
MessageBird (YC S16), Twilio rival from Europe, introduces support for chat apps - robertvis
https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/08/a-rare-bird-indeed/
======
robertvis
Hi HN community, my name is Robert and I'm the founder of MessageBird.
MessageBird is an API for sending Text, Voice & Chat messages to your
customers globally.

Today we launched our API to connect to different chat platforms: FB
Messenger, WeChat, Line and Telegram using one single API. You can play around
with it in our dashboard and have some chats with yourself before integrating
the API.

We would love feedback from the community on our Chat API and/or Text & Voice
API's. Let me know if you have any questions. [https://www.messagebird.com/en-
us/chat-api](https://www.messagebird.com/en-us/chat-api)

~~~
TheSageMage
Not trolling, the title says you are a rival to Twilio. What do you feel you
offer that they don't, or why should an existing Twilio customer use
MessageBird instead?

~~~
robertvis
We are cheaper than Twilio in almost all countries including US. But price is
not everything.

In terms of our strenghts (not sure how this relates to Twilio):

We have a direct-to-carrier strategy, most focussed on Europe & Asia. This
ensures reliable and fast delivery. If you are a high volume text message
customer we have global experience working for some of the most needy and
security sensitive companies including banks & governments.

~~~
cmdrfred
He wasn't kidding .005 vs .0075 USD cents per message and reviving messages is
free unlike Twilio. Twilio also charges $1.00 a month for the number itself. I
will be giving your service a try in the future sir.

~~~
robertvis
We'd love to help you out with this especially because we are newer to the US
- really looking for customer experiences- email me please and we can setup a
demo account: robert@messagebird.com

------
ognevvv
>The company has been profitable since its first year

Something to learn from ;-)

~~~
robertvis
Thx :) Climate is different in Europe, you need profitability to survive.

~~~
jmportilla
Yeah, you guys being profitable made me very happy. It's good to know that not
all companies are just crazy burn for growth machines. Congrats!

~~~
robertvis
Thanks! I'm not persé against burning money for growth, it is just different
in Europe than here. We are also Dutch, and you know the saying "going dutch"
so maybe a bit cheap haha

------
educar
For the uninitated: MeesageBird is super cheap compared to twilio.

~~~
medecau
Not always.

A Virtual Mobile Number for Spain on Twilio costs $1 while on MessageBird it
costs $30.

[https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing/es](https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing/es)
[https://www.messagebird.com/en-us/virtual-mobile-
number](https://www.messagebird.com/en-us/virtual-mobile-number)

~~~
robertvis
We will look into this asap!

------
throwaway745234
As a happy customer I get slightly concerned when relatively small, successful
companies get (too) ambitious for rapid expansion. Luckily in this case, while
MessageBird works very well, the product is not unique and quite easy to
substitute may the need arise. I'd rather not see that happen, though. :)

~~~
robertvis
Happy to hear you are happy. We are a very lean company and most of our
expansion will be in scaling technology - not people or products. However, if
you ever feel the need to leave, can we agree you write me an e-mail first?
robert@messagebird.com

