How to Cancel Twilio in 2026 — Close Account + Stop Pay-As-You-Go Charges

Last updated: February 2026 • Difficulty: Medium

Why Twilio Bills Keep Coming

Twilio's pay-as-you-go model bills for:

• Phone numbers: $1.15/month per US local number, $2/month per toll-free
• Short codes: $1,000/month — the most expensive zombie charge in SaaS
• Active messaging: Even test messages cost $0.0079 each
• Add-ons: Lookup, Verify, SendGrid email — each bills separately
• Sub-accounts: Each sub-account can hold numbers billing independently

Step 1: Release All Phone Numbers

Before closing, release every number to stop per-number charges:

1. Go to Console → Phone Numbers → Manage → Active Numbers
2. Click each number → scroll down → "Release this number"
3. For bulk release: use the Twilio CLI: twilio phone-numbers:list then twilio phone-numbers:update PNXXXXXX --status released
4. Check sub-accounts too — each can hold numbers you've forgotten

Step 2: Port Numbers You Want to Keep

If you have numbers with real business value, port them out BEFORE canceling:

• To another carrier: Initiate port-out with the new carrier, provide Twilio account SID
• To Telnyx/Vonage: Both accept ports from Twilio in 1-3 business days
• Port-out request: Console → Phone Numbers → Port & Host → Create Port Out
• ⚠️ Porting takes 5-15 business days — don't close the account until it completes

Step 3: Cancel Add-On Services

Twilio has multiple products that bill independently:

• SendGrid: Cancel separately at sendgrid.com (it's a separate billing entity)
• Twilio Segment: Also separate billing — cancel via Segment dashboard
• Elastic SIP Trunking: Delete all trunks before closing
• Conversations/Flex: Disable in Console → each has its own usage charges

Step 4: Close Your Twilio Account

1. Go to Console → Settings → General
2. Scroll to the bottom → "Close Account"
3. Confirm by typing your account SID
4. Download your final invoice for tax records

Step 5: Remove API Keys + Revoke Tokens

Even after closing, revoke access to prevent accidental reactivation:

• Remove Twilio API keys from your codebase and environment variables
• Delete TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID and TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN from all deployments
• Revoke API keys in Console → Settings → API Keys
• Remove any webhook URLs pointing to your servers

Free and Cheaper Alternatives

• Telnyx: 50-70% cheaper per-minute rates, same API style, better for voice
• Vonage (Nexmo): Competitive pricing, especially for international SMS
• Amazon SNS: $0.00645/SMS in US — cheapest for bulk notifications
• Firebase Cloud Messaging: Free push notifications (replaces many SMS use cases)
• WhatsApp Business API: Free for 1,000 service conversations/month

The Math: What Zombie Twilio Costs