See why AI agents choose SV Number over OP
OP gives an agent one phone number of its own. SV Number gives it a new private number for every signup, in 211 countries, charged only when the verification code arrives.
What OP is, and where it is strong
OP is a mobile carrier for AI agents, built on the US operator Tello. An agent gets one American number and uses it to receive OTP codes, hold SMS conversations and place calls.
They are good at a permanent identity: the same number sends, receives and stays reachable, which is exactly what an agent needs when it talks to the same people over weeks. That is a real product doing a real job, and this page does not pretend otherwise.
The difference is the job. A carrier number is the agent's phone identity. SV Number is built for the moment an agent needs to create an account: a clean number in the country the service expects, the code read straight from the API, and the number released the minute it is done.
SV Number against OP, point by point
Everything in the OP column comes from their own public pages, read on 06 August 2026. Two rows go their way, and they are in the table for the same reason the rest are.
| What you are comparing | SV Number | OP |
|---|---|---|
| Countries the number can come from | 211 countries | United States only |
| Services with a ready code | 1094 service codes | not applicable: one general-purpose phone number |
| Who else sees the incoming code | nobody: the number is yours for the activation | on the free tier the number is shared and replies fan out to other users |
| How you pay | per code that arrives, no subscription | $0 shared, or $10 per month for a dedicated number |
| Daily message cap | no daily quota in the documentation; 150 requests per second | 50 SMS a day free, 1000 a day paid |
| When no code arrives | no code in 20 minutes and the money returns to the balance | the monthly fee is already spent |
| Can the agent get access on its own | yes, the key comes from the account profile | no, an OTP goes to a human's personal phone and the agent has to ask for it |
| Number per signup | a new one on every request | the same number every time |
| Longer-lived number | rent from a day | monthly lease |
| API style | the method names used across this market, so most existing clients need only a new base URL | own API, two credential types for two surfaces |
| Outbound SMS | no | yes |
| Voice calls | no | beta: the call connects, the uploaded audio is not played yet |
| Skill for agent runners | yes | yes |
Everything above was read on 06 August 2026 from what OP publishes themselves: OP coverage, OP pricing, OP API documentation. Prices and coverage on their side can change after that date.
Three differences that decide it
A number from the country the service expects
OP hands out American numbers, because it runs on an American carrier. That is fine until the service your agent is registering with checks where the number is from: an Indonesian marketplace, an Indian delivery app, a Brazilian bank. From SV Number the agent picks the country in the request, and the same call works for every one of them.
Pay for the code, not for the month
A dedicated OP number costs $10 every month whether the agent verifies a hundred accounts or none. Here the money moves only when a code arrives. When nothing arrives, cancelling returns it. For a workload that comes in bursts, that is the whole difference between a fixed bill and a bill that follows the work.
The agent starts on its own
Signing up for OP means an OTP lands on a human's personal phone and the agent has to ask them to read it back. Every fresh environment repeats that dance. With an API key in the environment, an SV Number agent orders its first number without anyone in the room.
When OP is the better choice
Three cases where we would point you at them instead.
- Your agent needs to send SMS, not just receive them.
- Your agent has to take or place phone calls.
- One recognisable American number matters more than reach, because people text it back and expect the same number to answer.
Nothing stops you running both: a permanent number for the conversations, SV Number for the accounts the agent has to create along the way.
Questions people ask when comparing the two
Is SV Number a replacement for OP?
Why does the country of the number matter?
What does OP's shared number mean in practice?
A fresh number for every signup, wherever the service is
Top up once, hand your agent the key, and let it verify accounts on its own.