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How to Connect an SMS Provider

The provider is the company that actually carries your text messages to the phone networks: Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, and their competitors. SMS Campaign Engine, the free open source engine behind our SMS Broadcast app, connects to 12 of them through one send API, and you bring your own provider account. This guide walks through opening the account, registering your number, and wiring the provider into the engine, and it applies equally to the hosted version.

Step 1: Choose a Provider

Any of the 12 works, so choose on price and fit. Supported providers: Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, Plivo, Sinch, Bandwidth, ClickSend, MessageBird, TextMagic, ClickBuzz, Volt, and Ahoi. US per-message pricing mostly falls between half a cent and two cents.

Twilio is the safe default with the most documentation and tooling. Telnyx and Plivo usually price a bit under it. Vonage and Sinch are strong internationally. Deliverability matters more than a fraction of a cent on price, a cheaper provider that carriers filter more often is not cheaper. Our article on choosing an SMS provider compares the options in detail.

Because the engine treats providers interchangeably, this is not a marriage. You can add a second provider later, move numbers between them, or route different carriers through different providers without touching your contacts or history.

Step 2: Get a Number and Register It

Buy a number, then register before you send. Inside the provider dashboard, buy a 10 digit local number (or a toll-free number, or a short code for serious volume). Then complete 10DLC registration: your brand, your campaign type, and sample messages, submitted through the provider to The Campaign Registry.

Do not skip or postpone registration. Unregistered application traffic on US networks gets throttled or silently dropped, and your first campaign will look like a deliverability disaster that is really a paperwork problem. Registration usually takes a few days, so start it early. The 10DLC registration guide covers the process end to end.

Step 3: Add the Sending Number to the Engine

Admin area, sending numbers, add. Select the provider, enter the number, and paste the API key. Several providers combine two or more credentials into one value separated by colons, exactly as shown below.

Provider	API key format
Twilio	`AccountSid:AuthToken`
Telnyx	`API key`
Vonage	`api_key:api_secret`
Plivo	`auth_id:auth_token`
Sinch	`service_plan_id:api_token`
Bandwidth	`username:password:accountId:applicationId`
ClickSend	`username:api_key`
MessageBird	`Access key`
TextMagic	`username:api_key`
ClickBuzz	`API key`
Volt	`Bearer token`
Ahoi	`API key`

Step 4: Point the Webhooks

One URL, two jobs. In the provider dashboard, find the settings for delivery status callbacks and incoming messages, and point both at your install: https://yourdomain.com/webhook.php/{provider}?key=YOURWEBHOOKKEY, with {provider} being the lowercase provider name, like twilio or telnyx.

Delivery callbacks are how the engine knows what was delivered and learns each contact's carrier. Incoming message callbacks are how STOP replies get processed automatically, which is a compliance requirement, and how AI auto replies become possible. A number without webhooks is sending blind. The exact URL patterns per provider are in the documentation.

Step 5: Send a Test

Your own phone first. Send yourself a single message from the dashboard or the send API endpoint. Confirm it arrives, confirm the delivery report shows up in your reports, then reply STOP and confirm the number lands on the suppression list. That round trip proves the whole pipeline.

Scaling tip: carrier routing. With two or more providers connected, you can route by recipient carrier, sending T-Mobile subscribers through whichever provider delivers best to T-Mobile, and Verizon through another. High volume senders squeeze real deliverability gains out of this. Start with one provider, add the second when volume justifies it.

SMS Campaign Engine is free and open source, and works with all 12 providers above through one API.

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Prefer it managed? Contact our team about the hosted SMS Broadcast app.