Africa's Talking vs Plivo

Two SMS providers, compared on price, features and ratings, so you can pick fast.

Africa's Talking wins African market coveragePlivo wins channel coverage and compliance

Updated August 2026

At a glanceAfrica's TalkingPlivo
G2 rating4.24.5
Trustpilot3.83.6

THE VERDICT

Africa's Talking wins on African market coverage. Plivo wins on channel coverage and compliance.

Africa's Talking and Plivo take different pricing approaches. Plivo rates higher with developers (4.5 vs 4.2 on G2). Pick based on volume and team, and the scorecard below breaks down where each one leads.

Which should you choose?

Pick Africa's Talking

✓If you're a developer or brand looking to implement scalable SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, and Payments APIs seamlessly, use Africa's Talking.
Set up Africa's Talking with Courier →

Pick Plivo

✓When integrating SMS and call features into your applications, Plivo is a suitable product for you.
Set up Plivo with Courier →

Feature by feature

Winner cells are tinted, green where Africa's Talking leads, violet where Plivo does.

capability
Africa's Talking
Plivo
Price per SMS (US)
—
$0.0077
Pricing model
Prepaid wallet, pay-as-you-go; volume-tiered
Pay-as-you-go per message; no required platform fee
Volume discounts
Yes
Yes
SMS
Yes
Yes
MMS
No
Yes
WhatsApp
Yes
Yes
RCS
No
Yes
Voice
Yes
Yes
Carrier network
African mobile carriers (11 countries)
Direct carrier connections to 190+ countries
A2P 10DLC
No
Yes
Two-way messaging
Yes
Yes
Short codes
Yes
Yes
Toll-free
No
Yes
Number lookup
No
Yes
Official SDKs
Python, Node.js, PHP, Java, Ruby
Python, Java, Node.js, Ruby, PHP, .NET, Go
Delivery webhooks
Yes
Yes
Test / sandbox
Yes
Yes
SOC 2
No
Yes
HIPAA
No
BAA
GDPR
No
Yes
ISO 27001
No
No
Support channels
Help center, email, community forum
Email, phone, chat/Slack (paid tiers); docs on free tier
24/7 support
No
Yes
Support SLA
99% uptime SLA (public)
1-hour P1/P2 SLA on paid plans; 99.95% uptime

FAQ

Common questions

Plivo rates higher on G2 (4.5 vs 4.2). Ratings are aggregated from public review platforms as of the date shown.

Keep comparing

Related comparisons

Africa's Talking vs AWS SNSSMS→Africa's Talking vs MessageBirdSMS→Africa's Talking vs MessageMediaSMS→Africa's Talking vs SinchSMS→Africa's Talking vs TelnyxSMS→Africa's Talking vs TwilioSMS→

Why not both?

Use both behind one API.

Route Africa's Talking, Plivo, or both, and switch providers without changing your code. Courier sits in front of every channel.

Start building freeRead the docs

Pricing, plans and feature availability as of August 2026 and may change. Ratings are aggregated from public review platforms.

Multichannel Notifications Platform for SaaS