CPaaS Vendor Evaluation Framework

• Country and operator coverage for your actual target markets, not a global headline number.Ask for coverage on your top 10 destinations specifically.
• Direct operator connections vs. reliance on downstream aggregators.Direct binds mean fewer hops, better deliverability, and cleaner DLRs.
• Channel breadth: SMS, OTP/verify, WhatsApp Business, RCS, voice, email — as you need them.
• Two-way / MO support and sender-ID options (alphanumeric, short code, long number) per market.

The single biggest differentiator between providers — and the hardest to see in a demo.

• Do they disclose route type (direct vs. grey) per destination?A refusal to disclose route type is a red flag for grey-route usage.
• Delivery-rate and latency reporting per country/operator, backed by DLRs.
• Adaptive routing / failover and how route changes are communicated to you.
• Policy against grey routes and SIM-farm termination, stated contractually.
• Independent deliverability testing supported (test numbers, third-party monitors).

• Sender-ID registration handled per market (e.g. regulator pre-registration where required).In many markets unregistered sender IDs are silently dropped.
• Data-protection posture: GDPR and regional privacy alignment, data-residency options.
• Security certifications: ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and a completed vendor security review.
• Industry memberships / standards alignment (GSMA, MEF Code of Conduct).
• Fraud controls: AIT / SMS-pumping detection and how they protect you from artificial traffic.

• Published uptime SLA with credits, and a public status page with incident history.
• Platform redundancy and geo-failover architecture.
• Message-throughput guarantees at your peak volume.
• Historical incident transparency — how they communicate and post-mortem outages.

• Clean REST API plus SMPP for high-volume; SDKs in your stack's languages.
• Test access with real credentials on the production API, and a way to test webhooks, before you commit.
• Documentation quality: quickstarts, error-code reference, and webhook signature verification.
• Safe-retry support (a message ID and status lookup for every send) and clear retry/rate-limit semantics.
• Observability: message logs, DLR streams, and exportable analytics.

• Pricing transparency: per-destination rates, minimums, and how surcharges are disclosed.
• Contract flexibility: no lock-in, portability of sender IDs and templates.
• Support model: response SLAs by severity, named contacts, and 24/7 for production.
• Onboarding and migration support from an incumbent provider.
• Anonymised references from customers with a comparable use case and volume.