# 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Twilio API + MCP

> Twilio API + MCP has a score of 80.4 (A) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 77 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-twilio
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-twilio.md (~1,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-twilio.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-twilio.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

Twilio API + MCP has a score of 80.4 (A) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 77 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
- Twilio API + MCP: grade A, 80.4/100, rank #5 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/twilio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/twilio.json

## Which one, for what

Pick 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick Twilio API + MCP for reliability (+7), schema & documentation (+22), agent ergonomics (+27), security & auth (+50), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+77), transparency & trust (+31).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Twilio API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 90 | Twilio API + MCP +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 92 | Twilio API + MCP +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 80 | Twilio API + MCP +27 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 85 | Twilio API + MCP +50 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Twilio API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 8 | 85 | Twilio API + MCP +77 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 81 | Twilio API + MCP +31 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.2 · D** | **80.4 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Twilio API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | 360dialog | Twilio |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://waba-v2.360dialog.io` | `https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 2 |
| 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 | 2026-09-28 |
| Popularity | none | 111 stars, 7.2M npm/wk, 4.8M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (8) |

## 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.

**Twilio API + MCP.** Per-segment US prices, carrier fees by carrier and the $0.001 failed-message fee published without a login. US SMS at $0.0083 a segment plus $0.0035 to $0.005 in carrier fees, with inbound charged at the same rate.

## 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

### Twilio API + MCP

1. Use the hosted docs MCP to find the endpoint, then call the REST API with a restricted API key
2. Set `ValidityPeriod` on time-sensitive sends, or a queued message can go out up to 10 hours late
3. Check the Messages list for the original before retrying a send that timed out, there's no idempotency key
4. Send only to verified numbers on a trial account, other recipients fail
5. Validate `X-Twilio-Signature` on every inbound webhook

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