Smooch (Sunshine Conversations) vs Textline

Smooch (now Sunshine Conversations by Zendesk) and Textline both focus on conversational customer support, but serve different market segments. Smooch provides omnichannel messaging APIs for developers, while Textline offers a specialized SMS-first customer support platform.

Both platforms maintain solid G2 ratings of 4.2/5, indicating strong user satisfaction, though they approach customer messaging from different angles - API-first versus ready-to-use SMS solution.

Smooch excels in omnichannel messaging orchestration, connecting customers across WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, web chat, and mobile apps through unified APIs. It offers conversation routing, bot integration, and extensive customization for developers building complex messaging workflows.

Textline specializes in business SMS with features designed specifically for support teams: shared inbox management, message templates, automated responses, and team collaboration tools. It includes SMS-specific features like opt-out management and compliance tools.

The key difference is Smooch's broad channel coverage requiring technical implementation versus Textline's SMS-focused approach with immediate usability.

Smooch uses per-agent pricing from $19 to $99 per agent per month, making it cost-effective for smaller teams but potentially expensive as support teams scale. The pricing varies based on feature tiers and channel access.

Textline's pricing ranges from $39 to $149 per user per month, positioning it in the mid-to-premium range for SMS solutions. While higher than Smooch's entry point, it includes specialized SMS features without additional channel fees.

For teams under 5 agents, Smooch offers better value, but costs can escalate quickly with larger teams compared to Textline's more predictable SMS-focused pricing.

Choose Smooch if you need flexible omnichannel messaging APIs with custom integrations. Choose Textline if you want a dedicated SMS customer support solution that works out of the box.

Choose Smooch if: You need omnichannel messaging APIs, have development resources, and want to integrate multiple communication channels into custom workflows.

Choose Textline if: SMS is your primary customer communication channel and you need specialized features without technical complexity.

For teams wanting comprehensive messaging without per-agent costs, Converge provides an attractive alternative at $49/month flat rate, eliminating the scaling cost concerns of both platforms.