Photon vs Surge

Photon supports 75 of the 77 features compared here, and Surge supports 21.

Feature comparison

Feature	Photon	Surge
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	SupportedLocal and toll-free numbers by API in the US and Canada; short codes by support request
Shared numbers	SupportedFree and Pro route each user through a managed shared pool	SupportedShared demo number for testing: 25 Surge-branded outbound SMS per account, SMS only
Bring your own number	SupportedYour own Apple ID when self-hosting on a Mac, and your own number for WhatsApp Business	SupportedPort numbers in, or host an external number's messaging on Surge
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	SupportedBusiness-initiated sends and blasts; US traffic needs 10DLC or toll-free verification
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	SupportedSMS and MMS; US, Canada and other countries
RCS	PartialSent on the iMessage line when the recipient cannot get iMessage	Not supportedOn the roadmap; docs say RCS is coming on the same message endpoint
WhatsApp	SupportedWhatsApp Business, one-to-one, on the Business plan	Not supportedOn the roadmap; docs say WhatsApp follows RCS
Telegram	Supported	Not supportedNot offered
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	BetaOutbound calls, recording, voicemail and AI voice agent hookups; docs say full GA is still coming
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	PartialOnly SMS and MMS today; docs say RCS and WhatsApp will use the same message endpoint
Developer tools
REST API	SupportedREST API for projects and lines; sending over REST in the 2.0 beta	SupportedJSON REST API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec
TypeScript SDK	Supportedspectrum-ts, plus low-level iMessage and WhatsApp SDKs	Supported@surgeapi/node
Python SDK	Betaphotonhq-api on PyPI, for the 2.0 beta API	Supportedsurge-sdk, sync and async clients
Other SDKs	SupportedGo client for Advanced iMessage; Rust and Go clients for the 2.0 API	SupportedRuby and Elixir SDKs
CLI	Supported@photon-ai/cli manages projects, lines, users and billing	Not listed
Webhooks	Supported	SupportedMessage, contact, conversation, campaign, number, link and call events
Signed webhooks	SupportedHMAC-SHA256, plus Standard Webhooks signatures	SupportedStandard Webhooks HMAC-SHA256 with a timestamp for replay protection
MCP server	SupportedHosted MCP server, plus an MCP server for the docs	PartialDocs-search MCP server only; llms.txt says there is no MCP server for API actions
Open source	SupportedMIT: spectrum-ts, imessage-kit and most SDKs	Not supportedClosed platform; the official SDKs are Apache-2.0 or MIT on GitHub
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 demo number sends real texts to a phone; no simulator found
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	PartialFailed webhooks retry with exponential backoff (window not stated); messages can be re-listed 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	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	PartialVoice only: one-click ElevenLabs, Retell and Vapi voice agent connections
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 listedEmbeddable inbox lets your users read and reply to threads; no agent handoff API found
Audit logs	BetaAPI logs and traces in the 2.0 beta dashboard	PartialAPI request logs in the dashboard, filterable by status and request ID; no account audit log found
Message history API	SupportedList and get messages per chat	SupportedList messages by account or conversation, plus Contacts and Conversations APIs
Plans and compliance
Free plan	SupportedUp to 10 users on shared lines	PartialDemo key and shared number, 25 outbound demo texts per account; pricing FAQ says 10
Public pricing	Supported	SupportedHobby $5, Starter $20, Growth $100 a month; Custom from $250
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 supportedPlan fee becomes usage credit; SMS is $0.0079 per segment plus carrier fees
Uptime SLA	SupportedContractual SLA on the Enterprise plan	Not listedPublic status page; no SLA figure found
Isolated infrastructure	SupportedEach line runs in an isolated, dedicated environment	Not supportedSecurity overview describes shared infrastructure with data separated by customer IDs
SOC 2 Type II	SupportedStated on photon.codes	PartialSecurity overview (April 2025) lists SOC 2 Type 1 only; report shared on Growth and Custom plans
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 iMessage, group chats, group management and group name and photo.

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

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