What is an SMS API?

As the number of developers with web experience outnumbers developers with a telecommunications focus, there is a huge demand for SMS APIs and Communications APIs that allow productivity from both worlds. Twilio's Programmable Messaging product offers a stable RESTful API and simple (yet powerful) features that bring telecommunications programming to the web domain.

Twilio offers both API endpoints which you can hit with any language, as well as a selection of Helper Libraries which help to build complex communications services into products in little time. But don't take our word for it - here are some code snippets which show just how easy SMS sending is with Twilio:

Node.js

Python

Java

PHP

Ruby

twilio-cli

curl


_14// Download the helper library from https://www.twilio.com/docs/node/install
_14// Find your Account SID and Auth Token at twilio.com/console
_14// and set the environment variables. See http://twil.io/secure
_14const accountSid = process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID;
_14const authToken = process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN;
_14const client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);
_14
_14client.messages
_14  .create({
_14     body: 'This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?',
_14     from: '+15017122661',
_14     to: '+15558675310'
_14   })
_14  .then(message => console.log(message.sid));

Output


_24{
_24  "account_sid": "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
_24  "api_version": "2010-04-01",
_24  "body": "This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?",
_24  "date_created": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",
_24  "date_sent": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",
_24  "date_updated": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",
_24  "direction": "outbound-api",
_24  "error_code": null,
_24  "error_message": null,
_24  "from": "+15017122661",
_24  "num_media": "0",
_24  "num_segments": "1",
_24  "price": null,
_24  "price_unit": null,
_24  "messaging_service_sid": "MGXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
_24  "sid": "SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
_24  "status": "queued",
_24  "subresource_uris": {
_24    "media": "/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages/SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Media.json"
_24  },
_24  "to": "+15558675310",
_24  "uri": "/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages/SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.json"
_24}

Our goal, once you are signed up (Twilio offers a free trial), is to have you sending SMS messages in minutes - not weeks.

What is an SMS API?

Quickly integrate an SMS API with your business

Send an SMS using the Programmable Messaging API

A reliable SMS API to empower quick development