MessageBird pricing: Your options for securing a discount

How much does MessageBird cost?

MessageBird integrates a range of products into its platform offering, each with their own associated costs. While some prices are listed on the vendor’s pricing page, others are hidden behind prompts for users to contact the sales team.

But while this can make it difficult for prospective users to ascertain the total cost of a subscription, there’s no denying that the platform’s pay-as-you-go pricing model offers a huge amount of flexibility. As an example, users can make use of SMS services, without being charged for WhatsApp or Messenger.

In fact, given that an increasing number of SaaS vendors are now opting to bundle their features in a bid to drive up the subscription costs – leaving many users paying for functionality they don’t actually require – MessageBird’s approach is all the more impressive.

So, what are the costs for each product?

MessageBird product pricing

Connectivity

The Connectivity product category includes a number of essential features for high-volume senders, including SMS, Numbers, Voice, and Lookup API.

Each service has its own starting fees charged either by individual use, minutes used, or number of requests sent.

MessageBird’s SMS pricing, for example, starts from $0.008 per message, or users can request custom pricing for bulk messaging, which will likely reduce the overall cost.

Email

The Email package covers services such as Cloud Sending and a range of advanced analytics and security systems, as seen below.

A majority of the services in this category prompt users to contact the sales team directly for pricing insights, with the exception of the Recipient Validation solution, starting at $0.01 and decreasing incrementally with higher email counts.

Omnichannel

The Omnichannel set of products covers various different channels of customer communication, including SMS, Email, WhatsApp, Mobile Push, Messenger, Google Business Messages, and Instagram Direct.

As illustrated, various services can be initiated for free, before higher levels of coverage incur tiered usage fees. This category of products also includes Pusher, MessageBird’s dedicated push notifications service, with paid plans starting at $29 per month.

Applications

Applications includes tools such as Inbox, Flows, Chat Widget, and Video Scheduling.

Several of the services can be initially used for free before higher seat counts incur usage fees.

Support plans

Dedicated MessageBird customer support plans are also available at an additional subscription cost.

There are 4 tiers of Support Plans subscription. The first, Coach+, costs $500 per month and offers a standard response time of 8 hours, with limited active hours. The more advanced packages provide additional support resources and incrementally faster response times to critical issues. Business costs $2,500 per month, First Class costs $5,000 per month, and Private is the most advanced type of plan, prompting prospects to reach out to the MessageBird sales team for pricing details.

Setup fee

It’s also worth bearing in mind that MessageBird charges a one-time setup fee of $600 for organizations looking to get established on the platform. So, if you’re new to MessageBird, then the minimum upfront price you’ll pay before using any of the communication services is $600.

Considering each of the many services on offer, it’s plain to see that MessageBird has a challenging pricing model to get to grips with — even if it does opt to list the fees associated with some of its products.

So, how can you find out what a MessageBird subscription might actually cost you without entering into a sales conversation with the vendor?

In short, by talking to Vertice. As part of our extensive vendor database, we have access to transactional data from over 16,000 global software providers. But we’ll explain how this could be useful to you shortly.

Can you get a discount on MessageBird pricing?

Even if you go to the effort of adding up approximately what you’d pay using the listed prices, the cost that you calculate may not be set in stone.

Yes, your total outlay will depend on your consumption, but as you increase your seat counts or other usage metrics, MessageBird will provide bulk discounting options to your overall cost.

For example, if you commit to a monthly volume across most of its services, you can benefit from reduced rates.

Chances are though, these volume-based discounts only just scratch the surface in terms of the savings that can potentially be secured.

So, how exactly can you ensure you’re getting the best possible deal on your subscription? And realistically, what sort of savings are you looking at?

According to our data, marketing platforms in general are pretty generous with their discounting, offering average savings of 32%. This suggests that with the right leverage and negotiation strategy, you could potentially reduce the quoted cost by a hefty amount and/or secure far more favorable contract terms.

But what does it take?

Give yourself enough lead time

During software negotiations, it’s wise to allow yourself ample time to research, strategize, and approach your shortlisted vendors. If you know when you’ll need to purchase or renew your MessageBird subscription, for example just before launching a new email marketing strategy, then you’ll want to begin negotiating well ahead of this deadline.

If you neglect to leave enough time to plan, you might enter negotiations ill-equipped to secure the best possible deal. Plus, if the vendor recognizes that you’re looking for a fast turnaround time, they may even be less flexible in the knowledge that you need a quick, hitch-free deal to be made.

Research competitor comparisons

One useful way to gain leverage during negotiations is to arm yourself with pricing insights for your vendor’s competitors. When searching for the best customer communications tool, for example, you may seek out quotes from alternative providers like Podium or Omnisend, which could be leveraged to incentivize a better deal from MessageBird.

But it’s not only your product pricing that you can negotiate with. You should also inquire about what other vendors are offering in terms of their other contract conditions, like renewal clauses and support plans. When you leverage these terms, you’re better equipped to negotiate a deal tailored to your business needs — potentially at a better price than you were originally quoted.

Leverage pricing benchmarks with Vertice

As we mentioned earlier, Vertice has access to the pricing and discounting data for more than 16,000 software providers worldwide — MessageBird included. But we don’t just provide you with these invaluable pricing benchmarks to leverage during the negotiations process, we can also negotiate on your behalf to secure the best possible pricing and terms on any contract.

That’s not all we do though. Our SaaS management platform provides unparalleled visibility into your entire software stack, tracking all your contracts, billing and renewal information from one convenient dashboard, while also providing invaluable insights into how each tool is being used across your organization, highlighting opportunities for further cost-savings.

Why not see for yourself how much you could be saving on your annual SaaS spend, or alternatively browse through our vendor database for exclusive pricing and discounting intel on thousands of software providers.