{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "wati",
 "name": "Wati",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "wati.io",
 "category": "Communication & Voice",
 "task": "WhatsApp, SMS & social messaging",
 "summary": "WhatsApp Business API platform for sales and support: shared team inbox, bulk broadcasts and no-code chatbots — plus Astra, its AI agent builder for agents that actually resolve conversations (orders, refunds, bookings, lead qualification) across WhatsApp, web and voice. Its omnichannel inbox now also carries TikTok DMs natively (all plans, no extra cost) alongside Instagram and RCS — with ad-to-chat context that shows exactly which TikTok ad triggered a conversation. It now ships its own MCP server as well: connect Claude or ChatGPT once and manage contacts, send WhatsApp campaigns, read past chats and build agents in plain language, while sends still run on your own approved templates and the full history stays in the Wati dashboard. Wati's own page puts the cost like this: free for current paid Astra customers with no usage cap during launch, and full MCP access on every Astra plan for new customers (checked 4 Aug 2026).",
 "best_for": "businesses that want to run WhatsApp support and broadcasts at scale with a shared team inbox and automation",
 "skip_if": "your customers aren't on WhatsApp or your volume is tiny — the platform fee plus per-message costs aren't worth it for a trickle",
 "honest_knock": "The plan price is the smallest part of the bill. Growth is capped at three users and you cannot buy a fourth at any price, so growing past three people forces the jump to Pro; from there extra seats are €39 each, and €89 each on Business, on the euro storefront we have been served since August (our July dollar reading of the same two lines was $24 and $69). Automation triggers, AI co-pilot credits, the Astra AI agents, the Shopify link and every additional WhatsApp number are all separately metered, and Meta's per-conversation fees land on top of the lot. Model your real message volume and seat count before committing — that is where the money actually goes.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "€59",
  "entry_price_terms": "per month billed annually (€69 monthly), 3 users included",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(re-verified 2026-09-12, read on their own pricing page — which again served us euros, not dollars) Growth €59/mo, Pro €119/mo and Business €279/mo billed annually, or €69, €149 and €349 billed monthly, with a 7-day free trial and no setup fee. Users are capped per tier: Growth includes 3 and lets you add none at all; Pro and Business include 5, with extra seats at €39 and €89 per user per month. Add-ons are separate again — 1,000 automation triggers €35/mo, 1,000 AI co-pilot credits €25/mo, Shopify $4.99/mo, each extra WhatsApp number €29/mo — and the Astra AI agents, which the page describes as deployable to web, WhatsApp and voice, are an add-on priced separately. Our dollar reading of the same page on 23 July 2026 gave Growth $39, Pro $79 and Business $199 annually, so which currency and which figure you see depends on where Wati places you — check your own checkout.",
  "verified_at": "2026-09-12",
  "source_url": null,
  "schema_offer": null,
  "source_quotes": null
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "evidence": "Users are capped per tier: Growth includes 3 and lets you add none at all; Pro and Business include 5, with extra seats at €39 and €89 per user per month.",
   "verified_at": "2026-09-12",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "usage_metered",
   "label": "Usage-metered",
   "evidence": "Add-ons are separate again — 1,000 automation triggers €35/mo, 1,000 AI co-pilot credits €25/mo, Shopify $4.99/mo, each extra WhatsApp number €29/mo — and the Astra AI agents, which the page describes as deployable to web, WhatsApp and voice, are an add-on priced separately.",
   "verified_at": "2026-09-12",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "Add-ons are separate again — 1,000 automation triggers €35/mo, 1,000 AI co-pilot credits €25/mo, Shopify $4.99/mo, each extra WhatsApp number €29/mo — and the Astra AI agents, which the page describes as deployable to web, WhatsApp and voice, are an add-on priced separately.",
   "verified_at": "2026-09-12",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Interakt or a direct Meta BSP",
  "why": "other WhatsApp API providers"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/wati.json",
  "review": "https://zerotouchsupport.com/wati-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/wati/",
  "vendor_site": "https://wati.io"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://affiliates.wati.io/pzd090owoazz",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "Being verified: free trial and refund terms are not yet matched to a verbatim line on the vendor's own pages. Not matched does not mean there is none.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "verification": {
  "price": "read",
  "free_trial": "being_verified",
  "refund": "being_verified"
 },
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "wati:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "wati:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "wati:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "wati:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": {
   "what": "Wati MCP: one connection that lets Claude or ChatGPT manage contacts, send WhatsApp campaigns, read past chats and build AI agents in plain language. Sends go out on the same official number and approved templates, and the full history stays in the Wati dashboard.",
   "plan": "Free for all current paid Astra customers, with no usage cap during launch. New customers get full MCP access on every Astra plan.",
   "status": "Live",
   "source": "https://www.wati.io/page/products/mcp",
   "checked": "2026-07-28",
   "note": "The vendor's own MCP server, from our MCP research; it works with your own account at the vendor."
  },
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}