What is the difference between Bland and Dial?

Bland supports 46 of the 77 features compared here, and Dial supports 44. Bland adds animated text effects, stickers, shared numbers, bring your own number and line pooling. Dial adds group chats, threaded replies, contact cards, polls and iMessage availability check.

How much do Bland and Dial cost?

Bland: Voice plans are Start (free, $0.14 a minute), Build ($299 a month) and Scale ($499 a month); SMS is $0.02 per message; the Agent Phone Plan is $29.99 a month for one number; iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp need a custom Enterprise contract. Dial: Pay-as-you-go starts with $5 of free credit. A standard number is $3 a month plus metered SMS and calls, an iMessage number is $250 a month with free messages, and Enterprise is custom.

Does Dial support animated text effects?

Dial does not list animated text effects on its site or in its docs.

Does Dial support stickers?

Dial does not list stickers on its site or in its docs.

Does Dial support shared numbers?

Dial does not list shared numbers on its site or in its docs.

Bland vs Dial

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

Bland

Voice AI platform with SMS, RCS and branded iMessage agents

Starting price: Custom (iMessage is Enterprise only); SMS from $29.99/month on the Agent Phone Plan
Free plan: Start plan: free, with credits and an inbound number, for voice

Visit Bland Read more

Dial

Phone numbers with calls, SMS and iMessage for AI agents

Starting price: $3/month per standard number; $250/month per iMessage number
Free plan: $5 free credit, no credit card required

Visit Dial Read more

Bland supports 46 of the 77 features compared here, and Dial supports 44.

Where Bland is ahead

and 3 more in the table below.

Where Dial is ahead

and 1 more in the table below.

Feature comparison

Feature	Bland	Dial
iMessage messaging
iMessage	PartialEnterprise plans only; Bland provisions an iMessage-capable number on request	SupportedNeeds an iMessage number, provisioned through the API. Pay-as-you-go accounts only.
Group chats	Not listed	SupportedSend to and read iMessage groups the number was added to. Polls work in groups; replies and reactions do not.
Group management	Not listed	Not supportedDocs say Dial cannot create a group, join one or accept an invite link.
Group name and photo	Not listed	Not listedGroup names are read live from the line; no way to set a name or photo is documented.
Mentions	Not listed	Not listed
Tapbacks	SupportedSend and receive, per the iMessage guide; no API field, the agent decides	SupportedSix tapback names or any single emoji. Sent only on inbound messages; received on message.received.
Threaded replies	Not listed	SupportedNative threaded replies to inbound iMessage or RCS messages, one-to-one only.
Typing indicators	SupportedListed in the iMessage guide	PartialSend only, one-to-one and in groups. No inbound typing events are documented.
Read receipts	Supported	PartialReports when recipients read your iMessages. No way to mark inbound messages read.
Edit and unsend	Not listedAPI deletes stored messages from a conversation; unsend on the device is not mentioned	Not listed
Message effects	Not listed	Not listed
Animated text effects	SupportedGuide lists text effects; which effects and how they are set is not documented	Not listed
Stickers	SupportedLive Stickers, per the iMessage guide	Not listed
Formatted text	Not listed	Not listed
Attachments	SupportedPhotos, videos, PDFs and spreadsheets both ways; agents can generate files to send	SupportedOne attachment per iMessage, 5 MB. Images, audio, video, PDF, vCard and iCalendar. No HEIC.
Live Photos	Not listed	Not listed
Rich link previews	Not listed	Not listed
Voice messages	SupportedSend and receive voice memos; inbound memos are transcribed	SupportedA single audio file on an iMessage number is sent as a native voice message.
Contact cards	Not listed	SupportedSend .vcf files as media. Inbound cards arrive as text/vcard media (since October 2026).
Polls	Not listed	Supported2 to 10 options, one-to-one or in iMessage groups. Votes arrive as events with a live tally.
Chat backgrounds	Not listed	Not listed
Location sharing	Not listed	Not listed
iMessage apps	Not listed	Not listed
Live app cards	Not listed	Not listed
Sender name and photo	SupportedBranded contact with your company name and profile image	SupportedSet the first name, last name and photo shown beside the number's iMessages.
FaceTime calls	Not listed	Not listed
Delivery status	SupportedGuide lists delivery status; messages carry sent, delivered, read or failed	PartialiMessage sends report no delivery receipts; delivery is inferred once a read arrives.
iMessage availability check	Not listed	SupportedLookup endpoint checks whether any number can receive iMessage or WhatsApp.
Focus and Notify Anyway	Not listed	Not listed
Numbers and delivery
Managed lines	SupportedBland provisions iMessage-capable numbers for Enterprise accounts	SupportediMessage numbers are provisioned through the API, with asynchronous setup. No Mac or device needed.
Dedicated numbers	SupportedAgent Phone Plan includes one dedicated US number; Enterprise numbers by request	SupportedEach number belongs to your account. Docs say only US numbers can be provisioned now.
Shared numbers	PartialFree credits call from a shared Bland number; texting needs your own number	Not listed
Bring your own number	PartialYour own Twilio numbers or SIP trunks for voice and SMS; not documented for iMessage	Not listed
Line pooling	PartialCustom Dialing picks numbers from a pool for outbound calls only	Not listedDocs suggest splitting recipients across several iMessage numbers by hand; no automatic pooling found.
SMS fallback	SupportedUses the richest channel the recipient supports and falls back to SMS	SupportediMessage numbers fall back to RCS or SMS automatically, at no message charge.
RCS fallback	Not listedDocs say Bland picks the richest channel; an iMessage to RCS order is not stated	Supported
Outbound-first messaging	SupportedSend SMS creates or resumes a conversation on any channel	SupportedCold outbound allowed. Each iMessage number can start up to 50 new conversations a day.
Calls on the iMessage number	Not listed	SupportediMessage numbers also place and receive AI voice calls, or forward inbound calls.
Other channels
SMS	SupportedEnterprise plans and the Agent Phone Plan; US numbers need A2P registration	SupportedTwo-way SMS; MMS to US and Canada. Subscription accounts can text US numbers only.
RCS	PartialEnterprise only, enabled by your account executive	PartialOnly as automatic fallback from iMessage numbers; not a channel you can pick.
WhatsApp	PartialEnterprise only; a channel value on the Messaging API, no setup guide in the docs	BetaBeta, enabled per account. Runs on an iMessage number, one attachment per message.
Telegram	Not supportedNot offered	Not supportedNot offered
Slack	Not supportedNot a messaging channel; Slack is listed only as a tool integration	Not supportedNot offered as a channel. A Zapier app can forward messages to Slack.
Email	Not supportedNot offered as a messaging channel	Not supportedNot offered
Phone calls	SupportedCore product: inbound and outbound AI phone calls, plus SIP	SupportedInbound and outbound AI voice calls with transcripts.
Apple Messages for Business	Not listedProduct page says Bland handles Apple Business Messaging registration; docs describe numbers	Not listedDocs say iMessage numbers send over Apple Messages for Business, but no business chat product is documented.
Unified channel API	PartialSMS, RCS, WhatsApp and iMessage share the /v1/sms endpoints; calls use a separate API	SupportedOne messages endpoint and event format for SMS, iMessage and WhatsApp, plus calls.
Developer tools
REST API	Supported	Supported
TypeScript SDK	PartialDocs list a Web Agent SDK for browser voice and a TTS library; no messaging SDK	Supported@getdial/sdk
Python SDK	Not listed	Supporteddial-sdk
Other SDKs	Not listed	Not supportedSDK overview lists only Node and Python clients, plus agent framework packages.
CLI	Supportedbland-cli on npm	Supporteddial CLI, installed with a shell script or npx. Needs Node 22 or later.
Webhooks	SupportedMessage and status webhooks per number or per request, with a channel field	Supported
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256 in X-Webhook-Signature; asymmetric JWT signing on Enterprise	SupportedHMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and body, X-Dial-Signature header.
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server; personal agents connected to it can place calls and send texts	SupportedRemote server with OAuth at getdial.ai/mcp, or local stdio through the CLI.
Open source	Not supportedClosed platform	PartialThe Chat SDK adapter is MIT on GitHub. The platform is closed.
Self-hosting	PartialEnterprise: your own VPC, on-premises or air-gapped deployments	Not listedSelf-Hosted mode only means calls are driven by your own agent server; the platform itself is hosted.
Local testing	SupportedPathway Chat API and Testbed run agent conversations without a phone	Not listed
Custom channel providers	PartialBring your own Twilio account or SIP carrier for telephony	Not listed
Event replay	PartialAutomatic webhook retries; resend endpoint for call webhooks; SMS delivery log readable	PartialWebhooks retry up to 6 attempts. The live stream replays only about 2 minutes of missed events.
OpenTelemetry	Not listed	Not listed
No-code integrations	SupportedZapier, Make and Pipedream on the integrations page	SupportedZapier app with message and call triggers, and send, call and provision actions.
CRM integrations	SupportedHubSpot and Salesforce	Not listed
Built for AI agents
Agent framework	SupportedPathways, personas and versioned agents drive voice and every messaging channel	PartialHosted AI voice agent runs calls from a prompt. Messaging is send and receive only.
Agent framework integrations	PartialMCP guides for OpenClaw, Poke, Meta Muse and coding agents; no LangChain or Vercel AI SDK	SupportedLangChain, Vercel AI SDK, CrewAI, AutoGen, Microsoft Agent Framework and a Vercel Chat SDK adapter.
Streaming replies	Not listed	Not listed
Agent group chats	Not listed	Not listed
Human handoff	SupportedHand a thread to a human and resume the agent, by API or a pathway node	PartialThe voice agent can transfer a call to a person. No handoff for messaging.
Audit logs	PartialEnterprise feature, not yet available for all accounts	Not listed
Message history API	SupportedList and read conversations with messages and delivery status	SupportedList and search messages, up to the 100 most recent per request.
Plans and compliance
Free plan	PartialFree Start plan with credits is for voice; messaging needs Agent Phone Plan or Enterprise	Supported$5 of free credit, no card. Free accounts are capped at 5-minute calls and 2 concurrent calls.
Public pricing	PartialVoice plans and SMS rates are public; iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp prices are not	Supported
No per-message fees	PartialSMS costs $0.02 per message; the Agent Phone Plan is flat with a 100 texts a day cap	PartialMessages from a $250/month iMessage number are free. SMS on standard numbers is billed per message.
Uptime SLA	SupportedPricing page lists a 99.9% uptime SLA on every plan	PartialUptime SLA listed for Enterprise only.
Isolated infrastructure	PartialEnterprise customers run on their own isolated infrastructure	Not listed
SOC 2 Type II	SupportedSOC 2 Type II, independently audited	PartialSite says SOC 2 certified. Report type and a report are not published.
GDPR	SupportedGDPR compliant, with a DPA in enterprise contracts	SupportedDPA covers GDPR and UK GDPR, with Standard Contractual Clauses.

Feature

Bland

Dial

iMessage messaging

iMessage

PartialEnterprise plans only; Bland provisions an iMessage-capable number on request

Needs an iMessage number, provisioned through the API. Pay-as-you-go accounts only.

Group chats

Not listed

Send to and read iMessage groups the number was added to. Polls work in groups; replies and reactions do not.

Group management

Not listed

Not supportedDocs say Dial cannot create a group, join one or accept an invite link.

Group name and photo

Not listed

Not listedGroup names are read live from the line; no way to set a name or photo is documented.

Mentions

Not listed

Tapbacks

Send and receive, per the iMessage guide; no API field, the agent decides

Six tapback names or any single emoji. Sent only on inbound messages; received on message.received.

Threaded replies

Not listed

Native threaded replies to inbound iMessage or RCS messages, one-to-one only.

Typing indicators

Listed in the iMessage guide

PartialSend only, one-to-one and in groups. No inbound typing events are documented.

Read receipts

PartialReports when recipients read your iMessages. No way to mark inbound messages read.

Edit and unsend

Not listedAPI deletes stored messages from a conversation; unsend on the device is not mentioned

Not listed

Message effects

Not listed

Animated text effects

Guide lists text effects; which effects and how they are set is not documented

Not listed

Stickers

Live Stickers, per the iMessage guide

Not listed

Formatted text

Not listed

Attachments

Photos, videos, PDFs and spreadsheets both ways; agents can generate files to send

One attachment per iMessage, 5 MB. Images, audio, video, PDF, vCard and iCalendar. No HEIC.

Live Photos

Not listed

Rich link previews

Not listed

Voice messages

Send and receive voice memos; inbound memos are transcribed

A single audio file on an iMessage number is sent as a native voice message.

Contact cards

Not listed

Send .vcf files as media. Inbound cards arrive as text/vcard media (since October 2026).

Polls

Not listed

2 to 10 options, one-to-one or in iMessage groups. Votes arrive as events with a live tally.

Not listed

Not listed

Not listed

Not listed

Sender name and photo

Branded contact with your company name and profile image

Set the first name, last name and photo shown beside the number's iMessages.

FaceTime calls

Not listed

Delivery status

Guide lists delivery status; messages carry sent, delivered, read or failed

PartialiMessage sends report no delivery receipts; delivery is inferred once a read arrives.

iMessage availability check

Not listed

Lookup endpoint checks whether any number can receive iMessage or WhatsApp.

Focus and Notify Anyway

Not listed

Numbers and delivery

Managed lines

Bland provisions iMessage-capable numbers for Enterprise accounts

iMessage numbers are provisioned through the API, with asynchronous setup. No Mac or device needed.

Dedicated numbers

Agent Phone Plan includes one dedicated US number; Enterprise numbers by request

Each number belongs to your account. Docs say only US numbers can be provisioned now.

Shared numbers

PartialFree credits call from a shared Bland number; texting needs your own number

Not listed

Bring your own number

PartialYour own Twilio numbers or SIP trunks for voice and SMS; not documented for iMessage

Not listed

Line pooling

PartialCustom Dialing picks numbers from a pool for outbound calls only

Not listedDocs suggest splitting recipients across several iMessage numbers by hand; no automatic pooling found.

SMS fallback

Uses the richest channel the recipient supports and falls back to SMS

iMessage numbers fall back to RCS or SMS automatically, at no message charge.

RCS fallback

Not listedDocs say Bland picks the richest channel; an iMessage to RCS order is not stated

Outbound-first messaging

Send SMS creates or resumes a conversation on any channel

Cold outbound allowed. Each iMessage number can start up to 50 new conversations a day.

Calls on the iMessage number

Not listed

iMessage numbers also place and receive AI voice calls, or forward inbound calls.

Other channels

SMS

Enterprise plans and the Agent Phone Plan; US numbers need A2P registration

Two-way SMS; MMS to US and Canada. Subscription accounts can text US numbers only.

RCS

PartialEnterprise only, enabled by your account executive

PartialOnly as automatic fallback from iMessage numbers; not a channel you can pick.

PartialEnterprise only; a channel value on the Messaging API, no setup guide in the docs

BetaBeta, enabled per account. Runs on an iMessage number, one attachment per message.

Not supportedNot offered

Slack

Not supportedNot a messaging channel; Slack is listed only as a tool integration

Not supportedNot offered as a channel. A Zapier app can forward messages to Slack.

Not supportedNot offered as a messaging channel

Not supportedNot offered

Phone calls

Core product: inbound and outbound AI phone calls, plus SIP

Inbound and outbound AI voice calls with transcripts.

Apple Messages for Business

Not listedProduct page says Bland handles Apple Business Messaging registration; docs describe numbers

Not listedDocs say iMessage numbers send over Apple Messages for Business, but no business chat product is documented.

Unified channel API

PartialSMS, RCS, WhatsApp and iMessage share the /v1/sms endpoints; calls use a separate API

One messages endpoint and event format for SMS, iMessage and WhatsApp, plus calls.

Developer tools

REST API

TypeScript SDK

PartialDocs list a Web Agent SDK for browser voice and a TTS library; no messaging SDK

@getdial/sdk

Python SDK

Not listed

dial-sdk

Other SDKs

Not listed

Not supportedSDK overview lists only Node and Python clients, plus agent framework packages.

CLI

bland-cli on npm

dial CLI, installed with a shell script or npx. Needs Node 22 or later.

Webhooks

Message and status webhooks per number or per request, with a channel field

Signed webhooks

HMAC-SHA256 in X-Webhook-Signature; asymmetric JWT signing on Enterprise

HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and body, X-Dial-Signature header.

MCP server

Hosted MCP server; personal agents connected to it can place calls and send texts

Remote server with OAuth at getdial.ai/mcp, or local stdio through the CLI.

Open source

Not supportedClosed platform

PartialThe Chat SDK adapter is MIT on GitHub. The platform is closed.

Self-hosting

PartialEnterprise: your own VPC, on-premises or air-gapped deployments

Not listedSelf-Hosted mode only means calls are driven by your own agent server; the platform itself is hosted.

Local testing

Pathway Chat API and Testbed run agent conversations without a phone

Not listed

Custom channel providers

PartialBring your own Twilio account or SIP carrier for telephony

Not listed

Event replay

PartialAutomatic webhook retries; resend endpoint for call webhooks; SMS delivery log readable

PartialWebhooks retry up to 6 attempts. The live stream replays only about 2 minutes of missed events.

OpenTelemetry

Not listed

No-code integrations

Zapier, Make and Pipedream on the integrations page

Zapier app with message and call triggers, and send, call and provision actions.

CRM integrations

HubSpot and Salesforce

Not listed

Built for AI agents

Agent framework

Pathways, personas and versioned agents drive voice and every messaging channel

PartialHosted AI voice agent runs calls from a prompt. Messaging is send and receive only.

Agent framework integrations

PartialMCP guides for OpenClaw, Poke, Meta Muse and coding agents; no LangChain or Vercel AI SDK

LangChain, Vercel AI SDK, CrewAI, AutoGen, Microsoft Agent Framework and a Vercel Chat SDK adapter.

Streaming replies

Not listed

Agent group chats

Not listed

Human handoff

Hand a thread to a human and resume the agent, by API or a pathway node

PartialThe voice agent can transfer a call to a person. No handoff for messaging.

Audit logs

PartialEnterprise feature, not yet available for all accounts

Not listed

Message history API

List and read conversations with messages and delivery status

List and search messages, up to the 100 most recent per request.

Plans and compliance

Free plan

PartialFree Start plan with credits is for voice; messaging needs Agent Phone Plan or Enterprise

$5 of free credit, no card. Free accounts are capped at 5-minute calls and 2 concurrent calls.

Public pricing

PartialVoice plans and SMS rates are public; iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp prices are not

No per-message fees

PartialSMS costs $0.02 per message; the Agent Phone Plan is flat with a 100 texts a day cap

PartialMessages from a $250/month iMessage number are free. SMS on standard numbers is billed per message.

Uptime SLA

Pricing page lists a 99.9% uptime SLA on every plan

PartialUptime SLA listed for Enterprise only.

Isolated infrastructure

PartialEnterprise customers run on their own isolated infrastructure

Not listed

SOC 2 Type II

SOC 2 Type II, independently audited

PartialSite says SOC 2 certified. Report type and a report are not published.

GDPR

GDPR compliant, with a DPA in enterprise contracts

DPA covers GDPR and UK GDPR, with Standard Contractual Clauses.

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

Pricing

Bland

Voice plans are Start (free, $0.14 a minute), Build ($299 a month) and Scale ($499 a month); SMS is $0.02 per message; the Agent Phone Plan is $29.99 a month for one number; iMessage, RCS and WhatsApp need a custom Enterprise contract.

Pricing model: per-minute voice, per-message SMS, custom Enterprise contracts

Source

Dial

Pay-as-you-go starts with $5 of free credit. A standard number is $3 a month plus metered SMS and calls, an iMessage number is $250 a month with free messages, and Enterprise is custom.

Pricing model: per number plus metered usage; iMessage messages free on an iMessage number

Source