Economics & Trade-Offs // Direct Comparison
Why pay ₹30,000/year for messages your SIM already includes?
Standard prepaid plans from Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea already include 100 free SMS daily. Cloud gateways charge high markups and store your customer records remotely.
04 / Economics & Infrastructure
Compare economics, data custody, and trade-offs
Cloud SMS platforms charge per-message tolls, setup fees, and recurring monthly subscriptions. Here is how ApnaSandesh compares against industry alternatives.
| Capability & Metric | Cloud Gateways (Twilio, Exotel, Gupshup) | Web SaaS Portals (Fast2SMS, Textlocal) | ApnaSandesh Android v1.0.4 Native |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly platform fee | $20 – $100 / month base | ₹1,000 – ₹3,500 / month | ₹0 / month (Zero subscription) |
| Per-message outbound cost | ₹0.25 – ₹0.45 per SMS + GST | ₹0.20 – ₹0.35 per SMS credits | ₹0.00 (Included in cellular SIM recharge) |
| Customer data privacy | Stored on US/EU multi-tenant servers | Stored on central database servers | 100% on-device Room SQLite (0 KB sent to cloud) |
| Internet connection dependency | Mandatory high-uptime cloud access | Mandatory web browser access | Offline-first: Works with Wi-Fi & data turned off |
| Mandatory DLT registration | Required (₹5,900 DLT registration fee) | Required or shared generic header | Direct SIM dispatch via subscriber allowance |
| Customer reply routing | Lost or requires 2-way webhook setup ($$$) | Often lost or dumped to email report | Direct to your native Android SMS inbox |
| Average annual cost (50 SMS/day) | ₹22,000 – ₹34,000 / year | ₹14,000 – ₹20,000 / year | ₹0 extra (Uses your existing unlimited SIM plan) |