CEQUENS

Overview

CEQUENS is a CPaaS provider with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Riyadh, and says it serves more than 2,000 companies across the Middle East and North Africa and beyond. It sells SMS, WhatsApp, email and voice APIs, no-code campaign tools, bots and CEQUENS Engage, an omnichannel inbox, plus an Apple Business Chat (Apple Messages for Business) API.

Key features

• SMS API with short and long codes and a messaging gateway
• WhatsApp Business API, plus Messenger and Instagram APIs
• Apple Business Chat API with rich messages, automated alerts and Apple Pay
• Voice API and SIP, multifactor OTP and number lookup
• CEQUENS Engage inbox with AI assistance, real-time translation and sentiment analysis
• In-country data storage for data residency rules

Pricing

CEQUENS Engage costs $45 a month with 1,000 conversations, $225 with 5,000 or $600 with 10,000, plus $25 per extra agent seat; annual billing saves 20%. API messaging prices are not published.

How it compares to Linq

CEQUENS offers Apple Messages for Business, not iMessage from a phone number: iPhone users chat with a verified brand in Apple's Messages app, and SMS covers other phones. Linq sends iMessage, RCS and SMS from real phone numbers for a flat fee from $260 a month. CEQUENS adds WhatsApp, email and voice APIs, while Linq's API docs say its API does not place or answer calls.

Best for

Banks, government bodies and retailers in the Middle East and North Africa that need SMS, WhatsApp and voice with local data residency.

Sources

• cequens.com
• cequens.com/products
• cequens.com/products/apple-business-chat-api
• cequens.com/products/omnichannel-chat
• cequens.com/advantage
• cequens.com/contact