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#100 of 100 · Phone
A friendlier, cheaper Twilio
A simpler, cheaper Twilio-style SMS, MMS and voice service with numbers, editable templates and a local SMS test inbox.
Asks per year
What the askers want
- Would pay33%
- Want it local or private11%
- Object to subscriptions11%
- Want it open source or self-hosted11%
- Want AI to do it0%
Share of the 9 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.
What exists on Show HN
Tried, never finished5 Show HN launches do part of this. None does the whole job.
Instead of: Twilio, Plivo, voip.ms, OpenVBX
The idea, as matched
A cheaper, better-designed Twilio-style platform for developers and small businesses: SMS/MMS and voice APIs, hosted PBX and numbers, editable message templates, STIR/SHAKEN compliance, and a local SMS test catcher.
Jev first matched 13 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 9 of 13.
Every ask, newest first
Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.
Reader’s note. Loose cluster of distinct telephony asks.
- Nov 2024Wants an SMS equivalent of MailCatcher, a shared dev inbox that intercepts Twilio SMS for product managers. Read it: a comment in “MailCatcher runs a super simple SMTP server”
- Mar 2024Wants a VoIP provider offering STIR/SHAKEN so their caller ID is not flagged as spam. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Any VoIP providers that offer STIR/SHAKEN?”
- Jan 2023Wants a decent alternative to Twilio, whose API and UI are awful. Read it: a comment in “FCC threatens to disconnect Twilio for illegal robocalls”
- Aug 2022Wants a SendGrid-like tool for SMS so marketing can edit message templates without developers. Read it: a post: “Twillio the only way to send transactional SMS?”
- Jan 2021Would pay $300 to 500 per month for an affordable hosted VoIP with IVR and bring-your-own-number. Read it: a comment in “Ask HN: What is wrong with the VoIP industry?”
- Jan 2018Wants a Skype SMS alternative with a simple web API usable from a Linux command line. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Alternative to Skype SMS Service (Linux CLI – Webservice API)?”
- Feb 2016Wants a Mailgun-like SMS service with a free monthly tier and a simple API for monitoring alerts. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: Locent – Mailchimp for SMS”
- Dec 2014Wants a reliable virtual PBX with follow-me, a large call block list, incoming fax and toll-free number migration. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: What Virtual PBX service do you use?”
- May 2013Wants a telephony service for buying numbers with MMS and voice support. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Twilio/Plivo style service that supports MMS?”
Building this?
Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.
Ship it like Vercel, on a server you own
This site runs on ShipTiffin. A push to GitHub deploys it, the way it would on Vercel, but the server is a Hetzner box in your own account. Postgres, sign-in, email, jobs and analytics are already on it, every project gets a hard limit, and nothing is billed by usage.
$19 a month per box, plus about $10 for the server at Hetzner. Open source, so you can also run it yourself for free.