What is the difference between AgentPhone and MessageBlue?

AgentPhone supports 44 of the 77 features compared here, and MessageBlue supports 38. AgentPhone adds group name and photo, threaded replies, message effects, contact cards and chat backgrounds. MessageBlue adds read receipts, voice messages, bring your own number, line pooling and self-hosting.

How much do AgentPhone and MessageBlue cost?

AgentPhone: Pay as you go with $5 of starting credit: $3 per number a month, $0.13 to $0.22 a voice minute and $0.02 per SMS segment, with iMessage lines at $150 or $250 a month and no per-message charge. MessageBlue: Free when you bring your own number on your own Mac; a dedicated line is $100 a month on Startups & SMB, and Business and Enterprise are contact sales.

Does MessageBlue support group name and photo?

MessageBlue does not list group name and photo on its site or in its docs.

Does MessageBlue support threaded replies?

MessageBlue does not list threaded replies on its site or in its docs.

Does MessageBlue support message effects?

MessageBlue does not list message effects on its site or in its docs.

AgentPhone vs MessageBlue

Compare AgentPhone and MessageBlue side by side: iMessage features, channels, developer tools, pricing and compliance, checked on each provider's own site.

AgentPhone

Phone numbers with voice, SMS and iMessage for AI agents

Starting price: $3/month per number plus usage; iMessage from $150/month per line
Free plan: $5 starting credit, no card required

Visit AgentPhone Read more

MessageBlue

iMessage API for agents, with bring-your-own-number

Starting price: $100/month per line
Free plan: $0 with your own number and Mac, all features, limited seats

Visit MessageBlue Read more

AgentPhone supports 44 of the 77 features compared here, and MessageBlue supports 38.

Where AgentPhone is ahead

and 7 more in the table below.

Where MessageBlue is ahead

and 1 more in the table below.

Feature comparison

Feature	AgentPhone	MessageBlue
iMessage messaging
iMessage	SupportediMessage lines are a separate number type (type=imessage).	Supported
Group chats	SupportediMessage groups arrive as one conversation with roster and sender; reply to the group id.	SupportedSend text, attachments and voice notes to groups; receive group messages.
Group management	PartialStart a new group by listing recipients and rename it; adding or removing members is not documented.	PartialCreate groups of 2 to 31 by API; no add or remove participant endpoints.
Group name and photo	PartialGroup name can be set by API; the group icon is only readable.	Not listed
Mentions	Not listed	Not listed
Tapbacks	SupportedSix classic tapbacks, custom emoji on newer lines; inbound reactions via agent.reaction.	SupportedSend or remove emoji or tapbacks; inbound tapbacks arrive by webhook.
Threaded replies	Supportedreply_to_message_id; also on WhatsApp.	Not listed
Typing indicators	SupportedSend only, best-effort, auto-expires after a few seconds.	SupportedSend and stop, up to 20 seconds; no inbound typing webhook documented.
Read receipts	Not listedThe pricing page mentions read receipts; no API or webhook for them is documented.	SupportedSend read receipts; outbound messages report a read status.
Edit and unsend	Not listed	Not listed
Message effects	Supported12 screen and bubble effects via send_style.	Not listed
Animated text effects	Not listed	Not listed
Stickers	Not listed	Not listed
Formatted text	Not listed	Not listed
Attachments	SupportedImages, video and files by URL; several images arrive as a carousel on iMessage.	SupportedAttachments by public URL.
Live Photos	Not listed	Not listed
Rich link previews	Not listed	Not listed
Voice messages	Not listed	SupportedTo individuals and groups.
Contact cards	SupportedvCard files can be sent as media (listed as a supported MMS type).	Not listed
Polls	Not listed	Not listed
Chat backgrounds	SupportedSet or remove a background image per iMessage conversation.	Not listed
Location sharing	Not listedThe API has location endpoints returning coordinates per number, but their use is not described.	Not listed
iMessage apps	Not listed	Not listed
Live app cards	Not listed	Not listed
Sender name and photo	PartialContact card sets a display name and avatar on the iMessage number; $250/month line only.	Not listed
FaceTime calls	Not listed	Not listedInbox video call button is marked coming soon; voice calls need the team to enable.
Delivery status	PartialMessages carry a status and failure reason; no delivery or read webhooks are documented.	Supportedsent, delivered, read, SMS_FALLBACK and failed via status webhook.
iMessage availability check	SupportedLive check of iMessage, SMS and RCS reachability for a number before sending.	SupportedCheck a number, or a whole group's participants, before sending.
Focus and Notify Anyway	Not listed	Not listed
Numbers and delivery
Managed lines	SupportediMessage lines are ordered through the API and run by AgentPhone.	SupportedRequest a number and the team provisions it, typically in 3 to 5 business days.
Dedicated numbers	SupportedUS and Canada numbers at $3/month; dedicated iMessage lines at $250/month.	Supported$100/mo per line on Startups & SMB.
Shared numbers	Not listed	Not listed
Bring your own number	Not listed	SupportedPair your own Mac and its Apple ID number with the MessageBlue agent.
Line pooling	Not listed	SupportedAssigns the least-mapped number per contact and remaps contacts if a number is blocked.
SMS fallback	SupportedFalls back to SMS/MMS when iMessage is not available.	SupportedStatus event reports SMS_FALLBACK; not available for group creation.
RCS fallback	SupportediMessage-capable numbers deliver over RCS or SMS to non-Apple recipients.	Not listedMarketing pages say SMS or RCS fallback; docs only describe SMS.
Outbound-first messaging	PartialOutbound iMessage lines: 50 new contacts a day per line; inbound-only lines do not start chats; SMS needs 10DLC.	SupportedStart chats with any iMessage-capable number; warns after 5 unanswered messages.
Calls on the iMessage number	Not listed	Not listedInbox voice call button says to contact the team; number used is not stated.
Other channels
SMS	SupportedSMS and MMS; inbound works at once, outbound needs 10DLC.	PartialOnly as fallback; new chats need an iMessage-capable recipient.
RCS	BetaRCS Business Messaging is beta and concierge-onboarded: branded sender, quick-reply chips.	Not listedMentioned only as a fallback on marketing pages.
WhatsApp	BetaBeta, enabled per account. Connect your own WhatsApp Business Account; Meta bills you.	Not supportedNot offered
Telegram	Not supportedNot offered	Not supported
Slack	Not supported	Not supported
Email	Not supported	Not supported
Phone calls	SupportedInbound and outbound calls in webhook mode or hosted AI mode; also browser web calls.	Not listedInbox voice call button says to contact the team; call type and number not stated.
Apple Messages for Business	Not supportedNot offered	Not supportedNot offered
Unified channel API	SupportedOne send endpoint for SMS, MMS, iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp; one agent.message webhook incl. voice.	PartialOne API for iMessage and its SMS fallback only.
Developer tools
REST API	Supported	SupportedOpenAPI 3.1 spec published.
TypeScript SDK	Supportednpm install agentphone	Supportednpm messageblue (0.0.7), generated from the OpenAPI spec.
Python SDK	Supportedpip install agentphone	Not supportedDocs say only TypeScript is published today; other languages on request.
Other SDKs	Not listedDocs list only TypeScript and Python; an agentphone-go repo holds only a placeholder README.	Not supported
CLI	Not listedNo own CLI found; numbers can be provisioned through the Stripe Projects CLI.	Not listedThe API page mentions a CLI, but none is documented.
Webhooks	SupportedProject default webhook with per-agent overrides.	SupportedInbound and status URLs with retries and dead-lettering.
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and body, with a timestamp header for replay protection.	SupportedX-MB-Signature: HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and raw body.
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server (mcp.agentphone.ai) and npm package agentphone-mcp.	PartialDocumentation-only MCP server at docs.messageblue.ai/_mcp/server.
Open source	Not supportedClosed platform. The MCP server and framework integrations are MIT-licensed on GitHub.	Not listed
Self-hosting	Not supportedHosted cloud service only	SupportedEnterprise plan: your cloud (BYOC), VPC or on-prem
Local testing	PartialBrowser web calls test a voice agent without a phone number; no message simulator found.	PartialBrowser test bench runs the no-code agent without sending an iMessage.
Custom channel providers	Not listed	Not listed
Event replay	PartialFailed webhooks retry 5 times over about 20 hours; deliveries can be listed but not replayed.	SupportedFailed and dead-lettered deliveries are kept and can be replayed.
OpenTelemetry	Not listed	Not listed
No-code integrations	PartialAgentPhone block in Sim's no-code workflow builder; no Zapier, Make, n8n or GoHighLevel found.	SupportedZapier, plus a no-code agent builder.
CRM integrations	Not listed	SupportedAgent connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and others; HubSpot inbox sync is private beta.
Built for AI agents
Agent framework	SupportedHosted voice mode runs calls from a system prompt; conversation state rides along in webhooks.	SupportedNo-code agent with model choice, prompt, knowledge, tools, memory and multi-step tasks.
Agent framework integrations	SupportedVercel Chat SDK adapter, LangChain, CrewAI and OpenAI Agents SDK tools, Google ADK guide.	Not listedSite says it works with LangChain and the Vercel AI SDK via webhooks; no official integration.
Streaming replies	PartialVoice only: NDJSON streamed webhook replies start speech on the first chunk.	Not listed
Agent group chats	PartialAgents can create and take part in iMessage groups; agent-to-agent groups are not described.	Not listed
Human handoff	PartialVoice only: cold transfer of a call to a transferNumber, by the AI or your webhook.	SupportedTeam inbox for manual replies; pause the agent or block it per contact.
Audit logs	Not listed	SupportedOn the Business and Enterprise plans
Message history API	SupportedConversations with paginated messages and custom metadata; call transcripts.	SupportedConversation by phone number.
Plans and compliance
Free plan	Partial$5 starting credit, no card. Outbound calls need a top-up first.	Supported$0 when you bring your own number on your own Mac; every feature included.
Public pricing	Supported	SupportedFree and $100/mo listed; Business and Enterprise are contact sales.
No per-message fees	PartialiMessage lines and WhatsApp have no per-message charge; SMS is $0.02 a segment, MMS $0.03.	SupportedFlat $100/mo per line.
Uptime SLA	Not supportedTerms promise no uptime; SLAs only if set in an order or separate agreement.	Supported99.9% SLA listed from the $100 plan; the API page says enterprise plans
Isolated infrastructure	Not listedSub-accounts isolate agents, numbers and data per client; no dedicated infrastructure offer found.	SupportedEnterprise plan: single-tenant or self-hosted stack
SOC 2 Type II	PartialSOC 2 Type I report as of July 30, 2026; Type II examination in progress.	PartialEnterprise page claims audited SOC 2 Type II; pricing says SOC 2 ready; no report found.
GDPR	SupportedPrivacy policy sets out GDPR legal bases for processing.	Not listed

Feature

AgentPhone

MessageBlue

iMessage messaging

iMessage

iMessage lines are a separate number type (type=imessage).

Group chats

iMessage groups arrive as one conversation with roster and sender; reply to the group id.

Send text, attachments and voice notes to groups; receive group messages.

Group management

PartialStart a new group by listing recipients and rename it; adding or removing members is not documented.

PartialCreate groups of 2 to 31 by API; no add or remove participant endpoints.

Group name and photo

PartialGroup name can be set by API; the group icon is only readable.

Not listed

Mentions

Not listed

Tapbacks

Six classic tapbacks, custom emoji on newer lines; inbound reactions via agent.reaction.

Send or remove emoji or tapbacks; inbound tapbacks arrive by webhook.

Threaded replies

reply_to_message_id; also on WhatsApp.

Not listed

Typing indicators

Send only, best-effort, auto-expires after a few seconds.

Send and stop, up to 20 seconds; no inbound typing webhook documented.

Read receipts

Not listedThe pricing page mentions read receipts; no API or webhook for them is documented.

Send read receipts; outbound messages report a read status.

Edit and unsend

Not listed

Message effects

12 screen and bubble effects via send_style.

Not listed

Animated text effects

Not listed

Stickers

Not listed

Formatted text

Not listed

Attachments

Images, video and files by URL; several images arrive as a carousel on iMessage.

Attachments by public URL.

Live Photos

Not listed

Rich link previews

Not listed

Voice messages

Not listed

To individuals and groups.

Contact cards

vCard files can be sent as media (listed as a supported MMS type).

Not listed

Polls

Not listed

Chat backgrounds

Set or remove a background image per iMessage conversation.

Not listed

Location sharing

Not listedThe API has location endpoints returning coordinates per number, but their use is not described.

Not listed

iMessage apps

Not listed

Live app cards

Not listed

Sender name and photo

PartialContact card sets a display name and avatar on the iMessage number; $250/month line only.

Not listed

FaceTime calls

Not listed

Not listedInbox video call button is marked coming soon; voice calls need the team to enable.

Delivery status

PartialMessages carry a status and failure reason; no delivery or read webhooks are documented.

sent, delivered, read, SMS_FALLBACK and failed via status webhook.

iMessage availability check

Live check of iMessage, SMS and RCS reachability for a number before sending.

Check a number, or a whole group's participants, before sending.

Focus and Notify Anyway

Not listed

Numbers and delivery

Managed lines

iMessage lines are ordered through the API and run by AgentPhone.

Request a number and the team provisions it, typically in 3 to 5 business days.

Dedicated numbers

US and Canada numbers at $3/month; dedicated iMessage lines at $250/month.

$100/mo per line on Startups & SMB.

Shared numbers

Not listed

Bring your own number

Not listed

Pair your own Mac and its Apple ID number with the MessageBlue agent.

Line pooling

Not listed

Assigns the least-mapped number per contact and remaps contacts if a number is blocked.

SMS fallback

Falls back to SMS/MMS when iMessage is not available.

Status event reports SMS_FALLBACK; not available for group creation.

RCS fallback

iMessage-capable numbers deliver over RCS or SMS to non-Apple recipients.

Not listedMarketing pages say SMS or RCS fallback; docs only describe SMS.

Outbound-first messaging

PartialOutbound iMessage lines: 50 new contacts a day per line; inbound-only lines do not start chats; SMS needs 10DLC.

Start chats with any iMessage-capable number; warns after 5 unanswered messages.

Calls on the iMessage number

Not listed

Not listedInbox voice call button says to contact the team; number used is not stated.

Other channels

SMS

SMS and MMS; inbound works at once, outbound needs 10DLC.

PartialOnly as fallback; new chats need an iMessage-capable recipient.

RCS

BetaRCS Business Messaging is beta and concierge-onboarded: branded sender, quick-reply chips.

Not listedMentioned only as a fallback on marketing pages.

BetaBeta, enabled per account. Connect your own WhatsApp Business Account; Meta bills you.

Not supportedNot offered

Not supported

Slack

Not supported

Phone calls

Inbound and outbound calls in webhook mode or hosted AI mode; also browser web calls.

Not listedInbox voice call button says to contact the team; call type and number not stated.

Apple Messages for Business

Not supportedNot offered

Unified channel API

One send endpoint for SMS, MMS, iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp; one agent.message webhook incl. voice.

PartialOne API for iMessage and its SMS fallback only.

Developer tools

REST API

OpenAPI 3.1 spec published.

TypeScript SDK

npm install agentphone

npm messageblue (0.0.7), generated from the OpenAPI spec.

Python SDK

pip install agentphone

Not supportedDocs say only TypeScript is published today; other languages on request.

Other SDKs

Not listedDocs list only TypeScript and Python; an agentphone-go repo holds only a placeholder README.

Not supported

CLI

Not listedNo own CLI found; numbers can be provisioned through the Stripe Projects CLI.

Not listedThe API page mentions a CLI, but none is documented.

Webhooks

Project default webhook with per-agent overrides.

Inbound and status URLs with retries and dead-lettering.

Signed webhooks

HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and body, with a timestamp header for replay protection.

X-MB-Signature: HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and raw body.

MCP server

Hosted MCP server (mcp.agentphone.ai) and npm package agentphone-mcp.

PartialDocumentation-only MCP server at docs.messageblue.ai/_mcp/server.

Open source

Not supportedClosed platform. The MCP server and framework integrations are MIT-licensed on GitHub.

Not listed

Self-hosting

Not supportedHosted cloud service only

Enterprise plan: your cloud (BYOC), VPC or on-prem

Local testing

PartialBrowser web calls test a voice agent without a phone number; no message simulator found.

PartialBrowser test bench runs the no-code agent without sending an iMessage.

Custom channel providers

Not listed

Event replay

PartialFailed webhooks retry 5 times over about 20 hours; deliveries can be listed but not replayed.

Failed and dead-lettered deliveries are kept and can be replayed.

OpenTelemetry

Not listed

No-code integrations

PartialAgentPhone block in Sim's no-code workflow builder; no Zapier, Make, n8n or GoHighLevel found.

Zapier, plus a no-code agent builder.

CRM integrations

Not listed

Agent connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and others; HubSpot inbox sync is private beta.

Built for AI agents

Agent framework

Hosted voice mode runs calls from a system prompt; conversation state rides along in webhooks.

No-code agent with model choice, prompt, knowledge, tools, memory and multi-step tasks.

Agent framework integrations

Vercel Chat SDK adapter, LangChain, CrewAI and OpenAI Agents SDK tools, Google ADK guide.

Not listedSite says it works with LangChain and the Vercel AI SDK via webhooks; no official integration.

Streaming replies

PartialVoice only: NDJSON streamed webhook replies start speech on the first chunk.

Not listed

Agent group chats

PartialAgents can create and take part in iMessage groups; agent-to-agent groups are not described.

Not listed

Human handoff

PartialVoice only: cold transfer of a call to a transferNumber, by the AI or your webhook.

Team inbox for manual replies; pause the agent or block it per contact.

Audit logs

Not listed

On the Business and Enterprise plans

Message history API

Conversations with paginated messages and custom metadata; call transcripts.

Conversation by phone number.

Plans and compliance

Free plan

Partial$5 starting credit, no card. Outbound calls need a top-up first.

$0 when you bring your own number on your own Mac; every feature included.

Public pricing

Free and $100/mo listed; Business and Enterprise are contact sales.

No per-message fees

PartialiMessage lines and WhatsApp have no per-message charge; SMS is $0.02 a segment, MMS $0.03.

Flat $100/mo per line.

Uptime SLA

Not supportedTerms promise no uptime; SLAs only if set in an order or separate agreement.

99.9% SLA listed from the $100 plan; the API page says enterprise plans

Isolated infrastructure

Not listedSub-accounts isolate agents, numbers and data per client; no dedicated infrastructure offer found.

Enterprise plan: single-tenant or self-hosted stack

SOC 2 Type II

PartialSOC 2 Type I report as of July 30, 2026; Type II examination in progress.

PartialEnterprise page claims audited SOC 2 Type II; pricing says SOC 2 ready; no report found.

GDPR

Not listed

Checked on each provider's own site and docs on 2026-10-25. “Not listed” means the provider does not mention it.

Pricing

AgentPhone

Pay as you go with $5 of starting credit: $3 per number a month, $0.13 to $0.22 a voice minute and $0.02 per SMS segment, with iMessage lines at $150 or $250 a month and no per-message charge.

Pricing model: usage-based, flat per line for iMessage

Source

MessageBlue

Free when you bring your own number on your own Mac; a dedicated line is $100 a month on Startups & SMB, and Business and Enterprise are contact sales.

Pricing model: flat per line

Source