to existing services ensures access to redundant infrastructure and diversifies your services in case one provider goes down.

Switching your primary provider away from Twilio might be the right move if your usage has grown and you’re finding your overall spend to be too high. But you don’t want to trade off cost savings for quality, so you need to find a new primary provider that has equivalent, if not better, delivery rates globally.

Whether you’re looking for a better price point, higher quality, wider reach, or infrastructure redundancy, it’s important to know what to look for when evaluating your new communications API provider.

Make sure your Twilio alternative has these essential features

Once you decide you need a Twilio alternative, either as your new primary provider or as a redundant provider for your failover strategy, you have to determine which cloud communications platform is the right partner for your business.

To evaluate each provider’s unique platform, network, and features, focus on these six key areas.

Key features and essentials

Look for a voice API with programmatic building blocks that let you implement call forwarding, call recording, multiparty conference calling, voicemail, customized audio alerts, voice survey functionality, interactive voice response (IVR), text to speech, call transcription, and call transfers.

On the SMS API side, your team should be able to quickly and painlessly set up automated account alerts and SMS notifications throughout the user journey, send and receive messages, enable SMS autoresponders, send text message reminders, and implement common workflows such as two-factor authentication.

Additionally, look for advanced SMS API functionality like Plivo’s Powerpack, which, on top of ensuring high deliverability and better open rates, gives you the ability to connect and engage with your customers using local phone numbers and eliminates the need to worry about compliance regulations across the globe.

Compare your options to make sure your next provider meets — or exceeds — the bar set by Twilio.

Regional deliverability

If your business operates in multiple regions or countries, you know that not all providers perform equally well in every region. SMS and voice API providers all highlight great global reach on paper, but their SMS delivery rates and call quality vary across countries and regions.

If you decide to use two providers in tandem, then no matter whether Twilio is your primary or your backup API, your new provider should solve for Twilio’s coverage and quality gaps so you can improve your reach and reliability.

On the voice API side, your provider should let you easily integrate voice calling into your web and mobile apps to create a fully integrated user experience. For example, when making outbound calls to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), your provider should allow for specific caller IDs (domestic or international) as per your business requirements. The provider should have direct relationships with Tier 1 local carriers to efficiently connect calls over the PSTN.

For SMS services, your provider should support not only high SMS deliverability to in-country carriers, but also global coverage for businesses that cater to customers around the world. It should support customized sender IDs outside of North America to improve open rates.

Infrastructure reliability

Reliable, redundant infrastructure is critical in ensuring your messages and calls reach your customers every time.

Your API provider should offer at least 99.99% uptime. You can find Plivo’s 90-day uptime rate through our real-time and historical service status page.

Check to make sure that your communications API provider invests in its infrastructure to consistently deliver high quality globally. A strong provider should have:

Globally distributed points of presence (PoP) across the regions where you do business
Geographically distributed and monitored network operations centers (NOC) for 24/7 support
Latency-free connectivity of less than 150 milliseconds to carriers and end phones
Optimized routing and uptime through an intelligent routing system that routes based on quality

These infrastructure features ensure a robust, fault-tolerant, and reliable platform to support your communications needs.

Compliance and security measures

According to the 2019 CGS Customer Service Security and Compliance Survey, 69% of US consumers would not return to a business that exposed sensitive user information. Your new SMS Verification and voice API provider must implement the compliance and security measures necessary to keep customer information safe.

Your new provider should guarantee GDPR and CCPA compliance and adhere to any other compliance standards your business requires. Additionally, your provider should support features like smart queuing that give you automatic compliance with local carrier requirements. To ensure access security, the provider should support two-factor authentication. These features ensure you meet data protection requirements when personal consumer data is transferred between regions.

In addition to these features, a modern communications API provider should guarantee:

On-premises security for their networks
Application security through at-rest and in-transit encryption
PCI-compliant payment security
Role-based access control
Authentication for accessing recordings
Regular third-party penetration testing

By working with an SMS and voice API provider that provides these features, you ensure your company keeps customers happy and their data secure.

Easy migration

You need APIs that are easy to customize and implement to streamline migration from Twilio to your new provider.

Your Twilio alternative SMS and voice API provider should make it painless to add communications services to your existing setup. That’s why Plivo offers:

Familiar REST APIs and XML code
Extensive reference documentation and how-to guides
SDKs for browser and mobile apps to integrate native voice calling
Call Insights and debug logs for easier troubleshooting
The PHLO low-code visual workflow builder

These features make it easy for your team to understand, customize, and troubleshoot applications.

Pricing flexibility

Pricing is one of the major pain points for Twilio customers. As companies scale their usage, they often find that Twilio becomes cost-prohibitive.

Relative to Twilio, Plivo saves customers 40% on outbound SMS, provides free inbound SMS, and offers 20% cost savings on calls to toll-free and local phone numbers. Additionally, Plivo offers lower outbound and inbound SMS rates and lower phone number rental fees.

Better pay-as-you-go pricing and volume discounts as you scale help you lower your TCO. Contact our team to explore pricing scenarios for your business.

Choose the Twilio alternative that best fits your business needs

When choosing an API provider, you should evaluate every facet of their offering to ensure that it meets your needs. Thousands of innovative businesses rely on Plivo for SMS API and voice API services. Every day, companies on our platform experience the benefit of our globally distributed, direct-to-carrier network with high SMS delivery and low call latency.

Our proven quality and scale, enterprise-grade platform, uptime of 99.99%, 24/7 customer support, and low cost of ownership make offering reliable SMS and voice services easy.

Explore pricing scenarios for your business

Jul 6, 2020

5 mins

Ask Your API Provider About Their Carrier Network

Voice quality and delivery rates for SMS API and voice API providers hinge on the quality of their underlying carrier networks. Find out what you need to know.

Carrier Network

Working with an API provider to integrate voice and SMS communications functionality into apps and websites can help companies seamlessly connect with customers. However, not all communications platforms that offer API integrations provide the same capabilities.

After looking at platform features, pricing, API documentation, and the user experience, companies need to dig deeper to assess the quality of an API provider’s carrier network. Why? Because the carrier network is one of the factors that most affects voice quality and message deliverability.

At first glance, having connections within a large number of markets globally might make the provider appear to have a strong carrier network. However, carrier connections are not a commodity. Carriers have varying levels of coverage, reliability, quality, and service, and not all platforms have the infrastructure and technology to deliver a consistently high quality of service.

That’s why businesses should look at the components behind a carrier network, including:

The quality of the underlying carriers
How the underlying carrier relationships are established
The network infrastructure of the communications platform
The technology layer of the communications platform

To understand whether potential API partners have the right components in place to deliver consistent quality, businesses need to ask these five questions:

1. Do you work directly with local in-country carriers or via larger global carriers?

API providers that work directly with local in-country carriers can minimize multiple hops. Plus, they can directly assess the quality of each carrier and build relationships with them so they can quickly troubleshoot issues. In contrast, using only larger global carriers could put the communications platform several degrees away from the end network operator, which can increase call latency and make it difficult to get the root cause of network and call quality issues.

2. How do you assess and monitor the quality of the carriers you work with?

Having direct connections to local carriers can make it easier to assess and monitor quality thanks to the first-degree nature of the partnerships. Still, businesses need to make sure that their API providers have mechanisms in place to assess and monitor quality on an ongoing basis. For example, an API provider can use in-country physical test nodes to assess communications quality via these carriers. These physical devices simulate end users to test call and SMS quality in real time, so API providers can quickly spot issues and resolve them.

3. Do you have built-in redundancy in terms of multiple carrier connections and load balancing?

Even with quality carrier connections, outages can still occur, so businesses should look for API providers that have built-in redundancy by partnering with multiple carriers in each market where available. A strong communications platform should also have the technology to automatically load balance and switch carriers entirely if need be, due to carrier failures or an overload of traffic.

4. How does your underlying infrastructure and technology support connections to high-quality carriers?

An API provider should have dedicated PoPs in strategic locations to minimize hops, rather than relying on inefficient routes that can create lag time during calls. For example, suppose a provider uses a PoP in Hong Kong to connect all traffic in the Asia-Pacific region. In that case, a user making a domestic call within Australia would get routed through Hong Kong, and that extra distance would add noticeable latency.

Companies should also assess whether API providers have the infrastructure and technology to support carrier connectivity. Some providers use route blending, which blends high-quality local carriers with cheaper aggregators that use lower-quality routes, which can lead to inconsistent call quality. Look for an API provider that has an automated quality-based routing engine, which prioritizes the best available routes instead of trying to cut corners to save money.

5. How do you detect and resolve issues in your network?

Finding out whether an API provider has direct connections to carriers provides a clue into whether they can quickly detect and resolve issues, but companies should further question how an API provider identifies issues and how they surface the data to you so you can monitor the overall health of your voice calls.

A platform’s technology needs to be capable of analyzing network activity to spot issues and adjust in real time. Suppose a call lasts five seconds and then gets placed again; that could indicate poor call quality, as the participants had to reconnect after the first attempt. An API provider’s routing engine should be able to identify these types of issues and automatically adjust call routes.

Having a carrier operations team in place is also crucial. Such teams can help in instances where the technology cannot identify the issue, and strategize solutions directly with carriers.

Find an API provider that prioritizes quality

By asking these questions about carrier networks, technology, and infrastructure, you can find an API provider that consistently facilitates quality connections so that you and your customers can communicate with ease.

Plivo’s commitment to carrier quality makes it the best Twilio alternative. With seven strategically placed PoPs across five continents, latency-free connectivity, consistent deliverability, and optimized routing across our global carrier network, we’ve supported companies in every industry as they integrate communications capabilities into their web and mobile applications.

To learn more about the importance of carrier quality and what businesses should consider when choosing a communications platform, download our white paper “The Carrier Network: What Powers Quality in Voice and SMS APIs.”

Jul 1, 2020

5 mins

Announcing Geo Permissions for Zentrunk Outbound

Zentrunk users can now restrict the countries to which they can place calls globally. Configure country-specific rules for outbound trunks and set an account-level default from the Plivo console, and block calls to high-risk destinations.

Zentrunk

Fraud Prevention

Jun 23, 2020

5 mins

Why You Should Migrate Your SMS Services to a Twilio Alternative

Explore an SMS API alternative to Twilio that offers global reach, reliability, easy migration, great customer engagement, and lower TCO.

SMS API

Comparison

Studies show that more customers prefer to get transactional communications from businesses by SMS than over any other channel. That’s why it’s critical that you have an SMS API provider that offers you not only high deliverability at global scale, but also the best pricing, feature set, and support. Is it time for you to reassess your SMS API provider?

Two options you should consider: Adding a redundant SMS API provider to ensure higher availability and uptime, or switching over completely to a Twilio alternative. Unsure which is the right decision for your situation? Consider these factors, all of which drive companies to seek out a different partner:

Improved deliverability
Ease of migration
Proactive service engagement
Lower cost of ownership

Let’s take a closer look at each factor and see why a Twilio alternative like Plivo might be the upgrade your company needs.

Improved deliverability

A provider is only as good as their carrier relationships, and if the provider doesn’t work with carriers in regions key to your business, or hasn’t invested in network redundancies to protect service in those areas, you’ll want to explore secondary providers for those regions.

Plivo has direct relationships with local carriers globally. We connect customers to more than 1,600 carrier networks across 190+ countries. This robust carrier network ensures you can send messages anywhere in the world without worrying about coverage or deliverability.

By investing in the best infrastructure and global connections, Plivo offers its customers:

High SMS deliverability by avoiding aggregators and resellers and connecting directly to carriers.
Multiple local in-country carriers for the best connections possible without a single point of failure.
High carrier quality thanks to a detailed evaluation process that ensures carriers meet or exceed benchmarks for highest deliverability.
No route blending to ensure a high quality of service that isn’t compromised by low-quality network routes.
Scalability via a distributed routing strategy and multivendor interoperability.
Instant phone number provisioning thanks to a bank of ready-to-use mobile, local, and toll-free numbers.

Ease of migration

Twilio offers a solid SMS API platform, but on third-party review sites, Twilio customers report continuing issues using the platform’s billing and payment system, searching and viewing transactional logs, and sorting large amounts of SMS data through the web interface.

By contrast, Plivo’s user interface and API are consistently recognized as being some of the best on the market — and excellent documentation makes it easy for businesses to migrate to Plivo. In the words of one developer{ :target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” }, “The API is one of the best documented I’ve ever read.”

Along with its easy-to-use API, Plivo also offers built-in visual templates that make it easy to create, customize, and implement complex workflows.

If you’re not ready to migrate entirely from Twilio, consider adding Plivo as a redundant API integration to mitigate risk of downtime or service failures in any region of the world. Because Plivo offers full feature parity with Twilio, you’ll keep the functionality you need with a more economical price point and better customer service. When you’re ready to migrate away, Plivo’s familiar API constructs let you implement SMS functionality quickly with a low learning curve.

Proactive service engagement

You turn to your provider’s customer service team for timely support when you have questions about your SMS services or need help troubleshooting feature integration. Your provider’s support team should also offer solution engineering during onboarding to ensure you have all the information you need for your use case. If customer support isn’t available or lacks expertise, you may experience prolonged issues, frustrating your customers and jeopardizing revenue.

With Plivo, companies can access timely and highly rated customer support.

Not only will a quality SMS provider help you navigate technical issues, but they’ll advise you on how to build a program that best fits your business use case. Or, as one customer said of Plivo, “What makes a company stand apart is the after sales/customer engagement […] Kudos to the team.”

Plivo is known for really listening to its customers, and we pride ourselves on offering clients hands-on customer engagement, whether you’re adding services to augment your Twilio program or are switching over entirely. Customers laud us for our accessible, consultative solution advice not only as they’re getting started but also as they grow and scale.

Cost of ownership

Look for a Twilio alternative that offers competitive pricing to maintain your total cost of ownership (TCO) or lower it, while still guaranteeing full feature parity.

When you’re choosing an alternative provider for your failover strategy or looking to switch your primary SMS API, you’ll want to focus on reach and reliability first and foremost. But better SMS rates overall make a migration choice a lot easier.

Plivo promises customers best-in-class functionality and global coverage with lower cost of ownership.

Plivo offers better pricing than Twilio in all categories:

We promise lower phone number pricing than Twilio, saving customers as much as 20% for local and toll-free number types.
We offer better standard SMS pricing across all message types, including outbound and inbound local numbers and short codes, plus free inbound SMS messaging.
We charge less for inbound and outbound MMS messages, saving customers 20% per MMS message.

That means that if you’re sending, for example, 1 million messages via short codes to customers in the US, your company would save approximately 40% by switching to Plivo. International pricing varies, but international businesses enjoy similar savings when they make the change.

Don’t wait: Explore our Twilio alternative today

Customers love Plivo because they get the quality and features they’re used to with Twilio’s SMS API, but with better pricing, more attentive service, and, according to many of our users, better documentation and ease of use.

Thousands of innovative companies rely on Plivo’s global, enterprise-grade SMS API. Sign up for free today, or talk to one of our communications experts to learn more about how Plivo can support your business.

Jun 7, 2020

5 mins

5 Reasons to Migrate Your Voice API to a Twilio Alternative

Tips for assessing the best Twilio alternative for your voice API platform.

Voice API

Comparison

A quality voice API enables you to easily build and integrate customer engagement flows without dealing with the complexity of telecommunications. Maybe you used an API provider like Twilio to help you get started, but now you realize your needs have changed. You still expect best-in-class call quality, but you want better customer service, more global coverage, or a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

If this sounds familiar, you have two options:

Add a Twilio alternative as a failover strategy to bolster your voice communication integration.
Replace Twilio with a new voice API service provider that offers full feature parity.

Either way, you need to know what to look for. Here are five things to assess when deciding whether it’s time to add or switch providers.

Call quality

Twilio’s infrastructure is reliable but it’s not perfect. If your customer base is global, you can’t risk spotty coverage in any region where you do business.

The ideal Twilio alternative has direct relationships with Tier 1 carriers around the world and has invested in its network infrastructure so that it can offer high-quality voice calls that don’t drop audio or have annoying lags and delays.

If you’ve noticed poor call quality with your existing voice service or have been inconvenienced by outages, consider switching voice API providers or adding a second company as a failover option.

By using Plivo as a redundant API provider, you get access to our premium global carrier network with seven regional points of presence (PoP), which gives you high call quality while mitigating the risk of a Twilio service failure. Plivo offers better voice quality than Twilio in some geographies.

Ease of use

Twilio may have been the first to market with a developer-friendly voice API platform, but it’s not the only competitive option around. Other providers offer better service and easier-to-use platforms.

Twilio customers report that the company’s API can be complex to navigate and hard to learn, while Plivo customers laud its extensive API documentation. Or, as one customer put it, “API documentation and ease of use have been my strongest ‘likes’ of Plivo.”

If you’re thinking of switching to a new primary provider or adding on a failover solution, Plivo’s Voice API offers guaranteed ease of use, so you spend less time coding and more time delivering on customers’ needs.

Feature parity

Twilio offers a robust set of features, and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice the capabilities you need to get better coverage or a better price point. Luckily, you don’t have to, as long as you choose a quality Twilio alternative.

Customers who add redundancy with or migrate to Plivo can use all features they’re accustomed to getting from Twilio, such as voice transcription, call transfer, call queuing, call whisper, and call hunting and documentation to support a variety of use cases, including:

Two-factor authentication
Voice notification
Phone verification
Phone system IVR
Voice surveys
Click to call
Call forwarding
Call tracking
Number masking

Plivo’s best-in-class feature set ensures that you don’t have to compromise on functionality. Instead, you can enjoy the same capabilities at a better price with more reliability.

Better pricing

If you’ve scaled your voice service and found that differences in voice rates have started to add up, it might be time to switch.

But before you commit to migration, don’t look at just the price. A good Twilio alternative will balance per-minute and per-number rates with quality-based routing alongside high voice call quality thanks to its direct relationships with voice carriers in each geographic area. Evaluate each provider’s available volume discounts to see which offers the best savings for your business.

For instance, you can see in this price breakdown that Plivo offers consistently lower price points than Twilio.

Plivo customers can save as much as 50% on the cost of similar programs relative to Twilio. Plivo’s low customer acquisition costs and direct relationships with underlying carriers let us pass our savings on to our customers.

World-class customer support

If you’re frustrated with Twilio’s customer service wait times, you’re not alone.

Find a voice service provider who offers 24/7 customer support with a fast turnaround so you’re not waiting hours — or days — to get answers. Also, find out if the API provider you’re considering as a Twilio alternative has experience helping companies implement the use cases you need most, so they can guide your migration and implementation and quickly troubleshoot any issues that arise.

Plivo customers often report that the company’s support team isn’t just quick to respond, but also friendly and dedicated to finding collaborative solutions for each of their clients’ use cases.

Want better voice quality? Plivo delivers

Every month, Plivo handles more than 1 billion API requests on our premium carrier network. We promise high-quality service and low-latency voice calls across more than 190 countries.

Plivo has helped thousands of innovative companies worldwide create cutting-edge customer experiences and streamline their operations with voice services. Leveraging our Voice API platform, businesses can easily make calls to all regions and buy virtual phone numbers in 65 of them.

And the strengths of Plivo voice service extend beyond our best-in-class coverage. Companies like IBM, Intel, and PagerDuty turn to us because our simple API allows their developers to work smarter and faster.

With our voice API, you can quickly reduce response times to customer inquiries, make your team more productive by reducing call center volumes, and easily manage voice notifications, appointment reminders, and service updates.

To get started, sign up for free or talk to a Plivo migration expert today.

May 15, 2020

5 mins

SMS Pricing Comparison: Plivo vs. Twilio

An in-depth analysis of Twilio’s SMS API pricing vs. that of Plivo, the leading Twilio alternative.

Pricing

Comparison

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Create your account and receive trial credits or get in touch with us.

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Request Trial

AI Voice Agents - The Complete Guide to Voice Chat (2025)

What is an AI voice agent?

Types of AI voice agents

Rule-based AI voice agent

AI-assisted voice agent

Conversational AI voice agent

Voice-activated voice agent

How does an AI voice agent improve customer engagement?

Use case: Get a quick update on order status, 24/7

Benefits:

Use case: Improve language learning for students

Benefits:

Use case: Improve patient outcomes in healthcare

Benefits:

Use case: Streamline routine financial services

Benefits:

Use case: Get personal shopping assistance

Benefits:

Features of an AI voice agent

Natural language understanding (NLU)

Personalization capabilities

Multi-language support

Integration with other platforms and services

Benefits of voice agents

Enhanced user experience

Better cost efficiency

Accessibility for users with disabilities

Data collection and analysis for improved services

24/7 availability

Future of AI voice technology

Key upcoming trends:

Launch an AI voice agent with Plivo

AI Voice Agents for Real Estate (2026): 10 Tools Compared, Real Limitations and What Actually Scales

Top 10 AI Voice Agents for Real Estate (2026)

1. Plivo

2. Luron AI

3. Callers AI

4. SquadStack AI

5. Telgent

6. AIOnCalls

7. Brilo AI

8. VocalDesk

9. Calldock

10. Ylopo

What Matters Most in AI Voice Agents (Beyond the Basics)

1. Telephony Ownership vs. Vendor Stitching

2. Real-Time Performance (Latency & Uptime)

3. Multi-Channel Context, Not Disconnected Bots

4. Integration Depth (CRM, Calendars, Workflows)

5. Built for Scale, Not Just Launch

FAQs

What's the fastest way to go live without breaking existing operations?

How do I ensure voice quality doesn't feel robotic or laggy?

How does the agent stay accurate and compliant with real estate data?

What happens when call volume spikes or multiple leads call at once?

How does this fit into my CRM and follow-up workflows?

Try Plivo Free

Best AI Voice Agents for Customer Support and Service (2026): What to Deploy Now

1) Plivo — The fastest path to production-grade AI voice agents for customer support

Why Plivo is #1

What it does for you

Segment-by-segment fit

Start with Voice, go everywhere

Suitable for

2) Google Dialogflow CX — Complex, branching flows without spaghetti

Key features

Why it matters

Implementation steps

Suitable for

3) Amazon Lex + Amazon Connect — AWS-first voice automation that ops can own

Key features

Why it matters

Implementation steps

Suitable for

4) IBM Watson Assistant — Governance-first deployments in regulated industries

Key features

Why it matters

Implementation steps

Suitable for

5) Cognigy.AI — IVR modernization with fine-grained voice control