Twilio is shutting down Zipwhip on Friday, December 1, 2023. If you don’t move your customer data to a new business texting tool, all your existing contacts will be lost.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Zipwhip shutdown, including when it goes offline, how this may impact your business, and what alternatives you can use as a Zipwhip replacement.
Key takeaways: Zipwhip software End of Life Resource guide
Here’s a timeline of key dates and milestones to keep in mind:
- April 30, 2022: This is the last day to change your subscription type by emailing support@zipwhip.com. After that, you’re locked into your plan for the duration of Zipwhip’s lifecycle (unless you cancel) including the total number of users, lines, or keywords associated with your Zipwhip account.
- November 30, 2023: This is the last day of functionality for Twilio Zipwhip. That means it’s also your final opportunity to send texts, export messages, and transfer contacts to another SMS messaging platform.
- December 1, 2023: As mentioned earlier in the article, this is the date that Zipwhip officially ends and permanently shuts down. Their mobile app is taken offline with all user logins deactivated. You can no longer send messages to existing customers, and all data is permanently lost.
All Zipwhip accounts and billing details are slated for automatic cancellation on December 1. However, if you want to cancel your account before then, you can contact the helpdesk at notice@zipwhip.com.
Switch to OpenPhone: The best Zipwhip alternative
How the Zipwhip shutdown will impact businesses
Zipwhip Twilio doesn’t have a migration plan for existing customers. There’s no out-of-the-box solution provided at all, so users need to import their contacts to a new business messaging service unless they want to lose their data completely. Plus, if you don’t want to lose your existing Zipwhip phone number, you need to port it over to a new service before the deadline.
Unfortunately, Zipwhip doesn’t offer a simple way of exporting contact information or previous messages. Now is also a great time to start looking for alternatives so you can port your phone number you’ve been using to text to another platform without running the risk of missing the deadline.
Best Zipwhip alternatives & replacements
To continue messaging customers without a loss of service, you need to find a Zipwhip replacement before December 1.
Fortunately, you have several options.
Here are six alternative text messaging platforms that can take the place of Zipwhip — starting with the #1 rated business VoIP solution on the market:
1. OpenPhone: The best Zipwhip alternative for growing teams
Pros
- Send SMS and MMS messages for free in the US and Canada
- Auto-replies for instant responses
- Templated snippets to answer customers quickly
- Integrations with HubSpot, Slack, Salesforce, and Zapier
Cons
- Doesn’t support bulk marketing campaigns
- Doesn’t offer keyword-based replies
OpenPhone is a business phone system with scalable support for business text messaging. Using OpenPhone, you can have a dedicated business number for your main office, departments, or specific numbers that your team can use to call and text from. That way, your customers are more likely to recognize the same number you’ve been using for texting.
Along with the option to send SMS and MMS messages for free to anyone in the US or Canada, there are multiple messaging features that make it an ideal replacement for Zipwhip:
- Easily access competitive international texting rates to message contacts overseas
- Save message templates with snippets to save time while texting customers
- Send different auto-reply text messages based on whether you receive a text, voice message, or miss a call that can be customized based on if they reach you during or after business hours
- Quickly schedule texts in advance based on the time zone of your customer(s)
- Integrate with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier to automate touchpoints with your customers and push data where it needs to go
Dozens of small businesses affected by the Zipwhip shutdown have moved to OpenPhone to build better relationships with their customers. Plus, we make it easy to port your existing Zipwhip contacts and start sending new messages in just three steps:
- Before the Zipwhip shutdown, copy/paste your contacts into an Excel sheet (or contact Zipwhip support and make an export request)
- Use this templated CSV sheet to format your contact data for OpenPhone
- Check out this Help Center guide to walk you through how to import your contacts to OpenPhone and start texting customers
Customers love how user-friendly OpenPhone is to use — and how simple it is to call and text using local or toll-free numbers. Just take a look at what they have to say:
“It is super easy to use, add contacts, get conversations organized, and keep our team accountable. It has allowed our team to have a simpler, more effective texting service while allowing us to maintain quality.” — G2
Curious to see if OpenPhone is the right fit for your messaging needs? No need to pay upfront; just sign up for our seven-day free trial to test out the platform for yourself.
OpenPhone key features
- SMS and MMS support
- Scheduled texts and other texting automations
- Integrations with Slack, Zapier, HubSpot, Google Contacts, and Salesforce
- Automatically forward texts to any email address or Slack channel
- One free business phone number per user on your account
OpenPhone pricing
- Starter: $15 per user per month for unlimited texts in the US and Canada, international messaging support, and texting automations
- Business: $23 per user per month for integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot
- Enterprise: Business-specific pricing for audit logs and a dedicated account manager
2. EZ Texting: The best mass texting platform
Pros
- Great for beginners
- Flexible pricing
Cons
- Not inherently designed for one-on-one messaging
- Cost-prohibitive as you start to send more bulk texts
EZ Texting is an SMS platform primarily built for text marketing campaigns. The platform’s automated tips guide you through your first campaign so you can get up and running with contests, coupons, discount vouchers, and more.
Smaller companies and first-time business owners are the biggest proponents of EZ Texting. However, larger businesses tend to look elsewhere because of the platform’s cost-prohibitive pricing. EZ Texting only allows you to send a certain amount of messages per day, meaning you have to pay extra to bump up your ‘max speed’ (more on this later).
In all, EZ Texting is an accessible Zipwhip alternative if you want text campaigns (like coupons and discounts). That said, keep an eye on the price tag so you don’t pay for more than you need. A recent customer review sums this up well:
“I liked that I was able to text all of my team members at once — everyone got the same message! However, since this is an app to send mass texts, I’d like to see the price per text drop a little lower.” — G2
EZ Texting key features
- Group texting
- Two-way texting
- SMS and MMS support
- Text forwarding
- Text scheduling
EZ Texting pricing
- Launch: $20 per month for up to 500 messages per day at $0.027 per message
- Boost: $60 per month for up to 2,000 messages per day at $0.0225 per message
- Scale: $100 per month for up to 50,000 messages per day at $0.018 per message
- Enterprise: $3,000 per month for one million messages per day at $0.010 per message
3. Attentive: The top Zipwhip alternative for eCommerce brands
Pros
- Built for eCommerce brands
- SMS and MMS support
Cons
- No transparent pricing
- Not for small businesses
- Web app only
- No free trial
Attentive is a text communications platform focused on helping eCommerce companies deliver personalized messages. You can tailor text campaigns to the needs of individual recipients, then create workflows that trigger more messages depending on what they do (i.e., click the link in an SMS).
Thousands of eCommerce brands rely on Attentive to send mass messages from a single platform. However, keep in mind the company was built for enterprise texting rather than small business messaging. There’s only a web app available to use, which means you can’t send messages through your iPhone or Android device. Plus, there’s no free trial available — a guided demo is the closest thing you can get if you need to find a new provider quickly before the Zipwhip shutdown.
Zipwhip customers can switch to Attentive and connect with contacts using automated workflows. But as current and past customers explain, it’s not a cheap alternative:
“It’s not necessarily Attentive’s fault, but SMS messaging is extremely expensive. The price is sometimes off-putting, but thus far, the net return has been positive.” — GetApp
“Attentive is very easy to use and also provides a good platform for all our SMS needs. However, costs are high compared to other competitors in the space” — GetApp
Attentive key features
- SMS and MMS
- Create audience segments
- Send SMS marketing campaigns
- Set up text-to-buy
- You can delegate other third-party assistants to respond to your inbound messages through an add-on concierge service
Attentive pricing
Attentive doesn’t list any prices online. However, sources suggest the platform starts at $300 per month and $0.02 per SMS. This is far more expensive than other Zipwhip alternatives and may not be sustainable for smaller businesses. That said, the only way to know for sure is to contact Attentive directly.
4. Plivo: The best SMS API
Pros
- Very customizable
- Highly reliable
Cons
- Not built for small business owners
- Not an out-of-the-box texting solution
- Variable fees can make it difficult to forecast your bill
Plivo is an SMS and voice API, which means texting and calling features can be integrated into your existing applications. You can send and receive text messages embedded in your private cloud, and even integrate voice calling features with tools you already own.
Any finance, healthcare, or government organization can use Plivo to create custom APIs. Although this creates many opportunities, it excludes small business owners with limited knowledge of APIs. Unless you’re an experienced developer (or have one on your team), you may want to consider a Plivo alternative.
Customer reviews are mostly positive regarding Plivo’s infrastructure. However, the lack of customer support is a recurring issue among past and current users:
“Pilvo is mostly a reliable service. No complaints there. Unfortunately, their support is the worst we’ve seen. We gave their team weeks to help solve our issue. However, they let us down. But worst, they let our client down. Also, after trying to explain what happened, their company never reached back with an explanation or apology. That’s why we thought others should know.” — G2
“We were about to go live with our website but got a message from Plivo: ‘Our systems have flagged your account, due to which we are unable to provide you access to our services.’ I wasted a day to use Plivo API just to learn that I can’t use this in our live environments. Plivo is selective in offering their service and doesn’t provide much explanation about flagging accounts.” — TrustPilot
Plivo key features
- Customizable API
- Text to speech system
- Send alerts and notifications
- SMS and MMS support
- SMS marketing tools
Plivo pricing
Plivo offers two different pricing models: pay-as-you-go or bulk purchases. This means you can either pay per message or buy bundled messages to get a volume discount.
Bulk purchasing requires a custom quote, depending on your needs. However, pay-as-you-go prices are listed on the website. Here’s what you have to pay for Plivo in the US:
- SMS API Platform: $0.005 per SMS sent and $0 per SMS received
- Voice API Platform: $0.01 per minute to make a call and $0.0055 per minute to receive a call
- Phone Number Rental: $0.50 per local number per month, $1 per toll-free number per month, and $500 per short code per month
Bottom line: With the charges per message or call, you may find it difficult to accurately predict your monthly bill.
5. SimpleTexting: The best SMS marketing platform for enterprise companies
Pros
- Bulk texting support
- Third-party integrations
Cons
- No direct integrations with CRMs
- No ability to make phone calls without signing up for a separate provider
- Not intuitive
SimpleTexting is a text marketing platform built for enterprise brands. They’re best known for enabling texts on your landline phone so you can manage messages without buying new hardware.
Retailers, restaurants, and eCommerce stores are the biggest industries served by SimpleTexting. However, the numbers you get from SimpleTexting can’t be used to make phone calls — none of them are voice-enabled. You have to purchase a separate solution or forward calls to another number if you want the best of both worlds.
You can use SimpleTexting as an effective replacement for Zipwhip’s text-enabled landline feature. Just remember it’s not an all-in-one solution for calling and texting. You’d need to bring your own existing phone number and have a separate calling plan with another provider. Here’s what one past customer had to say:
“I was assured that providing locals numbers to text from wouldn’t be a challenge, but I found out that local numbers are only available after signing up. My SimpleTexting contact unconventionally suggested I go to another site to source local numbers and then port them over.” — SoftwareAdvice
SimpleTexting key features
- Bulk messaging
- One local or toll-free number for texting (no voice-enabled numbers)
- Can text-enable your existing landline numbers
- Synced contacts (requires add-on)
- Advanced automations (requires add-on)
SimpleTexting pricing
Inbound texts are always free with SimpleTexting. However, outbound messages require credits depending on the text you want to send. SMS messages cost just one credit, while MMS messages cost three credits. If you go over your allotted monthly credits, you have to pay per-message until your billing cycle refreshes.
Here’s how their credit bundles break down:
- 500 credits: $29 per month (5.5¢ per additional credit)
- 1,000 credits: $49 per month (5¢ per additional credit)
- 7,500 credits: $229 per month (3.5¢ per additional credit)
There are also two add-ons available for purchase:
- Contact Syncs With SimpleTexting: $49 per month
- Advanced Automations: Custom pricing (only available to users spending $229 per month or more)
6. Doctible: Best HIPAA-compliant texting solution
Pros
- Unlimited SMS messages to patients
- HIPAA compliant
Cons
- Can’t purchase new numbers at all
- Requires a separate phone plan for calling
- No transparent pricing shared
Doctible is a patient engagement tool designed to help medical offices reach patients through text. You can send appointment reminders to reduce no shows, send digital forms to speed up check-ins, and even send traffic alerts to let patients know if they need to plan ahead.
Doctible was built for family practices, dental offices, and optometrists, meaning businesses outside the medical field won’t benefit much from their service. Plus, they don’t actually sell business phone numbers; you need to purchase a number through a different provider and have a separate phone plan for calling.
Some Zipwhip customers found Doctible a perfect fit for their HIPAA-compliant messaging. Just keep in mind contact management could get tricky since you can’t update contact phone numbers once they’re in the system.
Just check out this review:
“LOVE IT! It has made our job of reminding patients much easier and less time consuming. But I don’t like that you can’t change the phone number if someone gets a new number. Then they have two accounts and one doesn’t work because the old number isn’t accurate.” — SoftwareAdvice
Doctible key features
- Automated patient reminders
- Two-way texting
- Text-based intake forms
- HIPAA compliant system
- Encourages online reviews (via text)
Doctible pricing
Doctible doesn’t offer specific prices online, although they do specify billing can be monthly or annually depending on your preferences. The only way to get a quote for this platform is to contact the company directly.
Move past Zipwhip with OpenPhone
Zipwhip shutting down isn’t necessarily great news — but it does give your business a chance to upgrade its texting capabilities and build better relationships with your customers. And if you’re looking for scalable automations, competitive prices, and voice-enabled phone numbers, OpenPhone is the first place you should look.
See why thousands of users rank OpenPhone as the best Zipwhip replacement for better customer experiences. Give us a try for yourself through our seven-day free trial.