# Plivo API vs Vonage Messages API + MCP > Vonage Messages API + MCP has a score of 67.1 (B) against Plivo API's 60.3 (C). Both do messaging sms. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 31 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-vonage - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-vonage.md (~1,550 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-vonage.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/plivo-vs-vonage.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-04 Vonage Messages API + MCP has a score of 67.1 (B) against Plivo API's 60.3 (C). Both do messaging sms. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 31 points. - Plivo API: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #250 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/plivo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/plivo.json - Vonage Messages API + MCP: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #146 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vonage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vonage.json ## Which one, for what Pick Plivo API for agent ergonomics (+7), transparency & trust (+18). Pick Vonage Messages API + MCP for schema & documentation (+31), security & auth (+28). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Plivo API | Vonage Messages API + MCP | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 77 | Plivo API +1 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 90 | Vonage Messages API + MCP +31 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 50 | Plivo API +7 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 73 | Vonage Messages API + MCP +28 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 37 | Plivo API +3 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 80 | Vonage Messages API + MCP +2 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 52 | Plivo API +18 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **60.3 · C** | **67.1 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Plivo API | Vonage Messages API + MCP | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API | | Vendor | Plivo | Vonage (Ericsson) | | Hosted endpoint | `https://api.plivo.com/v1` | `https://api.nexmo.com/v1` | | Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio, Streamable HTTP | | Auth | API key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 | | Tools exposed | none | 15 | | Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a | | p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.Vonage/vonage-documentation-mcp` | | Last release | 2026-09-25 | 2026-09-16 | | Popularity | 102 stars, 51k npm/wk, 69k PyPI/wk | 154k npm/wk, 67k PyPI/wk | | Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **Plivo API.** US long code SMS $0.0077 a message and numbers $0.50 a month, with carrier surcharges listed per carrier. No OpenAPI spec. **Vonage Messages API + MCP.** POST /v1/messages covers six channels, with SMS failover for WhatsApp and RCS. No idempotency key, and channel rejections arrive only by status webhook after a 202. ## Before you call either ### Plivo API 1. Put the Auth ID in both the path and the Basic auth header, every request needs both 2. Stay under 300 API requests per 5 seconds, a 429 carries no Retry-After 3. Give each agent its own subaccount to isolate credentials and spend 4. Use the docs MCP to find endpoints, then call the REST API directly to send ### Vonage Messages API + MCP 1. Keep api.nexmo.com as the host, don't rewrite it to vonage.com 2. Use the Messages API, not the legacy SMS API 3. Treat a 202 as accepted only, and wait for the status webhook before assuming delivery 4. Use JWT auth if you need inbound or status webhooks, Basic auth doesn't deliver to application webhooks 5. 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