Comparison
Overview
Company snapshot and where each provider is based.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Communications infrastructure platform (formerly MessageBird) providing unified APIs for email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on a network that carries about 40% of the world's commercial SMS volume. | Danish SMS gateway and messaging platform by ONLINECITY.IO offering SMS, RCS and email APIs with pay-as-you-go pricing and EU data hosting. |
| Founded | 2011 | 1999 |
| Ownership | private | private |
| Employees | 500-1,000 | 11-50 |
| HQ city | Amsterdam | Odense |
| HQ country | Netherlands (EU) | Denmark (EU) |
What's the differenceBird edges ahead on the overall messaging.dev Score (76 vs 54). Bird is private and headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands (EU); GatewayAPI is private and based in Odense, Denmark (EU).
Channels
Which messaging channels each provider can send and receive on.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| SMS | Yes | Yes |
| MMS | No | No |
| RCS | No | Yes |
| Yes | No | |
| Viber | No | No |
| Facebook Messenger | No | No |
| Telegram | No | No |
| Apple Messages for Business | No | No |
| Voice | Yes | No |
| Yes | Yes |
What's the differenceThey share 2 channels. Bird additionally offers WhatsApp, Voice, while GatewayAPI additionally offers RCS.
Developer Experience
How quickly a developer can sign up and send a first message.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service onboarding | Yes | Yes |
| Free developer credit | Free email tier (1,000/month) | Test credits on request |
| Docs quality | high | med |
| Documentation | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
| SDKs | TypeScript, Python, Go | — |
| Sandbox / test env | Yes | No |
| API types | REST, SMTP | REST, SMPP, Email-to-SMS |
What's the differenceOn SDKs, Bird adds TypeScript, Python, Go; Bird offers Sandbox / test env, while GatewayAPI does not; on API types, Bird adds SMTP; GatewayAPI adds SMPP, Email-to-SMS.
Data & Compliance
Data residency options and enterprise compliance certifications.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes |
| US data residency | Yes | No |
| Choose region | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | Yes | No |
What's the differenceBird offers US data residency, while GatewayAPI does not; Bird offers ISO 27001, while GatewayAPI does not; Bird offers SOC 2, while GatewayAPI does not; Bird offers HIPAA, while GatewayAPI does not.
Data Retention
How long message content and metadata are stored, and whether that is configurable.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Retention policy | Privacy statement: for telecom products (SMS, email, voice), metadata and traffic data are retained for 6 months after transmission, extended up to two years where local law requires; email message content is held for at most 72 hours. | Message content, sender and recipient are stored in the traffic log for 30 days, after which records are anonymized (message content and full sender deleted, last half of the recipient number removed). An optional "secret" message class skips storage of content, sender and recipient entirely. |
What's the differenceBird: Privacy statement: for telecom products (SMS, email, voice), metadata and traffic data are retained for 6 months after transmission, extended up to two years where local law requires; email message content is held for at most 72 hours. GatewayAPI: Message content, sender and recipient are stored in the traffic log for 30 days, after which records are anonymized (message content and full sender deleted, last half of the recipient number removed). An optional "secret" message class skips storage of content, sender and recipient entirely.
Pricing & Credits
Pricing model and the cost of a first message.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based transactional pricing with no platform or seat fees: volume-tiered email subscriptions (free tier, then e.g. $15/month for 50K emails) and published per-country per-message SMS rates; WhatsApp priced by destination country and message category. | Pay-as-you-go per-message pricing with prepaid credit; no monthly subscriptions or fees (except short-code countries), with negotiated discounts for high volumes. |
| SMS starting price | $0.0073 per message to US numbers (long code, toll-free and short code; carrier fees extra), per-country pricing grid published | From €0.0061 per SMS (standard class, cheapest destination on the public price list; e.g. €0.0401 to Denmark) |
| Free developer credit | Free email tier (1,000/month) | Test credits on request |
What's the differenceBird and GatewayAPI are closely matched on pricing & credits — no material differences in the tracked fields.
Reach & Reliability
Global coverage and delivery dependability.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Countries covered | 150 | 200 |
| Direct operator connections | Yes | Yes |
| Published uptime SLA | 99.95% (legacy MessageBird SLA; current SLAs are per-service-plan in Order Form terms) | No published SLA (99.99%+ historical uptime claimed) |
What's the differenceGatewayAPI leads on Countries covered (200 vs 150 for Bird).
Company & Trust
Independent reviews and company profile.
| Field | Bird | GatewayAPI |
|---|---|---|
| G2 rating | 3.9 | 4.9 |
| G2 reviews | 73 | 7 |
| Ownership | private | private |
| Employees | 500-1,000 | 11-50 |
What's the differenceGatewayAPI leads on G2 rating (4.9 vs 3.9 for Bird); Bird leads on G2 reviews (73 vs 7 for GatewayAPI).
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