ZeroSettle vs Blooio: iMessage API plans and limits (2026)

How we compared ZeroSettle and Blooio

We compared ZeroSettle and Blooio on six criteria, from each vendor's public pages as of October 8, 2026: price of a number that can start conversations, shared vs dedicated numbers, outbound limits, channels, webhooks and AI, and bans and refunds. ZeroSettle wrote this page, so every Blooio fact comes from Blooio's own pages, linked where it appears and in the Sources list.

For background, see what an iMessage API is and how providers work, or 14 iMessage API options compared.

ZeroSettle vs Blooio at a glance

ZeroSettle costs less for one number that can message first ($49 vs $289 a month) and refunds within 30 days; Blooio costs less to try, covers more channels and has more messaging features.

ZeroSettle cells come from the ZeroSettle API docs and zerosettle.io. Other vendors are on the iMessage API comparisons hub.

Shared vs dedicated: what you get at each price

At Blooio, the plan decides whether the number is yours: Starter and Commercial Shared send from shared pools, Inbound is dedicated but reply-only, and Commercial Dedicated at $289 a month is the cheapest plan with a number of your own that can start conversations and show Name & Photo. At ZeroSettle every number is your own: Pro is one number with your name and photo for $49 a month.

Blooio limits run per rolling 24 hours (Acceptable Use Policy); "Unlimited" is still subject to safety controls, outbound limits and opt-outs (pricing page). Enterprise per-line steps: Blooio's pricing notes.

Blooio's pricing page says "Shared plans use managed shared pools. Dedicated plans use numbers isolated to your workspace." Its pricing notes define a shared number as one "from a managed pool. The sender number may vary between messages," though its number-pool guide says ongoing conversations "prefer the same sender the contact already knows." Shared numbers also keep their limits: they "cannot be uncapped by customers because their Apple trust may affect other accounts" (messaging safety guide).

ZeroSettle's card is a brand name of up to 64 characters (the contact's first name) and a JPEG or PNG under 3 MB, ideally square and 600 px or larger. ZeroSettle shares the card with the first message of every conversation and again after you change it; recipients see "<name> shared a name and photo with you", and sharing never counts as a new contact. Blooio's card takes a first and last name and a photo of about 1 MB at most.

Cost at one, three and six numbers

ZeroSettle is cheaper for one number; for fleets it depends on ZeroSettle's Growth quote.

Blooio multiples are our arithmetic from Blooio's per-line prices (pricing page; Enterprise steps in its pricing notes). Enterprise Dedicated drops below Commercial Dedicated from four lines ($272 vs $289). A Blooio custom area code is $75 one-time; ZeroSettle does not document an area-code choice.

ZeroSettle Pro is "No setup fee · Cancel anytime", self-serve, with unlimited messages with people who message you first and 1,000 AI credits a month. Growth lists "3+ phone numbers", "Cold outreach to 3,000+ new contacts a month", "Dedicated support" and 5,000 AI credits; you book a demo and get a signup link. See ZeroSettle's plans or iMessage API pricing compared.

How do outbound rules compare?

Blooio sets daily first-message caps only on its shared plans and allows 3 plain-text messages per chat before the first response. ZeroSettle caps new contacts on every plan (5 a day per number on Pro, 50 per number on Growth) and allows 2 unanswered messages per contact on every plan.

Limit math: 300 first texts a month

Say a sign-up form brings in 300 people a month who asked to be texted: about 10 a day, plus one 40-person day.

• Blooio Starter (5 a day) reaches about 150 in 30 days and falls behind.
• Blooio Commercial Shared (15 a day) covers normal days; on the big day, 25 wait.
• Blooio Commercial Dedicated ($289) has no daily cap. But the big day lifts its three-day average above 10 new chats a day, and if fewer than 40% of new chats get a written reply, Blooio slows the number and can pause new chats.
• ZeroSettle Pro ($49) allows 5 a day per number, about 150 in 30 days, so it falls behind too; the rest get 429 new_contact_limit with retry_after_s until 3 AM Eastern. Growth (50 a day per number) covers this volume. On either plan, anyone who texts your number first is never limited.

For a lead who never answers, ZeroSettle refuses a third unanswered message on every plan (messages sent within 5 minutes of the first count as one), because "repeated messages to people who never answer are the fastest way to get a number flagged by Apple."

Both vendors require consent. Blooio's Acceptable Use Policy says "The Service is not a cold-outreach tool." ZeroSettle's docs say "ZeroSettle suspends lines used for unsolicited messaging. If you are unsure whether you have consent, you don't." Consent rules vary by country, so check yours with counsel. This isn't legal advice.

Webhooks, channels and AI

Webhook security is a tie: ZeroSettle and Blooio both sign webhooks with HMAC-SHA256 over a timestamp and the raw body. Blooio covers more channels; ZeroSettle hosts an AI agent, while Blooio has you bring your own model.

ZeroSettle sends X-ZeroSettle-Signature: t=<unix>,v1=<hex>, an HMAC-SHA256 of "<t>." + raw body with your secret (300 s tolerance, constant-time compare, raw bytes verified before parsing); the secret is shown once and rotates on re-registration. Blooio's X-Blooio-Signature uses the same form over {timestamp}.{raw_body}, with 300 seconds in its example. So the verifier from ZeroSettle's webhooks, step by step checks both during a migration; payloads still differ.

# verify.py: one signature check while ZeroSettle and Blooio run side by side
import hashlib, hmac, os, time

def verify(secret: str, header: str, raw_body: bytes, tolerance: int = 300) -> bool:
    try:
        parts = dict(p.split("=", 1) for p in header.split(","))
        t, v1 = int(parts["t"]), parts["v1"]
    except Exception:
        return False
    if abs(time.time() - t) > tolerance:
        return False
    expected = hmac.new(secret.encode(), f"{t}.".encode() + raw_body, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()
    return hmac.compare_digest(expected, v1)

def verify_request(headers, raw_body: bytes) -> bool:   # headers: case-insensitive mapping
    if headers.get("X-ZeroSettle-Signature"):
        return verify(os.environ["ZEROSETTLE_WEBHOOK_SECRET"], headers["X-ZeroSettle-Signature"], raw_body)
    if headers.get("X-Blooio-Signature"):
        return verify(os.environ["BLOOIO_WEBHOOK_SECRET"], headers["X-Blooio-Signature"], raw_body)
    return False

Channels and voice messages

Blooio's v4 API reference (version 4.0.0-beta) lists "Sending surfaces (iMessage/Blooio, Twilio, WhatsApp, RCS, Apple Messages for Business)", and its AI-bot guide says the API "picks the best available channel per recipient." ZeroSettle is iMessage only: "The address must be on someone's iMessage; there is no SMS or email fallback." SMS fallback for non-Apple phones and group chats are on its roadmap; conversations are one-to-one, and Android visitors need an email or chat fallback.

Voice messages are a tie. Blooio sends a lone audio file "as a voice memo (the native waveform/scrubber bubble)" (send message reference). ZeroSettle sends up to 6 MB (m4a, mp3, wav, aiff, caf, flac, aac, mp4 or amr, which it converts) as Messages' native audio bubble with a waveform, a play button and a transcript. Neither carries a caption: on ZeroSettle you send text or audio_b64, never both.

AI

ZeroSettle's hosted AI agent, "Managed by AI Agent" (Beta), needs no server: "our hosted agent answers every inbound text on the group's lines, from your business context." Each text it sends uses one AI credit. A line group is either agent-run, which refuses your own sends, or "Managed by API", where inbound texts go to your webhook and your own model answers. We found no hosted agent on Blooio's pricing page or docs; its AI-bot guide has you bring "an LLM API key (OpenAI / Anthropic / Google)", or drive Blooio through its hosted MCP server.

What happens if a number is banned or flagged?

ZeroSettle replaces a flagged number at no extra charge; Blooio's docs say "Apple bans cannot generally be reversed," and its pricing notes list "Auto-unbanning" only under Enterprise Dedicated. Both cut off customers who message people without consent, so replacement covers ordinary use, not misuse.

ZeroSettle reports that "across more than 10,000 messages a week we have seen it happen only twice." What customers see during a replacement is in what happens if your iMessage number is flagged.

When ZeroSettle is not a fit: where Blooio is the better choice

Blooio is the better choice for a cheap trial, more channels, more features or fleet pricing.

• You want to try before paying $49: 20 free messages, or Starter at $39 on a shared number. ZeroSettle has no free trial.
• Some recipients use Android, or you need WhatsApp or Apple Messages for Business. ZeroSettle has no SMS fallback.
• You need group chats, polls or location features, scheduled messages or voice calling and FaceTime (some only on higher plans; FaceTime on request). ZeroSettle offers none of them.
• You run a fleet or want control of the number: $195 per line at six or more lines, $75 custom area codes, and number porting ("charges may apply"). ZeroSettle numbers stay ZeroSettle's.
• You want packaged integrations (HighLevel, HubSpot, n8n, Make, Zapier) or idempotent sends (an Idempotency-Key header honored for 24 hours).
• One number must start more than 5 conversations a day on the entry plan (50 on ZeroSettle Growth). Blooio's dedicated plans are "Unlimited" under safety controls.
• You need a contractual SLA, which Blooio offers in a signed Enterprise Order Form. ZeroSettle publishes none.

When ZeroSettle is the better choice

ZeroSettle is the better choice when you want your own branded number that can message first for $49 a month instead of $289.

• Your own number on the entry plan: 5 first messages a day from a dedicated number with your name and photo, against 5 or 15 from Blooio's shared pools.
• Unlimited messages with people who message you first, and no per-message fees.
• Name and photo on every plan and a hosted AI agent (Beta) that needs no server.
• A 30-day money-back guarantee (Blooio refunds only if no messages have been sent), and a flagged number replaced at no extra charge.

To start, get a ZeroSettle Pro number or read the ZeroSettle API docs. Another rival's rules are in ZeroSettle vs LoopMessage.

How we checked

We read every page in the Sources list on October 8 or 9, 2026, quoted Blooio only from its own pages, and did not test a paid Blooio plan.

• Prices come from Blooio's pricing page; the free trial, Enterprise per-line steps, "Auto-unbanning" and the uptime target appear only in its Markdown version (the pricing notes), so those cells link it.
• Where Blooio's pages disagree, we used the pricing page: its llms.txt lists Inbound at $109 a month; the pricing page says $98.
• Blooio's status page showed "All services are online", 100% uptime per component, and scheduled maintenance on July 16, July 17 and August 4, 2026.
• ZeroSettle facts come from its API docs, homepage and terms. We re-check quarterly; next review January 2027.