Customers ask about price, delivery and order status on WhatsApp, and the chats pile up on one shared phone where staff step on each other. If you are comparing these two, you are probably a small team that has outgrown that phone and wants a shared inbox. The worry is the bill: seats, contacts and message fees each run on their own meter.
Both tools are affiliate partners of ours: we may earn a commission if you sign up through a button on this page, at no extra cost to you. That is why we also say when to pick neither.
| Wati | respond.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Price we read | Growth €59/mo billed annually (€69 monthly), 3 users included (read 12 Sep 2026) | |
| Entry price | Growth €59/mo billed yearly, €69 monthly, 3 users (read 12 Sep 2026) | Starter $79/mo billed yearly, $99 monthly, 5 users (read 11 Oct 2026) |
| How you pay | Plan plus extra seats (€39 on Pro, €89 on Business) and metered add-ons; Meta fees on top | Plan plus monthly active contacts from Growth up; extra users $12 to $24 a month yearly |
| Free plan or trial | 7-day free trial, no setup fee | 7-day trial with Growth features, no card, without broadcasts |
| Best for | WhatsApp support and broadcasts with a shared team inbox | Small teams answering WhatsApp, Instagram and other chats in one inbox |
| Main catch | Growth sells no fourth seat; automation, AI credits and extra numbers bill extra | Starter has no workflows, broadcasts, AI Agents or API; those start at Growth |
Your customers are mostly not on WhatsApp and your message volume is small. Wati's plan fee plus message costs is not worth it for a trickle, and respond.io's omnichannel plan is more than a single-channel inbox needs.
Look at Freshchat instead. Our Wati dossier names Freshchat for businesses whose customers are mostly not on WhatsApp. Read our Freshchat review.
A team of six on yearly billing. Wati: Growth stops at 3 users, so you need Pro with 5 users plus one extra seat: €119 + 1 × €39 = €158 a month (read 12 Sep 2026), before Meta's per-conversation fees and metered add-ons. respond.io: Starter with 5 users plus one extra: $79 + 1 × $12 = $91 a month, but with no workflows or broadcasts; Growth includes 10 users at $159 a month (read 11 Oct 2026), before contacts above its starting 1,000. Wati served us euros and respond.io dollars, so we did not convert between them.
Growth, €59 a month billed yearly or €69 monthly, 3 users (read 12 Sep 2026). If you are already three people, price Pro at €119 a month from day one.
Start with Wati →Growth, $159 a month billed yearly or $199 monthly (read 11 Oct 2026), if automation is the goal. Starter at $79 only if a shared inbox is all you need.
Start with respond.io →No. Meta's per-conversation fees are the same on every tier. Upgrading buys seats, automation triggers, AI credits and extra numbers, and those are metered too.
A contact who sends or receives a message (broadcasts excluded), or makes or receives a call, in the billing month. Above your tier, extra contacts are billed per block of 100, and the rate is not printed (Billing & Usage article, read 11 Oct 2026).
No. Wati's help article (read 25 Oct 2026) says importing existing chat history is not supported, apart from a one-time sync during WhatsApp Coexistence onboarding.
We were served euros from 14 Aug 2026 on, while our 23 Jul 2026 dollar reading gave Growth $39, Pro $79 and Business $199 billed yearly. Take the figure from your own checkout.
On 31 Oct 2026 the trial ran 7 days on Growth with no card. The CSV import would not continue without a phone number column, so we added the contacts by hand. We did not connect WhatsApp.
Wati: wati.io/pricing read 12 Sep 2026 and its help article on exporting chat history read 25 Oct 2026; buyer reports from G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and Shopify App Store, Aug 2026. respond.io: respond.io/pricing and its Billing & Usage help article read 11 Oct 2026, and our trial test of 31 Oct 2026. Prices change: each one carries the date we read it, and our reviews are re-checked against the vendor pages. How we review.
Built for a specific kind of business? Software for agencies