Orbit by Devotel vs smsmode RCS API

Orbit by Devotel provides an RCS API for sending rich business messages, including cards, carousels, and suggested replies or actions. It can check whether a recipient supports RCS and retry through SMS when RCS is unavailable, provided the organisation has enabled its fallback chain. Orbit describes a unified messaging platform spanning SMS, voice, video, WhatsApp, RCS, email, and additional channels. An RCS send can contain up to 11 suggestion chips, and a carousel can hold 2–10 cards. The Pay-as-You-Go plan has no monthly fee or minimums; sending is paid for with pre-pay credits. It includes typed Node and Web SDKs, signed webhooks, and a real-time analytics dashboard. The company says production data is processed in the EU, with its primary workload in Belgium and a disaster-recovery read replica in London. US-only, UK-only, and APAC-only residency are not offered. Orbit says its SOC 2 Type II audit is in planning and that it has not completed a third-party SOC 2 audit.

smsmode RCS API lets businesses build rich messaging conversations through a REST API. It supports images, maps, action buttons, carousels, sessions, statuses, and RCS agent authentication; messages can also carry video, audio, documents, QR codes, geolocation, payments, and links. Listed uses include marketing, notifications, booking confirmations, delivery and order alerts, customer service, and one-time passwords. Where a device cannot receive RCS, the service offers SMS fallback. Customers must register their RCS agent with Google and carriers before sending. The RCS page says campaigns can reach more than 10 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Reporting includes real-time delivery receipts, read rates, and click rates. Listed integrations include HubSpot, Salesforce, Oracle Eloqua, Selligent, Customer.io, Google Calendar, Zapier, Klaviyo, and Adobe Campaign. Account controls can hash content or recipients, truncate the last four digits of recipient numbers, shorten retention, or delete message content after sending. A free trial is available, but there is no free plan; listed message plans start at €9 a month excluding taxes, while the pricing note says from €69/mo.