# CPaaS

> CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) is a cloud platform selling programmable SMS, voice, email and chat through APIs, usually to enterprises on contracts and volume tiers.

CPaaS providers bundle many channels behind one account: SMS, voice calls, email, WhatsApp, video. They serve companies that want one vendor and one contract for all communications, often with account managers, compliance teams and negotiated pricing.

The trade-off is the onboarding: identity and business verification, sender registration programmes, sandbox before production, and quotes rather than a printed price. For a team that only needs SMS delivered, most of that breadth is paid for and unused.

At SMSMeteor: the product is SMS only, with a published rate per destination and no verification step. The [comparison page](https://smsmeteor.com/compare) explains who should still pick a CPaaS.

Related terms: [SMS gateway](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/sms-gateway), [KYC (Know Your Customer)](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/kyc), [REST API (SMS)](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/rest-api)

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Source: https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/cpaas (HTML). Generated by SMSMeteor from the same data as the page. Summary of the whole site: https://smsmeteor.com/llms.txt