WATI is an official Meta Business Solution Provider with a strong shared team inbox and chatbot builder. WhatSender is a bulk-sending workspace that skips the API entirely.
The short answer
Pick WhatSender if you want to start sending today from your existing number at ₹300/month with no Meta approval and no per-message charge. Pick WATI if you need a shared team inbox, chatbots, a green tick, and official API delivery — and can absorb both a subscription and Meta’s per-message rates.
| Factor | WhatSender | WATI | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | ₹300/month, flat | ₹999 one-time pay-as-you-go signup (credited back as message credits); subscription tiers above that | WhatSender |
| Per-message fees | None — the plan price is the whole cost | Yes — message-based rates per WATI’s rate card, on top of subscription (model changed 1 July 2025) | WhatSender |
| Meta approval needed | No — connect by QR scan | Yes — Business API verification, typically 5–7 days | WhatSender |
| Number type | Your existing WhatsApp number | WhatsApp Business API number | WhatSender |
| Free tier | Free forever: 50 messages/day, 100 contacts, no card | 7-day trial | WhatSender |
| Shared team inbox | Single unified inbox, no agent routing | Multi-agent inbox with assignment, tags and tracking | WATI |
| Chatbot / automation builder | Scheduled multi-step campaigns; no visual bot builder | No-code chatbot builder, lead qualification, AI add-on | WATI |
| Ecommerce integrations | API-first; wire your own store hooks | Shopify abandoned cart, catalog and order templates built in | WATI |
| Analytics | Delivery, read and campaign analytics | Campaign and agent analytics | Even |
| REST API | Included from the Business plan | Included | Even |
| Green tick (official business account) | Not available | Available via Meta verification | WATI |
| Account restriction risk | Real — unofficial automation, mitigated by warm-up and daily caps | Lower — official API number, policy-enforced instead of restricted | WATI |
| Billing currency | INR, UPI and cards via Razorpay | Mixed — additional user seats priced in USD | WhatSender |
WATI figures checked 22 July 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice — confirm on their site before deciding.
WATI’s bill has two parts: the platform subscription and Meta’s per-message charges, which WATI moved from conversation-based to message-based billing on 1 July 2025. The subscription is the number on the pricing page; the per-message rate is the number that scales with how much you actually send.
WhatSender has one part. Because sending goes through a regular WhatsApp number rather than the Business API, there is no Meta conversation or message charge to pass on. A campaign to 5,000 contacts costs the same as a campaign to 50 — the plan price. That is the whole comparison in one line, and it is why the gap widens as volume grows rather than staying fixed.
The honest counterweight: WATI’s pricing buys official delivery infrastructure. You are paying Meta for a channel that will not be restricted for automating messages, because the automation is sanctioned.
WATI onboarding runs through WhatsApp Business API verification — a Facebook Business Manager, business documents, number registration, and template approval before the first broadcast. Typical time to live is 5–7 days, longer if verification documents bounce.
WhatSender connects by scanning a QR code from the dashboard, the same flow as WhatsApp Web. First campaign in minutes. If your question is "can I send this festival offer this week", that is the deciding difference.
If several people answer customer messages, WATI wins on the inbox. Assignment, tagging, agent performance tracking and routing are built for a support desk; WhatSender’s inbox assumes one operator.
If you need a chatbot that qualifies leads without a human, or deep Shopify hooks for abandoned carts, WATI ships those as product. Building the same on WhatSender means using the REST API and writing the logic yourself.
And if the green tick matters to how customers perceive you — a jewellery brand, a clinic, a financial service — only the official API route can deliver it.
WhatSender drives a regular WhatsApp number through an automation layer rather than Meta’s official API. That is why there is no approval queue and no per-message fee — and also why there is no green tick, and why a number that blasts cold contacts can be restricted by WhatsApp. Warm-up limits and daily caps exist to manage that risk, not to remove it.
For most Indian SMBs, yes — but the reason matters more than the number. WhatSender is ₹300/month flat with no per-message charge. WATI charges a subscription plus per-message rates from its rate card, so the gap grows with volume rather than staying fixed. At very low volume with heavy team-inbox use, WATI can be the better value.
Yes. WATI passes through message-based charges by category on top of the subscription, having moved from conversation-based billing on 1 July 2025. Rates vary by country and message type; service messages remain free. Check WATI’s rate card for current India rates.
Not as-is. WATI requires a WhatsApp Business API number, and migrating an existing number to the API means giving up the WhatsApp app on that number. WhatSender connects to the number you already use by QR scan, and the app keeps working.
It can be restricted, yes. WhatSender automates a regular WhatsApp number, which is not officially sanctioned automation. Warm-up periods, daily caps and rate limiting reduce the risk, and messaging people who expect to hear from you reduces it far more — but the risk is real and does not exist on WATI’s official API path.
The free plan sends 50 messages a day with no card and no approval queue. Paid plans start at ₹300/month.
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