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PubNub vs Twilio: What are the differences?
Key Differences between PubNub and Twilio
PubNub and Twilio are two popular communication platforms that offer different features and functionalities. Here are the key differences between PubNub and Twilio:
Messaging and Broadcasting: PubNub specializes in real-time messaging and broadcasting capabilities. It provides a reliable and scalable infrastructure for sending messages, enabling developers to build chat applications, IoT devices, and collaborative tools. On the other hand, Twilio can also handle messaging, but it primarily focuses on providing APIs for voice and video communications, such as making phone calls and sending SMS.
Voice and Video Communications: Twilio excels in voice and video communications, offering comprehensive APIs and SDKs for integrating voice and video calling functionality into applications. It supports features like call routing, conference calling, and two-factor authentication via phone calls. While PubNub does have voice and video capabilities, it is not its core strength and may not offer the same level of customization and flexibility as Twilio in this area.
Integration with PSTN: Twilio has extensive support for integrating with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), allowing developers to make and receive phone calls to and from regular telephone numbers. It provides virtual phone numbers, call routing, and more advanced telephony features. PubNub, on the other hand, does not have direct integration with PSTN and primarily focuses on real-time messaging and IoT use cases.
Scalability and Global Network: PubNub is specifically designed to handle large-scale real-time messaging and IoT applications with a global presence. It boasts a distributed network infrastructure that ensures low-latency communication across the globe. Twilio, meanwhile, offers a global network as well, but its primary focus is on voice and text communication.
Pricing Model: PubNub and Twilio have different pricing models. PubNub's pricing is based on the number of messages sent and received, the number of connected devices or users, and the bandwidth used. Twilio, on the other hand, charges based on the number of API requests made, the number of minutes or messages used, and the additional features and services utilized. It's important to consider the specific needs and usage patterns to determine the most cost-effective option.
Development Complexity: The development complexity of PubNub and Twilio can also differ. PubNub provides a simplified and user-friendly API that allows developers to quickly integrate real-time messaging into their applications. It offers various SDKs and pre-built components to facilitate development. Twilio, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive set of APIs for voice, video, and SMS, but may require more development effort and expertise to utilize its features effectively.
In summary, PubNub is a specialized platform for real-time messaging and broadcasting, while Twilio offers comprehensive capabilities for voice, video, and SMS communication, with extensive support for integrating with PSTN. PubNub focuses on scalability and global network infrastructure, while Twilio excels in voice and video communications. The pricing models and development complexity may vary between the two platforms.
Hey! We need an omnichannel inbox that's housed within Salesforce Sales Cloud that makes it super easy for our reps to respond to inbound communication (needs: clean inbox, provides historical context, etc.). We're a high-volume call center, and we get a ton of incoming SMS and email every day. We'd love a solution that lets us view all of that in one place — ideally Salesforce, as that's where our reps work, and we want to avoid needing them to switch between windows. Thanks!
if the inbound SMS are sales rep specific you could potentially have twilio fwd that msg to a google voice phone number which will in turn put an email in their inbox (so they're looking at 1 inbox instead of multiple places) Just an idea. Probably way off in left field compared to what you're thinking and I also invision. I'm not all familiar with MessageBird nor am I at all familiar w/ your data flow / business process. Would be happy to help brainstorm anytime! 10+ years experience on the sfdc platform
Check out Centro. We built this to solve this exact problem! We used tools like Twilio but wrapped it up in a application that runs on Slack.
Hello! We need to integrate an SMS gateway into our app for user phone verification. As we are just starting, we are searching for the most affordable/best price/performance option for SMS gateway to verify client phone numbers with the code, maybe you can suggest something between those two or maybe something else. We are planning to do business in Europe
Twilio is the leader. Strong API, excellent documentation and reliable service. I suggest Nexmo since their API has smaller learning curve, offering better prices and also reliable solution. Also Nexmo offers more call per sec. 3 vs 2 and 2, out of the box. Good luck
Twilio might be not cheapest, but they have awesome documentation (a lot of examples), easy to use API and libraries. I think it's a very good product to start. If the bill will become too heavy, you can shop around for economical options.
Twilio documentation is very good and as a platform it just works. It's robust and reliable. We road-tested plivo and it wasn't anywhere near in terms of docs or support. In fact their support was terrible at replying to us. 48 hours to answer basic questions.
That's said, were also using sendgrid by twilio and that's not been pleasant . Their email builder appears to be react based but written by a team who don't understand react very well. That's a nightmare as yet
stackshare doesn't seem to have this in the stack list yet, but in my experience Twillio is attractive. It's good for basics, their acquisition of SendGrid gives them a bit more market share.. They are stronger at marketing to those that benefit them. That said from my understanding SendGrid leases the networks, channels, and lines. While their interface is friendly, their pricing suited for lower volume, you want to look at what they are using via an API, a contract, etc. Is it a more friend UI to a combination of others. What redunancies do to they have, try their support. It's not that Twillio is bad, it's about the volume, the use case, the liabiitlies you might have to your end-users if Twillio isn't the right choice. Another option is Bandwidth. You ask for affordable, Twillio is an option, but front end costs v/s the costs of support you'll need to consider. Bandwidth has more reliability but requires more engineering and more skillset. Another option that is worth considering, not the most affordable, but https://www.zipwhip.com/ have perhaps options that might be higher and the cost is relative. Wight costs, of support costs of integration, cost of scale, costs of a volume..
Pros of PubNub
- Massively scalable & easy to use36
- Easy setup25
- Reliable20
- Great support19
- Flexible to integrate to custom applications14
- Sockets at Scale13
- 99.999% availability guarantees13
- High-Performance13
- High-Reliability12
- Multiplexing12
- Scalability7
- High-Availability5
- 70+ SDKs5
- Security4
- Azure Add-on4
- Heroku Add-on3
- Presence3
- Flexible3
- Easy to setup3
- Data Streams2
- Free Plan2
- Server-Side Cache2
- PhoneGap Plugin2
- AngularJS Adapter2
- Data Sync2
- Analytics2
- Support2
- Easy setup and very reliable1
- High cost, going up more in Summer '151
- Cool1
- Angular 2+ integration1
- Documentation, easy to use, great people/service1
- CTO stephen also is A++++++1
- Real time and easy to use.1
- Easy integration with iOS apps1
Pros of Twilio
- Powerful, simple, and well documented api148
- RESTful API88
- Clear pricing66
- Great sms services61
- Low cost of entry58
- Global SMS Gateway29
- Good value14
- Cloud IVR12
- Simple11
- Extremely simple to integrate with rails11
- Great for startups6
- SMS5
- Great developer program3
- Hassle free3
- Text me the app pages2
- New Features constantly rolling out1
- Many deployment options, from build from scratch to buy1
- Easy integration1
- Two factor authentication1
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Cons of PubNub
- Costly1
Cons of Twilio
- Predictable pricing4
- Expensive2