Tambua pricing at a glance
| SMS OTP in Kenya | KES 0.50 per OTP |
| Voice OTP in Kenya | KES 0.056 per second |
| M-PESA verification | KES 2.00 per verification |
| Reverse OTP | KES 1.00 per verification |
| Verification fee | None. You pay only for carrier-accepted attempts |
| Failed attempts | Free |
| Fallback to another channel | A setting, not an add-on fee. Each delivered attempt is billed at its channel rate |
| Sender ID and numbers | Shared Tambua sender included, no setup or lease fee |
How providers charge
| Provider | Pricing model |
|---|---|
| Africa's Talking | Per-message SMS pricing by country. Your own Sender ID or shortcode is typically an extra cost and setup step. Africa's Talking typically asks you to register and pay for your own Sender ID or shortcode before you can send branded SMS in Kenya and other markets. |
| Twilio | US$0.05 per successful verification plus the SMS, voice or WhatsApp cost of each message (from its Verify pricing page). |
| Infobip | Pricing is arranged through sales rather than published per country. |
| Vonage Verify | Per-message pricing by destination and channel. |
| Sinch Verification | Per-message pricing by destination and verification method. |
| Bird (formerly MessageBird) | No separate verification fee; you pay for the messages sent (from its pricing page). |
| Termii | Usage-based, with a separate auto-failover fee per failover and a monthly fee for a WhatsApp business account (from its pricing page). Termii typically requires you to register your own Sender ID, and Nigerian sender IDs go through an approval process. |
| Clickatell | Per-message pricing by destination. Clickatell typically requires you to register or lease your own sender ID, number or shortcode. |
| Telesign | Per-verification and per-message pricing through sales. |
| Plivo | Verification is not billed, you pay the channel cost; per-carrier Kenya and Nigeria SMS prices are published (from its pricing pages). |
| Beem Africa | Per-message pricing by destination. Beem Africa typically requires you to register or lease your own Sender ID, shortcode or number. |
| Arkesel | Per-message pricing by destination. Arkesel typically requires you to register your own Sender ID before sending branded SMS. |
| Advanta SMS | Graduated per-SMS rates on request, plus one-off KES fees for branding and shortcodes (from its price page). Advanta publishes one-off fees in KES to set up your own branded sender or shortcode. |
| Going direct to MTN, Safaricom or Airtel | Operator rates per message, plus the cost and time of integrating and registering with each operator. Going direct means registering your own Sender ID or shortcode with each operator, country by country. |
Compare in detail
Tambua vs Africa's Talking
Africa's Talking is a developer platform with SMS, voice, USSD, airtime and WhatsApp across a number of African countries.
Global communications platform with a Verify APITambua vs Twilio
Twilio Verify is a mature, multi-channel verification API used worldwide, backed by a large programmable SMS and voice platform.
Global omnichannel CPaaS with authentication productsTambua vs Infobip
Infobip is a large omnichannel messaging provider with an authentication product, fraud signals and SIM-swap checks.
Global communications APIs with a Verify APITambua vs Vonage Verify
Vonage Verify is a configurable verification API with workflows that can move across channels.
Global messaging provider with a Verification APITambua vs Sinch Verification
Sinch Verification supports SMS, flash call and voice methods and native mobile SDKs.
Omnichannel platform with a Verify APITambua vs Bird (formerly MessageBird)
Bird offers a Verify API across email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice.
Nigeria-based messaging and token APITambua vs Termii
Termii offers a token (OTP) API with send and verify, plus voice and WhatsApp token options, widely used in Nigeria.
Messaging and chat commerce platformTambua vs Clickatell
Clickatell is a long-standing messaging company with SMS, WhatsApp and USSD products and strong South African roots.
Identity and verification specialistTambua vs Telesign
Telesign is a verification and fraud-prevention company with a Verify API across many channels and policy-based fallback.
Voice and SMS API with a Verify productTambua vs Plivo
Plivo offers SMS, voice and a Verify API, and publishes per-carrier prices for Kenya and Nigeria.
East African messaging and payments APIsTambua vs Beem Africa
Beem Africa offers SMS, USSD, airtime, mobile payments and an OTP API.
Bulk SMS, voice and USSD platform from GhanaTambua vs Arkesel
Arkesel provides bulk SMS, voice, USSD and phone-number verification (OTP).
Kenyan bulk SMS, shortcode and USSD providerTambua vs Advanta SMS
Advanta is a Kenyan SMS provider with branding, shortcodes and USSD.
Direct operator A2P SMSTambua vs Going direct to MTN, Safaricom or Airtel
You can buy application-to-person SMS from an operator directly.