Send and receive SMS in 180+ countries. Smart routing optimizes for deliverability and cost. Two-way messaging, delivery reports, and compliance built in.
Bird's SMS API connects to carriers directly in 180+ countries, automatically selecting the optimal route for each message based on deliverability, latency, and cost. You send one API call — the routing engine handles carrier negotiation, number formatting, and regulatory compliance per destination.
Direct carrier connections with automatic route selection that optimizes for deliverability and cost. The routing engine evaluates multiple paths per destination and fails over in real time if a carrier degrades.
Receive inbound SMS via webhook with full sender metadata, message body, and carrier information. Build conversational flows, support channels, or verification systems with bidirectional messaging.
Real-time delivery status for every message — queued, sent, delivered, failed — with carrier-specific error codes and timestamps. Available via webhook or polling endpoint.
SMS has unique constraints that vary by country — character encoding, message length limits, sender ID regulations, and opt-out requirements. Bird's SMS API handles these transparently so you can send a single API call and the system manages concatenation, encoding, and compliance automatically.
Programmatically provision local, toll-free, and short code numbers via API. Numbers are activated instantly and can be configured for SMS, MMS, or voice capabilities per your requirements.
Full Unicode support including CJK characters and emoji. Long messages are automatically split into concatenated segments with proper UDH headers — the recipient sees a single message regardless of length.
Configurable throughput per number with automatic queue management. Set messages-per-second limits to comply with carrier regulations, and the API queues and drains messages at the configured rate.
We switched to Bird's SMS API for our OTP delivery and saw deliverability jump from 87% to 94.4% globally.
Airwallex, Product Engineering