What it is
Bird, formerly MessageBird, is a communications platform for sending email, SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages and calls, with user verification, number lookup and shared inboxes. You work with it through its API, SDKs, CLI or a hosted MCP server for AI agents. It's priced per use and per channel and positions itself directly against Twilio, Mailgun and 360dialog.
How to use it
- Send transactional and marketing email through the API or the dashboard.
- Send SMS and WhatsApp with templates and delivery tracking.
- Verify users with codes on the channel of your choice.
- Connect AI agents through its MCP server.
- Handle replies in shared team inboxes.
What it's good for
- An app sending confirmation emails and SMS codes through the same provider.
- An online store sharing order status updates over WhatsApp.
- A product team that wants its AI agent to send messages over MCP.
Pros
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice under one account and one bill
- API, SDKs, CLI and an MCP server to integrate it
- Free shared inbox for handling replies
- US phone numbers from about US$1 per month
Cons
- Its product and pricing have changed several times since the MessageBird days
- On WhatsApp it adds its own per-message fee on top of Meta's
