Who is Plivo best for?

Plivo is built for Software developers and engineering teams building communication-heavy applications, Product and operations teams at consumer-facing businesses, Enterprise IT and communications architects evaluating CPaaS infrastructure, Customer experience and contact center operators. Common use cases include AI-powered inbound/outbound voice agent automation (sales, support, collections); Two-factor authentication and OTP verification; Transactional SMS and WhatsApp notifications.

Plivo uses pay-as-you-go pricing with $10 in free credits and no credit card required to start. Voice: $0.0115/min outbound and $0.0055/min inbound for local US calls; Browser/SIP calls at $0.0033/min. SMS: $0.0077 per outbound or inbound message (long code/short code). WhatsApp: $0.0044/message (utility/authentication) and $0.0275/message (marketing). AI Voice Agents: $0.050/min (channel costs billed separately). Enterprise plans start at $1,000/month with volume discounts available. All voice and AI agent calls billed in 60-second intervals.

What are the alternatives to Plivo?

Common Communications APIs alternatives to Plivo include Twilio, Knock, Novu, Resend, Mailgun. See the full comparison hub at /verticals/communications-apis/compare.

What do users praise about Plivo?

Users frequently praise: Competitive and transparent pricing; Easy API setup and quick onboarding; Comprehensive and up-to-date documentation; Reliable voice call quality; Global carrier reach and country coverage; Flexible SDKs across multiple languages; Intuitive console logs for debugging; Strong uptime and platform stability.

What are common complaints about Plivo?

Frequently cited limitations: Slow or unresponsive customer support; Account suspensions without clear explanation; Steep learning curve for non-technical users; Occasional SMS delivery inconsistencies; Support team time-zone mismatch for US PST hours; Limited log retention periods; Console UI navigation can be cumbersome.

When was Plivo founded and where?

Plivo was founded in 2011, headquartered in Austin, TX, USA by Venky Balasubramanian, Michael Ricordeau.

Plivo reports 201-500 employees, ~70,000 customers, ~$86.6M ARR.

AI visibility report

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Outside the top three on 21 of the 25 prompts buyers actually ask.

Twilio is cited on 12 of those losses.

25 prompts

6 platforms

Updated Sep 4, 2026 - refreshed weekly

Track Plivo daily

Free trial. Setup comes pre-filled for Plivo.

Track Plivo across these prompts daily.

Start free trial

4percent

Presence Rate

Low presence

Still absent from 96% of tracked prompt responses

Top-3 citations across 150 prompt × platform pairs

+0.28

Sentiment

-1.00.0+1.0

Positive

No clearrank

Peer Ranking

#1#12

No clear rankin Communications APIs

Key Metrics

Presence Rate

4.0%

Share of Voice

5.8%

Avg Position

#51.4

Docs Presence

2.0%

Blog Presence

2.7%

Brand Mentions

16.0%

Platform Breakdown

Grok

20%5/25 prompts

ChatGPT

Research dossierCapabilities, use cases, sources, reviews, pricing, and FAQ

Overview

Plivo is a Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) founded in 2011 and headquartered in Austin, Texas. The platform provides developer-focused APIs and SDKs for programmable voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and RCS messaging, alongside a no-code visual builder and an AI Voice Agent platform. Serving 190+ countries with direct carrier relationships, Plivo handles over 1 billion API requests per month and reports approximately $86.6 million in 2024 revenue with roughly 70,000 customers. The company has been profitable since 2015 and raised only ~$2 million in external funding from investors including Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures. Customers include Meta, Uber, Discord, GoDaddy, Adobe, Atlassian, and DocuSign.

Plivo is a full-stack CPaaS and AI agent platform offering programmable Voice, SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, and SIP APIs alongside a no-code workflow builder and voice AI agent studio. It is built on a proprietary global carrier network connecting 190+ countries and is designed to serve both developers building custom integrations and non-technical teams deploying ready-made communication automation.

AI visibility report

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Outside the top three on 21 of the 25 prompts buyers actually ask.

Twilio is cited on 12 of those losses.

25 prompts

6 platforms

Updated Sep 4, 2026 - refreshed weekly

Track Plivo daily

Free trial. Setup comes pre-filled for Plivo.

Track Plivo across these prompts daily.

Start free trial

4percent

Presence Rate

Low presence

Still absent from 96% of tracked prompt responses

Top-3 citations across 150 prompt × platform pairs

+0.28

Sentiment

-1.00.0+1.0

Positive

No clearrank

Peer Ranking

#1#12

No clear rankin Communications APIs

Key Metrics

Presence Rate

4.0%

Share of Voice

5.8%

Avg Position

#51.4

Docs Presence

2.0%

Blog Presence

2.7%

Brand Mentions

16.0%

Platform Breakdown

Grok

20%5/25 prompts

ChatGPT

Research dossierCapabilities, use cases, sources, reviews, pricing, and FAQ

Overview

Reviews

4.5/5G2·746+

Praised

Competitive and transparent pricing
Easy API setup and quick onboarding
Comprehensive and up-to-date documentation
Reliable voice call quality
Global carrier reach and country coverage
Flexible SDKs across multiple languages
Intuitive console logs for debugging
Strong uptime and platform stability

Criticized

Slow or unresponsive customer support
Account suspensions without clear explanation
Steep learning curve for non-technical users
Occasional SMS delivery inconsistencies
Support team time-zone mismatch for US PST hours
Limited log retention periods
Console UI navigation can be cumbersome

On G2, Plivo holds a 4.5/5 rating across 746 verified reviews, with 74% of reviewers giving 5 stars. Users commonly praise the platform's ease of setup, competitive pricing, API simplicity, and documentation quality. Criticisms center on slow or unresponsive customer support, occasional SMS delivery inconsistencies, and steep onboarding for non-developers. Plivo was recognized as a Leader in G2's Winter 2024 Grid Reports for Cloud Communication Platforms, SMS API, and Voice API categories.

Prompt	Gemini Search	Google AI Mode	Bing Copilot	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Grok
Capability1/5 cited (20%)
What transactional email APIs handle very high-volume bulk sends alongside triggered one-to-one emails without separate infrastructure?	A competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited	A competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited
Which unified communications APIs handle both programmatic email sending and visual template editing for non-technical teams?

#	Brand	PresencePres.	Share of VoiceSoV	DocsDocs	BlogBlog	MentionsMent.	Avg PosPos	Sentiment
1	Twilio	20.7%	22.5%	13.3%	0.0%	56.0%	#35.8	+0.45
2	Knock	18.0%	17.1%	9.3%	10.0%	26.0%	#25.2	+0.30
3	Novu	9.3%	11.3%	5.3%	0.0%	24.7%	#49.8	+0.29
4	Resend	8.7%	4.3%	0.0%	8.0%	16.0%	#23.1	+0.31
5	Vonage	7.3%	8.1%	2.0%	0.7%	24.7%	#37.3	+0.40
6	Mailgun	7.3%	8.4%	1.3%	3.3%	0.0%	#37.9	+0.31
7	Sinch	6.7%	6.1%	0.0%	2.7%	0.7%	#20.5	+0.37
8	Postmark	5.3%	8.4%	1.3%	3.3%	24.0%	#38.3	+0.29
9	Stream	4.0%	5.8%	0.0%	2.7%	12.0%	#28.4	+0.56
10	Plivo	4.0%	5.8%	2.0%	2.7%	16.0%	#51.4	+0.28
11	Bird	2.0%	2.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	#15.6	+0.70
12	Nylas	0.7%	0.3%	0.0%	0.0%	1.3%	#1.0	+0.80

Developer Experience1/5 cited (20%)
Which communications API platforms are least opinionated about the user data model and easiest to integrate with an existing user table?	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited

Integrations & Ecosystem1/5 cited (20%)
Which communications APIs integrate best with CRMs and marketing automation tools so sales teams can see notification history alongside customer records?	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited

Performance & Reliability1/5 cited (20%)
What tools help load test a notification system to ensure it handles a burst of 1 million emails without queue buildup?	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Key Metrics

Platform Breakdown

Overview

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Key Metrics

Platform Breakdown

Overview

Prompts where competitors are visible and Plivo is not.

Where Plivo is winning1

Where Plivo is losing5

Key Facts

Key Capabilities10

Key Use Cases8

Recent Trend

How AI describes Plivo3

Most cited sources8

Alternatives in Communications APIs6

Reviews

Pricing

Limitations

Topic Coverage

Prompt-Level Results

Vertical Ranking

Turn this into your team dashboard

Frequently asked questions

Setup & First Run1/5 cited (20%)
Which SMS API providers make it easiest to migrate sending infrastructure without breaking existing 2FA flows for users?	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	A competitor was cited	Neither your brand nor a competitor was cited	Your brand and a competitor were cited

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Key Metrics

Platform Breakdown

Overview

AI visibility report for Plivo in Communications APIs.

Key Metrics

Platform Breakdown

Overview

Prompts where competitors are visible and Plivo is not.

Where Plivo is winning1

Where Plivo is losing5

Key Facts

Key Capabilities10

Key Use Cases8

Recent Trend

How AI describes Plivo3

Most cited sources8

Alternatives in Communications APIs6

Reviews

Pricing

Limitations

Topic Coverage

Prompt-Level Results

Vertical Ranking

Turn this into your team dashboard

Frequently asked questions

What does Plivo do?

Who is Plivo best for?

How is Plivo priced?

What are the alternatives to Plivo?

What do users praise about Plivo?

What are common complaints about Plivo?

When was Plivo founded and where?

How big is Plivo?