Two SMS providers, compared on price, features and ratings, so you can pick fast.
Updated November 2026
THE VERDICT
Africa's Talking wins on developer experience. Bandwidth wins on channel coverage and compliance.
Africa's Talking and Bandwidth take different pricing approaches. Bandwidth rates higher with developers (4.4 vs 4.2 on G2). Pick based on volume and team, and the scorecard below breaks down where each one leads.
Winner cells are tinted, green where Africa's Talking leads, violet where Bandwidth does.
FAQ
Bandwidth rates higher on G2 (4.4 vs 4.2). Ratings are aggregated from public review platforms as of the date shown.
Pricing is usage-based and varies by destination country. In Kenya, SMS costs roughly $0.003 to $0.005 per message (about KES 0.40 to 0.60), other African destinations range from about $0.001 to $0.05, and US outbound messages are around $0.03 each. There is no monthly platform fee.
Bandwidth does not advertise a self-serve free tier or trial credit the way some competitors do. Getting started generally requires setting up an account and a commercial agreement, and pricing is usage-based. Teams that want to test messaging without a contract may find the onboarding heavier than a fully self-serve provider.
Yes. Many teams route different message types through different providers or fail over between them. Courier lets you send through both behind a single API and switch providers without changing your code.
Why not both?
Use both behind one API.
Route Africa's Talking, Bandwidth, or both, and switch providers without changing your code. Courier sits in front of every channel.
Pricing, plans and feature availability as of November 2026 and may change. Ratings are aggregated from public review platforms.