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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
  • Refresh policy: quarterly
  • 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.
Channels
application-to-person SMS and MMS, RCS business messaging, and adjacent voice and AI workflows.
Sender identities
SMS and MMS are sent from 10DLC, short code, or toll-free numbers. RCS business messages are sent from a verified business identity (brand name and logo), not a phone number; SMS fallback, where offered, is sent from a number.
Pricing status
Pricing status is always labeled: public, quoted, or not publicly documented.
Capability labels
Capabilities are labeled native, partner-delivered, custom, beta, or not offered where the distinction is documented.
Platform and services
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.

  1. Government, regulator, carrier, or standards-body documents

  2. The competitor’s current official product, documentation, pricing, status, and trust pages

  3. Tells product documentation and published product pages

  4. Named customer evidence with written publication approval

  5. Reputable independent analyst or research reports with clear methodology

  6. Press coverage

  7. Review sites and forums, treated as labeled user sentiment — not product fact

    Sentiment

Scoring & language rules

Documented capability
native, partner-delivered, custom, beta, or not offered
Vendor-reported
customers, connections, volumes
Observed performance
dated, method-backed measurement
Not publicly documented
not visible on the vendor’s official public pages on the review date

Evidence

  • 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.
  • No claim of faster approvals, better deliverability, or superior support is made without a dated, method-backed measurement.

Attribution

  • Vendor-reported scale figures (customers, connections, volumes) are attributed as vendor-reported.
  • Sub-brand facts are not generalized (for example, Sinch Engage support pricing applies to Engage, not all Sinch products).

Pricing and total cost

  • 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.

Outcomes

  • Outcomes are expressed as best-fit summaries, not a forced numeric winner.

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.

Not publicly documented

Not visible on the vendor’s official public pages on the review date.

is not the same as
Not offered

Labeled only where the distinction is documented.

Refresh policy & corrections

Refresh cadence

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

Last verified July 23, 2026

Corrections

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.

Email a correction request