In today’s digital world, there is no doubt that innovation is changing our conventional ways of doing things.

The business environment has experienced tremendous technological change over the years.

In order to remain competitive, one must adapt to the new ways of selling products and services, such as integrating with an API for sending SMS messages.

Digital SMS API marketing technique is one of the best strategies that businesses are using to reach thousands of potential clients with just a press of a button thanks to the SMS API platforms.

What is SMS API?

An SMS API refers to a software integration interface that enables code to send short messages through an SMS API platform.

It lets you build a personalized SMS channel for sending and receiving all your messages (like texting someone a GIF).

Depending on your preference, you can get an SMS API for either HTTP, Java or PHP.

Once you’ve set up a functional SMS API, it will help you:

Send and receive SMS in different forms
Access the recipient respond without any password authentication
Review the status of all your messages in real time

In this post, we’ll compare SMS Gateway/SMS providers to help you decide which is the best or cheapest option for your needs.

1. Twilio SMS

The Twilio SMS API is another great messaging API that enables programmable SMS messaging through their API.

Twilio has 3 different APIs for different functionalities:

Twilio SMS API – Twilio’s Programmable SMS API helps you add robust messaging capabilities to your applications.
Twilio Verify Phone Number API – As part of Twilio’s account security offerings, the Twilio Verify API makes it simple to add phone verification to your web application. It supports codes sent via voice and SMS.
Twilio Lookup API – Reduce undeliverable messages, identify local-friendly number formats, and resolve caller names with Twilio Lookup. Find phone types, carriers, and more; Lookup allows you to programmatically get information about phone numbers so you can be as effective as possible.

Each API has a pay-per-use pricing model at a reasonable cost to get your started:

Twilio SMS – $0.0001/use
Twilio Verify Phone Number – $0.05/use
Twilio Lookup – $0.01/Lookup (include caller name) or $0.005/Lookup (include carrier)
Tutorials
Send SMS with Twilio (Ruby on Rails)

How to Use the Twilio API with PHP

Twilio Python SMS API Tutorial

SMS API Node.JS

Twilio SMS API React Tutorial

AbdulTech Online | SMS API
2. Telesign SMS Verify

The Telesign SMS Verify API offers verification and two-factor authentication (over SMS) capabilities through their REST API. This is the perfect API for adding authentication into your mobile app with a verification code (via text message).

The Telesign API has one endpoint:

Send Verification Code

Telesign SMS API Pricing

The SMS Verification API is a freemium API available with 4 different pricing tiers:

Basic (free up to 1000 calls/month)
Pro ($10/month) – 100,000 calls/month
Ultra ($50/month) – 500,000 calls/month
Mega ($250/month) – 2,500,000 calls/day

Telesign SMS Verify credits vary depending on the recipient country, which can see here.

3. Nexmo SMS Messaging

The Nexmo SMS API is one of the top SMS APIs out there. It allows developers to send and receive SMS text messages to users around the globe through their REST API. Nexmo is one of the preferred APIs if you’re looking to integrate SMS messages into your Android or iOS mobile app.

The API has 4 endpoints:

Send an SMS
Pricing by Country Code
Pricing by Phone Number
Search Numbers

Nexmo SMS API Pricing

The Nexmo API has a pay per use pricing structure which charges $0.0001/use of an API call.

See all Nexmo APIs.Popularity Score: 9.5/10

4. D7SMS

The D7SMS API allows developers to integrate the Direct7 SMS gateway into your software or application to reach customers over D7’s global mobile network. This SMS API is great for sms notifications and communication using D7’s worldwide SMS presence.

The API has 3 endpoints:

balance – get the user account’s balance and quota
send – send a single message to one destination address
sendbatch – batch multiple messages to one or more destinations.

In order to get started, sign up for an account at d7networks.com.

5. Telnyx

Telnyx is a VoIP telecom service provider that offers multiple capabilities through their API including:

Voice
Data
Messaging

Telnyx API is great solution if you need more than just SMS.

To begin using the API, you’ll need to navigate to Telnyx and register for an account. Create a connection and copy your API tokens to use with RapidAPI.

Learn more about how to use the API here.