What is Bird used for?

Bird is an omnichannel messaging platform, formed from MessageBird and SparkPost, covering email, SMS, WhatsApp, voice and more through APIs. It is a good fit for sending transactional email and SMS from one provider, and verifying users across messaging channels.

Yes. Bird has a free plan, and paid plans start at $0.50 per month.

No. Bird is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Bird include Dittofeed, Postal and Plunk.

What are some alternatives to Bird?

Bird competes with Twilio, Sinch and Vonage API. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Bird alternatives.

Bird: features, pricing and alternatives

About Bird

Bird is a commercial communications platform that combines the former MessageBird and SparkPost businesses. Developers and marketers use it to send email, SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and voice, along with services such as verification, number lookup and eSIM.

Its email side includes transactional and marketing email, an email API, SMTP relay, automation, templates, inbound email, deliverability tools and inbox placement testing. SMS offers a sending API, routing and compliance tools such as 10DLC registration. Bird supports building with SDKs, a CLI and an MCP, automating journeys and tracking delivery, and it is a hosted service.

Key features

Email API, SMTP relay and marketing email
SMS sending with routing and compliance tools
WhatsApp and Apple Messages channels
Voice, verification and number lookup
Journey automation across channels
SDKs, CLI and MCP for developers

Good fit for

→Sending transactional email and SMS from one provider
→Verifying users across messaging channels

Tags: email-api; sms; whatsapp; omnichannel; transactional-email; communications; developer-tools

Bird: questions and answers

What is Bird used for?: Bird is an omnichannel messaging platform, formed from MessageBird and SparkPost, covering email, SMS, WhatsApp, voice and more through APIs. It is a good fit for sending transactional email and SMS from one provider, and verifying users across messaging channels.
Is Bird free?: Yes. Bird has a free plan, and paid plans start at $0.50 per month.
Is Bird open source?: No. Bird is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Bird include Dittofeed, Postal and Plunk.
What are some alternatives to Bird?: Bird competes with Twilio, Sinch and Vonage API. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Bird alternatives.