Methodology

How Tells Evaluates Enterprise Messaging Providers

Tells comparison pages are built from official public sources with visible access dates, a fixed source hierarchy, and rules that separate documented capability from observed performance. Pages state best-fit outcomes instead of forcing a numeric winner, label vendor-reported figures, never generalize sub-brand terms, and carry a quarterly refresh policy with a public correction path any vendor can use.

Last verified July 23, 2026 · Corrections

Scope & dating

Review date: July 23, 2026. Refresh policy: quarterly, faster after known pricing or policy changes.
Regions assessed: United States and Canada for sending programs; competitor global claims are reported as vendor-stated.
Message types: application-to-person SMS/MMS, RCS business messaging, and adjacent voice/AI workflows.
Sender types: 10DLC, short code, and toll-free.
Pricing status is always labeled: public, quoted, or not publicly documented.
Capabilities are labeled native, partner-delivered, custom, beta, or not offered where the distinction is documented.
Platform functionality and managed services are assessed separately — software features are not evidence of operational service, and vice versa.

Source hierarchy

Facts are accepted in this order of preference; press-release syndication is never treated as multiple independent confirmations of the same claim.

Government, regulator, carrier, or standards-body documents
The competitor’s current official product, documentation, pricing, status, and trust pages
Tells product documentation and published product pages
Named customer evidence with written publication approval
Reputable independent analyst or research reports with clear methodology
Press coverage
Review sites and forums, treated as labeled user sentiment — not product fact

Scoring & language rules

Only facts with evidence are stated; “not publicly documented” is used instead of assuming absence.
Documented capability is kept separate from observed performance; nominal API throughput is never treated as deliverability.
Vendor-reported scale figures (customers, connections, volumes) are attributed as vendor-reported.
Public list prices are never compared against private or negotiated quotes.
Total-cost discussions name the components: message rates, carrier surcharges, registration/vetting fees, number fees, support plans, minimums, and services.
Sub-brand facts are not generalized (for example, Sinch Engage support pricing applies to Engage, not all Sinch products).
Outcomes are expressed as best-fit summaries, not a forced numeric winner.
No claim of faster approvals, better deliverability, or superior support is made without a dated, method-backed measurement.

What “not publicly documented” means

“Not publicly documented” means the fact was not visible on the vendor’s official public pages on the review date. It does not mean the capability or term does not exist — enterprise agreements often include terms that are not published.

Refresh policy & corrections

Refresh cadence: Quarterly, with faster updates after known pricing or policy changes.

Competitors and readers can request corrections at tells@tells.co with the subject “Comparison correction request”. Verified corrections are published with the page’s modification date updated; source URLs, quoted passages, and capture dates are archived internally for every published fact.