Twilio Segment is Twilio’s customer data infrastructure. It is sold in two forms: a Customer Data Pipeline, branded Connections, and a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that bundles “Connections, Unify, and Engage”.[1] Segment is licensed by the number of end customers whose data it processes, not by the number of staff who use it. Twilio states that both plans “are priced based on monthly tracked users (MTUs)”, “so cost scales with real reach, not seat count”.[1] The Twilio Terms of Service govern Segment, and Segment’s former terms address now redirects to them.[9] Catalog proof: MTUs count unique userIds plus unlinked anonymousIds per month.
Editions
Connections (Customer Data Pipeline)
| Plan | Price | MTUs (“visitors/mo”) | Notable limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | USD 0 | 1,000 | 2 sources, 1 warehouse, 1 sync per day, 10 seats |
| Team | Starts at USD 120 per month | 10,000 | Unlimited sources, public API, 2 syncs per day, 10 seats, credit card, monthly or annual |
| Business | Custom | Custom volume | Unlimited seats, custom throughput, invoice, HIPAA eligibility (BAA required), regional EU or US, Protocols add-on |
Source: Connections pricing, “current as of August 2026”.[2] Team pricing “starts at $120/month for 10,000, then adds $10 per 1,000 visitors beyond that”. Annual billing “lets you buy MTUs at a lower rate than month-to-month”, and the plan comparison advertises savings of up to 20% for annual terms.[2] Catalog proof: Segment Team: USD 120 for 10,000 visitors, then USD 10 per 1,000.
Customer Data Platform
The CDP adds identity resolution, unified profiles, audiences, journeys and predictive AI to Connections. It is priced on MTUs with “Custom volume”, unlimited seats, invoice payment and custom pricing through sales.[1] AI predictions, recommendations and generative audiences are included in a CDP plan, but are add-ons on a Pipeline plan, as is Protocols for data governance.[1] The pricing overview describes Unify and Engage as “included in CDP plans”, and Protocols as an add-on to Connections Business or CDP plans.[10] Catalog row: Twilio Segment Customer Data Platform.
Metrics
Monthly tracked user (MTU)
Segment’s documentation says its “usage-based model bills against three metrics: API calls, monthly tracked users (MTUs), and, on some plans, throughput.”[3] The MTU count works as follows:
- Segment “counts the number of unique userIds, and then adds the number of unique anonymousIds that were not associated with a userId during the billing period”.
- It counts these IDs across all calls from all sources in the workspace over a billing month.
- “Segment only counts each user once per month, even if they perform more than one action or are active across more than one source.”[3]
Anonymous traffic drives the count. A visitor who browses a website and a mobile app without logging in counts as two MTUs, one per anonymousId. If they log in on both during the month, they count as one, because both anonymous IDs attach to one userId.[3] The Connections FAQ adds that an MTU is “any unique user Twilio Segment collects data on in a billing month (identified or anonymous)”.[2] Catalog row: Monthly tracked user (MTU).
The documentation lists what does and does not add MTUs:
| Data path | Effect on MTUs |
|---|---|
| Library sources (web, mobile, server) | Count, deduplicated by userId and anonymousId |
| Cloud event sources | Can increase MTU counts, because events carry user IDs |
| Cloud object sources | Count as objects toward throughput rather than MTUs |
| Events blocked by a Protocols Tracking Plan | Do not count, unless violation forwarding is on (one extra MTU in total) |
| Reverse ETL extraction | Does not count; sending through the Segment Connections destination does |
Source: MTUs, Throughput and Billing.[3] Catalog proof: Reverse ETL extraction does not count toward MTUs.
API calls, objects and throughput
Each data blob sent to Segment’s API endpoint “is considered one API call”. A plan’s throughput limit “tells you how many API calls and objects Segment allows you per MTU”. Twilio’s example is a limit of 250: a 10,000 MTU plan then allows 2.5 million API calls and objects a month, aggregated across the workspace.[3] Batching does not reduce throughput usage. Cloud sources count one object per record retrieved, “even if the same records are retrieved multiple times in a given billing period”. Twilio suggests a less frequent sync cadence if this causes overage.[3] Business plans “often have custom limits”.[3] Catalog rows: Segment API call and object; Throughput limit caps API calls and objects per paid MTU.
Engage uses compute credits. In the documentation’s example, a user in one audience, with one computed trait and in one Journeys step accounts for three compute credits. Compute credits are tied to the trait, audience or step, not to each individual user.[3] Destination functions are charged by execution time.[3]
Seats
Seats are included rather than sold: 10 on Free and Team, unlimited on Business and the CDP.[2][1] The Team trial “includes … 10 seats, and 10,000 MTUs”.[4] Catalog proof: Segment Free and Team include 10 seats; Business unlimited.
Counting / floors
Overage and true-up
On the monthly Team plan, billing starts the day after the 14-day trial and recurs monthly. On the annual Team plan, the customer is billed at the end of the trial “for the amount of an entire year of service including a specific number of MTUs”. “Annual plan subscribers are billed for MTU overages at the end of each monthly cycle.”[4] The annual commitment is therefore a floor, not a cap. Usage above it is invoiced monthly. The workspace Usage page shows the plan’s included volume, current-period usage and any overage, by source, for the last five billing periods and a 12-month overview.[3] Catalog proof: Annual Segment plans are billed for MTU overage monthly.
Free and Developer plan lockouts
The free plans enforce their limits by locking the workspace instead of billing overage:
- Once in six months. Exceeding 1,000 MTUs on Free locks the account, but “data is still able to flow through Segment”. The lock lifts after a month without overage, or when the customer starts a Team trial.[4]
- Twice in six months. The account is locked and data stops flowing until the customer upgrades.[4]
The Twilio Developer Plan applies the same rule at 10,000 MTUs. It is available to holders of an active Twilio account and limited to one warehouse destination.[6] Catalog proof: Exceeding the Free plan MTU limit locks the workspace; Twilio Developer Plan allows 10,000 MTUs to one warehouse.
Cancellation and refunds
Cancelling or downgrading during the trial costs nothing. Cancelling a monthly Team plan mid-period produces a final prorated bill for the USD 120 base plus any MTUs over 10,000. “Segment doesn’t issue refunds for the pre-paid portion of your annual bill after your trial ends.”[4] Data that keeps flowing after notice of cancellation can still create overage charges. Twilio advises deleting the workspace or cycling write keys.[4] Catalog proof: Annual Segment plans are billed for MTU overage monthly.
Workspace, not user, is the licensed unit
“The workspace is where the subscription is managed”. Deleting a user account does not cancel it. Data keeps flowing and charges continue until the workspace itself is deleted, which happens irrevocably five days after the request.[5] Workspaces cannot be merged, but sources can be transferred between them.[5] MTUs are counted per workspace, so the same person tracked in two workspaces counts in each. This is an inference from the per-workspace definition. Catalog proof: Segment subscriptions belong to the workspace, not the user account.
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. Business and CDP customers can choose a regional Segment instance (EU or US).[2] Source transfers to an EU workspace are not supported across regions.[5]
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable. Segment is a hosted service. A data warehouse is optional, and Reverse ETL from the customer’s warehouse does not count toward MTUs unless routed through the Segment Connections destination.[1][3]
Programs
- Twilio Developer Plan. 10,000 MTUs and one warehouse destination for active Twilio users, against 1,000 MTUs on Segment’s Free plan.[6]
- Segment non-profit discount. “A $120 per month discount on our monthly Team plan, which typically covers 10,000 MTUs per month”, applied by support on proof of status. Coupons may be a percentage or a fixed amount. When a promotion ends, the bill returns to the normal rate.[7] Catalog proof: Non-profits get USD 120 per month off the Segment Team plan.
- Team trial. 14 days with all Team features. Customers who have never had a Team plan are eligible, including those on Free. If payment details were added, the subscription continues automatically after the trial.[4]
- Order Forms. Business and CDP plans are contracted, with invoice payment. The Twilio Terms of Service govern them (see Twilio Terms of Service and Order Forms).[1][9]
Service level
The Segment Data Ingestion API SLA targets 99.99% availability for the identify, track, page, screen, group and alias endpoints, calculated per minute over a calendar month. Scheduled maintenance is capped at five hours a month.[8] There is a special termination right. After a confirmed failure in two consecutive months, or in any three of six, the customer may terminate the affected part of its Segment Order Form and receive a refund of prepaid fees.[8] Catalog proof: Segment ingestion SLA gives a special termination right.
Out of scope
Legacy API-volume Segment plans, destination partners’ own fees and data protection terms are not covered. Segment does not bill for SMS and email sent from Engage Channels; that usage is billed in the linked Twilio and SendGrid accounts.[3]