How to Buy a Twilio Phone Number
Once your Twilio account exists, buying a number takes about a minute. Here's what to search for and what to look for in the results.
Find the number search page
In the console's left sidebar: Products and services â Communications â Numbers and senders, then Overview (or go directly to Phone Numbers â Buy a number). This is where you search Twilio's available inventory.
Search by area code or pattern
You can search by area code (e.g. 561 for South Florida) for a locally-recognizable number, or by a vanity digit pattern if you want something memorable. Local (not toll-free) numbers work best for two-way conversational SMS.
What capabilities to look for
Make sure the number shows both SMS and MMS capability badges in the search results â not every number supports MMS, and Linxi's Compose & Send can attach images to campaigns. Voice capability is optional today. Calling in Linxi is coming, so if you think you'll want it, pick a number that also shows Voice.
Cost
A local US number ran about $1.15/month on Twilio at the time of writing, billed to whatever payment method is on your Twilio account. This is separate from, and in addition to, any Linxi subscription â on your own account, Twilio bills you directly for the number itself and for every message segment sent/received. A number bought through Linxi is billed by Linxi instead; see Pricing.
E.164 format
Once purchased, your number will be shown as something like +15615550142 â that's E.164 format: a +, the country code (1 for the US), then the 10-digit number with no spaces, dashes, or parentheses. This is the exact format Linxi Settings â Number â Linxi Number expects when you enter the number later.