Photon vs Blue Replies

Photon supports 75 of the 77 features compared here, and Blue Replies supports 36.

Feature comparison

Feature	Photon	Blue Replies
iMessage messaging
iMessage	SupportedManaged cloud lines, or your own Mac with the local provider	Supported
Group chats	SupportedOn the Business plan (dedicated lines)	SupportedCreate, send to and receive from groups; changelog says up to 25 participants.
Group management	SupportedCreate groups and add, remove or leave members; Business plan (dedicated lines)	SupportedAdd and remove members, and leave (best effort).
Group name and photo	SupportedRename groups and set group photos; Business plan (dedicated lines)	SupportedRename and set the group photo; only the line that created the group.
Mentions	SupportedSend @mentions in multipart messages and read mention ranges on inbound	Not listed
Tapbacks	SupportedSix native tapbacks plus emoji reactions, send and receive	SupportedAdd or remove the six classic tapbacks; message.reaction webhook for inbound.
Threaded replies	Supported	SupportedreplyTo renders as a quoted-reply thread in Messages.
Typing indicators	Supported	SupportedSend typing; message.typing webhook when the recipient types.
Read receipts	SupportedMark chats read and receive read events; group receipts are best-effort	SupportedSend read receipts and receive message.read events.
Edit and unsend	SupportedEdit within 15 minutes and unsend within 2 minutes (Apple limits)	SupportedEdit up to 5 times within 15 minutes; unsend within 2 minutes.
Message effects	SupportedAll bubble and screen effects, including invisible ink	Supported12 bubble and screen effects.
Animated text effects	SupportedPer-range effects such as bloom, shake, explode and jitter	Not listed
Stickers	SupportedPlace image stickers on any bubble with position, scale and rotation; sticker events inbound	Not listed
Formatted text	SupportedMarkdown rendered as native bold, italic, underline and strikethrough	Not listedOnly a bold subject line above the body is documented.
Attachments	SupportedFiles up to 100 MiB by default, including Live Photos	SupportedUp to 10 per message, by public URL or presigned upload.
Live Photos	SupportedHEIC still plus MOV companion uploaded as one Live Photo	Not listed
Rich link previews	Supportedrichlink() asks Messages to render its own preview	SupportedFeatures page says URLs expand with title, image and description.
Voice messages	Supported	SupportedisVoiceNote sends one audio file as a native voice memo.
Contact cards	SupportedvCard or structured contacts, plus the bot's own native contact card	SupportedFeatures page lists contact cards; no vCard field is documented in the API.
Polls	SupportedCreate, vote, add options and receive poll events; all managed plans	Not listed
Chat backgrounds	Supported	Not listed
Location sharing	SupportedFind My requests and live location; Business plan	Not listedThe homepage shows a location pin in a send example; the API docs do not cover it.
iMessage apps	SupportedCustom and live app cards; iMessage mini apps on the Business plan	Not listed
Live app cards	SupportedEdit an app card in place and render live UI without a new bubble	Not listed
Sender name and photo	SupportedShares the agent's name and photo automatically; Business plan	Not listed
FaceTime calls	Not listed	SupportedOutbound FaceTime audio and video to Apple users. Inbound auto-answer is production tier only.
Delivery status	SupportedSent, delivered, read and send-error fields per message	Supportedsent, delivered, read and failed events, plus per-message callback URLs.
iMessage availability check	SupportedCheck if a number or email can get iMessage, SMS or RCS before sending	SupportedUp to 100 numbers per call; results are cached and read back.
Focus and Notify Anyway	SupportedCheck if a recipient has Focus on, then trigger Notify Anyway	Not listed
Numbers and delivery
Managed lines	SupportedSpectrum Cloud runs the Mac fleet; no Mac needed	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated macOS VM that Blue Replies provisions.
Dedicated numbers	Supported$250 per line per month on Business	SupportedProduction accounts get a dedicated line.
Shared numbers	SupportedFree and Pro route each user through a managed shared pool	SupportedSandbox uses a shared line, limited to your phone and 5 verified contacts.
Bring your own number	SupportedYour own Apple ID when self-hosting on a Mac, and your own number for WhatsApp Business	Not listed
Line pooling	SupportedBusiness: auto-scale adds lines and a routing endpoint balances users	SupportedArea-code, round-robin, least-loaded, random or sticky routing across lines.
SMS fallback	SupportedOn every plan per pricing; carrier rules apply to fallback traffic	SupportedallowSmsFallback retries over native SMS; needs SMS fallback enabled on the account.
RCS fallback	Supported	Not listedThe pricing page mentions RCS; the API docs do not.
Outbound-first messaging	SupportedBusiness plan, up to 50 new contacts per line per day	SupportedNew outbound conversations ramp from 2 to 50 a day per line.
Calls on the iMessage number	SupportedPlace and receive SIP calls from the line people already text	SupportedFaceTime calls go out from your lines; the callback number defaults to the calling line.
Other channels
SMS	BetaStandalone SMS and MMS numbers with 10DLC in the 2.0 beta; SMS fallback on iMessage lines today	PartialNative SMS only as fallback when an iMessage send fails.
RCS	PartialSent on the iMessage line when the recipient cannot get iMessage	Not listedThe pricing page mentions RCS; the API docs do not.
WhatsApp	SupportedWhatsApp Business, one-to-one, on the Business plan	Not supportedNot offered
Telegram	Supported	Not supported
Slack	Supported@spectrum-ts/slack provider on npm and GitHub	Not supportedNot offered as a channel; Slack appears only in an integrations list.
Email	BetaYour own domain with DKIM, SPF and inbound MX in the 2.0 beta	Not supportedNot offered
Phone calls	SupportedSIP calls on iMessage lines; the 2.0 beta adds calls on SMS numbers	Not listedThe pricing page lists Voice; the docs cover FaceTime calls only.
Apple Messages for Business	BetaListed as available in the 2.0 beta	Not listed
Unified channel API	SupportedOne Spectrum SDK across channels, and one REST model in the 2.0 beta	SupportediMessage and SMS fallback go through the same messages endpoint.
Developer tools
REST API	SupportedREST API for projects and lines; sending over REST in the 2.0 beta	Supported
TypeScript SDK	Supportedspectrum-ts, plus low-level iMessage and WhatsApp SDKs	Not listedDocs name npm package blueapi, but that npm name belongs to an unrelated 2018 package.
Python SDK	Betaphotonhq-api on PyPI, for the 2.0 beta API	Not supportedSDK page says no official Python SDK exists yet; a Jan 2026 changelog entry mentions one.
Other SDKs	SupportedGo client for Advanced iMessage; Rust and Go clients for the 2.0 API	Not supportedSDK page says no official Ruby, Go, PHP or Elixir SDK exists yet.
CLI	Supported@photon-ai/cli manages projects, lines, users and billing	Not listed
Webhooks	Supported	Supported29 event types across messages, calls, lines, groups and workflows.
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256, plus Standard Webhooks signatures	SupportedHMAC-SHA256 in x-bluereplies-signature.
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server, plus an MCP server for the docs	Not listedDocs mention an MCP server with a search_docs tool, but no endpoint is documented.
Open source	SupportedMIT: spectrum-ts, imessage-kit and most SDKs	Not listed
Self-hosting	SupportedRun the open-source core on your own Mac and number, no Spectrum Cloud	Not listed
Local testing	SupportedTerminal chat UI provider, no phone or number needed	Not listedThe sandbox sends real iMessages to your own activated phone.
Custom channel providers	SupporteddefinePlatform plugs any interface into the same Spectrum API	Not listed
Event replay	SupportedCatch up on events after a disconnect from a durable sequence	SupportedRetries up to 24 hours, then replay any delivery from the dashboard or by API.
OpenTelemetry	SupportedOpt-in messaging traces in spectrum-ts, and traces in the 2.0 beta dashboard	Not listed
No-code integrations	Supportedn8n community nodes and a Dify plugin	SupportedSite says customers connect through Zapier or GoHighLevel; no setup docs found.
CRM integrations	Not listed	SupportedSite lists HubSpot and Salesforce; no setup docs found.
Built for AI agents
Agent framework	SupportedSpectrum is a multi-channel agent framework with streaming replies	Not listedThe Enterprise plan lists in-house workflow builders and AI agents; not documented.
Agent framework integrations	SupportedVercel Chat SDK, Mastra, LangChain, Convex and others	Not listed
Streaming replies	SupportedAI output streams into one iMessage bubble, edited in place	Not listed
Agent group chats	BetaAgents find other agents and add them to a group chat (2.0 beta)	Not listed
Human handoff	BetaA person can reply in a conversation from the 2.0 beta Inbox	Not listed
Audit logs	BetaAPI logs and traces in the 2.0 beta dashboard	Not listedThe public OpenAPI spec lists a portal audit-log endpoint, but it is not documented.
Message history API	SupportedList and get messages per chat	SupportedList conversations and messages, with filters and full-text search.
Plans and compliance
Free plan	SupportedUp to 10 users on shared lines	SupportedSandbox is free with no expiry: your own phone plus up to 5 verified contacts.
Public pricing	Supported	Not supportedPricing FAQ says production prices are quoted per customer.
No per-message fees	SupportedNo per-message fees for iMessage, WhatsApp or Telegram; SMS, voice and email are metered in the 2.0 beta	Not supportedPricing page says production typically costs under $0.01 per delivered message.
Uptime SLA	SupportedContractual SLA on the Enterprise plan	Partial99.9% uptime SLA, listed on the Enterprise plan.
Isolated infrastructure	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated, dedicated environment	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated macOS VM.
SOC 2 Type II	SupportedStated on photon.codes	Not listedTrust page cites SOC 2 Type II hosting providers, not a report of its own.
GDPR	SupportedPrivacy policy covers GDPR rights and SCC transfers	Not listedAbout page says GDPR-ready; no DPA or GDPR page found.

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

Pricing

Which should you choose?

Choose Photon if you need mentions, animated text effects, stickers and formatted text.

Choose Blue Replies if you need FaceTime calls and CRM integrations.

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