8 Best Attentive Alternatives for Business Communication

Attentive is a marketing platform specializing in SMS and email outreach. It uses customer data to help eCommerce brands engage buyers with personalized campaigns. A popular choice thanks to its mobile-first nature, user-friendly tools, and strong support, Attentive has helped many of its users achieve impressive results.

However, the platform is not without its drawbacks. Many users have noted that Attentive can be expensive for businesses with limited budgets, for instance. Others have encountered feature limitations such as less-than-robust reporting and integration hurdles.

These shortcomings have led several businesses to explore other options.

In this article, we introduce several top service providers that you can consider switching to if you’re looking for reliable alternatives to Attentive.

A quick comparison of the top 8 Attentive alternatives

First, here’s a helpful feature grid to spot the strengths and gaps across all eight platforms to help you get started with narrowing down your shortlist.

How to get started with your search for the best messaging platform

Start by identifying your specific requirements. For instance, take into consideration the location of your target audience. Think about what types of messages you want to send (e.g., transactional OTPs or marketing texts) and which messaging channels you need for them. This clarity will help you narrow down the list of potential providers.

Next, evaluate providers on key factors such as:

• Global reach and compliance: You need to make sure they can deliver messages in all your target regions while adhering to any necessary local or global regulations.

• Reliability: Look for high uptime and delivery success rates, often achieved through features like adaptive routing across multiple carrier networks.

• Versatility: For example, supporting multiple messaging channels like SMS and popular chat apps through one unified API.

• Ease of integration and use: You need someone who allows quick deployment, robust APIs, clear documentation, or even no-code tools for non-developers.

One of the most important factors to consider is cost and support. You need to choose a service with transparent pricing that also offers responsive customer support to quickly resolve any issues that arise.

1. Messente: Enterprise-grade messaging with global reach

Messente is a business messaging platform built for organizations that want to send SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber messages globally through a single API. It is known for reliable worldwide delivery and an easy-to-use interface, making it ideal for everything from marketing campaigns to critical notifications.

Messente’s key strength is its global reach and multi-channel support, allowing businesses to connect with customers in 190+ countries hassle-free.

Key features

• Global omnichannel messaging: Messente unifies SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber into a single API, making it easy to manage global communications without juggling multiple providers. It’s designed for scale, supporting everything from 25,000 to over a million monthly messages, whether for OTPs, transactional alerts, or conversational SMS marketing.

• Wide reach: Reach 190+ countries by leveraging our partnerships with nearly 1,000 mobile operators.

• High reliability and revenue protection: Undelivered OTPs can lead to direct revenue loss; therefore, Messente promises reliability. Its adaptive routing system achieves exceptionally high delivery rates worldwide, and transparent delivery reports with detailed analytics give you clear visibility.

  
  
  If a message fails to send via one channel, the system automatically retries on another, ensuring minimal disruption. By reducing failed message deliveries and delays, Messente helps businesses protect revenue and maximize customer lifetime value.

• Bulk messaging tools: Easily send and receive SMS at scale using Messente’s intuitive web dashboard or API.
  

  
  
  The platform supports campaign scheduling, contact segmentation, and personalized templates.
  
  

• Two-way messaging: Easily handle replies, provide seamless customer support via text, and keep audiences engaged. Get swift responses on your surveys and polls and collect feedback quickly.

• Flexibility for both marketers and developers: Marketers can send SMS and Viber messages directly from Messente’s dashboard without IT involvement, while developers and product teams benefit from comprehensive documentation, custom CRM integration (including Salesforce), and strong technical support.

• Analytics and integrations: You get detailed delivery reports and analytics to track campaign performance. The API can generate messaging reports that you can filter for better insights. You can also integrate Messente with thousands of third-party applications (directly or via Zapier) for CRM, marketing, and more.
  

  

• Fast and proactive customer support: Messente provides exceptional customer support through channels like email, chat, and phone. Support tickets are typically answered in under an hour for the highest support tier, a huge advantage compared to other providers whose responses can take days or weeks. For companies sending over a million messages monthly, a dedicated account manager provides ongoing guidance, while all enterprise customers can easily schedule meetings with the support team when needed.

• Transparent pricing without hidden costs: Messente helps optimize your SMS spending. Its pricing API and real-time rate lookup show message costs upfront, and an auto-replace feature converts special characters to GSM-friendly alternatives to prevent unnecessarily long (and thus costly) texts.
  

  
  
  If a message fails on one channel, Messente can automatically retry via another (e.g., fallback to SMS), and you only pay for delivered messages. The platform offers both pay-as-you-go options and fixed volume plans, giving you the freedom to choose. Companies can also create unlimited accounts and users without paying extra.

• Security and compliance: Messente maintains EU-based servers for GDPR compliance. ISO certifications and anti-fraud mechanisms provide extra assurance, making it a trusted choice for industries like finance and eCommerce where regulatory compliance is critical.

Why choose Messente over Attentive

Messente provides truly global messaging, far beyond Attentive’s supported list of 20+ countries. If you need to reach customers worldwide (not just US/Europe markets) or send critical texts like OTPs or transactional texts internationally, Messente is a better fit.

Secondly, Messente’s single API lets you send not only SMS but also WhatsApp and Viber messages. Attentive focuses mainly on SMS and RCS for marketing, with no native support for chat apps. If your business wants to engage users on popular messaging apps, you will appreciate Messente’s omnichannel capabilities, which Attentive lacks.

One key advantage Messente offers to cost-conscious teams or those with fluctuating message volumes is its usage-based pricing model, which can make Messente far more budget-friendly. You benefit from low per-message costs and also get a free trial. There is no unreasonable minimum commitment either. You can start small and scale as you grow. The website has detailed pricing information readily available.

Support is also an area where we stand out from many competitors. Many users have expressed their appreciation for Messente’s personal, hands-on support and willingness to accommodate their needs. Large marketing platforms might not always provide the same level of individual attention, particularly if you’re a smaller business.

What you might not like about Messente

Messente focuses on core messaging functionality and message delivery and lacks some of the advanced marketing automation features you might find with other providers. This is not so much a disadvantage as it is a matter of business needs. So, if you’re looking for marketing automation, other platforms may be a better fit, but if your priority is reliable, large-scale message delivery, Messente is exactly what you need.

Secondly, Messente’s free trial is quite generous, but as with many services, some advanced features or higher volumes require a paid plan. A reviewer noted that while most features were available in the trial, certain capabilities stayed locked until payment. This shouldn’t be a deal-breaker; our serious business users are more than happy to start their paid plans post-trial.

2. Birdeye: Reputation management platform with customer messaging

Birdeye is a customer experience platform known for its reputation management features (online reviews, listings) and robust customer messaging tools. It offers a unified inbox for SMS texts, webchat, social media messages, and more, and allows businesses to engage customers and gather feedback in one place.

Key features

• Unified inbox for multiple channels, enabling two-way conversations via SMS, webchat, Facebook, Instagram, email, and more

• Mass texting, automation, and templates

• Team collaboration

• AI assistance, including suggested responses and conversation summaries

• Feedback requests

Why choose Birdeye over Attentive

Birdeye excels at conversational texting, which is great if your goal is to chat back and forth with customers, whether for marketing, sales, or just to answer customer inquiries, and not just send marketing blasts.

The platform offers more than just text marketing, including review management, webchat, social messaging, and surveys, all within one platform. This also gives them a win over Attentive, which focuses mainly on SMS campaigns.

Users report that Birdeye provides super comprehensive reporting. It delivers detailed analytics on message performance and customer sentiment, helping you make data-driven decisions.

What you might not like about Birdeye

Birdeye only offers its services for the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and a handful of other regions, making it an unfeasible option for global businesses. Also, even for this limited pool of coverage areas, international texting is only available to users within the US and Mexico regions.

Some users note that Birdeye doesn’t seamlessly connect with certain third-party tools or industry-specific software, causing data sync challenges. There are also some reports about the platform lagging or crashing out of the blue, although these occurrences were infrequent.

One major downside is that Birdeye can be on the pricey side, with plans often starting around a few hundred dollars per month. A few customers have also expressed their frustration with long-term contracts as well as a difficult cancellation process.

3. Postscript: Shopify-first SMS marketing platform

Postscript is an SMS marketing platform that makes it especially easy for Shopify merchants to grow their subscriber lists, send segmented and automated campaigns, and engage customers via conversational messaging.

Key features

• Deep integration with Shopify (and Shopify Plus), pulling in product catalog, customer data, and enabling triggers based directly on customer behavior

• Rich opt-in tools, such as popups, checkout flows, and QR codes

• Conversational commerce

• Advanced segmentation and automation

Why choose Postscript over Attentive

While both support Shopify, Postscript’s tight integration and workflow automation tend to be more accessible and easier to implement for mid-market eCommerce brands.

Secondly, users have highlighted that Postscript pays attention to compliance in ways that other platforms might overlook. This reduces risk for brands looking to grow their SMS programs quickly.

What you might not like about Postscript

Postscript is heavily optimized for Shopify merchants. Businesses not just in other industries but even those merely using other eCommerce platforms may find that it lacks the features or integration depth they need.

4. SimpleTexting: Flexible SMS marketing platform and mobile app

SimpleTexting is an SMS marketing and two-way text messaging service popular among businesses of all sizes. It stands out for its ease of use and flexible features. The SMS platform also offers a mobile app for convenient messaging while you’re on the move.

Key features

• A full set of texting tools on all pricing plans, including bulk SMS and MMS broadcasting, two-way messaging, scheduled texts, and autoresponders

• Unlimited contacts and keywords

• Custom fields for personalized messages

• Support for multiple phone numbers under one account

• An open API with popular custom integrations

• Mobile app for businesses that want to stay responsive outside the office

Why choose SimpleTexting over Attentive

SimpleTexting is very accessible to try and buy. You can sign up for a free trial (no credit card required), and all pricing plans are published clearly on their website. Another pro is the mobile app, which many other providers, including Attentive, don’t offer.

What you might not like about SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting focuses exclusively on text messaging. It does not have email marketing features or support any other messaging channels natively.

Another major drawback is that SimpleTexting’s service currently works only with US and Canadian phone numbers. It is not fully global.

There have also been reports of the occasional technical glitch. For instance, a few SimpleTexting users have reported minor glitches. For example, one noted that picture messages (MMS) received from customers sometimes took a long time to appear in the inbox. Others have mentioned buggy mobile app notifications, which required an app restart to refresh the inbox.

5. Textedly: User-friendly SMS marketing tool

Textedly is a cloud-based text message marketing platform that helps businesses of all sizes send mass SMS and MMS campaigns and engage customers through two-way texting. It stands out for its ease of use and flexible pricing.

Key features

• Bulk SMS messaging with support for MMS

• Two-way texting with a shared inbox

• Automation and scheduling, ideal for drip campaigns

• Conversation triggers that send instant responses

• Integrated payments

• Online review management tools to measure customer satisfaction

Why choose Textedly over Attentive

Textedly is often praised for its simple, user-friendly platform that’s easy to learn and start using immediately, even for first-time SMS marketers. It also includes a few handy extras like text-to-pay and Google review invites, which add further value to Textedly’s platform.

Additionally, if your use case isn’t strictly eCommerce marketing, Textedly’s more generalized approach may fit your needs better than Attentive’s. It targets a much broader range of clients.

What you might not like about Textedly

A few users have commented that even if Textedly’s web platform doesn’t come with a mobile app, it would be nice to at least get a more mobile-optimized experience for managing their campaigns on desktop.

Also, Textedly’s plans seem to be a bit inflexible. For instance, unused message credits don’t roll over to the next month, and going over your limit or buying multiple keywords will incur added fees. Some users feel that as their needs grow, Textedly can become expensive. Others criticized Textedly’s limited functionality, coming at a cost similar to other providers offering much more. There has also been a report or two about issues with billing, refunds, cancellations, and switching plans.

6. Emotive: Conversational SMS marketing for eCommerce

Emotive is a conversational SMS marketing platform for online brands. It is focused on helping eCommerce businesses build strong customer relationships via text.

Key features

• Real-time two-way text conversations

• A dedicated SMS marketing team with every plan

• Hundreds of pre-built SMS templates, with robust automation flows

• Integration with major eCommerce and marketing tools

• Branded short URLs with link tracking

Why choose Emotive over Attentive

Emotive supports texting in 100+ countries, compared to Attentive’s greatly limited coverage, which appeals to businesses with international audiences. The free dedicated marketing team, which includes strategy and copywriting, is also a major selling point. Brands that want personalized back-and-forth texting may find Emotive more effective for engagement.

Another point that works in Emotive’s favor among users is its month-to-month pricing model, which comes with certain ROI guarantees and even offers to beat or match competitor contracts.

What you might not like about Emotive

While Emotive aggressively markets cost savings and high ROIs, some users report that it can get expensive as your contact list or messaging volume grows. There have been complaints about a lack of transparency and surprise charges on bills. A few users, particularly small businesses, complained about aggressive billing practices and pushy sales tactics, too. In terms of support, users have experienced slow responses at times.

Furthermore, Emotive’s platform isn’t the most intuitive for everyone. New users and small teams might face a learning curve due to too many features and a UI that can be a bit confusing at first.

7. Twilio: Developer-friendly omnichannel communications platform

Twilio is a cloud communications provider (CPaaS) that allows developers to embed messaging, voice calls, emails, and even video into their own applications via APIs. The platform offers a feature-rich suite of communication services on a globally scalable and reliable infrastructure, enabling businesses to engage customers across multiple channels from one unified platform.

Key features

• SMS/MMS texting, voice calling, video, email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more

• Comprehensive REST APIs, SDKs, documentation, and tutorials

• Scalability and reliability

• Global reach and international customer engagement with built-in support for carrier regulations and compliance

• Other specialized solutions, such as Twilio Flex (a fully programmable cloud-based customer engagement center) and Verify (two-factor authentication service)

Why choose Twilio over Attentive

Twilio goes way beyond SMS marketing capabilities to include voice calls, VoIP, WhatsApp, chat, video, and email channels, all under one roof. It can cater to a far wider range of use cases than Attentive. Plus, Twilio is a developer-centric platform, so you can build highly tailored communication workflows rather than being limited to Attentive’s pre-defined marketing templates.

It also overtakes Attentive in terms of reliability and reach. With a proven global carrier network, Twilio operates on a worldwide scale, which can translate to high deliverability even when your business expands across borders.

What you might not like about Twilio

Poor customer support responsiveness is a frequent complaint from previous Twilio users. Higher support tiers are available but only at extra costs, while a platform like Attentive might be able to offer more hands-on support by default.

While Twilio’s pricing is usage-based, it can become expensive at scale. Businesses often cite the high cost of phone number leasing and per-message fees once you’re sending large volumes.

Twilio also comes with a much steeper learning curve, perhaps owing to its developer-oriented nature. Non-technical users might find it challenging compared to Attentive’s user-friendly visual interface.

8. Voyage: SMS marketing for eCommerce brands

Voyage is a mobile-first SMS marketing platform designed for online retailers. It focuses on advanced customer segmentation and provides additional optional human-assisted messaging services to help businesses drive revenue.

Key features

• Conversational SMS, with the option to choose Voyage’s live agents as your brand ambassadors under the First Mate program

• The Compass consulting program, which provides hands-on strategy support from DTC and retail marketing experts

• Powerful segmentation builder with precise behavioral targeting

• While SMS is the core focus, Voyage also supports mobile push notifications and integrates them into its visual campaign editor

• Integration with popular eCommerce tools (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce) and helpdesk platforms (e.g., Zendesk)

Why choose Voyage over Attentive

The First Mate service lets real human agents engage customers via text in real time, adding a personal, one-on-one touch to marketing campaigns. This offering definitely sets Voyage's customer engagement platform apart from most other providers, enabling you to send more targeted messages.

Many users also have good things to say about Voyage’s attentive customer service, particularly during the onboarding process. The same goes for their well-defined pricing, with no surprise fees later on.

What you might not like about Voyage

Voyage may not be the best for smaller businesses. For instance, the pricing itself starts at $1,000 a month, with a minimum volume of 80,000 SMS, which may be far beyond what an average small business or startup needs or could afford.

Additionally, the UI is pretty clean, but a few users have found it occasionally counterintuitive or slow and in need of improvement. The platform is also pretty much focused solely on SMS, making it less than ideal for businesses looking for omnichannel options.

Snapshot: Which Attentive alternative fits which need?

This table breaks down each alternative’s ideal use case, entry-level pricing, and whether a free trial is available.

Wrapping up: Get started with Messente

If you’re switching from Attentive because of cost, limited options for channels, or lack of global reach, Messente is an obvious choice. You get one API for SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber, high delivery rates with adaptive routing, and transparent pricing you can actually take at face value. Plus, our support team promises low turnaround time and the willingness to help you navigate through compliance considerations.

For marketers, the dashboard lets you launch campaigns without having to wait for your developers. For product and engineering teams, the API and documentation make integration straightforward. Either way, you’ll ship messages reliably and quickly, at scale.

Ready to try it?

Start a free trial for our omnichannel messaging platform to test deliverability in your key markets, or book a quick demo to see exactly how Messente compares to your current setup and why you should go for the upgrade.