Photon vs Hail

Photon supports 75 of the 77 features compared here, and Hail supports 27.

Feature comparison

Feature	Photon	Hail
iMessage messaging
iMessage	SupportedManaged cloud lines, or your own Mac with the local provider	Not supportedNo iMessage support
Group chats	SupportedOn the Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not supported
Group management	SupportedCreate groups and add, remove or leave members; Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not supported
Group name and photo	SupportedRename groups and set group photos; Business plan (dedicated lines)	Not supported
Mentions	SupportedSend @mentions in multipart messages and read mention ranges on inbound	Not supported
Tapbacks	SupportedSix native tapbacks plus emoji reactions, send and receive	Not supported
Threaded replies	Supported	Not supported
Typing indicators	Supported	Not supported
Read receipts	SupportedMark chats read and receive read events; group receipts are best-effort	Not supported
Edit and unsend	SupportedEdit within 15 minutes and unsend within 2 minutes (Apple limits)	Not supported
Message effects	SupportedAll bubble and screen effects, including invisible ink	Not supported
Animated text effects	SupportedPer-range effects such as bloom, shake, explode and jitter	Not supported
Stickers	SupportedPlace image stickers on any bubble with position, scale and rotation; sticker events inbound	Not supported
Formatted text	SupportedMarkdown rendered as native bold, italic, underline and strikethrough	Not supported
Attachments	SupportedFiles up to 100 MiB by default, including Live Photos	Not supported
Live Photos	SupportedHEIC still plus MOV companion uploaded as one Live Photo	Not supported
Rich link previews	Supportedrichlink() asks Messages to render its own preview	Not supported
Voice messages	Supported	Not supported
Contact cards	SupportedvCard or structured contacts, plus the bot's own native contact card	Not supported
Polls	SupportedCreate, vote, add options and receive poll events; all managed plans	Not supported
Chat backgrounds	Supported	Not supported
Location sharing	SupportedFind My requests and live location; Business plan	Not supported
iMessage apps	SupportedCustom and live app cards; iMessage mini apps on the Business plan	Not supported
Live app cards	SupportedEdit an app card in place and render live UI without a new bubble	Not supported
Sender name and photo	SupportedShares the agent's name and photo automatically; Business plan	Not supported
FaceTime calls	Not listed	Not supported
Delivery status	SupportedSent, delivered, read and send-error fields per message	Not supported
iMessage availability check	SupportedCheck if a number or email can get iMessage, SMS or RCS before sending	Not supported
Focus and Notify Anyway	SupportedCheck if a recipient has Focus on, then trigger Notify Anyway	Not supported
Numbers and delivery
Managed lines	SupportedSpectrum Cloud runs the Mac fleet; no Mac needed	Not supportedNo iMessage support
Dedicated numbers	Supported$250 per line per month on Business	SupportedBuy local, national, mobile or toll-free numbers in 120+ countries at carrier cost.
Shared numbers	SupportedFree and Pro route each user through a managed shared pool	SupportedOutbound calls and texts can use a shared Hail number with no rental fee.
Bring your own number	SupportedYour own Apple ID when self-hosting on a Mac, and your own number for WhatsApp Business	Not listedSelf-hosters use numbers on their own carrier accounts; porting into Hail Cloud is not mentioned.
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 supportedNo iMessage support
RCS fallback	Supported	Not supported
Outbound-first messaging	SupportedBusiness plan, up to 50 new contacts per line per day	SupportedOutbound calls, texts and email need a recipient_consent attestation.
Calls on the iMessage number	SupportedPlace and receive SIP calls from the line people already text	Not supportedNo iMessage support
Other channels
SMS	BetaStandalone SMS and MMS numbers with 10DLC in the 2.0 beta; SMS fallback on iMessage lines today	PartialTwo-way SMS only. Pricing page says MMS and picture messages are not available.
RCS	PartialSent on the iMessage line when the recipient cannot get iMessage	Not supportedNot offered
WhatsApp	SupportedWhatsApp Business, one-to-one, on the Business plan	Not supported
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	SupportedSend and receive email on mail.hail.so or your own domain, with delivery events.
Phone calls	SupportedSIP calls on iMessage lines; the 2.0 beta adds calls on SMS numbers	SupportedInbound and outbound AI voice calls with transcripts, on Twilio, Telnyx or DIDWW numbers.
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	PartialOne API key, balance and event stream, but separate endpoints for calls, SMS and email.
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 supportedREADME lists only a Python SDK; the Vercel AI SDK guide calls the REST API.
Python SDK	Betaphotonhq-api on PyPI, for the 2.0 beta API	Supportedhail-sdk on PyPI
Other SDKs	SupportedGo client for Advanced iMessage; Rust and Go clients for the 2.0 API	Not supportedOnly a Python SDK is listed. The CLI is written in Go.
CLI	Supported@photon-ai/cli manages projects, lines, users and billing	SupportedGo CLI, installed with Homebrew.
Webhooks	Supported	Supported
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256, plus Standard Webhooks signatures	SupportedHMAC-SHA256 over timestamp and body in X-Hail-Signature.
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server, plus an MCP server for the docs	SupportedRemote server at mcp.hail.so with OAuth 2.1, 36 tools. Self-hosters also get stdio.
Open source	SupportedMIT: spectrum-ts, imessage-kit and most SDKs	SupportedAGPL-3.0. Cost data is CC-BY-4.0.
Self-hosting	SupportedRun the open-source core on your own Mac and number, no Spectrum Cloud	SupportedDocker Compose on one VM. LiveKit Cloud, a carrier and STT, TTS and LLM providers stay external.
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	PartialSelf-hosters plug in Twilio, Telnyx or DIDWW. Cloud users can bring their own LLM, STT and TTS.
Event replay	SupportedCatch up on events after a disconnect from a durable sequence	Supported7 attempts over about 31 hours, a deliveries log and a redeliver endpoint, plus a pageable event stream.
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	Partialn8n guide uses the HTTP Request tool or MCP Client node; no dedicated node or Zapier app.
CRM integrations	Not listed	Not listed
Built for AI agents
Agent framework	SupportedSpectrum is a multi-channel agent framework with streaming replies	SupportedSaved agents answer calls and texts on a number, with shared history across calls and texts.
Agent framework integrations	SupportedVercel Chat SDK, Mastra, LangChain, Convex and others	SupportedGuides for LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, n8n and Claude.
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	PartialA voice agent can hand a live call to one of up to 10 people. No handoff for texts.
Audit logs	BetaAPI logs and traces in the 2.0 beta dashboard	PartialDPA lists audit logging, kept on its own retention schedule. No customer audit log API found.
Message history API	SupportedList and get messages per chat	SupportedList and fetch calls, SMS and email, and page through the event stream.
Plans and compliance
Free plan	SupportedUp to 10 users on shared lines	PartialSelf-hosting the AGPL software is free. Hail Cloud starts at a $0 balance with no free credit.
Public pricing	Supported	Supported
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 supportedTexts are billed per segment, calls per minute and email per 1,000.
Uptime SLA	SupportedContractual SLA on the Enterprise plan	Not supportedTerms provide the service as is, with no warranty that it will be uninterrupted.
Isolated infrastructure	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated, dedicated environment	PartialOnly by self-hosting the stack on your own infrastructure.
SOC 2 Type II	SupportedStated on photon.codes	Not listed
GDPR	SupportedPrivacy policy covers GDPR rights and SCC transfers	SupportedDPA under GDPR Article 28, with a published sub-processor list.

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 iMessage, group chats, group management and group name and photo.

Choose Hail if its pricing fits better: it does not support anything here that Photon lacks.

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