respond.io costs $79–$279 a month billed yearly at 1,000 contacts, but Growth and Advanced rise with the number of contacts you talk to each month: Growth is $449 a month at 10,000. For AI answers and a CRM at one flat team price, try CRMsoftware.pro (from $19 a month billed yearly for 8 users; no WhatsApp broadcasts). For the closest like-for-like platform, SleekFlow. For a low-cost WhatsApp-first plan, WATI. For an inbox that handles email as well as chat, Trengo. For sales pipelines in WhatsApp and Instagram, Kommo. For open source, Chatwoot. For Instagram and TikTok automation, ManyChat. For AI agents and voice on WhatsApp, Gallabox. For paying per message with a free inbox, Bird.
We checked every price on the vendors' own pricing pages and help centers on October 16, 2026, from a US location, billed yearly unless we say otherwise, before tax and before WhatsApp message fees. respond.io's rules come from its pricing page, help center and terms. CRMsoftware.pro is our own product, so we list its limits too. No made-up scores or tests: each tool gets its real price, its pros and cons, and who it suits.
What respond.io costs in 2026
respond.io charges a plan fee, and on Growth and Advanced the fee also depends on how many contacts you talk to each month:
| Plan | Per month, billed yearly | Billed monthly | Users included | Extra user (yearly / monthly) | Monthly active contacts | AI credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $79 | $99 | 5 | $12 / $15 | Unlimited | 5,000 |
| Growth | from $159 | from $199 | 10 | $20 / $25 | from 1,000 | from 10,000 |
| Advanced | from $279 | from $349 | 10 | $24 / $30 | from 1,000 | from 20,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited | – | Custom | from 40,000 |
- Starter gives you the shared inbox for every built-in channel (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, LINE, Viber, WeChat, website chat, email, SMS and calls) with AI Assist, prompts and summaries, but no AI agents, workflows, broadcasts or developer API.
- Growth adds AI agents, workflows, broadcasts, advanced reports, the API, Zapier, Make and n8n, and HubSpot. Advanced adds AI voice agents, Salesforce, webhooks, SSO, contact masking and multiple workspaces.
- Calls (VoIP, Messenger and WhatsApp calls) are on every plan; call recording and AI call transcripts start on Growth.
- Trial: 7 days of Growth for 5 users and 1,000 contacts, no card and no broadcasts. It ends early if you reach the contact limit.
How the price grows with contacts
| Monthly active contacts | Growth, billed yearly | Growth, billed monthly | Advanced, billed yearly | Advanced, billed monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $159 | $199 | $279 | $349 |
| 2,500 | $239 | $299 | $419 | $529 |
| 5,000 | $319 | $399 | $569 | $699 |
| 10,000 | $449 | $559 | $789 | $989 |
| More than 10,000 | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
A monthly active contact is anyone who sends or receives a message, or makes or takes a call, during the billing month. Broadcasts don't count, but outbound messages that fail to send do. If you go over your tier, nothing stops: respond.io bills $12 per extra 100 contacts on Growth and $15 on Advanced at the end of the cycle, on a separate invoice even on yearly plans. That is meant for short spikes. For a lasting rise, the next tier is cheaper: 2,500 contacts on Growth cost $239 a month on the 2,500 tier, but $339 on the 1,000 tier plus overage ($159 + 15 × $12).
Starter is the exception: it has unlimited contacts at $79, so a team that only needs a shared inbox, without AI agents or workflows, pays the same at 500 or 50,000 contacts.
AI credits: what's included
AI credits are respond.io's unit for AI use. Growth gets 10 credits per contact in its tier (10,000 at 1,000 contacts, 25,000 at 2,500), Advanced 20 and Enterprise 40, while Starter gets a fixed 5,000; self-serve tiers above 10,000 contacts get the 10,000-tier allowance. An AI agent reply uses 2–5 credits, an AI voice agent about 70 a minute, and AI Assist, a translation or a summary 1. So Growth at 1,000 contacts covers roughly 2,000–5,000 AI agent replies. AI voice agents are on Advanced only: its 20,000 credits at 1,000 contacts cover about 285 minutes of AI voice.
Extra credits cost $15 per 1,000. This overage is always on, stops at 200% of your allowance (then AI pauses until the next cycle), and unused credits don't roll over. respond.io's own pages disagree on this: its alternatives page says it "includes unlimited AI credits across all plans", and its pricing FAQ says AI comes "at no extra cost" under a fair-use policy. We used the help center's figures, which describe the overage billing.
WhatsApp fees and the October 2026 change
No respond.io plan includes WhatsApp fees. respond.io says it passes Meta's fees through "at cost, with no added markup", from a prepaid balance you top up by card ($10 to $2,000 at a time). The 5.5% card fee on top-ups is waived from October 1, 2026 until further notice. Balance refunds are full refunds only, and you must remove the WhatsApp account from respond.io to get one.
Since October 1, 2026, Meta also charges for service replies: each business number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, then pays the utility rate, and utility templates are charged from the first message. Articles that call service conversations free are out of date. If your customers have US phone numbers, Meta hasn't delivered marketing templates to them since April 1, 2025 (Canadian numbers aren't affected), so marketing broadcasts to US customers don't go out on any platform.
Is respond.io a CRM?
Not by its own description: respond.io says it "works alongside your CRM; it is not a replacement for one." It has contact records with custom fields, tags and segments, and lifecycle stages (New Lead to Customer, up to 20) that AI agents and workflows can move, but no deal pipeline. The HubSpot integration (Growth and up) syncs contacts only; support for HubSpot deals is "planned" on respond.io's public roadmap. Salesforce needs Advanced.
Why teams look for a respond.io alternative
- The bill grows with contacts. Between 1,000 and 10,000 contacts, Growth goes from $159 to $449 a month billed yearly, and Advanced from $279 to $789.
- AI agents start at Growth. Starter ($79) has no AI agents, workflows or broadcasts.
- Seats cost extra: 5 or 10 are included, then $12–$24 a month each billed yearly, or $15–$30 billed monthly.
- No deal pipeline, so most sales teams still pay for a separate CRM.
- Payments are non-refundable, including unused time, and subscriptions run to the end of the paid term.
- Compliance: respond.io lists ISO 27001 and GDPR. It doesn't claim SOC 2, and we found no published uptime SLA, which some US buyers ask for.
respond.io alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (checked Oct 16, 2026) | How you pay | WhatsApp fees | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| respond.io (for reference) | Omnichannel inbox with AI agents | $79/mo for 5 users | Plan, plus contacts from Growth | Meta's rates, no markup | No, 7-day trial |
| CRMsoftware.pro | AI answers and a CRM at one team price | $19/mo for up to 8 users | Flat per plan, AI messages included | Meta's fees apply | Yes, 3 users (website chat) |
| SleekFlow | The closest like-for-like platform | $49/mo for 3 users (Essential, rolling out); Pro $109 | Plan, plus contacts from Pro | Own rate card, plus $15 per number | No, 7-day trial |
| WATI | A low-cost WhatsApp-first plan | $59/mo for 3 users | Plan, AI agent extra | Own rate card | No, 7-day trial |
| Trengo | Email and chat in one inbox | $335/mo (€299) for 10 users | Plan, conversations and AI per conversation | Meta's rates | No, free trial |
| Kommo | Sales pipelines in WhatsApp and Instagram | $20.84/user/mo on a 1-year term | Per user | Billed by Meta | No, 14-day trial |
| Chatwoot | Open source | $19/agent/mo; free to self-host | Per agent | Your own Meta account | Yes, 2 agents (website chat) |
| ManyChat | Instagram and TikTok automation | $14/mo; Pro $29 for 2,500 contacts | Plan, plus contacts | ManyChat wallet | Yes, 25 contacts |
| Gallabox | AI agents and voice on WhatsApp | $112/mo for 3 users | Plan, yearly or quarterly | Own rate card | No, 7-day trial |
| Bird | Paying per message | Free inbox | Per message | Bird fee plus Meta's fee | Yes, inbox |
What a 5-person team pays
One realistic setup: 5 people share one WhatsApp number, one Instagram account and website chat. About 2,500 contacts write in each month, and an AI agent answers about 1,000 of those conversations (about 3,000 AI replies, at roughly 3 per conversation). Plan fee plus the add-ons this setup needs (extra AI credits or conversations, a WhatsApp number fee, extra seats), billed yearly where the vendor offers it, on the cheapest plan that fits. WhatsApp message fees come on top (see the next table).
| Tool and plan | How the bill adds up | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| CRMsoftware.pro Growth | $49 flat for 20 users and 3,000 AI messages; no contact limit on our pricing page | $49 |
| Kommo Advanced (1-year term) | 5 × $29.17, with 6,250 AI credits; Kommo doesn't publish how many credits an AI reply uses | $145.85 |
| Chatwoot Startups (cloud) | 5 × $19, plus 2,700 extra Captain AI credits at $20 per 1,000 (3 blocks); billed monthly | $155 |
| WATI Pro + Astra Pro (partial fit) | $119 for 5 users, plus $79 for the Astra AI agent (5,000 credits); Astra answers on WhatsApp and web, not Instagram | $198 |
| respond.io Growth, 2,500-contact tier | $239 for 10 users and 25,000 AI credits; 3,000 AI replies use about 6,000–15,000 | $239 |
| Gallabox Essential | $248 for 6 users and 2,000 AI credits, plus about 7,000 extra credits (about 3 per reply): two 5,000-credit packs at $10 each, or $18 each by the FAQ | $268–$284 |
| SleekFlow Pro, 4,000-contact tier | $279 (cheaper than the 2,000 tier plus 500 extra contacts at $20 per 100), plus $15 for the WhatsApp number; AI agents under a fair-use policy | $294 |
| Trengo Boost | $335 for 10 users and 500 conversations a month, plus 2,000 extra conversations at $17 per 100 ($340) and 1,000 AI conversations at $0.28 ($280) | about $955 |
| ManyChat Business (partial fit) | $69 for 7,500 contacts and 5 users, plus 2 extra inbox seats at $25; no website chat | $119 |
| Bird | Free inbox and per-message WhatsApp fees; AI agent and Instagram prices aren't published | Can't be priced |
respond.io sits in the middle here, and its price moves with contacts: at 5,000 contacts Growth is $319, at 10,000 it is $449. Flat and per-user plans don't change with contacts, but their AI allowance limits how much the AI can answer: CRMsoftware.pro Growth covers about 1,000 AI conversations a month and Scale ($99) about 3,300. Check your own numbers with our AI chatbot pricing calculator.
Then add WhatsApp. Meta's fee applies on every platform, and some vendors bill from their own rate card instead of passing Meta's rate through. US rates per message, as published by each vendor in October 2026:
| Vendor | Marketing template | Utility template | Service reply (after 1,000 free) |
|---|---|---|---|
| respond.io | Meta's rates, passed through with no markup | ||
| Kommo, Chatwoot, Trengo | Meta's rates: Kommo and Chatwoot through your own Meta account, Trengo from a prepaid Trengo balance | ||
| SleekFlow | $0.02875 | $0.00391 | $0.0034 |
| ManyChat | $0.0287 | $0.0039 | $0.0034 |
| Gallabox | $0.0287 | $0.0039 | $0.0039 |
| Bird (includes Bird's fee) | $0.030 | $0.0084 | $0.0084 |
| WATI Growth and Pro | $0.0400 | $0.0061 | $0.0041 |
Meta isn't delivering marketing templates to US numbers right now, so for US customers the utility and service columns matter most; the marketing column still shows how each vendor prices messages. Bird adds its own fee to every message, including the 1,000 service messages Meta doesn't charge for. For other countries, ask each vendor for its rate card.
The 9 best respond.io alternatives
1. CRMsoftware.pro: best for AI answers and a CRM at one team price
CRMsoftware.pro is our product, so judge this section with that in mind. Unlike respond.io, it is a CRM as well as an inbox. The AI agent answers on your website, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Messenger and Slack, with an email inbox in beta, hands over to a person, and turns each conversation into a contact and a deal in the pipeline, with bookings and AI voice in the same product. The price depends on users and AI messages, not on how many contacts write to you.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Free for 3 users and 100 AI messages a month on website chat (AI only: no human handover or unified inbox). Launch $19/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) for 8 users, 1,000 AI messages, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Messenger and Slack, human handover and a unified inbox. Growth $49 ($59) for 20 users and 3,000 AI messages. Scale $99 ($119) for 50 users and 10,000 AI messages. Each AI reply to a customer counts as one message; replies from your team don't count.
Pros: one flat price for the team, with no contact tiers; AI messages included in every plan; a deal pipeline, bookings and AI voice built in.
Cons: our pages list no WhatsApp broadcast campaigns, no TikTok, LINE, Viber, WeChat or SMS channels and no VoIP phone numbers; the email inbox is still in beta; a fixed number of AI messages per plan.
Best for: small sales and support teams whose customers write in on WhatsApp and the website, and who want the pipeline in the same place.
respond.io Growth costs $239 a month at 2,500 contacts and $449 at 10,000, billed yearly. Compare that with one flat plan for the whole team. Start free, no card needed, or see pricing.
2. SleekFlow: best like-for-like respond.io alternative
SleekFlow is the closest match to respond.io: an omnichannel inbox for WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and other messaging apps, email and calls, with AI agents, flows and broadcasts, priced by monthly active contacts. Its pricing page says all messaging, email and call channels are included on every plan.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Essential $49/mo billed yearly ($69 monthly) for 3 users and unlimited contacts, without AI agents or broadcasts; it is still rolling out by country. Pro from $109 ($139) for 10 users and 500 contacts, then $149 at 1,000, $199 at 2,000, $279 at 4,000 and $369 at 8,000 billed yearly; extra contacts $20 per 100. Several articles quote $199 as Pro's entry price, but that is the 2,000-contact tier. Premium from $279 ($349) at 1,000 contacts. Extra users $25 ($15 on Essential); each WhatsApp number $15 a month. 7-day Pro trial, no card.
Pros: the same contact-based model with a lower entry tier; AI agents on Pro; Essential has unlimited contacts.
Cons: WhatsApp messages are billed from SleekFlow's own rate card, plus $15 per number; AI limits are a fair-use policy with no published numbers; conversation export is listed only on Enterprise.
Best for: teams that like respond.io's model but want a cheaper start.
3. WATI: best low-cost WhatsApp-first plan
WATI is a WhatsApp-first inbox that also handles Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and a website widget, with broadcasts, no-code chatbots, click-to-WhatsApp ads and Shopify cart and order templates.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Growth $59/mo billed yearly ($69 monthly) for 3 users, with no extra users allowed. Pro $119 ($149) for 5 users, extra users $39. Business $279 ($349) for 5 users, extra users $89. The Astra AI agent is a separate subscription: $79 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly) for 5,000 credits, on WhatsApp and web. 7-day trial.
Pros: a low entry price for a WhatsApp-first inbox; no contact tiers; 15,000 broadcasts a month even on Growth.
Cons: WATI's rate card charges $0.0061 per US utility message on Growth and Pro, against $0.0039 at SleekFlow, ManyChat and Gallabox, and $0.04 per marketing message; Growth is capped at 3 users; the AI agent costs extra and doesn't cover Instagram.
Best for: small WhatsApp-first teams that mostly send broadcasts and notifications. See our WATI alternatives for more options in this group.
4. Trengo: best for email and chat in one inbox
Trengo puts email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other channels in one team inbox, with its HelpMate AI; voice calling is an add-on. It shows prices in euros by default; the USD prices are below.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Boost $335 a month billed yearly ($391 monthly; €299 / €349) for 10 users and 6,000 conversations a year (500 a month on monthly billing). Pro $559 ($671) for 20 users and 18,000 a year. A conversation is any reply within a 7-day window. Extra conversations $17 per 100 ($20 monthly), extra users $28 on Boost, and each AI-handled conversation adds $0.28 ($0.34 monthly). Broadcasting and voice are add-ons.
Pros: email and messaging in one inbox; 10 users included; WhatsApp at Meta's rates.
Cons: conversation caps and a per-conversation AI fee add up fast; broadcasts and voice cost extra; its pricing page still calls WhatsApp service conversations free, while its help center explains Meta's October 2026 change.
Best for: teams that handle as much email as chat.
5. Kommo: best for sales pipelines in WhatsApp and Instagram
Kommo, formerly amoCRM, is a CRM built around messaging: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and website chat conversations land in sales pipelines, with AI agents and automation. This is the deal pipeline that respond.io doesn't have.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Base $20.84, Advanced $29.17 and Pro $37.50 per user a month on a 1-year term ($25, $35 and $45 on the 6-month minimum; no monthly billing). Base includes 1 WhatsApp number and 1 Instagram account, Advanced 3 of each, Pro unlimited. AI credits: 750, 1,250 or 2,250 per user a month; AI agents start on Advanced. Meta bills WhatsApp fees to you directly. 14-day trial.
Pros: a real sales pipeline; no contact tiers (but 2,500 to 10,000 leads per user); no markup on WhatsApp.
Cons: per-user pricing; a 6-month minimum term; Kommo doesn't publish how many credits an AI reply uses.
Best for: sales teams that close deals in chat apps.
6. Chatwoot: best open-source respond.io alternative
Chatwoot is an open-source support inbox for website chat, email, WhatsApp and other messaging channels, with the Captain AI agent. You can use its cloud or host it yourself.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): the cloud Hacker plan is free for 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, website chat only. Startups $19, Business $39 and Enterprise $99 per agent a month, with all channels and 300, 500 or 800 Captain AI credits a month; extra credits $20 per 1,000, and an AI reply uses one credit. The pricing page shows no yearly discount. The self-hosted Community Edition is free; the code outside its enterprise folder is MIT-licensed.
Pros: free self-hosting and full control of your data; no contact tiers; you connect your own WhatsApp Cloud API account, so Meta bills you directly.
Cons: per-agent pricing; a small AI allowance; Startups keeps data for 1 year; self-hosting means running and updating the server, and Captain on self-hosted needs a paid plan.
Best for: technical teams that want control of their data or a free start.
7. ManyChat: best for Instagram and TikTok automation
ManyChat automates conversations on Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS and email. It is built for marketing flows and has no website chat.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): since March 2, 2026, plans are priced by active contacts. Free for 25 contacts; Essential $14/mo billed yearly ($17 monthly) for 250, without WhatsApp; Pro $29 ($39) for 2,500 contacts and 3 users; Business $69 ($99) for 7,500 contacts and 5 users; Advanced $139 ($199) for 25,000 contacts and 10 users. Extra contacts on Pro cost $0.038 each billed yearly ($0.05 monthly). Manychat AI is included from Pro. WhatsApp messages are charged from a ManyChat wallet. 14-day trial on Essential and Pro.
Pros: a low price per contact; AI included from Pro; strong Instagram and TikTok automation.
Cons: no website chat; few inbox seats (2 on Pro, 3 on Business, extra seats $25); made for marketing flows more than team support.
Best for: creators and brands that sell through Instagram and TikTok messages.
8. Gallabox: best for AI agents and voice on WhatsApp
Gallabox is a WhatsApp-first platform for capturing and qualifying leads across WhatsApp, Instagram and a web widget, with AI agents, WhatsApp calling and, on Advanced, AI voice, a lead pipeline and appointment booking.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): Basic $112/mo billed yearly ($150 billed quarterly) for 3 users (a hard cap) and 500 AI credits, with web AI agents. Essential $248 ($331) for 6 users and 2,000 credits, with AI agents on WhatsApp and Instagram. Advanced $474 ($632) for 10 users and 8,000 credits. No monthly billing. Extra AI credits cost $10 per 5,000 on the pricing page's add-on card, but $18 per 5,000 in the same page's FAQ. 7-day trial.
Pros: AI agents, WhatsApp calling and AI voice in one product; a lead pipeline on Advanced; no contact tiers.
Cons: quarterly minimum; Basic is capped at 3 users; WhatsApp messages are billed from Gallabox's own rate card.
Best for: sales teams that qualify leads on WhatsApp with AI.
9. Bird: best for paying per message
Bird, formerly MessageBird, is a messaging platform for SMS, WhatsApp, email and other channels, with a free shared inbox. You pay per message instead of per contact or seat.
Price (Oct 16, 2026): the inbox is free; channel message charges apply. US WhatsApp per message: marketing $0.030, and utility, authentication and service $0.0084, which is Bird's processing fee plus Meta's fee. Optional prepaid plans from $15 a month turn into message balance, with discounts on Bird's fee at higher levels. AI agent and Instagram prices aren't on its pricing pages.
Pros: no seat, contact or plan fee for the inbox; SMS, email and WhatsApp from one provider; prepaid volume discounts.
Cons: Bird's own fee on top of Meta's; AI pricing not published; built for high-volume senders more than small support teams.
Best for: high-volume senders who want to pay only for messages.
Also considered
- Interakt: Growth $55 a month, or $499 a year, with unlimited agents on WhatsApp and Instagram; WhatsApp AI agents are a $74.99 add-on; no website chat.
- Zoko: for Shopify stores only. Starter $49.99 a month with unlimited agents, plus a $0.015 markup per WhatsApp conversation on top of Meta's fee; AI agents from $24.99 a month plus $0.09 per resolution.
- Callbell: $15 per user a month (3 users minimum), plus WhatsApp from $22 a month, which is prepaid message credit; billed quarterly or yearly.
- ChatDaddy: Mini $59 a month, Basic $119 billed yearly ($149 monthly); "zero markup" on WhatsApp fees, but each plan includes 1,500 to 20,000 active chats, then $15 per 1,000, and template messages over the plan limit cost $9 per 1,000.
- Freshchat: Growth $19 per agent a month billed yearly, with WhatsApp; the Freddy AI Agent costs $49 per 100 sessions.
- Zendesk Suite Team: $55 per agent a month billed yearly ($69 monthly), with WhatsApp; automated resolutions beyond 5 per agent a month cost $1.50–$2.00 each.
Free and open-source respond.io alternatives
respond.io has no free plan, only a 7-day trial. These tools have one:
| Tool | Free plan | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Chatwoot | Community Edition, free to self-host; cloud Hacker plan for 2 agents | Hacker is website chat only, 500 conversations a month; self-hosting means running the server |
| CRMsoftware.pro | 3 users, 100 AI messages a month | Website chat only; WhatsApp, human handover and the unified inbox start on Launch ($19) |
| ManyChat | 25 active contacts, any 2 channels | WhatsApp starts on Pro ($29) |
| Bird | Free shared inbox | You pay per message, including Bird's fee |
| Tidio | 50 conversations a month, WhatsApp integration included | Small limits; the Lyro AI agent costs extra |
| Freshchat | Up to 10 agents | No WhatsApp on the free plan |
When to stay on respond.io
- You use many channels. respond.io covers TikTok, LINE, Viber, WeChat, SMS, email and calls next to WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and few alternatives match that list.
- You send a lot of WhatsApp messages. Meta's rates with no markup can save more than a cheaper plan when the alternative bills from its own rate card.
- You only need a shared inbox. Starter at $79 a month billed yearly has unlimited contacts.
- You need AI voice agents, several workspaces or Salesforce. They are on Advanced.
How to choose
- Count your monthly active contacts, not just users. On contact-priced tools (respond.io, SleekFlow, ManyChat), that number sets the price.
- Get each vendor's WhatsApp rate card for your customers' countries: Meta's rates (respond.io, Kommo, Chatwoot, Trengo) or the vendor's own (SleekFlow, WATI, Gallabox, ManyChat, Bird).
- Check how AI is billed: credits per reply (respond.io, Gallabox, Chatwoot), fair use (SleekFlow), a separate subscription (WATI Astra), a fee per AI conversation (Trengo), or messages included in a flat plan (CRMsoftware.pro).
- Decide where deals live. respond.io and most inboxes need a CRM next to them; Kommo, CRMsoftware.pro and Gallabox Advanced include a pipeline.
- Test with real traffic during the trial: connect one channel, run a week of conversations and read the usage page.
How to switch from respond.io and keep your data
- Export before you cancel. In the workspace's Data Export settings, owners and managers can export contacts, conversations, messages and failed messages, up to 365 days per export and one export at a time; each file is valid for 7 days. One respond.io help article says that to export more than 2,500 contacts you can filter the list or upgrade to Enterprise, while the pricing page lists Data Export on every plan, so test your export early.
- Pull extra history through the API if you need it. The developer API (Growth and up) lists messages per contact, 50 at a time, at up to 5 requests per second.
- Move your WhatsApp number. Moving a number between providers keeps the number, display name, quality rating and messaging limits, according to respond.io's own guide for teams moving in; ask the new provider which templates carry over. respond.io says a connected WhatsApp account ID can't be deleted from respond.io, but that this has no impact when you fully move to another provider. Your WhatsApp balance is refunded only in full, after you remove the account as a channel.
- Write down your setup. Note your workflows, lifecycle stages and AI agent instructions; you will rebuild them in the new tool.
- Time the cancellation. Subscription fees are non-refundable, including unused time. You keep your plan until the end of the billing cycle. Once the cancellation takes effect, respond.io stops storing incoming messages and running workflows, and flags the organization for deletion after 30 days.
FAQ
What is the best respond.io alternative?
It depends on why you are leaving. For the same model at a lower entry price, SleekFlow. For a low-cost WhatsApp-first plan, WATI. For email and chat in one inbox, Trengo. For sales pipelines, Kommo. For open source, Chatwoot. For Instagram and TikTok, ManyChat. For AI agents and voice on WhatsApp, Gallabox. For paying per message, Bird. For AI answers and a CRM at one flat price, CRMsoftware.pro.
Is respond.io a CRM?
No. respond.io calls itself a customer conversation platform and says it works alongside your CRM rather than replacing it. It has contacts, custom fields and up to 20 lifecycle stages, but no deal pipeline. It connects to HubSpot on Growth (contacts only) and Salesforce on Advanced.
What does respond.io do?
It puts WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, website chat, email, SMS and calls in one team inbox, with AI agents, workflows and broadcasts from the Growth plan. The company started in Hong Kong in 2017 as Rocketbots, is now based in Kuala Lumpur, and raised a $62.5 million Series B in June 2026.
How much does respond.io cost in 2026?
On October 16, 2026: Starter $79, Growth from $159 and Advanced from $279 a month billed yearly ($99, $199 and $349 monthly). Growth and Advanced rise with monthly active contacts, to $449 and $789 at 10,000 contacts. WhatsApp fees are extra, at Meta's rates.
Is there a free alternative to respond.io?
Yes. Chatwoot's Community Edition is free to self-host, and its cloud has a free plan for 2 agents on website chat. ManyChat is free for 25 contacts, Bird's inbox is free (you pay per message), and CRMsoftware.pro is free for 3 users with 100 AI messages on website chat. respond.io itself has only a 7-day trial.
Is respond.io cheaper than WATI?
On plan price, no: WATI starts at $59 a month billed yearly for 3 users and has no contact tiers. But WATI bills WhatsApp messages from its own rate card ($0.0061 per US utility message and $0.04 per marketing message on Growth and Pro) and sells its AI agent separately ($79 a month), while respond.io passes Meta's fees through and includes AI agents from Growth ($159). For heavy messaging and AI use, respond.io can cost less overall.
Is SleekFlow better than respond.io?
They work the same way: both price by monthly active contacts and include AI agents on mid-tier plans. SleekFlow starts lower (Pro $109 at 500 contacts, $149 at 1,000, against respond.io Growth at $159 for 1,000), but bills WhatsApp from its own rate card plus $15 per number and lists conversation export only on Enterprise, while respond.io passes Meta's fees through at cost.
Does respond.io mark up WhatsApp fees?
No. respond.io says WhatsApp fees pass through from Meta at cost, with no added markup. You pay them from a prepaid balance, and the 5.5% card fee on top-ups is waived from October 1, 2026 until further notice.
Sources
- respond.io: pricing, alternatives page, Terms of Service, security, pricing at scale FAQ, CRM FAQ, switching providers FAQ, HubSpot deals roadmap, Series B announcement, about, checked Oct 16, 2026.
- respond.io help center: billing and usage, AI credits, WhatsApp fees, data export, contacts, lifecycle stages; developer API (list messages).
- WhatsApp pricing changes: respond.io, Trengo, WATI; US marketing pause: WATI, ManyChat.
- Pricing pages checked Oct 16, 2026: SleekFlow (and WhatsApp rates, fair use), WATI (and Astra), Trengo, Kommo (and WhatsApp billing), Chatwoot (and self-hosted, license), ManyChat, Gallabox (and rate card), Bird, Interakt, Zoko, Callbell, ChatDaddy, Freshchat, Zendesk, Tidio, CRMsoftware.pro.
AI answers and a CRM, one price for the team
An AI agent that answers on your website, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, a unified inbox and a deal pipeline, with no contact tiers or per-seat fees. Free for 3 users; Launch is $19/month billed yearly for 8 users and 1,000 AI messages, Growth $49 for 20 users and 3,000 AI messages.
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