---
description: Get an overview of how to connect an SMS channel to chat with customers.
title: SMS Overview
image: https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F3f43c48b21b24f4e8b02b100c0c8fab0
---

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1. [All Collections >](/help)
2. [ Channels >](/help/channels)
3. [ SMS >](/help/sms)
4. SMS Overview

# SMS Overview

![Avatar](https://assets2-proxy.respond.io/ph8r57dk1q9w/4GvzCieeTBRY4TRJUbIr4y/b92428e6b049d23f546269180534f7ea/Ryan_Tan_Avatar.svg)

Joshua Lim

· 13 Oct 2025

less than a minute read

**Short Messaging Service (SMS)** is a long-standing and widely used way to communicate via text. On respond.io, you can send and receive SMS by connecting with one of our supported partners.

Once you’ve created an account with a partner and provisioned a phone number, you can link it to respond.io and manage SMS conversations just like any other channel — alongside your other messaging and calling tools.

## Supporting Partners

If you wish to connect SMS to the respond.io platform, please consider the following partners:

* Telnyx _(supports_ [_SMS_](https://respond.io/help/sms/telnyx-sms-quick-start) _and_ [_Calls_](https://respond.io/help/telnyx-voip/telnyx-voip-overview)_)_
* [Twilio](https://respond.io/help/sms/twilio-sms)
* [MessageBird](https://respond.io/help/sms/messagebird-sms)
* [Vonage](https://respond.io/help/sms/vonage-sms)

> If you are interested in using a partner that is not listed here, please request a new channel integration on the respond.io [Feature Request](https://roadmap.respond.io/) board!

## Channel Capabilities

The channel capabilities of SMS supporting partners are listed below:

* [Message Status Availability](https://respond.io/help/sms/sms-overview#message%5Fstatus%5Favailability)
* [Supported File Types](https://respond.io/help/sms/sms-overview#supported%5Ffile%5Ftypes)
* [Metadata Received by Channel](https://respond.io/help/sms/sms-overview#metadata%5Freceived%5Fby%5Fchannel)
* [Broadcasts](https://respond.io/help/sms/sms-overview#broadcasts)
* [Rate Limits](https://respond.io/help/sms/sms-overview#rate%5Flimits)

### Message Status Availability

The message status availability for different SMS channels is shown in the table below:

| SMS Channel | Sent | Delivered | Read | Failed |
| ----------- | ---- | --------- | ---- | ------ |
| Twilio      | ✅    | ✅         | ❌    | ✅      |
| MessageBird | ✅    | ✅         | ❌    | ✅      |
| Vonage      | ✅    | ✅         | ❌    | ✅      |
| Telnyx      | ✅    | ✅         | ❌    | ✅      |

### Supported File Types

The file types supported by different SMS channels and the maximum file size for each file type are shown in the table below:

| SMS Channel | Image Size Limit (MBs) | Audio Size Limit (MBs) | Video Size Limit (MBs) |
| ----------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Twilio      | 5                      | 0.5                    | 0.5                    |
| MessageBird | 1                      | 1                      | 1                      |
| Vonage      | 2                      | \-                     | \-                     |
| Telnyx      | 1                      | 1                      | 1                      |

### Metadata Received by Channel

Different channels provide different sets of Contact's metadata to the respond.io platform. The list of Contact's data you’ll be able to obtain from different SMS channels is shown in the table below:

| SMS Channel | Metadata Received by Channel                    |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Twilio      | Phone number, City, State, Postal code, Country |
| MessageBird | Phone number                                    |
| Vonage      | Phone number                                    |
| Telnyx      | Phone number                                    |

### Broadcasts

Respond.io’s supporting SMS partner channels have no restrictions on the content or number of messages businesses can send in a broadcast. Broadcast messages will be charged at the usual per-message rate.

> \- Learn more about [how to send a broadcast here](https://respond.io/help/broadcasts/sending-a-simple-broadcast).  
> \- Learn how to [deal with failed broadcast messages here](https://respond.io/help/broadcasts/dealing-with-failed-broadcasts).

### Rate Limits

A rate limit is the number of API calls an app or user can make within a given time period defined by the channel. Learn more about the rate limits of SMS channels below:

* [Twilio](https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002943027-Understanding-Twilio-Rate-Limits-and-Message-Queues)
* [MessageBird](https://developers.messagebird.com/api/sms-messaging/#send-outbound-sms)
* [Vonage](https://api.support.vonage.com/hc/en-us/articles/203993598-What-is-the-Throughput-Limit-for-Outbound-SMS-)
* [Telnyx](https://developers.telnyx.com/docs/messaging/messages/character-and-rate-limits)

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## 

Related articles 👩‍💻

* [Telnyx SMS Quick StartLearn how to connect Telnyx SMS to chat with customers. ](/help/sms/telnyx-sms-quick-start)
* [Vonage SMS Quick StartLearn how to connect Vonage SMS to chat with customers. ](/help/sms/vonage-sms)
* [MessageBird SMS Quick StartLearn how to connect MessageBird SMS to chat with customers. ](/help/sms/messagebird-sms)
* [Twilio SMS Quick StartLearn how to connect Twilio SMS to chat with customers. ](/help/sms/twilio-sms)

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2025-12-05T03:58:43.144Z

help

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