“Cheapest phone verification” is not the lowest advertised SMS rate. It is the cost per successful signup after failed deliveries, retries, and abandoned code screens. Missed-call credits that bill completed verification change that math.
The true cost of SMS OTP
You pay the aggregator when the message is accepted, not when the user finishes. Resends double spend. Support tickets about missing codes add staff time. If conversion drops, marketing spend is wasted on users who never pass the gate.
How Shernova charges
Shernova uses credits per successful verification on published packages. Compare those packages with your SMS estimate on the homepage. Public prices are the source of truth - this article does not list unpublished enterprise terms.
When SMS can still be cheaper
If you already have a huge SMS contract and near-perfect deliverability, switching may not win on unit price. If you are paying for retries on Egyptian mobile networks, missed-call usually wins on completed verifications.
Next step for developers
Shernova is a phone-verification layer for your app, not an end-user consumer app. Create a developer account, follow the quick start, then test the flow from the dashboard.