{ "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": "2026-10-08T23:09:03.181492416Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 450, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 99.95, "p50ms24h": 449, "p95ms24h": 484, "samples24h": 269, "samples30d": 2177, "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": 259, "ok": 259 } ] }, "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": "2026-10-08T23:09:03.181492416Z" } }, "answer": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "name": "WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "vendor": "Meta Platforms, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://developers.facebook.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "messaging", "summary": "Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API sends and receives WhatsApp messages for a business phone number through the Graph API, with inbound messages and status updates arriving by webhook. Access uses a Meta developer app and OAuth access tokens.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "repo": "https://github.com/facebook/openapi", "license": "Proprietary service under the Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform. The OpenAPI document in facebook/openapi is MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://graph.facebook.com", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Every call needs a Bearer access token from a Meta developer app with the WhatsApp use case. Access is self-serve for a business using its own account, with no App Review. A person creates the app, a business portfolio and a system user in Meta's dashboards, then generates a system user token with `whatsapp_business_messaging` and `whatsapp_business_management`. Apps that act for other businesses need Advanced access through App Review and onboard customers with Embedded Signup. Business verification raises the messaging limit above 250 recipients a day.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Charged per delivered message, by category (marketing, utility, authentication, service) and recipient country, with no platform or per-number fee found. Meta publishes rate cards as CSV and PDF in 16 currencies. We couldn't read the files, and the one rate we saw in prose is 0.68 US cents for a utility or authentication message to Brazil. Service messages are charged from 1 October 2026 per Meta's timeline. A test account and test number send without a payment method, so an agent can start without a contract (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the WhatsApp documentation, the llms.txt indexes, the pricing pages or the OpenAPI document (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/overview", "llmsTxt": "https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/facebook/openapi/main/business-messaging-api_v23.0.yaml", "capabilities": [ "messaging.whatsapp", "messaging.inbound" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-based", "oauth", "openapi", "llms-txt", "webhooks", "whatsapp", "mcp", "sandbox", "status-page", "bug-bounty", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-08-11", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.1, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 218, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 34, "payments": 40, "reliability": 80, "schema": 82, "security": 67, "transparency": 82 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "The first-party WhatsApp API has a public OpenAPI document, Markdown docs with llms.txt, numeric rate limits and a test number that sends without a payment method. Setup needs a person in three Meta dashboards, no idempotency key was found for sends, and Meta's terms restrict general-purpose AI assistants on the platform.", "bestFor": "The direct route to WhatsApp for a business messaging its own customers, with no reseller fee.", "strengths": [ "A test WhatsApp Business account and test number are created with the app and send template messages with no payment method on file", "OpenAPI 3.1 document under MIT in facebook/openapi (78 paths, 113 operations), plus llms.txt indexes and a Markdown copy of each docs page", "Limits are published with numbers, including 80 messages a second per number, 5,000 requests an hour per active account and one message every 6 seconds per recipient", "Message data is kept for at most 30 days, with local storage and no-storage options per phone number, and SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 reports for Cloud API", "Webhook payloads are signed with HMAC-SHA256 in `X-Hub-Signature-256`, and mutual TLS is available" ], "weaknesses": [ "A person has to create a Meta account, a developer app, a business portfolio and a system user in a browser before any token exists", "No idempotency key for message sends was found in the reviewed documentation or the OpenAPI document, so a retried send can reach the user twice", "Meta's pricing page says the 15 January 2026 terms permit general-purpose AI assistants only where Meta is legally required to allow them", "Outside the 24-hour customer service window only pre-approved templates can be sent, and a new business portfolio is limited to 250 recipients in 24 hours", "Meta archived its Node.js SDK, and the published OpenAPI document is pinned to v23.0 while the Graph API is at v26.0" ], "agentNotes": [ "Check when the user last wrote. Free-form messages are accepted only within 24 hours of the user's last message. After that, send an approved template.", "Record the message id from each send and match it to `messages` webhook statuses. Many failures arrive only by webhook, and no idempotency key was found.", "On error 130429 or 131056 wait and retry. Meta's guidance for the per-recipient limit is 4^X seconds, with X rising by one per failure.", "Verify `X-Hub-Signature-256` with the app secret on every webhook, and deduplicate, because failed deliveries are retried for up to 7 days.", "Request `health_status` on the phone number before a campaign to see whether the app, business, account, number and template can send." ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 34, "payments": 40, "reliability": 80, "schema": 82, "security": 67, "transparency": 70 }, "provenanceScore": 94 }, "connect": { "http": "curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v23.0/\u003cBUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID\u003e/messages' \\\n -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n -H 'Authorization: Bearer \u003cSYSTEM_USER_ACCESS_TOKEN\u003e' \\\n -d '{\"messaging_product\":\"whatsapp\",\"recipient_type\":\"individual\",\"to\":\"\u003cWHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER\u003e\",\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":{\"body\":\"Hello!\"}}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http whatsapp_business_tools https://mcp.facebook.com/whatsapp_business_tools" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/messaging.whatsapp", "tool": "https://letme.dev/whatsapp-cloud-api" }, "sameCompany": [ "meta-marketing-api" ], "area": "communication", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Utility or authentication template, Brazil", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0068, "note": "the one rate quoted in prose on Meta's non-template pricing page. Rates vary by country and category, and the rate card files weren't read" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Meta Platforms, Inc.", "domain": "facebook.com", "domainRegistered": "1997-03-29", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.facebook.com/legal/Meta-Terms-for-WhatsApp-Business-Platform", "privacy": "https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-data-processing-terms", "statusPage": "https://metastatus.com/whatsapp-business-api", "changelog": "https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The API answers at graph.facebook.com and the MCP server at mcp.facebook.com, both facebook.com subdomains.", "www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-solution-terms and /legal/meta-terms-whatsapp-business both redirect to www.facebook.com/legal/Meta-Terms-for-WhatsApp-Business-Platform. That page and the Cloud API hosting terms at www.facebook.com/legal/WhatsApp-Business-Platform-Cloud-API render only with JavaScript, so their text wasn't read.", "The privacy field points at the WhatsApp Business Data Processing Terms (last updated 22 August 2025), which we read. Meta's docs name the Cloud API hosting terms as the other data document for Cloud API customers.", "The legal entity is taken from the copyright line of the MIT licence in facebook/openapi. The data processing terms name WhatsApp LLC and WhatsApp Ireland Limited as contracting entities.", "www.facebook.com/.well-known/security.txt and www.whatsapp.com/.well-known/security.txt name a contact, the bug bounty policy at bugbounty.meta.com and a disclosure policy, and expire on 7 November 2026.", "RDAP for facebook.com gives a registration date of 1997-03-29.", "The WhatsApp changelog's newest entry is 12 May 2026, and the one before it 8 December 2025." ], "score": 94 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "live": { "slug": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "probe": { "target": "https://graph.facebook.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T23:09:23.088865036Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 400, "lastMs": 109, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 109, "p95ms24h": 118, "samples24h": 61, "samples30d": 61, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 61, "ok": 61 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://metastatus.com/whatsapp-business-api", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:20.381545782Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:17:37.55658412Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "c1607719e42e" }, { "url": "https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-data-processing-terms", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:35.269938621Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "3a883fb460c8" }, { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/legal/Meta-Terms-for-WhatsApp-Business-Platform", "kind": "terms", "status": 0, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:43.250256264Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "blockedByRobots": true } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T23:09:23.088865036Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Bird (formerly MessageBird)", "b": "Meta Platforms, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1", "b": "https://graph.facebook.com", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$0.0084 per message", "b": "not published", "name": "Price for messaging whatsapp" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "Proprietary service under the Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform. The OpenAPI document in facebook/openapi is MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "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": "2026-08-11", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2024-11-21", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-08-31", "b": "2025-08-22", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "6 stars, 67k npm/wk", "b": "none", "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 WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Bird API + MCP or WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)?" }, { "answer": "Bird API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) uses an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Bird API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Bird API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1 and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) at https://graph.facebook.com.", "question": "Can an agent call Bird API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 92 against 82", "Agent ergonomics, 95 against 67", "Security \u0026 auth, 85 against 67", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 34" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "Runs on your own machine" ], "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, 80 against 63", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "The direct route to WhatsApp for a business messaging its own customers, with no reseller fee.", "slug": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "watchFor": "A person has to create a Meta account, a developer app, a business portfolio and a system user in a browser before any token exists" } ], "job": { "capability": "messaging.whatsapp", "name": "Messaging whatsapp" }, "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/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/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-sendblue.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue" }, { "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/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/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "AWS End User Messaging vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Infobip API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Plivo API vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sinch-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sinch-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/telnyx-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Telnyx API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/telnyx-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/twilio-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Twilio API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/twilio-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vonage-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Vonage Messages API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vonage-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, { "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": 17, "edge": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 80 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bird": 92, "by": 10, "edge": "bird", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 82 }, { "bird": 95, "by": 28, "edge": "bird", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 67 }, { "bird": 85, "by": 18, "edge": "bird", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 67 }, { "bird": 35, "by": 5, "edge": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 40 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bird": 83, "by": 49, "edge": "bird", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 34 }, { "bird": 80, "by": 2, "edge": "whatsapp-cloud-api", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7, "whatsapp-cloud-api": 82 } ], "summary": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging whatsapp.", "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.", "whatsapp-cloud-api": "The first-party WhatsApp API has a public OpenAPI document, Markdown docs with llms.txt, numeric rate limits and a test number that sends without a payment method. Setup needs a person in three Meta dashboards, no idempotency key was found for sends, and Meta's terms restrict general-purpose AI assistants on the platform." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.min.md" }, "markdown": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging whatsapp.\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- WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API): grade B, 67.1/100, rank #218 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.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 82\n- Agent ergonomics, 95 against 67\n- Security \u0026 auth, 85 against 67\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 34\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Runs on your own machine\n\nWatch for: No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API\n\n### WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) (B)\n\nGood for: The direct route to WhatsApp for a business messaging its own customers, with no reseller fee.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 63\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35\n\nWatch for: A person has to create a Meta account, a developer app, a business portfolio and a system user in a browser before any token exists\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Bird API + MCP | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 63 | 80 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +17 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 82 | Bird API + MCP +10 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 95 | 67 | Bird API + MCP +28 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 85 | 67 | Bird API + MCP +18 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 34 | Bird API + MCP +49 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 82 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +2 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **76.5 · BB** | **67.1 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Bird API + MCP | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Bird (formerly MessageBird) | Meta Platforms, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1` | `https://graph.facebook.com` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| Price for messaging whatsapp | $0.0084 per message | not published |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under the Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform. The OpenAPI document in facebook/openapi is MIT |\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 | 2026-08-11 |\n| Terms last updated | 2024-11-21 | couldn't be read |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-31 | 2025-08-22 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Popularity | 6 stars, 67k npm/wk | none |\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**WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API).** The first-party WhatsApp API has a public OpenAPI document, Markdown docs with llms.txt, numeric rate limits and a test number that sends without a payment method. Setup needs a person in three Meta dashboards, no idempotency key was found for sends, and Meta's terms restrict general-purpose AI assistants on the platform.\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### WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)\n\n1. Check when the user last wrote. Free-form messages are accepted only within 24 hours of the user's last message. After that, send an approved template.\n2. Record the message id from each send and match it to `messages` webhook statuses. Many failures arrive only by webhook, and no idempotency key was found.\n3. On error 130429 or 131056 wait and retry. Meta's guidance for the per-recipient limit is 4^X seconds, with X rising by one per failure.\n4. Verify `X-Hub-Signature-256` with the app secret on every webhook, and deduplicate, because failed deliveries are retried for up to 7 days.\n5. Request `health_status` on the phone number before a campaign to see whether the app, business, account, number and template can send.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Bird API + MCP or WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)?\n\nBird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Do Bird API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) need an API key?\n\nBird API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) uses an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Bird API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) without installing anything?\n\nYes. Bird API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1 and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) at https://graph.facebook.com.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bird\", \"b\": \"whatsapp-cloud-api\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bird whatsapp-cloud-api`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bird.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Bird API + MCP or WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)\n\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-bird.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-bird.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 Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-sendblue.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- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.md)\n- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Infobip API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Plivo API vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sinch-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Telnyx API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/telnyx-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Twilio API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/twilio-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Vonage Messages API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vonage-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.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 WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "" } ], "description": "Bird API + MCP scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)'s 67.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do messaging whatsapp. Category scores…", "facts": [ "Bird API + MCP BB 76.5", "WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) B 67.1", "scores" ], "h1": "Bird API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.png", "path": "/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) for AI agents", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2650, "slim": 780 }, "version": 1 }