WATI vs Interakt vs AiSensy vs Gallabox: WhatsApp API pricing

Starleads wrote this guide. Starleads sells business contact lists and is not one of the tools compared here. Facts about the tools come from their own websites, checked on 20 October 2026; prices change, so check before you buy.

The quick answer

To message customers at scale on WhatsApp, an Indian business uses the WhatsApp Business Platform (the "API") through a provider such as WATI, Interakt, AiSensy or Gallabox. You pay twice: a monthly or yearly fee to the provider, and a charge for each message, set by Meta by message type and passed on by the provider. All four publish rupee prices. One rule matters more than any price: WhatsApp lets a business message only people who have opted in, so a purchased contact list can't be loaded straight into WhatsApp. You call or email those contacts first and ask.

Which one to pick

• WATI: a team that wants a shared inbox, broadcasts and AI agents across WhatsApp, Instagram and other channels, and a 7-day free trial.
• Interakt: a small business that wants WhatsApp campaigns and a shared inbox at a low quarterly or yearly price, with message rates printed on the pricing page.
• AiSensy: a business that wants to start free and pay only when it begins broadcasting, from ₹1,500 a month.
• Gallabox: a sales team that wants AI agents, drip campaigns and two-way CRM integrations, billed quarterly or yearly.

What Meta charges per message

Meta's pricing page explains the second half of the bill. Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered message, by category and by the country code of the recipient's number. Messages from customers to you are free. Messages you start must use an approved template in one of three categories: marketing (offers, new stock, promotions), utility (order, payment and account updates) and authentication (one-time codes). Free-form replies, called service messages, are allowed only within 24 hours of the customer's last message.

Meta's rupee rate card for messages to Indian numbers, effective 1 October 2026, lists marketing at ₹0.8631, and utility, authentication and service at ₹0.115 each. Two changes took effect that day: Meta resumed charging for service messages, with the first 1,000 a month free for each business number, and for utility messages sent within the 24-hour window. Messages to a customer who came from a Click to WhatsApp ad can be free for up to 7 days. Meta says it changes rates only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October.

Providers publish their own per-message rates, which can differ from Meta's list rate, so compare them along with the plan fee.

WhatsApp API providers compared

Prices are as shown on the providers' own pricing pages on 20 October 2026. Where a page doesn't mention GST, we don't say whether it is included.

WATI

WATI pricing in rupees has three plans, each billed monthly, quarterly or annually. Growth is ₹2,999 a month billed monthly, ₹2,699 billed quarterly or ₹2,199 billed annually, for 3 users with no extra users, up to 15,000 broadcasts a month and 2 commerce or CRM integrations. Pro is ₹6,499, ₹5,799 or ₹4,899 a month for 5 users (extra users ₹1,299 each a month), with unlimited broadcasts and 5 integrations including HubSpot. Business is ₹18,499, ₹16,799 or ₹14,799 a month for 5 users, with Salesforce and extra WhatsApp numbers.

WATI combines a team inbox, chatbots, broadcasts and AI agents across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and web chat. It offers a 7-day free trial and no setup fee. Limits: message charges are extra and vary by category; WATI lists them in a rate card file rather than on the page, and an extra WhatsApp number is ₹2,499 a month. Suits: support and sales teams that want AI help in the inbox.

Interakt

Interakt comes from Jio Haptik Technologies Limited, according to its website. Interakt pricing is shown "+taxes", with discounts for quarterly (8%) and yearly (20%) billing. Read the Starter plan carefully: on monthly billing (₹999 a month) it covers Instagram only. For WhatsApp, Starter is ₹3,499 a quarter or ₹11,999 a year, with bulk WhatsApp campaigns and a shared team inbox. Growth is ₹2,799 a month, ₹7,699 a quarter or ₹26,399 a year, and adds chatbot flows, catalogs, payments and public APIs. Advanced is ₹3,799 a month, ₹10,499 a quarter or ₹35,999 a year, with branching chatbots and auto-assignment. Enterprise is on request.

Its pricing page prints message rates for Indian numbers per plan: marketing ₹0.970, ₹0.958 and ₹0.949 on Starter, Growth and Advanced, and utility ₹0.160, ₹0.150 and ₹0.140. Enterprise lists "No Markup Charges". All plans allow unlimited contacts and agents. Limits: no monthly WhatsApp plan below Growth, and an AI agent add-on costs ₹3,000. Suits: small businesses running regular campaigns on a budget.

AiSensy

AiSensy pricing starts with a Free Forever plan at ₹0: the WhatsApp Business API on your number, a live chat dashboard, ₹50 of conversation credits and 1,000 free service messages a month, but "Broadcasting is not available" on it. Paid plans, billed monthly, are Basic at ₹1,500, Pro at ₹3,200, Premium at ₹9,100 and Unlimited at ₹45,000 a month, with 5% off quarterly and 10% off yearly (Basic becomes ₹1,350 a month, ₹16,200 a year). Enterprise is custom.

Basic includes broadcasting and retargeting, 1 owner and 5 agents (extra agents ₹750 a month each), template message APIs and Shopify and WooCommerce integrations. Pro adds a campaign scheduler, click tracking and CSV campaign scheduling. AiSensy lists its own rates for Indian numbers from 1 October 2026: marketing ₹1.09, and utility, authentication and service ₹0.145. An Indian virtual number for the API costs ₹2,000 + GST a year. Limits: chatbot flows (₹2,500 a month) and the AI agent (₹1,350 a month) are add-ons. Suits: businesses testing WhatsApp before committing.

Gallabox

Gallabox pricing is quarterly or yearly; yearly saves 20%. Basic is ₹2,399 a month billed annually or ₹2,999 billed quarterly, for 3 users (a hard cap), one WhatsApp number, Instagram and web chat, chatbot flows and up to 10,000 broadcast contacts a month. Essential is ₹5,599 or ₹6,999 a month for 6 users and adds AI agents on WhatsApp, drip campaigns and two-way CRM integrations including Zoho, LeadSquared and HubSpot. Advanced is ₹13,599 or ₹16,999 a month for 10 users, with AI voice and lead pipeline management. Enterprise is quoted.

The trial runs 7 days with no card, 500 AI credits and ₹200 of conversation credits; there is no free plan. Gallabox says WhatsApp fees "are charged by Meta and reflected on your invoice with our markup". Limits: no monthly billing, and the LeadSquared and HubSpot integrations start at Essential. Suits: sales teams that want WhatsApp tied into their CRM.

Opt-in: the rule that decides who you can message

WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy, last updated on 23 September 2026, lets a business contact people only if they have given it their number and it has received "opt-in permission from the recipient". Users can block or report businesses, and WhatsApp says its systems may limit how many messages a business can send based on that feedback. Messaging "people at scale in an unauthorized manner" can cost a business its access.

So a purchased contact list, from us or anyone else, must not be messaged on WhatsApp until each person has agreed. "Bulk WhatsApp message software" that sends from ordinary numbers to people who never opted in breaks these terms, and WhatsApp can limit or remove the sender's access. The honest route is slower and lasts:

1. Call or email first. Introduce your business and offer something useful, such as a rate list.
2. Ask for permission. "Can I send our rate list and new stock updates on WhatsApp, on this number?"
3. Record the yes. Note the date and how they agreed, and tag the contact as opted in.
4. Only then add them to your WhatsApp platform, and honour every request to stop.

The DND register covers calls and SMS, not WhatsApp, so a call to ask permission must follow the DND rules. Our WhatsApp marketing guide for B2B covers templates and opt-in in more detail. This is general information, not legal advice.

How to choose

• Total monthly cost. Add the plan fee to your expected messages times the provider's per-message rate. Marketing messages cost far more than utility ones.
• Billing period and GST. Interakt shows prices "+taxes"; the others don't say for their plans. Gallabox has no monthly plan, and Interakt's monthly Starter covers Instagram only.
• Users and numbers. WATI Growth and Gallabox Basic stop at 3 users; AiSensy Basic includes 5 agents; Interakt allows unlimited agents.
• CRM link. If your leads live in a CRM, check that the plan you can afford connects to it. See our CRM comparison.
• Opt-in records. Prefer a platform where you can import contacts with an opt-in tag and see opt-outs.

Where a leads database fits

A WhatsApp platform makes it easy to stay in touch with buyers who have agreed to hear from you. It doesn't create those buyers. For a manufacturer or wholesaler, growth needs a steady supply of new dealers and distributors to call, and the WhatsApp list grows from those calls.

A Starleads list is an Excel file of businesses by industry, state and city, with the share of rows that have a mobile number, an email and an address shown before you buy, and 60 sample contacts free. Our Suppliers & Distributors list for India has 1,01,800 contacts in 362 cities; 96% of rows have a mobile number to call and 26% an email. The Dealers & Traders list has 93,784 more.

Suppliers and distributors in the biggest cities:

• Mumbai 21,302 contacts · 20% email · 95% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 14,465 contacts · 23% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Pune 8,508 contacts · 27% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Jaipur 6,722 contacts · 19% email · 97% mobile ₹499

A routine that respects the rules:

1. Download the Excel file and keep business name, contact name, mobile, email and city.
2. Load it into your calling tool or CRM, not into WhatsApp. Our cloud telephony comparison covers dialers.
3. Call, or email those with an address, and ask for WhatsApp permission. Our telecalling scripts include a line for it.
4. Export only the contacts who said yes, with the date, and import them into the WhatsApp platform as a tagged audience.
5. Send utility messages for orders and payments, and marketing messages sparingly.

Use the list builder for any mix of trades and cities. Prices: ₹499 for a city, state or specialisation list, ₹1,999 for a large All-India list, with no GST added.

What Starleads doesn't do. The data is compiled from business directories and similar sources, so not every row has an email or a named person, and contact details change. There is no look-up of one named executive, no CRM integration or API (you import the Excel or CSV file), payment is by UPI or bank transfer confirmed by hand, and the lists cover India only. A list carries no WhatsApp opt-in: that you collect yourself.

What it costs: a worked example

A distributor with two sales staff has 200 dealers who agreed to WhatsApp updates and sends each of them 4 marketing messages a month, 800 messages in all:

• AiSensy Basic: ₹1,500 + 800 × ₹1.09 (₹872) = ₹2,372 a month, before any tax the page doesn't show.
• Interakt Growth, monthly: ₹2,799 + 800 × ₹0.958 (₹766.40) = ₹3,565.40 a month, plus taxes.
• WATI Growth, monthly: ₹2,999 plus messages at its rate card.

To grow the 200, add a list: a city list costs ₹499, and the Mumbai list of suppliers and distributors has 21,302 contacts. For example, if 1 in 10 dealers you call agrees to WhatsApp updates, 2,000 calls bring 200 new opt-ins. These are round example numbers, not a forecast.

Our verdict

AiSensy is the only one of the four with a free plan, and has the cheapest monthly plan with broadcasting at ₹1,500. Interakt's WhatsApp Starter costs less still if you pay quarterly (₹3,499) or yearly (₹11,999), plus taxes, and its message rates are printed openly. WATI suits teams that want AI and several channels in one inbox, and Gallabox suits sales teams that want WhatsApp joined to their CRM. With any of them, Meta's per-message charges come on top, and the opt-in rule applies before the first message.

Questions people ask

What is the WhatsApp Business API price in India?

Meta's list rates for Indian numbers from 1 October 2026 are ₹0.8631 per marketing message and ₹0.115 per utility, authentication or service message, with 1,000 service messages a month free. Providers add a plan fee: ₹0 on AiSensy's free plan (no broadcasts), and ₹1,500 to ₹2,999 a month for the cheapest monthly plans that allow broadcasts. They also publish their own per-message rates.

WATI vs Interakt: which is cheaper?

On monthly billing, Interakt Growth (₹2,799 + taxes) costs less than WATI Growth (₹2,999). On yearly billing they are almost level: WATI Growth is ₹2,199 a month (₹26,388 a year) and Interakt Growth ₹26,399 a year plus taxes, while Interakt's WhatsApp Starter is ₹11,999 a year. WATI Growth caps users at 3; Interakt allows unlimited agents.

What are good WATI alternatives?

Interakt, AiSensy and Gallabox are the closest. If you also need calling, MyOperator and Exotel sell WhatsApp alongside business phone plans.

Can I send bulk WhatsApp messages to a purchased list?

No. WhatsApp's policy requires each person's opt-in first. Call or email the contacts, ask permission, and message only those who agree.

Is AiSensy free?

Its Free Forever plan costs ₹0 and includes the API and 1,000 free service messages a month, but no broadcasting. Paid plans start at ₹1,500 a month.