What is the difference between a tier-1 SMS route and a grey route?

Tier-1 routes terminate directly with the destination operator under a commercial agreement. Grey routes use unofficial interconnects that may be filtered or blocked by operators, which causes silent delivery failures.

How does Firsty achieve 99.9% delivery for OTP?

We use tier-1 routes for OTP traffic by default and monitor per-route quality continuously. The router shifts traffic away from any route whose delivery rate degrades.

Does Firsty support voice OTP as a fallback?

Yes. Voice OTP is available as a fallback for users who do not receive the SMS in time.

Is Firsty PCI DSS and SOC 2 compliant?

We are aligned to PCI DSS and SOC 2 controls and can share our compliance documentation under NDA for fintech reviews.

What markets does Firsty cover for SMS?

200+ countries through tier-1 routes. Coverage and quality data per country is available in the dashboard.

How does pricing compare to Twilio or MessageBird?

We use a single platform fee and a transparent per-message rate. Most fintech customers see lower total cost on OTP traffic, especially across multiple countries.

Can I migrate from an existing SMS provider?

Yes. The API is straightforward to adopt in parallel. Many customers run Firsty alongside an incumbent before switching over.

What KYC verification methods are supported?

Number lookup, SIM swap signals, silent network authentication, and integrations with identity verification partners.

USE CASE · FINTECH & IDENTITY

SMS OTP and identity infrastructure for fintech

Tier-1 SMS routes, programmable delivery, and identity verification built for high-stakes financial flows. Higher deliverability than aggregators.

Start in sandbox

Tier-1

Routes

200+

Countries

99.9%+

Delivery

Real-time

DLRs

In production at

The problem

Why SMS aggregators fail at the moments that matter

SMS aggregators cut costs by routing through grey-market or low-tier carriers. For marketing SMS that is fine. For OTP delivery during a high-value login or a wire transfer, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

The failure mode is silent. The SMS goes out, the delivery receipt confirms success, but the customer never receives the code. They retry, fail, abandon. You lose the transaction and the trust.

You need direct tier-1 routes for the messages that matter and a delivery layer that knows when to fall back.

Solution

How Firsty solves it

Tier-1 direct routes

No grey market. No silent drops.

Smart routing for OTP

Critical traffic goes through the highest-quality route per destination.

Real-time delivery receipts

Know exactly which messages landed.

Global reach with a single API

No per-country setup.

Capabilities

Technical capabilities

REST API for SMS send
Programmable webhooks for DLRs
Per-route quality monitoring
KYC verification integration
Number lookup and validation
Two-factor authentication flows
Fraud signal API
SOC 2 and PCI DSS aligned

Comparison

Firsty vs SMS aggregators

	Firsty	SMS aggregator	Twilio
Tier-1 direct routes	✓	-(mixed quality)	✓
Single global price	✓	per country	per country
Self-serve sandbox	✓	partial	✓
Multi-MNO carrier fallback	✓	-	-
KYC verification included	✓	-	partial
Transparent route quality	✓	-	partial

How it works

From sandbox to production

01
Sign up for sandbox
No card required.
02
Send test OTP
Send to your own numbers in target markets.
03
Verify delivery quality
Confirm route performance before going live.
04
Switch to production keys
Same API, production credentials.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Related use cases

Keep exploring

Voice 2FA numbers

Local numbers in 18 countries for voice OTP.

Fintech AI agents

Give your agents real numbers and SMS.

Deliver the messages that decide a transaction.

Tier-1 routes, real-time DLRs, one API.