Photon vs Sendblue: which iMessage API
The axis is whether a shared number is acceptable. Photon is free to start and $250 for a dedicated line; Sendblue is $100 and dedicated from the first paid tier.
Photon is for
Anyone testing an idea, or running something where the sender number does not need to stay the same.
Sendblue is for
Anyone who needs a stable number and wants the lowest published price for one.
Side by side
| Photon | Sendblue | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Advertised from | Free | $100/mo |
| The tier most people need | $250/mo | $100/mo |
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Per-message fees | None | None |
| Delivery | ||
| Number | Shared or dedicated | Dedicated |
| Can message first | Included | Enterprise tier only |
| SMS or RCS fallback | Included | Included |
| Policy | ||
| Compliance claimed | SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 and HIPAA claimed on its trust centre, 25 policies listed, 0 subprocessors and 0 documents published there | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA (Enterprise) |
| When it breaks | Publishes a status page | Publishes a status page |
Rows where the two agree are dimmed. Checked 2026-09-11.
What actually differs
They differ on price, delivery, and policy.
Photon has the most generous free tier here: unlimited daily messages, RCS and SMS fallback, up to ten users, on a shared managed pool. Pro at $25 raises that to a hundred users on the same pool. A dedicated line is Business at $250 per line per month, a tenfold jump from Pro.
Sendblue starts where Photon's expensive tier does and undercuts it: $100 for a dedicated line. The trade is outbound, which Sendblue lists only on Enterprise while Photon includes it throughout. Photon also gates the group messaging API, which is unavailable on Free and only complete on Business and above, so an agent meant to join group threads cannot be built on the cheap tiers at all.
The same products, against others
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