Plivo lets prospective customers sign up for a free trial. Trial accounts come with credits to use Plivo's voice and SMS APIs and other capabilities.
A free trial account lets you try out domestic and international voice calls and SMS text messaging.
Plivo free trial accounts never expire, but there are some important differences between free trial and Standard accounts that make signing up for Standard worth your while. You can upgrade your free trial to a Standard account to use Plivo’s full suite with no restrictions by visiting Billing > Upgrade.
Credits
When you sign up for a free trial account, Plivo gives you free credits with which to experiment. If you use all of your free credits, you can add credits to your account to continue using voice and SMS services in your trial account. When your account credits fall below a certain threshold, Plivo will notify you to add credits. Credits in your account never expire, and there's no limit on how many you can add to your account.
Getting a phone number
To test Plivo's voice and SMS service, visit Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers to procure your first Plivo number. You can search for numbers with a specific country code and select ones that support capabilities such as voice, SMS, and MMS. Click on Search to find a number that suits your needs.
Select a number to begin testing Plivo’s platform. If and when you upgrade to a Standard account, your numbers will be carried over and charged monthly according to current rates.
Sandboxing voice and SMS phone numbers
Outbound calls and SMS messages can be placed only on a verified phone number. The process of verifying a number is called sandboxing.
To sandbox a number in a Plivo trial account, visit Phone Numbers > Sandbox Numbers and click on Add Sandbox Number.