Twilio
Twilio is a cloud-based platform as a service (PaaS) that lets software developers add telephony services to their applications using web service APIs. With a few lines of code, programmers can build apps that both send and receive phone calls and text messages (both SMS and MMS). It also has services for embedding chat and live video into applications. All of their services are provided over HTTP and they bill for these services based on usage.
- Allows application to initiate and receive phone calls and all types of text messages
- Has services for embedding live video and chat into applications
- All telephony services are provided over HTTP and are charged only on actual usage
- Is incredibly easy to use
- Has excellent support and documentation
- Is very reliable, even during major Internet outages
- Has relatively affordable pricing
- Provides no user interface to the API, so these must be built from scratch
- The sheer number of API features can be overwhelming
If you are building an app that needs to send and/or receive phone calls or text messages, Twilio is a web service that makes it incredibly easy to do. It could not be simpler to code, especially as they provide you with lots of examples. It further has support for all types of text messages (SMS and MMS), and it also has support for live video and chat applications. Twilio also comes with excellent documentation, and their support is great as well. What's more, their services are very reliable. Even though they use AWS for their infrastructure, they were able to stay running even when AWS famously had a major outage back in 2001. It is further relatively affordable to send and receive calls and messages with Twilio, as long as you are not operating on a shoestring budget. What Twilio does not provide is a user interface. It is only an API, and you will have to build your interfaces from scratch, which may be beyond the scope of some developers. It also somewhat suffers from an overabundance of features that can seem overwhelming.
They bought Beepsend and now making all beepsend customer double their cost or shutting down their services... pirates. Never work with them or twillio again