# What is Twilio Flex?

Twilio Flex is a [digital engagement center for Sales and Service](/docs/glossary/what-is-a-cloud-contact-center) that provides a single user interface and native channels to manage personalized, omnichannel customer experiences. It enables you to deploy the *exact* customer experience your business needs by simplifying the orchestration of data, channels, and integrations in a single pane of glass. You can customize every layer of your deployment including the call flow, routing, queue assignment, pre-agent experience, agents' skills and capacities, UI layout, and more. Flex consists of a set of backend services that are hosted on Twilio's cloud, and a React-based frontend that can be hosted on your own infrastructure and used to augment existing on-premise technology with cloud-based functionality.

The fastest way to try out Flex is to [create a new project](https://www.twilio.com/console/projects/create?g=/console/flex/setup\&t=96e837a3b43a8c7981af899eaae92b968887485e3f454d330a821ab7c8738d5e) from the Twilio Console and access Flex at `flex.twilio.com`.

## Twilio products powering Flex

![Flex ecosystem with supervisor tools, partner extensibility, tailored deployments, and developer tools.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/7d4817dab33d965e9342624baf5e2c30a31e5fef0b70af384d6728173f2b2f2b.png)

Flex leverages the entirety of Twilio's cloud communications platform, including services like Twilio Functions (Serverless functions), Twilio TaskRouter (attributes-based routing), Twilio Pay (PCI-compliant payments), and Twilio's Super Network (Global Connectivity). This means that as Twilio's platform improves, Flex inherits those improvements.

## Features and supported channels

Flex has built-in support for inbound (or customer-initiated) voice calls and messaging communication channels (SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WebChat). Flex also supports custom channels that you can implement, such as custom in-app chat, email, and video. While outbound messaging requires additional work, outbound (or agent-initiated) domestic and international calls are now possible using the [Flex Dialpad](/docs/flex/admin-guide/setup/voice/dialpad).

One key feature of Flex is its **programmability**, enabling use cases like:

* Adding your own **custom channels**, and managing, routing, and reporting all of them through Flex.
* Customizing the UI as you like. Add custom widgets, configure the look and feel, or apply your brand to it.
* Integrating **data** from your own custom sources (like CRMs) to provide contextual intelligence to agents.
* Integrating contextual information from your own data sources to build **custom routing logic**.
* Controlling the **call flow** programmatically with the Studio drag-and-drop interface.
* Defining custom logic that triggers conditionally before or after an agent handles a task.

For a more comprehensive overview of Flex's features and benefits, see the [Flex product page](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/flex).

## Flex pricing

There are two ways to start using Flex:

* Create a dedicated Flex account
  * Once you create your Flex account, it starts in a trial state. After [upgrading your account](https://help.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/223183208-Upgrading-to-a-paid-Twilio-Account) (you need to [accept Flex's Fair Usage Policy](https://twilio.com/console/flex/fair-usage-policy) with your new account selected and add a payment method), you get **5,000 free Flex Active User Hours** as part of the trial.
  * Once you're ready to go into production, you can choose between **Named User Pricing** and **Active User Hour Pricing**.
* Add Flex to your existing paid Twilio account from the Flex **Overview** page.
  * Once you add Flex to your account, all Flex features are available to you.
  * This option uses **User + Usage Pricing**.
  * This option doesn't include a free trial, so you incur Flex charges as you start using Flex features.

For more information about pricing plans, see [How Does Twilio Flex Pricing Work?](https://help.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010715454-How-Does-Twilio-Flex-Pricing-Work-).

## Next steps

Learn more about Flex core concepts and setup by visiting the following docs:

* [Core Concepts](/docs/flex/admin-guide/core-concepts/introduction)
* [Contact Center Setup](/docs/flex/admin-guide/setup)