Talkdesk vs. Twilio

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Talkdesk
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Talkdesk® supports CX with Customer Experience Automation (CXA), using AI agents to replace manual workflows. Powered by the Talkdesk Data Cloud, CXA delivers real-time context and fast deployment—to transform CX without a rip-and-replace.
$85
per month per user
Twilio
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Twilio offers a CPaaS and CCaaS solution, with the combination of its programmable Voice, Video, and Messaging APIs, as well as the Twilio Flex cloud contact center. Additional capabilities include Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking, as well as API for WhatsApp.
$0
per min per participant
Pricing
TalkdeskTwilio
Editions & Modules
CX Cloud Digital Essentials
$85
per month per user
CX Cloud Voice Essentials
$105
per month per user
CX Cloud Elite
$145
per month per user
CX Cloud Elite
$165
per month per user
Industry Experience Clouds
$225
Programmable Video
$0.0015
per min per participant
WhatsApp Business API
$0.0042
Per WhatsApp Template message sent
WhatsApp Business API
$0.005
Per WhatsApp session message
Elastic SIP Trunking
$0.007
Per min for termination
Programmable Messaging
$0.0075
per message sent or received
Programmable Voice
$0.0085
per minute to receive a call
Programmable Voice
$0.013
per min to make a call
Elastic SIP Trunking
$0.045
Per min for origination
Twilio Conversations
$0.05
per active user per month
Twilio Authy
$0.09
per authentication
Programmable Wireless
$0.1
per MB
Twilio Flex (Contact Center)
$1
per active user hour (5000 hours free)
Programmable Wireless
$2.00
per SIM card
Twilio SendGrid Email API
$14.95
per month up to 100k emails. (Up to 40k emails free for 30 days)
Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns
$15
per month for 5,000 contacts and 15,000 emails. Your first 2,000 contacts are free
Twilio Flex (Contact Center)
$150
per named user per month (5000 hours free)
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
TalkdeskTwilio
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details*Talkdesk also offers per hour login consumption pricing and concurrent pricing. Prices are based on a minimum 3 year commitment to these Editions. Additional telco and usage fees not included. Due to foreign exchange rate approximation, list price is not the exact price that will be quoted.1. Pay-as-you-go pricing: Simple usage-based pricing means you don’t get locked into big contracts. 2. Volume discounts: Discounts trigger as your usage grows, so you always get a fair price. 3. Start building today with free trial credit and full API access.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
TalkdeskTwilio
Considered Both Products
Talkdesk
Chose Talkdesk
We switched to Talkdesk because Dialpad could not handle the scale of our company. We were most impressed with Talkdesk compared to other companies because of how modern their product line was, how quickly they iterate on products, and because they had the best API on the market.
Twilio

No answer on this topic

Features
TalkdeskTwilio
Contact Center Software
Comparison of Contact Center Software features of Product A and Product B
Talkdesk
8.1
484 Ratings
3% below category average
Twilio
-
Ratings
Agent dashboard8.0463 Ratings00 Ratings
Validate callers7.9407 Ratings00 Ratings
Outbound response8.3425 Ratings00 Ratings
Call forwarding7.8417 Ratings00 Ratings
Click-to-call (CTC)8.6386 Ratings00 Ratings
Warm transfer8.9438 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive dialing8.8226 Ratings00 Ratings
Interactive voice response8.4310 Ratings00 Ratings
REST APIs7.4244 Ratings00 Ratings
Call scripts7.8219 Ratings00 Ratings
Call tracking8.5432 Ratings00 Ratings
Multichannel integration6.7317 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM software integration7.6371 Ratings00 Ratings
Workforce Optimization (WFO)
Comparison of Workforce Optimization (WFO) features of Product A and Product B
Talkdesk
8.4
468 Ratings
2% above category average
Twilio
-
Ratings
Inbound call routing8.6428 Ratings00 Ratings
Omnichannel inbound routing8.1311 Ratings00 Ratings
Recording8.9452 Ratings00 Ratings
Quality management8.8410 Ratings00 Ratings
Call analytics8.4425 Ratings00 Ratings
Historical reporting8.4432 Ratings00 Ratings
Live reporting8.3425 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer surveys8.1237 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer interaction analytics8.3272 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
TalkdeskTwilio
Small Businesses
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.6 out of 10
Simplify360
Simplify360
Score 7.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.6 out of 10
Dialpad Support
Dialpad Support
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Score 8.8 out of 10
Verint Community
Verint Community
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
TalkdeskTwilio
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(498 ratings)
7.9
(90 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(39 ratings)
7.5
(5 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(314 ratings)
9.5
(10 ratings)
Availability
9.9
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(8 ratings)
8.4
(34 ratings)
Support Rating
6.8
(131 ratings)
5.7
(16 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.9
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.1
(222 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
TalkdeskTwilio
Likelihood to Recommend
Talkdesk
Talkdesk does an excellent job with productivity reports. I can monitor my agent's lives during calls and their current status, allowing me to affect them productively at that moment. I can also download a productivity report on Talkdesk to analyze historical data and see patterns and problems.
Read full review
Twilio
I found Twilio to be excellent and very easy to use for a programmer in all aspects related to voice, SMS, and other features utilizing their API. I found the node client to be excellent and helpful. We previously used the Apex client for Salesforce before it was discontinued. Although we try not to use Twilio from Apex anymore, using that client was easier than implementing our own.
Read full review
Pros
Talkdesk
  • Receives calls immediately and connects well.
  • Making outbound calls and having Talkdesk display the name associated with the number.
  • Aux on break, lunch, or meeting, and it stays as it is and does not change status on its own.
  • Being able to check on colleagues on whether they are available.
  • Able to track your work for the day, the amount of calls you made and received.
  • Being able to check your Daily and monthly score from QA.
Read full review
Twilio
  • Easy to see my team in one place, when they log in and out and what call status they are in.
  • Twilio is a simple, user friendly way to log in and out of work activities.
  • Excellent services and support.
  • The omnichannel feature which allows agents to get request from all channels.
Read full review
Cons
Talkdesk
  • From experience, customer service is terrible, we've had 5 account executives over 18 months, extremely difficult to get timely answers to pressing issues.
  • Integration with other tools, such as ServiceNow, is not truly integration (in my opinion). There was a marked difference between what the salesperson communicated during the evaluation period and what we actually got once we purchased and implemented the product.
  • We continue to have stability issues which force our agents to restart the Talkdesk client. I frequently receive vague error messages ('something went wrong') that can be frustrating as there's no actual detail to what happened. To be fair, it has improved since we implemented the tool, but if you were to ask our agents what frustrated them, Talkdesk would be at the top of their list.
  • Being a multi-channel platform was one of the things that drew us to Talkdesk; however, the chat channel lags way behind voice in customization and reporting.
  • Lack of training resources. The 'Talkdesk Academy' is often very out-of-date. Would be nice to have actual webinars or online training (even paid training) for various functions of the tool like reporting, WFM, IVR, etc.
Read full review
Twilio
  • Segment’s email identifier is case-sensitive, which is ridiculous because emails themselves are not case-sensitive. This means that if I send a capitalized email address in an identify call, it will create a duplicate user rather than matching it with the lowercase email. I think this is a technical oversight that should be corrected.
  • I’d like to see more information about the eventual transition of existing Frontline customers to Twilio Flex
  • I’d like to see some integrations between Twilio Studio and OpenAI or another open source LLM to provide automated responses, if this hasn’t been done already
  • I would like to be able to drag and move the actual lines connecting the steps in Twilio Studio, sometimes mine can get pretty messy
  • I think a Bug Report form would be beneficial for developers
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Talkdesk
Renewing the use of talkdesk is a cost-effective solution for our company. By continuing to use it, we can leverage potential cost savings and efficiencies. For instance, talkdesk may have features that automate certain processes or enable better resource allocation, resulting in reduced operational costs. Secondly, renewing the contract contributes to enhanced customer service. Talkdesk likely offers specific functionalities that improve customer satisfaction and support. This could include features such as intelligent routing or real-time analytics that help agents provide personalized assistance and resolve issues more effectively. Thirdly, renewing the contract ensures seamless integration and compatibility with other systems or technologies used in our company. Having a unified system across different departments or functions enhances efficiency and reduces potential disruptions caused by incompatible systems. Moreover, there may be benefits gained from data sharing or streamlined workflows enabled by an integrated platform.
Read full review
Twilio
Unless we can get this handled quickly -- less than 1 week -- we will likely switch to another provider who, in my opinion, we'll have to spend close to $3,000 in development time to build a new integration for texting. Our clients need texting and I feel Twilio has failed us miserably.
Read full review
Usability
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is helpful because we use it to receive calls in our BPO. Not only do we track live ques and statuses from agents, but we also receive feedback from our assessors through the talk desk as well as coaching, and it also stores customer contact data; I can track all my calls, and It records all the calls so we can come back to review them. You can also listen live and track your daily productivity. You can change your aux statuses very quickly, and there was an update talk desk that allows you to queue another status while you are on a call or after-call work, which is a great feature.
Read full review
Twilio
Twilio has well documented APIs and examples. There are several tutorials, videos and Q&As regarding their services. So, usability is very good. I must say that advanced knowledge of telephony, API/Programming and error-handling is essential to make good use of Twilio. It's not just plug-and-play unless you are integrated with a system that has all of the programming built for it.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is very handy but, sometimes we do face issues were the system can just kick you out and not be able to do calls or receive calls but, what I like about the system once you start refreshing or troubleshooting, everything becomes normal it is a unique system and very modern we don't usually have system issues with Talkdesk.
Read full review
Twilio
No answers on this topic
Performance
Talkdesk
I give this system a full 10/10 once you refresh or troubleshoot you do not wait for too long to use it . It easy like ABC . I honestly recommend this system, even when you check the QA score card, you do not have to wait that long; you just click on the notification bell and view your score card.
Read full review
Twilio
Twilio executes what it is designed to do: send SMS messages at scale while providing very good deliverability. I believe that Twilio is very good at what we use for adding SMS messages to our comms strategy. We can see those messages get opened and replied to, which is exactly what we are looking to achieve.
Read full review
Support Rating
Talkdesk
If Talkdesk had a dedicated phone support line I would have given this rating an overall 10. Their knowledge base is absolutely HUGE and at times very helpful. It's easy to search through and their customer support chat system works perfectly fine, but there are just some times that you need to speak to a human on the phone to ensure you are always on the same page.
Read full review
Twilio
I have not had to communicate with Twilio support in the last 3 years but my past experience with them has been very positive. They replied to my previous requests promptly and kept me well informed to resolve my inquiries. With their documentation that's available, I hardly imagine why anyone would need to contact support since it's all there in a concise and easy to understand format. It would probably take you longer to type out a support ticket than to just open their doc websites.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Talkdesk
The training that was given to us was very smooth and professional. I give my trainer 10/ 10 rate the training was so smooth and very helpful she would make sure we also watch videos of how to use the system which made it very easier for us and what was interesting it is because, the system is also easy.
Read full review
Twilio
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Talkdesk
Nothing is perfect!! Needing the ability to repeat the training so everyone was on board was important. Not real sure how many people had to repeat the training as they trained on their own and given 30 minutes at a time.
Read full review
Twilio
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Talkdesk
Really easy to get set up out of the box. Anything I needed to understand further, I was able to just hop into the Academy and self-teach. I could then bring my team-members to those same sections so they could learn as well without me having to put together complicated SOP's / etc
Read full review
Twilio
The developer APIs and SDKs are super easy to follow.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is used to take inbound and outbound calls, which helps improve customer experience. It also provides evaluations through quality management. Talk desk scores are sometimes behind, but they still work well regarding taking and receiving calls. Some agents blame the Talk Desk because they lack knowledge of how to use it.
Read full review
Twilio
We evaluated many fundraising-based text-to-give programs and found the subscriptions prohibitively expensive for our small scale and uncertain first few years of development. While we may be willing to invest that kind of money after discovering how things work, we're happy with Twilio now and have no desire to start over.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Talkdesk
No answers on this topic
Twilio
Being in South Africa, direct local currency support would be nice
Read full review
Scalability
Talkdesk
We have over 200 employees in 11 states across the United States. Everyone uses Talkdesk. I believe that says a lot about the product and its flexibility. We need to be able to rely on system in order to assist our customers. Reliability and sustainability is important to our success
Read full review
Twilio
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Talkdesk
  • Decreased average response time on emails - due to proper forecasting by our team but of course by usage of data received from this tool.
  • Increase in quality audit scores through weekly reviews by this tool.
  • Employee morale and company survey as agents are not stressing with the easy use of this tool.
  • Reduced average handle time to ensure first response is addressed or first rings are addressed immediately.
Read full review
Twilio
  • It helps drive the adoption of multi-factor authentication by making second-factor authentication quick and easy.
  • Decreases the number of times a user spends migrating to a new device from an old one.
  • Enables easy access to second-factors of authentication by offering multi-device support, making multi-factor authentication painless.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Talkdesk Screenshots

Screenshot of Talkdesk Guardian™, which is an AI-driven, native cloud compliance solution that enables contact centers to gain visibility and take control of their WFH and hybrid workforce.Screenshot of Talkdesk Autopilot™, which is a tool that handles common customer queries, like orders, returns and billing, and automatically responds with conversational answers. And when complex cases are detected that need human empathy and expertise, the virtual agent will redirect customers to a human agent.Screenshot of Talkdesk AI Trainer™, which equips customers with tools to observe, simulate, and put guardrails on AI, according to their needs. This way, generative AI can be used responsibly, preventing AI mishaps, and protecting the brand from potentially poor AI experiences.

Twilio Screenshots

Screenshot of To access any of the products in Console, head over to the “Explore Products” section and start building.Screenshot of Whether you prefer to build with a drag-and-drop visual editor or with code, Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns helps you engage your customers through email.Screenshot of Flex is a programmable Contact Center that puts you in control.