A Free Twilio account is primarily designed for testing purposes, with limitations on how and where you can send SMS, while an Upgraded Twilio account provides more robust features, including the ability to message unlimited contacts and purchase additional phone numbers.
In this article:
Free Twilio Account
With a Free Twilio account, there are certain limitations on how you can send SMS messages:
- On a Free account, you can only send SMS to up to five pre-designated phone numbers.
To learn how to upgrade to a paid Twilio account, click here.
- You can only send SMS to a Twilio-designated virtual phone number. This is mainly for testing your service before it goes live. You won’t be able to send messages to regular mobile phone numbers without additional setup.
Learn how to send messages to regular mobile phone numbers by clicking here.
- If you have a verified toll-free number on your Free Twilio account, you can send SMS to real mobile phone numbers. However, these phone numbers must be manually verified in your Twilio account before you can start sending messages to them.
To verify the phone numbers you want to send the messages to via your Free Twilio account, read this help documentation by Twilio.
Upgraded Twilio Account
If you need to send SMS to more than five phone numbers or want to scale up your messaging, you will need to upgrade to a Paid Twilio account.
- A paid account allows you to send SMS to an unlimited number of phone numbers. There are no restrictions on how many phone numbers you can message.
- With a paid account, you can purchase additional Twilio phone numbers. These numbers act as your message senders, allowing you to reach a larger audience.
- Unlike the Free account, you won’t need to manually verify every phone number before sending SMS. This is especially useful for large campaigns where you need to message a lot of contacts at once.