Comparison
Overview
Company snapshot and where each provider is based.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI-powered SMS, MMS, RCS, email, and push marketing platform for consumer brands, with REST and GraphQL APIs for subscriber management and event-triggered messaging rather than direct message sending. | 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. |
| Founded | 2016 | 2011 |
| Ownership | private | private |
| Employees | 1,000-1,500 | 500-1,000 |
| HQ city | New York | Amsterdam |
| HQ country | USA | Netherlands (EU) |
What's the differenceBird edges ahead on the overall messaging.dev Score (76 vs 40). Attentive is private and headquartered in New York, USA; Bird is private and based in Amsterdam, Netherlands (EU).
Channels
Which messaging channels each provider can send and receive on.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| SMS | Yes | Yes |
| MMS | Yes | No |
| RCS | Yes | No |
| No | Yes | |
| Viber | No | No |
| Facebook Messenger | No | No |
| Telegram | No | No |
| Apple Messages for Business | No | No |
| Voice | No | Yes |
| Yes | Yes |
What's the differenceThey share 2 channels. Attentive additionally offers MMS, RCS, while Bird additionally offers WhatsApp, Voice.
Developer Experience
How quickly a developer can sign up and send a first message.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service onboarding | No | Yes |
| Free developer credit | No | Free email tier (1,000/month) |
| Docs quality | med | high |
| Documentation | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
| SDKs | iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), React Native | TypeScript, Python, Go |
| Sandbox / test env | Yes | Yes |
| API types | REST, GraphQL | REST, SMTP |
What's the differenceBird offers Self-service onboarding, while Attentive does not; on SDKs, Attentive adds iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), React Native; Bird adds TypeScript, Python, Go; on API types, Attentive adds GraphQL; Bird adds SMTP.
Data & Compliance
Data residency options and enterprise compliance certifications.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| EU data residency | No | Yes |
| US data residency | Yes | Yes |
| Choose region | No | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| ISO 27001 | No | Yes |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | No | Yes |
What's the differenceBird offers EU data residency, while Attentive does not; Bird offers Choose region, while Attentive does not; Bird offers ISO 27001, while Attentive does not; Bird offers HIPAA, while Attentive does not.
Data Retention
How long message content and metadata are stored, and whether that is configurable.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| Retention policy | No fixed retention periods are published; the privacy policy states personal information is retained "for as long as necessary to provide our Service or as needed to comply with applicable legal obligations." EU/UK/Swiss consumer data is transferred to and processed in the United States under the EU-U.S., UK Extension, and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks. | 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. |
What's the differenceAttentive: No fixed retention periods are published; the privacy policy states personal information is retained "for as long as necessary to provide our Service or as needed to comply with applicable legal obligations." EU/UK/Swiss consumer data is transferred to and processed in the United States under the EU-U.S., UK Extension, and Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks. Bird: 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.
Pricing & Credits
Pricing model and the cost of a first message.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Custom-quoted, usage-based subscription priced on message volume, subscriber list size, channels, and premium AI add-ons; no self-serve signup or published per-message rates. | 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. |
| SMS starting price | Not published | $0.0073 per message to US numbers (long code, toll-free and short code; carrier fees extra), per-country pricing grid published |
| Free developer credit | No | Free email tier (1,000/month) |
What's the differenceAttentive and Bird are closely matched on pricing & credits — no material differences in the tracked fields.
Reach & Reliability
Global coverage and delivery dependability.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| Countries covered | 20 | 150 |
| Direct operator connections | No | Yes |
| Published uptime SLA | No published SLA | 99.95% (legacy MessageBird SLA; current SLAs are per-service-plan in Order Form terms) |
What's the differenceBird leads on Countries covered (150 vs 20 for Attentive); Bird offers Direct operator connections, while Attentive does not.
Company & Trust
Independent reviews and company profile.
| Field | Attentive | Bird |
|---|---|---|
| G2 rating | 4.5 | 3.9 |
| G2 reviews | 1,483 | 73 |
| Ownership | private | private |
| Employees | 1,000-1,500 | 500-1,000 |
What's the differenceAttentive leads on G2 rating (4.5 vs 3.9 for Bird); Attentive leads on G2 reviews (1,483 vs 73 for Bird).
Still deciding? Read the quickstart guides:
Already on one of them? Follow a migration guide: