How to migrate from MessageFlow to Vonage
A developer's guide to moving SMS and multichannel messaging from MessageFlow to Vonage, covering channel and compliance differences, request-format mapping, and a step-by-step migration checklist.
MessageFlow is a cross-channel messaging platform from Polish CPaaS company Vercom S.A., exposing email, SMS, RCS, Viber and WhatsApp through a single REST API. Vonage is a communications-API provider (part of Ericsson) covering SMS, MMS, voice and multichannel messaging over REST. On the messaging.dev Score, MessageFlow rates 59/100 and Vonage 89/100 — treat that as a data point about breadth and maturity, not an endorsement, and read on for what actually changes at the code level.
What changes when you move
Channels you gain: MMS, Facebook Messenger and Voice are available on Vonage but not on MessageFlow. Channel you lose: Email — MessageFlow sends email (and exposes SMTP alongside REST), while Vonage is REST-only and does not offer an email channel. SMS, RCS, WhatsApp and Viber exist on both platforms; neither offers Telegram or Apple Messages for Business.
Compliance: both providers are GDPR, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 aligned, so you lose no certification. Vonage additionally lists HIPAA alignment.
Data residency: MessageFlow stores data on EU (EEA) servers only, with no US option and no region choice. Vonage offers both EU and US servers, a data-residency choice, plus APAC and Australia regions.
Pricing model: this is a structural change. MessageFlow bills monthly subscription tiers priced by contact count (Starter from €69/month) with bundled volumes and overages, plus a Mix & Match plan from €465/month. Vonage is pay-as-you-go per message/minute with volume discounts (roughly $0.0072 per US SMS segment, plus carrier fees). Rebuild your cost model around per-message pricing rather than monthly bundles.
Free credit: MessageFlow gives a 30-day trial of 100 SMS + 100 emails; Vonage gives €2 of trial credit.
SDKs and docs: MessageFlow lists no official SDKs; Vonage ships Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, C#, Ruby and Kotlin SDKs, and its documentation rates as high quality versus MessageFlow’s medium. Both provide a sandbox test environment.
How the request format differs
MessageFlow (source):
curl -X POST https://api.messageflow.com/v2.1/sms \
-H "Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Application-Key: YOUR_APPLICATION_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"sender":"YourCompany","message":"Hello world!","phoneNumbers":["+48111222333"]}'
Vonage (target):
curl -X POST 'https://rest.nexmo.com/sms/json' \
-d 'api_key=YOUR_API_KEY' \
-d 'api_secret=YOUR_API_SECRET' \
-d 'from=Vonage' \
-d 'to=15551234567' \
-d 'text=Hello from Vonage'
Endpoint: you move from https://api.messageflow.com/v2.1/sms to https://rest.nexmo.com/sms/json (legacy SMS API) or https://api.nexmo.com/v1/messages (Messages API).
Authentication: MessageFlow uses two HTTP headers — Authorization (a 128-character key) and Application-Key. Vonage’s SMS API instead passes api_key + api_secret as request parameters; the Messages API uses JWT auth. The credential concept changes from paired header keys to a key/secret pair (or a signed JWT).
Payload mapping: MessageFlow sends a JSON body; Vonage’s SMS API takes form-encoded fields. Map sender → from, message → text, and the phoneNumbers array → a single to value. Note the structural shift: MessageFlow accepts an array of recipients in one JSON call, whereas the Vonage SMS example targets one recipient per to field.
Migration checklist
- Create a Vonage account and generate your API key and secret (and a JWT/application for the Messages API if you need WhatsApp, RCS, Viber, MMS or Messenger).
- Map each request field:
sender→from,message→text,phoneNumbers[]→to. - Re-point your sending code to the new endpoint and switch from JSON headers to form params (or adopt a Vonage SDK).
- Re-test against Vonage’s sandbox before sending live traffic — it has one.
- Update delivery-receipt webhooks and callbacks to Vonage’s format and register your callback URLs.
- Run both providers in parallel and reconcile delivery reports.
- Cut over once parity holds, then decommission MessageFlow.
For a from-scratch walkthrough, see how to start with Vonage, and for the full side-by-side, see the MessageFlow vs Vonage comparison.
Watch out for
- Email disappears. MessageFlow’s email channel (and SMTP) has no equivalent on Vonage; keep or find a separate email provider.
- Pricing shifts to pay-as-you-go. Monthly bundled volumes become per-message billing — re-forecast spend accordingly.
- Smaller trial. Vonage’s €2 credit is a thinner runway than MessageFlow’s 100 SMS + 100 emails.
- Two APIs, two auth models. The quick curl uses the legacy SMS API (key/secret); multichannel sending runs through the Messages API with JWT auth, so plan for both.