Photon vs imsg (gnufood)

Photon supports 75 of the 77 features compared here, and imsg (gnufood) supports 15.

Feature comparison

Feature	Photon	imsg (gnufood)
iMessage messaging
iMessage	SupportedManaged cloud lines, or your own Mac with the local provider	PartialThrough a paired iPhone over Bluetooth MAP, text only; docs say iOS reports every message as SMS_GSM
Group chats	SupportedOn the Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not listed
Group management	SupportedCreate groups and add, remove or leave members; Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not listed
Group name and photo	SupportedRename groups and set group photos; Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not listed
Mentions	SupportedSend @mentions in multipart messages and read mention ranges on inbound	Not listed
Tapbacks	SupportedSix native tapbacks plus emoji reactions, send and receive	Not listed
Threaded replies	Supported	Not listed
Typing indicators	Supported	Not listed
Read receipts	SupportedMark chats read and receive read events; group receipts are best-effort	Not listedCan mark messages read on the iPhone; read receipts are not documented
Edit and unsend	SupportedEdit within 15 minutes and unsend within 2 minutes (Apple limits)	Not listed
Message effects	SupportedAll bubble and screen effects, including invisible ink	Not listed
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 listed
Attachments	SupportedFiles up to 100 MiB by default, including Live Photos	Not supportedText only; the IPC docs say MMS attachments are not brokered yet
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	Not listed
Voice messages	Supported	Not listed
Contact cards	SupportedvCard or structured contacts, plus the bot's own native contact card	Not listed
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 listed
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	Not listed
Delivery status	SupportedSent, delivered, read and send-error fields per message	PartialTracks whether the iPhone accepted the message and filed it in Sent; no recipient receipts documented
iMessage availability check	SupportedCheck if a number or email can get iMessage, SMS or RCS before sending	Not listed
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	Not supportedUses your own iPhone paired to a Linux machine
Dedicated numbers	Supported$250 per line per month on Business	Not supportedNot offered; uses the paired iPhone's number
Shared numbers	SupportedFree and Pro route each user through a managed shared pool	Not supportedNot offered
Bring your own number	SupportedYour own Apple ID when self-hosting on a Mac, and your own number for WhatsApp Business	SupportedUses the number of the iPhone paired over Bluetooth
Line pooling	SupportedBusiness: auto-scale adds lines and a routing endpoint balances users	Not listed
SMS fallback	SupportedOn every plan per pricing; carrier rules apply to fallback traffic	Not listed
RCS fallback	Supported	Not listed
Outbound-first messaging	SupportedBusiness plan, up to 50 new contacts per line per day	Supportedimsg send <number> <message> sends to any phone number
Calls on the iMessage number	SupportedPlace and receive SIP calls from the line people already text	Not supportedNot offered; HFP call control is only on the research list
Other channels
SMS	BetaStandalone SMS and MMS numbers with 10DLC in the 2.0 beta; SMS fallback on iMessage lines today	SupportedReads and sends texts through the paired iPhone; the CLI help calls sending SMS
RCS	PartialSent on the iMessage line when the recipient cannot get iMessage	Not listed
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 supported
Email	BetaYour own domain with DKIM, SPF and inbound MX in the 2.0 beta	Not supported
Phone calls	SupportedSIP calls on iMessage lines; the 2.0 beta adds calls on SMS numbers	Not supportedNot offered; PBAP reads call history only
Apple Messages for Business	BetaListed as available in the 2.0 beta	Not supportedNot offered
Unified channel API	SupportedOne Spectrum SDK across channels, and one REST model in the 2.0 beta	Not supportedSingle channel: messages relayed by the paired iPhone
Developer tools
REST API	SupportedREST API for projects and lines; sending over REST in the 2.0 beta	Not supportedNo HTTP API; the CLI talks to the daemon over a Unix socket with JSON frames
TypeScript SDK	Supportedspectrum-ts, plus low-level iMessage and WhatsApp SDKs	Not listed
Python SDK	Betaphotonhq-api on PyPI, for the 2.0 beta API	Not supportedNot yet; a PyO3 Python SDK is planned on the roadmap
Other SDKs	SupportedGo client for Advanced iMessage; Rust and Go clients for the 2.0 API	PartialRust crates on crates.io; a stable Rust API, C FFI and Go SDK are planned
CLI	Supported@photon-ai/cli manages projects, lines, users and billing	SupportedInstall script, cargo install or release binaries
Webhooks	Supported	Not supportedNo HTTP webhooks; the daemon streams MAP events over its Unix socket
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256, plus Standard Webhooks signatures	Not supportedNo webhooks
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server, plus an MCP server for the docs	Not listed
Open source	SupportedMIT: spectrum-ts, imessage-kit and most SDKs	SupportedMIT
Self-hosting	SupportedRun the open-source core on your own Mac and number, no Spectrum Cloud	SupportedRuns on your own Linux machine with BlueZ
Local testing	SupportedTerminal chat UI provider, no phone or number needed	Not listed
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	Supportedimsg sync backfills all messages since the last sync, with per-folder cursors
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	Not listed
CRM integrations	Not listed	Not listed
Built for AI agents
Agent framework	SupportedSpectrum is a multi-channel agent framework with streaming replies	Not listed
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 supportedNot yet; an auditable log of message decryption access is planned (DATA-05)
Message history API	SupportedList and get messages per chat	SupportedLists folders and threads live, or from an encrypted local store synced from the phone
Plans and compliance
Free plan	SupportedUp to 10 users on shared lines	SupportedFree, MIT-licensed software
Public pricing	Supported	SupportedFree; no paid tiers found
No per-message fees	SupportedNo per-message fees for iMessage, WhatsApp or Telegram; SMS, voice and email are metered in the 2.0 beta	SupportedFree software
Uptime SLA	SupportedContractual SLA on the Enterprise plan	Not supportedMIT license, provided without warranty
Isolated infrastructure	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated, dedicated environment	SupportedRuns on your own machine and phone
SOC 2 Type II	SupportedStated on photon.codes	Not listedSelf-hosted; compliance is up to whoever runs it
GDPR	SupportedPrivacy policy covers GDPR rights and SCC transfers	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

Which should you choose?

Choose Photon if you need group chats, group management, group name and photo and mentions.

Choose imsg (gnufood) if its pricing fits better: it does not support anything here that Photon lacks.

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