Twilio vs ClickSend: Which Is the Best SMS Gateway Provider?

Business communication has come a long way from emails and phone calls. Now, it’s all about instant, direct connection.

Whether you’re sending delivery updates, reminders, or special offers, your choice of SMS gateway provider can shape how those messages reach your audience.

Two platforms that come up in this search are Twilio and ClickSend. However, both require deep technical know-how or trade flexibility for convenience.

In this article, we’ll compare Twilio and ClickSend across pricing, features, and usability. We’ll also look at an alternative that offers a balanced approach in simplicity and power.

What Is Twilio?

Twilio is a cloud communications platform (CPaaS) that provides APIs for SMS, voice, email, and other channels to help developers embed messaging and calling into their existing applications.

Twilio’s Programmable Messaging API supports sending SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp messages across 180+ countries with reliable deliverability. It has tools for compliance management, message routing, and real-time analytics.

Twilio follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model with transparent per-message rates and volume discounts as you scale. However, cost can add up quickly at scale, and several reviewers cite pricing as a major drawback.

Additionally, Twilio’s feature set is broad and developer-centric, which means ease of use can be an issue for non-developers.

What Is ClickSend?

ClickSend is a multi-channel business communications platform that offers SMS, MMS, voice, email, fax, and postal messaging through a simple web interface or API. It provides a global SMS gateway and messaging service aimed at developers and non-technical users.

The platform enables you to send and receive text messages worldwide, from a few messages to millions, via an online dashboard or through APIs.

ClickSend's cost structure is a pay-as-you-go service. However, some drawbacks stated that the platform lacks some advanced features found in more sophisticated platforms. 

Its interface can also be minimalistic to a fault, where certain campaign management functions were reported as limited.

What Is TextUs?

TextUs is a cloud-based business texting platform that specializes in real-time two-way messaging and SMS marketing, with a focus on high engagement and workflow integration.

In contrast to Twilio’s developer toolkit approach or ClickSend’s general-purpose messaging, TextUs is an SMS solution built for sales, recruiting, customer service, and other business teams.

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TextUs provides an all-in-one interface for one-to-one texting and bulk campaigns, aiming to turn texting into a revenue-driving channel. 

It offers bi-directional integrations with popular CRMs and ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), so you can send and receive texts within the systems you already use.

In addition to integrations, TextUs provides features like message templates, tags, and automated sequences that help you personalize and automate outreach without losing the human touch. 

The platform has earned a strong reputation in its niche, where it’s rated at 4.7 on Capterra and G2 by users, with praise for its intuitive interface and effectiveness in driving responses.

TextUs’s focus on conversational texting, SMS marketing automation, and integration makes it stand out as a specialized solution for business communication. 

Book a demo today!

Twilio vs ClickSend vs TextUs: Feature Comparison

You’ve seen what each platform brings to the table. With that groundwork set, let’s compare them side by side on the factors that decide outcomes in the real business setting.

SMS Gateway & Core Messaging Functionality

Twilio offers an SMS gateway as part of its broader communications Application Programming Interface (API) suite. Its SMS services are exposed via the Programmable Messaging API, which gives developers low-level control.

You can send SMS messages or MMS by making API calls or using server-side SDKs, manage phone numbers, set up messaging services to pool numbers, and configure features like message callbacks.

Beyond basic SMS, Twilio supports rich messaging channels. The same API can send WhatsApp messages, and Twilio has a Conversations API for two-way chat across SMS, WhatsApp, and web chat in a unified thread.

Twilio provides building blocks rather than pre-set templates where you can create customized messaging flows. However, it doesn’t come with a campaign UI or contact management unless you build or integrate one.

ClickSend’s messaging functionality is more end-user-friendly while still offering API access for developers. It provides a ready-to-use SMS gateway service accessible through an online dashboard and a suite of APIs.

The dashboard also includes a Messenger inbox view for two-way conversations, so you can see replies from recipients and continue the text conversation. On the developer side, it offers REST APIs and SDKs in various languages for sending messages and checking balances.

TextUs Powers Real Conversations That Drive Results

TextUs is tailored to facilitate real-time, personalized text conversations. It’s a full-featured texting platform with an emphasis on an Inbox-style experience and productivity tools.

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TextUs supports two-way messaging in an Inbox where every user or team gets a 10DLC long code or toll-free number and can send/receive texts through the TextUs web app or mobile app. 

The Inbox lets you route incoming messages, assign conversations to teammates, and respond with templates.

Unlike generic SMS gateway providers, TextUs provides quality-of-life features like read indicators, message assignments, and shared inboxes. Therefore, no incoming texts are missed when multiple team members are texting.

Features like built-in A/B testing for campaigns and detailed analytics are part of the key feature set, not something you have to custom-build.

Campaign Tools, Automation & SMS Marketing Management

Twilio by itself does not provide a dedicated campaign management UI for SMS. Rather, it offers building blocks to create campaigns. If you want to run an SMS marketing campaign, you’d have to develop the solution or use additional services.

It does offer some ancillary products, such as Twilio Marketing Campaigns for SendGrid. For SMS, they have Twilio Notify API or Twilio Studio flows, which can distribute messages to multiple users.

However, these require technical expertise and don’t equate to a full marketing platform with contact segmentation or templates out of the box. Many businesses integrate Twilio with third-party automation software or CRMs to handle campaign logic.

ClickSend provides more in the way of built-in campaign tools. Through the ClickSend web interface, you can create contact lists and send broadcast SMS campaigns to those lists. It also offers basic analytics for campaigns, such as delivery rates and open rates, that are reported in the dashboard.

ClickSend has features like SMS-to-email forwarding, auto-responses for inbound keywords, and integration triggers. However, multi-step SMS drip campaigns or branching logic isn’t a core function of the app itself. 

TextUs Elevates Campaigns With Intelligent Automation

This is where TextUs stands out. TextUs offers a rich set of campaign and advanced automation tools designed for marketing, sales outreach, and engagement campaigns, all accessible within a user-friendly interface.

The Campaigns feature in TextUs allows you to send text messages that feel personal. The platform supports creating segmented lists and composing messages with dynamic fields. It's ideal for quick updates and appointment reminders.

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It also has a built-in A/B testing for campaigns, where you can create two versions of a message, and the system will automatically split the audience.

Then, you can track which variant performs better in terms of response rate or click-through. This kind of optimization tool is rare in SMS providers and shows TextUs’s focus on maximizing campaign performance.

TextUs goes beyond one-off campaigns. It includes an SMS sequences tool where you can schedule a series of text messages to go out over time, which is useful for nurturing leads or following up with candidates.

You can also automate recurring campaigns, and the scheduling interface supports setting ideal send times across multiple devices.

Ease of Use & User-friendly Setup

Twilio is a developer-first platform, which affects its ease of use. Its thorough documentation, REST APIs, and quickstart guides make it relatively quick to integrate communications into an app.

However, for a non-technical user or small business owner, Twilio can be intimidating. There is no native GUI to send an SMS until you build one or use a third-party tool. Setting it up also means writing code or scripts, dealing with powerful API keys, and understanding concepts like webhooks.

ClickSend is designed to be much more user-friendly from the start. The sign-up process is quick, and the interface is intuitive for basic tasks. The dashboard organizes features where you can see sections for your different channels, contact management, reporting, and so on.

While ClickSend is generally easy to use, there are some minor UX issues. One user mentioned that the interface can be complicated to use in managing replies. Also, the distinction between various send options (quick send vs campaign) could be more user-friendly.

TextUs Simplifies Communication for Real-World Teams

TextUs is praised for being easy to use and intuitive as a daily tool. The platform is built for end users like recruiters, salespeople, and support reps. Therefore, the design is focused on productivity and minimal training.

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Many teams report that they were able to get started with TextUs and started communicating right away with text messaging. The user interface is modern and resembles common messaging or email apps, where you have a list of conversations, message threads, and options to organize or automate.

Setting up TextUs initially involves provisioning numbers and integrating with your CRM/ATS, which their customer support team assists with. It provides onboarding help and phone support to ensure every account is properly configured. This reduces setup headaches for non-developers.

Comparatively, TextUs is easier than Twilio by a mile, since Twilio isn’t meant for direct use by an end-user without development. It's also easier than ClickSend for the target audience.

Integration Capabilities

Twilio's whole model is to be integrated into other software. It provides documentation, sample code, SDKs for multiple languages, and mobile SDKs for embedding communications into mobile apps.

They also have a large community, forums, and the Twilio Champions/TwilioQuest programs that engage developers. Twilio’s REST APIs can connect to any system that can make HTTP requests.

It doesn’t offer one-click integrations in the sense of pre-built connectors, but many third-party tools have Twilio integrations. The platform also now owns Segment (a customer data platform), where you use Segment to trigger messages based on data flows.

ClickSend offers a combination of ready integrations and developer APIs. For non-developers, it has an Integrations hub that includes plugins and how-to guides for a variety of software.

For developers, ClickSend has a well-documented API with endpoints for all its services. They also have SDKs and code samples available, supporting global coverage for messaging and notifications.

TextUs Syncs With Your Business Systems

TextUs takes a different angle on integration. Rather than expecting you to integrate it with other tools via an API, it's built to integrate into your daily software stack. The platform offers integrations with major CRM, ATS, and HR systems used in their target industries.

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TextUs also offers a Developer API and a white-label SMS platform option for software companies. 

The Developer API allows you to send texts through TextUs or pull data out programmatically. This is useful if you have a custom system and still want to use the platform's messaging.

Pricing & Cost Structure

Twilio uses a usage-based pricing model where you pay per SMS, call, or other API usage, with rates varying by destination and message type. For SMS, rates start at around $0.0079 per message sent/received, and for MMS, rates start at $0.0100.

However, many businesses find that Twilio can become expensive.

If you plan to send millions of messages or run large campaigns, the per-message costs may add up to a higher rate than a flat-rate or bulk plan from other services. SMS marketing pricing also varies by country and carrier, and some users noted billing complexity as a challenge.

ClickSend also operates on a pay-as-you-go pricing system for messaging. They offer free inbound SMS, which can lower the total cost of two-way conversations. Its outbound SMS pricing varies by country but is generally considered affordable for domestic texts.

The SMS cost starts at $0.0087, and the MMS cost starts at $0.0345.

TextUs Keeps Pricing Scalable for Growing Teams

TextUs takes a different approach by offering tiered subscription plans rather than purely usage-based billing.

It offers two plans, Essential and Plus, with the base plan at $299 per month and a bundle of user seats and messaging credits per seat. 

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Additional users can be added for an extra fee, and extra message packs are available if you exhaust the included credits.

If you're actively texting thousands of contacts, this model can be cost-effective. Its predictability also helps reduce spam risk while keeping pricing steady, even with high-volume use.

Book a demo with TextUs to see how its simple SMS pricing can support your growth!

Security, Compliance & Opt-In/Opt-Out Management

Twilio is an enterprise-grade platform, and they have options for two-factor authentication for the Twilio Console, API keys, and IP whitelisting. They're compliant with certifications like ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

Regarding compliance and opt-in/opt-out, Twilio gives guidance and some automated help. Twilio’s Messaging Services have an option to automatically respond to “STOP” messages with an opt-out confirmation. 

ClickSend, being a service provider, handles a lot of compliance basics for you by design. They automatically use trusted direct routes, which help ensure messages comply with local telecom regulations.

Opt-in/opt-out management with ClickSend is automated. If a recipient replies with the keyword ‘STOP’, ClickSend can move them to an opt-out list. 

You need to ensure contacts in that list aren’t messaged again, and if you’d like to use different keywords, you’ll need to set those up in the dashboard.

TextUs Puts Compliance and Data Protection on Autopilot

TextUs emphasizes text message compliance and security, since its customers often deal with personal data and operate in regulated spaces. The platform offers a 10DLC Compliance Survival Guide and built-in tools to handle opt-ins/opt-outs.

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It automatically processes keywords like STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE to ensure contacts who opt out are universally opted out across the platform. They also support opt-in workflows, where some clients use TextUs’s SMS keywords for prospects to text a keyword to a number to opt in.

The platform also stays on top of carrier registration requirements. They help customers with 10DLC registration, so you can focus on reaching your audience. This will help improve deliverability and ensure that carriers sanction large-scale application-to-person texts.

Among the three, TextUs arguably provides the most hand-holding in compliance. You don’t have to be an expert in texting laws because TextUs gives you the guidelines and tools to remain compliant.

Improve Communication Across Your Business—Switch to TextUs!

If you’ve been comparing Twilio vs ClickSend, it can be frustrating to find a messaging platform that matches your business needs. You need something reliable and simple enough for your team to use every day, without relying on developers or piecing together multiple tools.

TextUs is built for efficiency and personalization. You can send messages, automate appointment reminders, and manage two-way conversations from one user-friendly dashboard. It integrates with your CRM and other tools you already use to communicate smarter.

If you’re ready to upgrade how your business communicates, it’s time to take a closer look at TextUs.

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Book a demo today and see how TextUs helps you skip the complications of Twilio and the limits of ClickSend!

FAQs About Twilio vs ClickSend

Who is Twilio's biggest competitor?

Twilio’s strongest competition comes from other CPaaS platforms that also support SMS and voice calls with global reach. 

If you’re looking for the best fit specifically for two-way texting and built-in workflow tools for sales or recruiting, platforms like TextUs are more suitable than Twilio in those niches.

Is ClickSend good?

Yes, ClickSend is a good option if you want to send texts, emails, or voice messages without coding. But some users mention difficulties when managing replies or links getting flagged as spam, but overall, it’s reliable and simple to use.

If you want something more advanced with built-in campaigns and team workflows, TextUs might be a better fit.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Twilio?

Yes. Twilio can get pricey if you’re sending messages in high volume or across multiple countries. Platforms like ClickSend offer simpler, lower-cost pricing.

Also, if you want predictable monthly pricing and a platform that already supports SMS without needing developers, TextUs is the smarter and more suitable choice for your team.

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