The right two-factor authentication (2FA) API makes it easy to integrate this security protocol without disrupting existing user workflows. And, while there are lots of tools available, 2FA API providers vary in their offerings. Some excel in carrier partnerships, others focus on ensuring high message delivery, and still more provide intelligent fraud control measures.
So, how do you pick the right one?
Let’s dive into the most popular APIs for 2FA on the market, and then we’ll help you figure out where and how to integrate 2FA, how to vet various providers to find your best fit and get started with your API of choice.
Top 5 2FA APIs: a quick comparison
The table below provides a brief overview of 2FA API market leaders. Read on to get an in-depth analysis of each.
1. Plivo
Key features
- Built-in, free fraud control : Plivo’s Fraud Shield combats SMS pumping fraud with geo permissions, sending limits, and automatic alerts. This advanced algorithm monitors your messaging patterns, builds thresholds for each country, and automatically sends alerts with irregular patterns. It ensures that only legitimized requests get processed, reducing fraudulent activity (and saving money). You can fine-tune and override messaging throughput thresholds for each country and access an in-built reporting to evaluate your cost savings from using Fraud Shield.
- Multi-channel authentication: Plivo supports both SMS and Voice OTPs to ensure flexibility to businesses when authenticating users. When your SMS authentication fails, you can easily implement a fallback channel — voice messages.Plivo uses PHLO, a visual development tool, to quickly build a workflow that issues a one-time password (OTP) via SMS and then defaults to voice verification to improve conversions.
- Turnkey single-API solution: Plivo’s detailed API 2FA documentation and SDKs make its deployment a breeze. Plus, you don’t have to deal with multiple systems or compliance issues. The fact that Plivo ensures number provisioning and compliance means that businesses can focus on 2FA without additional overhead.
- Message redaction: Plivo’s message redaction feature lets businesses redact sensitive information like numbers, names, etc., from messages. For industries dealing with confidential data, such as healthcare or finance, implementing redaction alongside 2FA increases overall security, ensures compliance, and builds customer trust.
- 24/7 customer support : Our 24-hour customer support guarantees that all your authentication requests are processed as expected. Plivo’s customer engagement teams offer access to dedicated solution engineers for fast, 1:1 guidance on complex integrations.Dedicated in-house carrier teams stay updated on laws and regulations for full compliance and faster issue resolution.
- Reliability and security : Plivo is all about reliability. The platform supports over a billion monthly transactions while maintaining 99.99% API uptime.
- Global compliance: Non-compliance with regional security protocols increases the risk of hefty fines and puts your reputation at risk. Since each country has different security protocols, Plivo’s 2FA SMS API employs security best practices and policies to ensure that our network is secured virtually and physically.
- No SMS authentication fee: Plivo doesn’t charge for SMS verification, authentication, and regulatory compliance, making it a wise investment for businesses on a tight budget. Plus, it offers straightforward pricing plans where you only pay for what you use.
- Reduce errors with phone number lookup: Plivo’s new Lookup API can programmatically determine the number format, type, country, and carrier for any phone number worldwide. With this detailed information about a phone number, you can assess risk, prevent fraud, block fake accounts, and increase acquisition without customer input.
- Low total cost of ownership: Plivo offers senders a direct route to end users, with a one-hop maximum and without route dilution or blending. Users can make calls and send SMS messages to every country worldwide, avoid delays, and avoid paying for repeated undelivered messages.
Pros
- High deliverability rates, minimizing SMS failures
- 99.99% uptime SLAs available with 24-hour support
- Customizable OTP templates for a personalized user experience
- Detailed analytics for tracking OTP requests and delivery status
- Automatically switches to voice API in case of SMS OTP failure
- Straightforward 2FA implementation with comprehensive API documentation and SDKs
- Global reach: Plivo’s Premium Communications Network includes more than 1,600 carriers in 220+ countries and territories around the world
Cons
- Lacks multi-factor authentication that goes beyond SMS and voice
- The vast array of features may overwhelm new users
Pricing
Supports pay-as-you-go pricing model; $0 authentication fees
Suitable for
Companies seeking a reliable, secure, and scalable API 2FA solution with the lowest cost per conversion.
Reviews and ratings
2. Authy by Twilio
Key features
- In-built fraud prevention: Twilio’s Authy includes mechanisms to detect and mitigate fraudulent activity. It’s focused specifically on protecting custom verification codes sent via SMS within the Twilio Verify service.
- Real-time insights: It offers detailed analytics for tracking the performance and status of OTP messages.
- App-based authentication: It provides app-based OTP generation and push notifications for easier user interaction.
Pros
- Easy integration with API documentation for most widely-used programming languages
- In-built fraud guard to prevent SMS pumping
- Multi-channel support
Cons
- Gets expensive as usage increases
- A steep learning curve for new users
Pricing
Base pricing: $0.05 per successful verification + $0.0079 per SMS (US). The costs vary depending on channels.
Suitable for
Medium to large enterprises looking for a robust, scalable, app-based API 2FA provider.
Reviews and ratings
G2: 4.6 stars (68 reviews)
3. Sinch
Key features
- Customizable OTP messages: Sinch provides highly customizable OTP messaging capabilities, allowing businesses to personalize and localize their OTP messages extensively.
Pros
- User-friendly
- Strong customer support
- Well-documented APIs make it easy to integrate into existing systems
Cons
- Poor customer support
- May lack advanced 2FA features like intelligent fraud detection and extensive user management tools
Pricing
The monthly fee starts from $100. It offers different pricing for different countries, so reach out to their sales team for custom pricing.
Reviews and ratings
G2: 3.9 stars (29 reviews)
4. MessageBird
Key features
- Multi-channel support: MessageBird easily integrates with channels such as WhatsApp, SMS APIs, Google Business Messages, and SIP Trunk.
- Third-party integrations: It also allows for other social media integrations like Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, etc.
- Real-time analytics: It provides insights into message delivery, performance, and user engagement.
Pros
- Handles up to 400K messages/minute
- Solid customer support
- High delivery rates
- Offers SMS, voice, and email for 2FA
Cons
- Pricing increases with usage
- A steep learning curve for new users
- Poor UI
Pricing
Starts at $45 per month
Suitable for
Businesses seeking a multi-channel authentication solution.
Reviews and ratings
G2: 4.1 stars (67 reviews)
5. Exotel
Key features
- Customizable OTP templates: Exotel allows you to customize OTP messages to fit your branding and user experience needs. It includes tailoring the message text and format.
- Regulatory compliance: It adheres to industry standards and regulatory requirements for data protection and security, ensuring appropriate user data handling.
Pros
- Offers regional strength with a strong focus on South Asian markets
- Simple and intuitive UI
- Easy setup and integration
Cons
- Capable of efficiently handling only a substantial number of OTP requests
- Lacks advanced features in analytics and fraud control
- Lacks global coverage
Pricing
It offers a 7-day free trial period and 500 test credits.
Pricing plans:
UAE:
- Dabbler: $65 / month
- Believer: $55 / month
- Influencer: $40 / month
Indonesia:
- Dabbler: $200 / 6 months
- Believer: $500 / 6 months
- Influencer: $1000 /12 months
Reach out to their sales team for custom pricing.
Suitable for
Enterprises primarily operating in Asia Pacific, including Southeast Asia.
Reviews and ratings
G2: 4.3 stars (81 reviews)
Choosing the right API for 2FA provider for your business needs
Clearly, the range of APIs on the market varies widely. How can you tell which one best meets your needs?
If choosing an API for a 2FA provider feels daunting, here are three steps to help:
- Align the API’s capabilities with your business goals: When choosing a 2FA provider, determine how well its features match your business’s needs. For example, if you need a 2FA validator API solution to safeguard payment processing, integrate a 2FA API developed with financial institutions in mind, such as Plivo.
- Assess scalability and future growth: Security gets more complex as your business expands. Choose an API 2FA solution that can adapt to these expanding security requirements. Go through their user reviews and case studies to learn more about how they’ve helped other businesses grow.
- Ensure compliance and data security: New research from IBM reveals the global average cost of a data breach in 2024 is $4.88 million. Look for a 2FA API provider with a long track record of meeting regulatory standards and safeguarding user data.
Key touchpoints for implementing 2FA in APIs
When should you require your users to use 2FA? Well, it depends.
Some companies require users to complete 2FA every time they log in.
Others trigger 2FA during high-value transactions, such as when a user changes their password or wants to transfer funds.
Remember, while security is important, don't forget about your user experience. It can be beyond frustrating to be locked out of your account because you can’t get your 2FA code. Finding the right balance of security and convenience is what makes that five-star customer experience.
There are a few common scenarios when 2FA is a reasonable, expected part of the user experience.
- User login: Integrate 2FA into your user login page to add extra security. Choose the authentication methods such as SMS, voice, etc. based on your security needs and budget.
- Financial transactions: Integrate 2FA for financial transactions such as processing payments, transferring funds, or accessing financial statements.
- Account information updates: Implement 2FA for actions that alter account information, such as password changes, updating the email on file updates, or modifying a security setting. These changes can be signs of a potential account takeover from phishing or password reuse.
- Access internal systems: Apply 2FA to access internal systems based on user roles. For instance, two-factor authentication (2FA) for the Plivo console lets users enable 2FA to protect their credentials and prevent unauthorized access.
How to integrate 2FA into your workflow
Integrating 2FA into your existing system involves a few key steps. First, select a suitable 2FA method, such as SMS, email, or authenticator app. Next, implement a process to trigger the 2FA challenge after successful primary authentication. This could involve sending a code to the user's preferred channel.
Finally, incorporate a verification endpoint in your API to validate the entered 2FA code. It's essential to handle errors gracefully and provide clear feedback to users. Consider using a specialized 2FA API like Plivo to streamline the process and enhance security.
Step-by-step process for integrating 2FA into your workflow:
1. Determine API 2FA type:
Choose the type of 2FA you want to implement (e.g. email, authenticator apps, SMS, hardware tokens). Let’s say you want to send an SMS message that provides a user with an OTP. If you’re using Plivo’s API, a developer would use Plivo's API to make a request and send a 2FA message.
a) Each API requires certain parameters; in this case, they include:some text
- An authentication ID and authentication token, the programmatic equivalent of a username and password. Plivo uses these to make sure the program is authorized to use Plivo services in general and the organization’s data in particular.
- A source number — the phone number that should appear on the recipient’s handset to show where it was sent from.
- A destination number — the phone number of the recipient.
- Message text — the body of the message, which in the case of 2FA might say something like “Your security code is 123456. Enter this six-digit number on your login screen.”
2. Identify key touchpoints:
Determine which touchpoints require 2FA.
3. Choose an API 2FA provider:
Select a 2FA API provider that can help you secure accounts, prevent takeovers, and protect high-value transactions.
4. Integrate API 2FA:
Integrate the selected provider’s API in your existing authentication system by following its documentation. Plivo’s 2FA API, for example, offers advanced capabilities like sending images, sending to multiple recipients, and expiring messages that aren’t received within a specified time so you’re not charged for them.
You can also redact sensitive information such as part of the destination number and the message content if you have privacy constraints.
5. Perform unit testing:
Conduct automated tests that send OTP requests within specific time intervals to simulate and address potential vulnerabilities in all relevant scenarios such as:
- Fund transfers: Test OTP requests during financial transactions to ensure secure processing
- Password resets: Verify OTP functionality during password reset requests
- Account updates: Assess OTP verification when updating sensitive account settings to maintain security.
Best practices to ensure comprehensive security:
- Use a pool of phone numbers from multiple carriers to support enterprise messaging demands and give routing options
- Consider using QR codes that pair with authenticator apps
- Set up alerts for unusual login attempts or repeated login failures
- Implement a secure process for account recovery through multiple channels
- Ensure your 2FA implementation complies with regulatory laws such as HIPAA, GDPR, etc. depending on the location
- Choose an API for 2FA that quickly identifies invalid phone numbers, and discovers the fastest delivery routes
- Divide your network into segments based on functions and apply strict access controls across all networks.
- Subscribe to threat intelligence feeds and stay informed about emerging threats and vulnerabilities.
By adhering to these best practices in implementing 2FA, you can enhance the security of both internal and external messaging systems.
Note: For an in-depth understanding of 2FA and how it works, refer to our detailed guide.
Plivo: the best 2FA API provider for enterprises
Plivo's Verify API not only accelerates time-to-market but also improves fraud control, ensures compliance with regional regulations, and lowers your OTP costs. As a cloud-based service, Plivo’s solution eliminates the need for on-premises hardware, making it cost-effective with a pay-per-use model.
By using Plivo, you bypass the complexities of managing direct carrier relationships. Rather than diverting valuable developer resources to build basic infrastructure, you can focus on core competencies.
Plivo’s infrastructure uses a network of eight data centers worldwide to power global communications—one of the top reasons why thousands of businesses trust Plivo with their 2FA needs.
Our 2FA solution’s reliability and scalability strengthen your security systems. With our advanced fraud prevention features and user-friendly API, Plivo delivers a flexible, scalable 2FA API suitable for businesses of all sizes.
Think Plivo might be the right fit for you? Request a trial to find out.
