{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "bird", "name": "Bird API + MCP", "vendor": "Bird (formerly MessageBird)", "vendorUrl": "https://bird.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "messaging", "summary": "Bird's rebuilt developer API sends SMS and WhatsApp (plus email and voice) from one account, with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, generated SDKs, a CLI and a hosted OAuth MCP server at mcp.bird.com.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bird.json", "repo": "https://github.com/messagebird/bird-ai", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@messagebird/sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "messagebird-sdk" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Bearer API key scoped to a workspace, with editable permissions. The hosted MCP uses OAuth with per-workspace consent, and the CLI signs in through the browser. Accounts live in one region (us1 or eu1).", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Prepaid balance, pay as you go. US SMS $0.0035 a segment on long code or toll-free and $0.007 on short code, plus carrier fees. UK SMS $0.05. US 10DLC brand registration $4.50, campaign vetting $15, campaign fee $10 a month for most use cases ($1.50 low volume, $3 charity), billed quarterly. US WhatsApp $0.0084 per utility, authentication or service message and $0.03 per marketing message, Meta fees included. Free tiers cover email sending, the Inbox software and Realtime capacity, with no free SMS or WhatsApp. SDKs, CLI and MCP cost nothing extra (https://bird.com/pricing/sms.md).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 support in docs, pricing or MCP README (checked 2026-09-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 6, "npmWeekly": 67222, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://bird.com/docs", "llmsTxt": "https://bird.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://bird.com/openapi.json", "registryName": "com.bird/mcp", "capabilities": [ "messaging.sms", "messaging.whatsapp", "messaging.verify", "messaging.inbound" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "mcp", "llms-txt", "openapi", "typescript", "python", "webhooks", "whatsapp", "sms" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-02", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 76.5, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 27, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 95, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 35, "reliability": 63, "schema": 92, "security": 85, "transparency": 80 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-04" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "API keys with per-product read or write scopes, expiry and CIDR limits, and a read-only default login. No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API.", "bestFor": "Agents that send SMS, WhatsApp and email from one account and need scoped credentials and safe retries.", "strengths": [ "API keys with per-product read or write scopes, expiry and CIDR limits, and a read-only default login", "Idempotency-Key with a 3-hour window on SMS and WhatsApp sends and other mutations, Retry-After on 429 and typed error codes", "OpenAPI 3.1 spec, llms.txt and Markdown pages", "An agent can sign up and create an organisation from the CLI with an emailed code", "US SMS $0.0035 a segment on long code and toll-free" ], "weaknesses": [ "No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API", "About 75 minutes of elevated US API errors and increased latency on 17 September 2026, writes most affected", "Rate-limit quotas aren't published, only returned in headers", "0.x releases several times a week, two of the last ten marked breaking", "No SLA found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Read RateLimit-Policy on each response to learn your quota, it isn't in the docs", "Send an Idempotency-Key on writes, SMS and WhatsApp sends included, and change it if the body changes or you'll get 409 E01005", "Treat `accepted` as received by Bird, then read the message back to confirm delivery", "Connect to mcp.bird.com/dynamic if your client struggles with large tool lists", "Log in with `--scope` or `--yolo` before sending, the default CLI login is read-only" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 8, "avgRating": 3.6, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 76.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 95, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 35, "reliability": 63, "schema": 92, "security": 85, "transparency": 60 }, "provenanceScore": 99 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST \"https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/sms/messages\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $BIRD_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"to\":\"+14155550100\",\"from\":\"+15557654321\",\"text\":\"Hello from Bird\"}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http bird https://mcp.bird.com" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/messaging.sms", "tool": "https://letme.dev/bird" }, "area": "communication", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "SMS outbound, US long code or toll-free", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0035, "note": "per segment, plus carrier fees" }, { "item": "SMS outbound, US short code", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.007, "note": "per segment, plus carrier fees" }, { "item": "SMS outbound, UK", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.05, "note": "per segment" }, { "item": "WhatsApp utility or authentication, US", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0084, "note": "Meta fee included" }, { "item": "WhatsApp marketing, US", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.03, "note": "Meta fee included" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Bird B.V.", "domain": "bird.com", "domainRegistered": "1992-02-14", "domainNote": "bird.com's registration predates the MessageBird rebrand to Bird by decades.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://bird.com/legal/terms", "privacy": "https://bird.com/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://bird.com/status", "changelog": "https://bird.com/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-30", "score": 99 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird.json", "live": { "slug": "bird", "probe": { "target": "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:17.246059362Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 488, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 99.95, "p50ms24h": 449, "p95ms24h": 485, "samples24h": 270, "samples30d": 2164, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://bird.com/status", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:38:16.792020379Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "mcp-registry", "name": "com.bird/mcp", "version": "0.113.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T02:42:52.272076636Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@messagebird/sdk", "version": "0.93.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:02:22.991545696Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "messagebird-sdk", "version": "0.92.0", "released": "2026-10-07", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:02:27.115443496Z" } ], "githubStars": 8, "npmWeekly": 81563, "pypiWeekly": 3081, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://bird.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-06-17T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:36.287685462Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://bird.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:07.739024444Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "bird.com", "registered": "1992-02-14", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/bird.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:08:14.942206601Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://bird.com/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:37.798415264Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:37.798415264Z", "fingerprint": "3267231154b1" }, { "url": "https://bird.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-01T13:11:27.781241412Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "fdeb1fb0c086" }, { "url": "https://bird.com/pricing/sms.md", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:44.083497624Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:02:53.953236819Z", "fingerprint": "f4c365637266" }, { "url": "https://bird.com/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:40.686407004Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:40.686407004Z", "fingerprint": "8f161893a8c9" }, { "url": "https://bird.com/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:15:42.036012098Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:02:51.866750759Z", "fingerprint": "66351596c413" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:17.246059362Z" } }, "answer": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "sendblue", "name": "Sendblue", "vendor": "Round One, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.sendblue.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "messaging", "summary": "Sendblue is a hosted API from Round One, Inc. for sending and receiving iMessage, RCS, SMS and MMS from dedicated or shared phone numbers. Agents use a REST API, TypeScript and Python SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendblue", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendblue.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendblue.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendblue.json", "repo": "https://github.com/sendblue-api/sendblue-ts", "license": "Proprietary service under Round One, Inc.'s terms of service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the MCP server are Apache-2.0, and the CLI is MIT", "transports": [ "http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.sendblue.com", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "sendblue" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "sendblue" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "sendblue-api-mcp" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@sendblue/cli" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Every request carries the account's key pair in the `sb-api-key-id` and `sb-api-secret-key` headers, and requests from a browser are refused. The keys come from the dashboard or from `sendblue show-keys` after the CLI creates the account, which needs a person to text a one-time code or enter an email code. `POST /v3/auth/tokens` mints a temporary bearer token, account-wide or limited to named phone numbers, valid for 900 seconds by default and revocable. The MCP server reads `SENDBLUE_API_API_KEY` and `SENDBLUE_API_API_SECRET` from the environment. Agency subaccounts with their own keys need approval from support.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Flat price per line with no per-message fee. The Free Sandbox is $0 with no card, on a shared number with up to 10 verified contacts. The AI Agent plan is $100 a month per dedicated line and is inbound-first. Proactive outbound messaging is on the Enterprise or Blue Ocean plan, priced through sales. The terms add 3 per cent for card payments and $60 per line to port a number out (https://www.sendblue.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$100 / mo", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, either `llms.txt`, the pricing page or the terms (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 18, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 249505, "pypiWeekly": 39912, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.sendblue.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.sendblue.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "messaging.sms", "messaging.mms", "messaging.rcs", "messaging.inbound", "messaging.verify" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "imessage", "sms", "rcs", "mcp", "cli", "llms-txt", "typescript", "python", "webhooks", "no-card", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 61.7, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 358, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 76, "maintenance": 72, "payments": 40, "reliability": 71, "schema": 66, "security": 46, "transparency": 58 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Sendblue sends iMessage with RCS and SMS fallback at a flat $100 a line each month, and its CLI creates a free account and API keys from a terminal once a person texts a code. Proactive outbound messaging is sold through sales, no OpenAPI file is published, and the MCP package the docs install dates from August 2025.", "bestFor": "An agent that answers people over iMessage on a US number, where blue-bubble threads, typing indicators and reactions matter and the person texts first.", "strengths": [ "One request to `/api/send-message` sends iMessage and can fall back to RCS or SMS, with no per-message fee on any plan", "The CLI creates a free account, a shared line and API keys from a terminal, with no card, once a person texts a one-time code", "Temporary bearer tokens from `/v3/auth/tokens` can be limited to named phone numbers, expire after 900 seconds by default and can be revoked", "Every docs page has a Markdown twin at `/index.md`, and `llms.txt` summarises each page with its limits and conditions", "Rate limits are published with numbers for each plan, and declined sends return an `error_key` an agent can branch on" ], "weaknesses": [ "Proactive outbound messaging needs the Blue Ocean plan, which has no public price. The $100 AI Agent plan is inbound-first", "No OpenAPI file was found at any public address, although the SDKs and the reference are generated from one", "The docs install `sendblue-api-mcp`, last published on 5 August 2025 with 18 tools. The API now has 54 configured endpoints", "`/api/send-message` takes no idempotency key, and the SDKs retry 429 and 5xx responses twice by default", "No public DPA, sub-processor list, retention period, deprecation policy or security.txt was found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `from_number` on every request. Read the account's numbers from `GET /api/lines` first, because a send without it fails", "On the free plan a recipient must text the Sendblue number once before any message to them is accepted", "Before a contact's first reply keep messages under 300 characters with no links, media, phone numbers or email addresses, and stop at six", "Branch on `error_key` in an HTTP 400 decline and don't retry it. Only HTTP 429 clears by waiting", "Set `maxRetries: 0` on sends where a duplicate matters, and treat `504 outcome_unknown` on group changes as possibly applied", "Mint a token at `/v3/auth/tokens` limited to one phone number for a sub-agent, and keep the account key pair out of its context" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 61.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 76, "maintenance": 72, "payments": 40, "reliability": 71, "schema": 66, "security": 46, "transparency": 29 }, "provenanceScore": 86 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install sendblue", "http": "curl -X POST https://api.sendblue.com/api/send-message \\\n -H \"sb-api-key-id: $SENDBLUE_API_KEY_ID\" -H \"sb-api-secret-key: $SENDBLUE_API_KEY_SECRET\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"number\":\"+19998887777\",\"from_number\":\"+18887776666\",\"content\":\"Hello from Sendblue!\"}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add sendblue_api --env SENDBLUE_API_API_KEY=your-api-key --env SENDBLUE_API_API_SECRET=your-api-secret -- npx -y sendblue-api-mcp --client=claude-code --tools=all", "config": { "mcpServers": { "sendblue_api": { "args": [ "-y", "sendblue-api-mcp", "--tools=all" ], "command": "npx", "env": { "SENDBLUE_API_API_KEY": "your-api-key", "SENDBLUE_API_API_SECRET": "your-api-secret" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/messaging.sms", "tool": "https://letme.dev/sendblue" }, "area": "communication", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "AI Agent plan, dedicated line", "unit": "month", "usd": 100, "note": "Per line, inbound-first, no per-message fee. Outbound plans are priced through sales" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Round One, Inc.", "domain": "sendblue.com", "domainRegistered": "2011-06-25", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.sendblue.com/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.sendblue.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.sendblue.com", "changelog": "https://github.com/sendblue-api/sendblue-ts/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The terms of service (effective 19 March 2025) and the privacy policy (effective 1 May 2024) both name Round One, Inc. as Sendblue. The site footer gives 344 West End Avenue, New York NY 10024.", "The terms cover registering for and using the services, so they govern API use. The privacy policy covers the website and the services and says Sendblue is a processor for its business customers.", "The API answers at api.sendblue.com, and the SDKs default to api.sendblue.co, a second domain the vendor uses.", "`/.well-known/security.txt` returns 404 on www.sendblue.com, docs.sendblue.com and api.sendblue.com.", "There is no API changelog in the docs. The changelog link is the TypeScript SDK's, whose recent entries mostly read as regenerated clients.", "RDAP for sendblue.com gives a registration date of 2011-06-25." ], "score": 86 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendblue.json", "live": { "slug": "sendblue", "probe": { "target": "https://api.sendblue.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:33.373475528Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 775, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 755, "p95ms24h": 921, "samples24h": 28, "samples30d": 28, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 28, "ok": 28 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.sendblue.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:09.808226694Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:53:33.373475528Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Bird (formerly MessageBird)", "b": "Round One, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1", "b": "https://api.sendblue.com", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP, stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$0.0035 per message", "b": "not published", "name": "Price for messaging sms" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "Proprietary service under Round One, Inc.'s terms of service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the MCP server are Apache-2.0, and the CLI is MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "18", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "com.bird/mcp", "b": "not listed", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "2026-10-02", "b": "2026-10-07", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2024-11-21", "b": "2025-03-19", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-08-31", "b": "2024-05-01", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "6 stars, 67k npm/wk", "b": "250k npm/wk, 40k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.6/5 (8)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Bird API + MCP or Sendblue?" }, { "answer": "Bird API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Sendblue needs an API key.", "question": "Do Bird API + MCP and Sendblue need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Bird API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1 and Sendblue at https://api.sendblue.com.", "question": "Can an agent call Bird API + MCP and Sendblue without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 92 against 66", "Agent ergonomics, 95 against 76", "Security \u0026 auth, 85 against 46", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 72", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 80 against 58" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "Agents that send SMS, WhatsApp and email from one account and need scoped credentials and safe retries.", "slug": "bird", "watchFor": "No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 71 against 63", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "An agent that answers people over iMessage on a US number, where blue-bubble threads, typing indicators and reactions matter and the person texts first.", "slug": "sendblue", "watchFor": "Proactive outbound messaging needs the Blue Ocean plan, which has no public price. The $100 AI Agent plan is inbound-first" } ], "job": { "capability": "messaging.sms", "name": "Messaging sms" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-bird.json", "title": "AWS End User Messaging vs Bird API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-bird" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "AWS End User Messaging vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-bird.json", "title": "Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-bird" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-clicksend.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-clicksend" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-infobip.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Infobip API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-infobip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-plivo.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Plivo API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-plivo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sinch.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sinch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-telnyx.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Telnyx API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-telnyx" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-twilio.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Twilio API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-twilio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-vonage.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Vonage Messages API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-vonage" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "Infobip API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "Plivo API vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-sinch.json", "title": "Sendblue vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-sinch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-telnyx.json", "title": "Sendblue vs Telnyx API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-telnyx" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-twilio.json", "title": "Sendblue vs Twilio API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-twilio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-vonage.json", "title": "Sendblue vs Vonage Messages API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-vonage" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.json", "title": "360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Sendblue vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" } ], "scores": [ { "bird": 63, "by": 8, "edge": "sendblue", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "sendblue": 71, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bird": 92, "by": 26, "edge": "bird", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "sendblue": 66, "weight": 13 }, { "bird": 95, "by": 19, "edge": "bird", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "sendblue": 76, "weight": 13 }, { "bird": 85, "by": 39, "edge": "bird", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "sendblue": 46, "weight": 14 }, { "bird": 35, "by": 5, "edge": "sendblue", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "sendblue": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bird": 83, "by": 11, "edge": "bird", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "sendblue": 72, "weight": 7 }, { "bird": 80, "by": 22, "edge": "bird", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "sendblue": 58, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging sms.", "verdicts": { "bird": "API keys with per-product read or write scopes, expiry and CIDR limits, and a read-only default login. No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API.", "sendblue": "Sendblue sends iMessage with RCS and SMS fallback at a flat $100 a line each month, and its CLI creates a free account and API keys from a terminal once a person texts a code. Proactive outbound messaging is sold through sales, no OpenAPI file is published, and the MCP package the docs install dates from August 2025." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.min.md" }, "markdown": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging sms.\n\n- Bird API + MCP: grade BB, 76.5/100, rank #27 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bird.json\n- Sendblue: grade C, 61.7/100, rank #358 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendblue.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendblue.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Bird API + MCP (BB)\n\nGood for: Agents that send SMS, WhatsApp and email from one account and need scoped credentials and safe retries.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 92 against 66\n- Agent ergonomics, 95 against 76\n- Security \u0026 auth, 85 against 46\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 72\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 80 against 58\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API\n\n### Sendblue (C)\n\nGood for: An agent that answers people over iMessage on a US number, where blue-bubble threads, typing indicators and reactions matter and the person texts first.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 71 against 63\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: Proactive outbound messaging needs the Blue Ocean plan, which has no public price. The $100 AI Agent plan is inbound-first\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Bird API + MCP | Sendblue | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 63 | 71 | Sendblue +8 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 66 | Bird API + MCP +26 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 95 | 76 | Bird API + MCP +19 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 85 | 46 | Bird API + MCP +39 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Sendblue +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 72 | Bird API + MCP +11 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 58 | Bird API + MCP +22 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **76.5 · BB** | **61.7 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Bird API + MCP | Sendblue |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Bird (formerly MessageBird) | Round One, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1` | `https://api.sendblue.com` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| Price for messaging sms | $0.0035 per message | not published |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Round One, Inc.'s terms of service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the MCP server are Apache-2.0, and the CLI is MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | 18 |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `com.bird/mcp` | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-07 |\n| Terms last updated | 2024-11-21 | 2025-03-19 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-31 | 2024-05-01 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | 6 stars, 67k npm/wk | 250k npm/wk, 40k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.6/5 (8) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Bird API + MCP.** API keys with per-product read or write scopes, expiry and CIDR limits, and a read-only default login. No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API.\n\n**Sendblue.** Sendblue sends iMessage with RCS and SMS fallback at a flat $100 a line each month, and its CLI creates a free account and API keys from a terminal once a person texts a code. Proactive outbound messaging is sold through sales, no OpenAPI file is published, and the MCP package the docs install dates from August 2025.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Bird API + MCP\n\n1. Read RateLimit-Policy on each response to learn your quota, it isn't in the docs\n2. Send an Idempotency-Key on writes, SMS and WhatsApp sends included, and change it if the body changes or you'll get 409 E01005\n3. Treat `accepted` as received by Bird, then read the message back to confirm delivery\n4. Connect to mcp.bird.com/dynamic if your client struggles with large tool lists\n5. Log in with `--scope` or `--yolo` before sending, the default CLI login is read-only\n\n### Sendblue\n\n1. Send `from_number` on every request. Read the account's numbers from `GET /api/lines` first, because a send without it fails\n2. On the free plan a recipient must text the Sendblue number once before any message to them is accepted\n3. Before a contact's first reply keep messages under 300 characters with no links, media, phone numbers or email addresses, and stop at six\n4. Branch on `error_key` in an HTTP 400 decline and don't retry it. Only HTTP 429 clears by waiting\n5. Set `maxRetries: 0` on sends where a duplicate matters, and treat `504 outcome_unknown` on group changes as possibly applied\n6. Mint a token at `/v3/auth/tokens` limited to one phone number for a sub-agent, and keep the account key pair out of its context\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Bird API + MCP or Sendblue?\n\nBird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Do Bird API + MCP and Sendblue need an API key?\n\nBird API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Sendblue needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Bird API + MCP and Sendblue without installing anything?\n\nYes. Bird API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1 and Sendblue at https://api.sendblue.com.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bird\", \"b\": \"sendblue\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bird sendblue`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bird.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendblue.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Bird API + MCP or Sendblue\n\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-bird.md)\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-bird.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-clicksend.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Infobip API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-infobip.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Plivo API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-plivo.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sinch.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Telnyx API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-telnyx.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Twilio API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-twilio.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Vonage Messages API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-vonage.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Infobip API + MCP vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Plivo API vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Sendblue vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-sinch.md)\n- [Sendblue vs Telnyx API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-telnyx.md)\n- [Sendblue vs Twilio API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-twilio.md)\n- [Sendblue vs Vonage Messages API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-vonage.md)\n- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Sendblue vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendblue-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Bird API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "" } ], "description": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sendblue's 61.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sendblue leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging sms. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Bird API + MCP BB 76.5", "Sendblue C 61.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Bird API + MCP vs Sendblue", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bird-vs-sendblue.png", "path": "/compare/bird-vs-sendblue", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Sendblue for AI agents, BB 76.5 vs C 61.7", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2450, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }