{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "clicksend", "name": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP", "vendor": "ClickSend (Sinch)", "vendorUrl": "https://www.clicksend.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "messaging", "summary": "Prepaid SMS and MMS API aimed at small businesses, part of Sinch, with RCS, voice, email and post on the same account.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clicksend", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clicksend.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clicksend.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clicksend.json", "repo": "https://github.com/ClickSend/clicksend-mcp-server", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://rest.clicksend.com/v3", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "clicksend" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "clicksend-client" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "HTTP Basic auth with the account username and an API key. The MCP server reads CLICKSEND_USERNAME and CLICKSEND_API_KEY from the environment.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Prepaid credit, minimum top-up $20, no subscription. US SMS $0.0289 a message at the lowest tier down to $0.0095 at the highest, plus a $0.0041 carrier fee. US MMS $0.0374 plus $0.0087. Dedicated US number $3.53 a month. Inbound replies are free. UK SMS from $0.0569 (https://www.clicksend.com/us/pricing/us/).", "priceSummary": "$3.53 / mo", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 or stablecoin payment path in docs, pricing or agent discovery files (checked 2026-09-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 6, "popularity": { "githubStars": 3, "npmWeekly": 3710, "pypiWeekly": 7690, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://developers.clicksend.com/docs/", "llmsTxt": "https://developers.clicksend.com/llms.txt", "registryName": "com.clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server", "capabilities": [ "messaging.sms", "messaging.mms", "messaging.rcs", "messaging.voice", "messaging.inbound" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "mcp", "llms-txt", "typescript", "python", "webhooks", "sms" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-25", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 47.7, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 906, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1098, "categoryRank": 14, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 52, "security": 23, "transparency": 53 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "Since 2025-05-16 the official MCP server has logged each request's options to stderr, including the Basic `Authorization` header that encodes the username and API key, along with every request and response body. The published 2026.8.23 package was built from that code. The credential stays in local log files rather than leaving the machine, so -3 (https://github.com/ClickSend/clicksend-mcp-server/blob/main/src/helper/clicksend.ts)." ], "verdict": "A keyless pricing endpoint returns per-country, per-tier SMS and MMS prices. The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request.", "bestFor": "Small businesses and simple agents that send SMS in a few countries and want prices up front.", "strengths": [ "A keyless pricing endpoint returns per-country, per-tier SMS and MMS prices", "Six MCP tools, including a price check before a send", "Inbound replies are free", "The MCP turns natural-language dates into history filters", "No SMS or API incidents on the status page in the last 90 days" ], "weaknesses": [ "The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request", "One API key per account or subaccount, with no scopes or read-only mode", "No rate limits, Retry-After or idempotency key documented", "US SMS at $0.0289 a message on the entry tier, falling to $0.0095 only on the top tier", "No public OpenAPI spec or changelog, and the privacy policy dates from September 2023" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call calculate-sms-price before a bulk send, the pricing endpoint needs no key", "Pass the user's own date words in user_date_request when reading SMS history", "Use a subaccount key for the agent, not the main account key", "Restrict access to the MCP host's log files, they contain the encoded API key", "Leave links out of messages, ClickSend pauses SMS with URLs for new customers" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 47.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 52, "security": 23, "transparency": 30 }, "provenanceScore": 76 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://rest.clicksend.com/v3/sms/send -u \"$CLICKSEND_USERNAME:$CLICKSEND_API_KEY\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -d '{\"messages\":[{\"source\":\"curl\",\"to\":\"+15555550123\",\"body\":\"Hello from ClickSend\"}]}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add clicksend -e CLICKSEND_USERNAME=$CLICKSEND_USERNAME -e CLICKSEND_API_KEY=$CLICKSEND_API_KEY -- npx -y @clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server@latest", "config": { "mcpServers": { "clicksend": { "args": [ "-y", "@clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server@latest" ], "command": "npx", "env": { "CLICKSEND_API_KEY": "${CLICKSEND_API_KEY}", "CLICKSEND_USERNAME": "${CLICKSEND_USERNAME}" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/messaging.sms", "tool": "https://letme.dev/clicksend" }, "area": "communication", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "SMS, US", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0289, "note": "US, entry tier, plus $0.0041 carrier fee, falls to $0.0095 at the top tier" }, { "item": "SMS, UK", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0569, "note": "UK, entry tier, falls to $0.0417" }, { "item": "MMS, US", "unit": "message", "usd": 0.0374, "note": "US, plus $0.0087 carrier fee" }, { "item": "Dedicated US number", "unit": "month", "usd": 3.53 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "ClickSend Pty Ltd", "domain": "clicksend.com", "domainRegistered": "2003-07-05", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.clicksend.com/us/legal/terms-of-service/", "privacy": "https://www.clicksend.com/us/legal/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.clicksend.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Owned by Sinch. The privacy contact is a sinch.com address." ], "score": 76 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clicksend.json", "live": { "slug": "clicksend", "probe": { "target": "https://rest.clicksend.com/v3", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-16T12:30:20.786466363Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 370, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 355, "p95ms24h": 427, "samples24h": 253, "samples30d": 4060, "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": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 133, "ok": 133 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.clicksend.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-16T12:30:50.082189389Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "mcp-registry", "name": "com.clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server", "version": "2026.8.23", "seenAt": "2026-10-16T04:52:45.478717111Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server", "version": "2026.8.23", "seenAt": "2026-10-16T00:42:31.187300781Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "clicksend", "version": "7.0.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-16T00:42:31.969368464Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "clicksend-client", "version": "6.0.2", "released": "2026-09-25", "seenAt": "2026-10-16T00:42:33.379169064Z" } ], "githubStars": 3, "npmWeekly": 73, "pypiWeekly": 7248, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://clicksend.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T15:49:13.539357612Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://developers.clicksend.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T14:16:14.508971799Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "clicksend.com", "registered": "2003-07-05", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/clicksend.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:11:38.469867015Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.clicksend.com/us/pricing/us/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T22:08:17.054671643Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-06T16:14:32.399001062Z", "fingerprint": "4d3f25a9ad7a" }, { "url": "https://www.clicksend.com/us/legal/privacy-policy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T22:08:13.045995489Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "84bfd5d9bbc2" }, { "url": "https://www.clicksend.com/us/legal/terms-of-service/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T22:08:15.058308032Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-06T16:14:30.14933341Z", "fingerprint": "6285ba272f13" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-16T12:30:20.786466363Z" } }, "answer": "Photon scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against ClickSend SMS API + MCP's 47.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ClickSend SMS API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "photon", "name": "Photon", "vendor": "Photon", "vendorUrl": "https://photon.codes", "kind": "sdk", "category": "messaging", "summary": "Photon connects AI agents to iMessage, WhatsApp Business, Telegram and SIP voice through its spectrum-ts TypeScript SDK and managed iMessage lines. Photon 2.0, a public beta since 15 October 2026, adds an HTTP API that also covers email and SMS.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/photon.json", "repo": "https://github.com/photon-hq/spectrum-ts", "license": "Proprietary hosted service under Something Great Inc.'s terms of service. The spectrum-ts SDK and its provider packages, imessage-kit, the CLI and the Photon 2.0 API clients are MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://spectrum.photon.codes", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "spectrum-ts" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@photon-ai/cli" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@photon-ai/api" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "photonhq-api" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "The Stable Spectrum API takes the project ID and project secret as HTTP Basic credentials. The secret grants full management access to the project, doesn't expire on its own and is rotated with `photon projects regenerate-secret`. The SDK uses the same pair to mint per-line iMessage tokens, renewed at 80 per cent of their lifetime. The Dashboard API takes OAuth 2.1 tokens with PKCE and consented scopes, and the CLI logs in by a device flow approved in a browser, with a 7-day token. Photon 2.0 (Beta) uses separate bearer credentials with permissions, `pho_sk_` project keys and `pho_ask_` account service keys.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Plan prices with no per-message fee for iMessage. Free is $0 for up to 10 users on shared numbers, Pro $25 a month for up to 100 users, Business $250 per dedicated line a month, and Enterprise on request (https://photon.codes/pricing, checked 2026-10-16). Whether the Free plan needs a card wasn't established. The Photon 2.0 beta has its own plans and usage rates for SMS, MMS, voice and email, and its announcement claims $100 of free credit.", "priceSummary": "$25 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, llms-full.txt, the docs pages read, the pricing page, the terms or either OpenAPI document (checked 2026-10-16). Billing runs through Stripe checkout and the Stripe customer portal.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 107087, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-16" }, "docsUrl": "https://photon.codes/docs", "llmsTxt": "https://photon.codes/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://spectrum.photon.codes/openapi/json", "capabilities": [ "messaging.sms", "messaging.rcs", "messaging.whatsapp", "messaging.inbound", "voice.sip" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "imessage", "whatsapp", "telegram", "sms", "rcs", "sip", "voice", "sdk", "typescript", "cli", "webhooks", "llms-txt", "openapi", "oauth", "opentelemetry", "open-source-sdk", "self-hosted-option", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-15", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 53.5, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 757, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1098, "categoryRank": 12, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 20, "reliability": 68, "schema": 75, "security": 29, "transparency": 58 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-16" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-16. The iMessage platform page states '99.95% Uptime' and infrastructure 'built for speed, stability, and 99.999% uptime' (https://photon.codes/platform/imessage). Photon's own status page shows 99.89 per cent for each iMessage component from July to October 2026, including a 2-hour 7-minute full outage on 2 September 2026 (https://status.photon.codes, https://status.photon.codes/incidents/ry86mwnd). A misleading claim, -2." ], "verdict": "Photon runs iMessage agents on managed lines backed by its own macOS clusters, with a typed TypeScript SDK, signed webhooks and docs written for agents. Its status page logged a two-hour iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, the project secret carries full access, and the terms limit free and beta use to internal evaluation, with no published SLA.", "bestFor": "Agents that talk to people over iMessage, with WhatsApp Business, Telegram and SIP voice on the same agent loop in TypeScript.", "strengths": [ "One `spectrum-ts` message stream covers iMessage, WhatsApp Business, Telegram and a local terminal, with typed narrowing for platform-specific calls", "No per-message fee for iMessage on any plan. Pro is $25 a month for up to 100 users", "Webhooks are signed with HMAC-SHA256 and a timestamp for a 5-minute replay window, and retried up to six times with jitter", "llms.txt, a Markdown twin of every docs page and a documentation MCP server, with a written rule for choosing Stable or Beta", "spectrum-ts is MIT, with 14 tagged releases from 20 July to 15 October 2026 and CI on Node and Bun" ], "weaknesses": [ "The status page logged a 2-hour full iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, from a power failure at Photon's data centre", "The project secret grants full management access, never expires on its own and has no read-only variant", "The terms limit free, trial and beta use to internal evaluation, 30 days by default, with liability capped at US$50", "No SLA document. Only the Enterprise plan mentions a contractual SLA, and the terms disclaim delivery", "No prompt-injection guidance for inbound messages, and no DPA, sub-processor list or message retention period was found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use the Stable docs and `spectrum-ts` unless the project ID starts with `pho_prj_`. Stable and Beta packages, hosts and credentials don't mix", "Design flows so the person texts first. Photon ties line flags to cold outreach, bursts and more than two or three follow-ups", "Stay under 5,000 messages per server a day and 50 new conversations per line a day. Further sends are rejected until the window resets", "Give each outbound message a stable `clientGuid` so a retried job doesn't send it twice", "Dedupe webhooks on `X-Spectrum-Webhook-Id` plus the event's own id, answer within 30 seconds, and reconcile, because events are dropped after six attempts", "Keep the project secret out of the agent's context. It grants full management access and doesn't expire" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 2.8, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 53.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 20, "reliability": 68, "schema": 75, "security": 29, "transparency": 38 }, "provenanceScore": 78 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install spectrum-ts", "http": "curl -u \"$PROJECT_ID:$PROJECT_SECRET\" \\\n \"https://spectrum.photon.codes/projects/$PROJECT_ID/webhooks/\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/messaging.sms", "tool": "https://letme.dev/photon" }, "area": "communication", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Pro plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 25, "note": "Up to 100 users on shared numbers, no per-message fee for iMessage" }, { "item": "Business plan, dedicated iMessage line", "unit": "month", "usd": 250, "note": "Per line. Cold outreach up to 50 new contacts a day per line" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Something Great Inc.", "domain": "photon.codes", "domainRegistered": "2025-10-10", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://photon.codes/terms-of-services", "privacy": "https://photon.codes/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.photon.codes", "changelog": "https://photon.codes/weekly-update/all", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-16", "notes": [ "The terms (undated) and the privacy policy (last updated 25 September 2026) name Something Great Inc. as Photon, with a notice address at 1111B S Governors Ave, Dover, Delaware.", "The terms still carry bracketed template text, including '[California]' and '[San Francisco, California]' for governing law and venue, and an acceptable use policy in brackets that links to the iMessage deliverability guide.", "RDAP for photon.codes gives a registration date of 10 October 2025. The API is at spectrum.photon.codes, iMessage lines at hosts under imsg.photon.codes, and the Beta API at api.photon.codes.", "photon.codes/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 16 October 2026. The photon-hq/api repository's SECURITY.md asks for reports through GitHub private vulnerability reporting.", "The changelog link is the weekly update index, whose last entry is dated 20 June 2026. The Beta API clients keep a CHANGELOG.md in photon-hq/api.", "robots.txt on photon.codes allows all user agents. status.photon.codes and the API hosts serve no robots.txt. The terms have no clause on automated access to the website.", "WebFetch was refused for photon.codes on 16 October 2026, so every page was read with curl. github.com web pages were refused by our session's proxy, so the repositories were read through git." ], "score": 78 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon.json", "live": { "slug": "photon", "probe": { "target": "https://spectrum.photon.codes", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-16T12:30:37.342956242Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 201, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 219, "p95ms24h": 637, "samples24h": 26, "samples30d": 26, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 26, "ok": 26 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.photon.codes", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-16T12:31:31.294096478Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-16T12:31:31.294096478Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "SDK + MCP", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "ClickSend (Sinch)", "b": "Photon", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://rest.clicksend.com/v3", "b": "https://spectrum.photon.codes", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$0.0289 per message", "b": "not published", "name": "Price for sms" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "Proprietary hosted service under Something Great Inc.'s terms of service. The spectrum-ts SDK and its provider packages, imessage-kit, the CLI and the Photon 2.0 API clients are MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "6", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "com.clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server", "b": "not listed", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "2026-09-25", "b": "2026-10-15", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2023-09-01", "b": "", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "3 stars, 3.7k npm/wk, 7.7k PyPI/wk", "b": "107k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "2.5/5 (2)", "b": "2.8/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Photon scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against ClickSend SMS API + MCP's 47.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ClickSend SMS API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, ClickSend SMS API + MCP or Photon?" }, { "answer": "Yes. ClickSend SMS API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://rest.clicksend.com/v3 and Photon at https://spectrum.photon.codes.", "question": "Can an agent call ClickSend SMS API + MCP and Photon without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 70 against 63", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine" ], "goodFor": "Small businesses and simple agents that send SMS in a few countries and want prices up front.", "slug": "clicksend", "watchFor": "The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 75 against 52", "Security \u0026 auth, 29 against 23", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 62", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 58 against 53" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents that talk to people over iMessage, with WhatsApp Business, Telegram and SIP voice on the same agent loop in TypeScript.", "slug": "photon", "watchFor": "The status page logged a 2-hour full iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, from a power failure at Photon's data centre" } ], "job": { "capability": "messaging.sms", "name": "SMS" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-clicksend.json", "title": "AWS End User Messaging vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-clicksend" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-photon.json", "title": "AWS End User Messaging vs Photon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-photon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-clicksend.json", "title": "Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-clicksend" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-photon.json", "title": "Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Photon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-photon" }, { "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-photon.json", "title": "Bird API + MCP vs Photon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-photon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-infobip.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Infobip API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-infobip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-plivo.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Plivo API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-plivo" }, { "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/clicksend-vs-sinch.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sinch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telnyx.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Telnyx API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telnyx" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-twilio.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Twilio API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-twilio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-vonage.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Vonage Messages API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-vonage" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-photon.json", "title": "Infobip API + MCP vs Photon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-photon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-plivo.json", "title": "Photon vs Plivo API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-plivo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sendblue.json", "title": "Photon vs Sendblue", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sendblue" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sinch.json", "title": "Photon vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sinch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-telnyx.json", "title": "Photon vs Telnyx API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-telnyx" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-twilio.json", "title": "Photon vs Twilio API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-twilio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-vonage.json", "title": "Photon vs Vonage Messages API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-vonage" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-clicksend.json", "title": "360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-clicksend" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telegram-bot.json", "title": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Telegram Bot API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telegram-bot" }, { "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/photon-vs-telegram-bot.json", "title": "Photon vs Telegram Bot API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-telegram-bot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-photon.json", "title": "360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Photon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-photon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json", "title": "Photon vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 3, "clicksend": 65, "edge": "photon", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "photon": 68, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 23, "clicksend": 52, "edge": "photon", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "photon": 75, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "clicksend": 70, "edge": "clicksend", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "photon": 63, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 6, "clicksend": 23, "edge": "photon", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "photon": 29, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "clicksend": 30, "edge": "clicksend", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "photon": 20, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 16, "clicksend": 62, "edge": "photon", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "photon": 78, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 5, "clicksend": 53, "edge": "photon", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "photon": 58, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Photon scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against ClickSend SMS API + MCP's 47.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ClickSend SMS API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do sms.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "clicksend": "A keyless pricing endpoint returns per-country, per-tier SMS and MMS prices. The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request.", "photon": "Photon runs iMessage agents on managed lines backed by its own macOS clusters, with a typed TypeScript SDK, signed webhooks and docs written for agents. Its status page logged a two-hour iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, the project secret carries full access, and the terms limit free and beta use to internal evaluation, with no published SLA." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon.min.md" }, "markdown": "Photon scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against ClickSend SMS API + MCP's 47.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ClickSend SMS API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do sms.\n\n- ClickSend SMS API + MCP: grade D, 47.7/100, rank #906 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clicksend.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clicksend.json\n- Photon: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #757 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/photon.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/photon.json\n- Best SMS, WhatsApp and messaging APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/messaging/index.md\n- All 105 messaging comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/messaging/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### ClickSend SMS API + MCP (D)\n\nGood for: Small businesses and simple agents that send SMS in a few countries and want prices up front.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 63\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n\nWatch for: The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request\n\n### Photon (D)\n\nGood for: Agents that talk to people over iMessage, with WhatsApp Business, Telegram and SIP voice on the same agent loop in TypeScript.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 75 against 52\n- Security \u0026 auth, 29 against 23\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 62\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 58 against 53\n\nWatch for: The status page logged a 2-hour full iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, from a power failure at Photon's data centre\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | ClickSend SMS API + MCP | Photon | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 68 | Photon +3 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 75 | Photon +23 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 63 | ClickSend SMS API + MCP +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 23 | 29 | Photon +6 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | ClickSend SMS API + MCP +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 78 | Photon +16 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 58 | Photon +5 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -2 | |\n| **Total** | | **47.7 · D** | **53.5 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | ClickSend SMS API + MCP | Photon |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |\n| Vendor | ClickSend (Sinch) | Photon |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://rest.clicksend.com/v3` | `https://spectrum.photon.codes` |\n| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| Price for sms | $0.0289 per message | not published |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | Proprietary hosted service under Something Great Inc.'s terms of service. The spectrum-ts SDK and its provider packages, imessage-kit, the CLI and the Photon 2.0 API clients are MIT |\n| Tools exposed | 6 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| MCP registry | `com.clicksend/clicksend-mcp-server` | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-09-25 | 2026-10-15 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-09-01 | |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | |\n| Popularity | 3 stars, 3.7k npm/wk, 7.7k PyPI/wk | 107k npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 2.8/5 (4) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**ClickSend SMS API + MCP.** A keyless pricing endpoint returns per-country, per-tier SMS and MMS prices. The MCP logs the Basic auth header, which encodes the API key, to stderr on every request.\n\n**Photon.** Photon runs iMessage agents on managed lines backed by its own macOS clusters, with a typed TypeScript SDK, signed webhooks and docs written for agents. Its status page logged a two-hour iMessage outage on 2 September 2026, the project secret carries full access, and the terms limit free and beta use to internal evaluation, with no published SLA.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### ClickSend SMS API + MCP\n\n1. Call calculate-sms-price before a bulk send, the pricing endpoint needs no key\n2. Pass the user's own date words in user_date_request when reading SMS history\n3. Use a subaccount key for the agent, not the main account key\n4. Restrict access to the MCP host's log files, they contain the encoded API key\n5. Leave links out of messages, ClickSend pauses SMS with URLs for new customers\n\n### Photon\n\n1. Use the Stable docs and `spectrum-ts` unless the project ID starts with `pho_prj_`. Stable and Beta packages, hosts and credentials don't mix\n2. Design flows so the person texts first. Photon ties line flags to cold outreach, bursts and more than two or three follow-ups\n3. Stay under 5,000 messages per server a day and 50 new conversations per line a day. Further sends are rejected until the window resets\n4. Give each outbound message a stable `clientGuid` so a retried job doesn't send it twice\n5. Dedupe webhooks on `X-Spectrum-Webhook-Id` plus the event's own id, answer within 30 seconds, and reconcile, because events are dropped after six attempts\n6. Keep the project secret out of the agent's context. It grants full management access and doesn't expire\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, ClickSend SMS API + MCP or Photon?\n\nPhoton scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against ClickSend SMS API + MCP's 47.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ClickSend SMS API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Can an agent call ClickSend SMS API + MCP and Photon without installing anything?\n\nYes. ClickSend SMS API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://rest.clicksend.com/v3 and Photon at https://spectrum.photon.codes.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"clicksend\", \"b\": \"photon\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare clicksend photon`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clicksend.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/photon.json\n\n## Other comparisons with ClickSend SMS API + MCP or Photon\n\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-clicksend.md)\n- [AWS End User Messaging vs Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aws-end-user-messaging-vs-photon.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-clicksend.md)\n- [Bandwidth Messaging API + MCP vs Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-vs-photon.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-clicksend.md)\n- [Bird API + MCP vs Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bird-vs-photon.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Infobip API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-infobip.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Plivo API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-plivo.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-sinch.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Telnyx API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telnyx.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Twilio API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-twilio.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Vonage Messages API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-vonage.md)\n- [Infobip API + MCP vs Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-vs-photon.md)\n- [Photon vs Plivo API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-plivo.md)\n- [Photon vs Sendblue](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sendblue.md)\n- [Photon vs Sinch Messaging APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-sinch.md)\n- [Photon vs Telnyx API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-telnyx.md)\n- [Photon vs Twilio API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-twilio.md)\n- [Photon vs Vonage Messages API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-vonage.md)\n- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs ClickSend SMS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-clicksend.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Telegram Bot API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-telegram-bot.md)\n- [ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n- [Photon vs Telegram Bot API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-telegram-bot.md)\n- [360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Photon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-photon.md)\n- [Photon vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/photon-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-16", "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", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Photon", "url": "" } ], "description": "Photon scores 53.5 (D) to ClickSend SMS's 47.7 (D) for sms. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "ClickSend SMS API + MCP D 47.7", "Photon D 53.5", "scores" ], "h1": "ClickSend SMS API + MCP vs Photon", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-clicksend-vs-photon.png", "path": "/compare/clicksend-vs-photon", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "ClickSend SMS vs Photon for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-16", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clicksend-vs-photon" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }