# 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Plivo API

> Plivo API has a score of 60.3 (C) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 70 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-plivo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-plivo.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-plivo.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-plivo.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

Plivo API has a score of 60.3 (C) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 70 points.

- 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP: grade D, 52.2/100, rank #343 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/360dialog.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/360dialog.json
- Plivo API: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #250 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/plivo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/plivo.json

## Which one, for what

Pick 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP for reliability (+5), schema & documentation (+11).

Pick Plivo API for security & auth (+10), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+70), transparency & trust (+20).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Plivo API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 78 | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 59 | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 57 | Plivo API +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 45 | Plivo API +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Plivo API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 8 | 78 | Plivo API +70 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 70 | Plivo API +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.2 · D** | **60.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Plivo API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | 360dialog | Plivo |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://waba-v2.360dialog.io` | `https://api.plivo.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-25 |
| Popularity | none | 102 stars, 51k npm/wk, 69k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP.** Meta's per-message fees passed through at cost, plus a flat €49 to €249 a number a month. No changelog, official SDK or standalone OpenAPI download.

**Plivo API.** US long code SMS $0.0077 a message and numbers $0.50 a month, with carrier surcharges listed per carrier. No OpenAPI spec.

## Before you call either

### 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP

1. Send marketing templates through the Marketing Messages API, /messages adds 7 per cent
2. Ask a docs page a question with `?ask=` before reading the whole page
3. Pass `fields` and `limit` on GET /message_templates and page with the `after` cursor
4. Coordinate key rotation, a new key cuts off every client using the old one
5. Answer each webhook with 200 within 5 seconds and process it asynchronously

### Plivo API

1. Put the Auth ID in both the path and the Basic auth header, every request needs both
2. Stay under 300 API requests per 5 seconds, a 429 carries no Retry-After
3. Give each agent its own subaccount to isolate credentials and spend
4. Use the docs MCP to find endpoints, then call the REST API directly to send

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- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Plivo API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-plivo.md)
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