How Much Does a WhatsApp Chatbot Cost? Verified Prices by Tool Type
A WhatsApp chatbot in 2026 costs anywhere from $0 to $500 a month depending on the family of tool: marketing flow builders start at $29/month (ManyChat Pro, the first tier that includes WhatsApp), WhatsApp API platforms run €59–279/month (Wati) plus Meta's per-conversation fees, CRM inboxes cost $25–45 per user (Kommo), AI-agent builders charge $40–500/month by message credit (Chatbase), and Meta's first-party Business Agent has no published price — early access is gated, not sold. There is no meaningful free tier that includes WhatsApp: the channel always costs money once real customers message you. Budget rule: entry price × your message volume, because per-message fees — not the subscription — decide the invoice.
The short answer
There is no WhatsApp chatbot "menu price" — the tool family decides the invoice. Verified against official pricing pages in September 2026:
| Tool family | Published entry price | The catch, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Flow builders (ManyChat) | Free tier exists; WhatsApp needs Pro, from $29/mo | Free plans cover Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, Telegram — not WhatsApp |
| WhatsApp API platforms (Wati) | Growth €59/mo (3 users) | "Additional charges apply for messages" — Meta's conversation fees arrive separately |
| CRM inboxes (Kommo) | Base $25/user/mo | AI credits are metered per user per month |
| Support desks (Crisp) | Free (2 seats, no AI); omnichannel AI bot at Plus $295/mo | The AI chatbot sits behind the fourth tier |
| AI-agent builders (Chatbase) | Hobby $40/mo (700 message credits) | Credits expire monthly; $40 per 1,000 extra |
| Meta Business Agent (first-party) | No published price; rolling access | Answers — but cannot write to your booking book or POS |
The tool families, priced line by line
ManyChat publishes a free tier and an Essential plan at $14/month — but neither includes WhatsApp. WhatsApp only enters at Pro, from $29/month for 2,500 active contacts, with roughly $0.05 per extra active contact. It is a flow-builder: menus and campaigns, not a booking agent that acts inside the conversation.
Wati is a WhatsApp Business API platform (BSP): inbox for your team, broadcasts, no-code flows. Growth €59/month with 3 users, Pro €119, Business €279, billed annually. The pricing page itself warns: "additional charges apply for messages" — Meta bills conversation fees on top, so your invoice = platform + traffic.
Kommo sells a CRM with a WhatsApp inbox at $25/35/45 per user/month (Base/Advanced/Pro), 14-day trial without a card. Price scales with seats; AI credits are metered per user.
Crisp has a genuinely free desk (2 seats) — but the AI omnichannel chatbot lives at Plus, $295/month flat per workspace, with extra agents at $10/month. 14-day trial.
Chatbase is an AI agent trained on your docs, with WhatsApp as an output channel: Hobby $40/month (700 message credits), Standard $150 (4,000, adds helpdesk, voice and telephony), Pro $500 (15,000). Credits refill monthly; extra credits $40 per 1,000; removing branding $99/month. On the free plan, agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity.
Meta's Business Agent — the first-party AI agent inside the WhatsApp Business app — trains on your business content, answers 24/7 and hands off to a human. It is rolling out to eligible businesses in select markets and publishes no price on the page. It covers the responding half of the job; it does not consult your reservation book, register the table in your POS or take a deposit inside the chat.
Every figure above was read from the vendor's own pricing page in September 2026. Per-message fees — Meta conversation rates, extra credits, per-contact overages — are published separately by each vendor and scale with traffic.
The same month, priced on real usage
Take a small restaurant or salon running 200 customer conversations a month and pay each route:
| Route | What you pay that month | What that invoice cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Kommo Base, 2 users | $50 + metered AI credits | Book into your reservation book |
| ManyChat Pro | From $29 + $0.05 × extra contacts | Conversations above campaign flows |
| Wati Growth | €59 + Meta conversation fees | Act without your team in the inbox |
| Chatbase Hobby | $40 (700 credits) | Restock itself — 200 heavy months exhaust 700 credits |
| Crisp Plus | $295 | Justify itself before 4 tiers of desk |
| Mesabot Starter | €89, all channels + voice pack optional | — writes the booking into the book and takes the deposit inside the chat |
The pattern: subscriptions for generic bots start at $29–59 and meter on top; booking-native agents cost more and meter nothing, because the reservation they write is the return.
Four checks before you budget any chatbot
- Does the free tier include WhatsApp? For ManyChat it does not; Chatbase's free tier deletes idle agents after 14 days; Crisp's free seats ship without AI credits. "Free" almost always means free on some other channel.
- What does each message cost above the plan? Wati points to Meta's rate card; ManyChat charges $0.05 per extra active contact; Chatbase sells credits at $40/1,000. Entry price is the floor, not the invoice.
- Does the bot answer or does it act? Meta's native agent answers from your content; a booking agent writes into the reservation book, charges the deposit in-chat and confirms in the customer's language. The second one replaces work; the first one deflects it.
- Does the trial let you test the channel you are buying? Kommo and Crisp give 14 days; Wati's published tiers assume annual billing. If the trial cannot run over WhatsApp with real customers, it is a demo.
In summary
A WhatsApp chatbot costs from $29/month for a flow builder that includes WhatsApp, €59–279/month for an API platform plus per-message fees, $25–45 per user for a CRM inbox, $40–500/month for an AI agent by credits — and $0-but-gated for Meta's native agent that answers but does not act. The cheapest bot is rarely the cheap one: per-message fees and dead-end conversations are the real cost. If the bot should do something — book the table, take the deposit — see our guide to WhatsApp chatbots for business, the vendor-by-vendor best restaurant booking software comparison, and how our own Mesabot prices a booking-native agent at €89/month with a 15-day trial, no card.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a WhatsApp chatbot cost per month?+
Verified published prices (September 2026): ManyChat from $29/month once WhatsApp is included (Pro, 2,500 active contacts, ~$0.05 per extra contact), Wati €59/119/279 per month billed annually plus Meta's per-conversation message fees, Kommo $25–45 per user/month, Crisp free for 2 seats without AI up to $295/month for the omnichannel AI chatbot, and Chatbase $40–500/month by message credit. Meta's first-party Business Agent publishes no price — access is gated, not sold.
Is there a free WhatsApp chatbot?+
Not for real use of the channel. ManyChat's free and $14 tiers cover Instagram, TikTok, Messenger and Telegram but not WhatsApp; Chatbase's free plan caps you at 50 message credits and deletes agents after 14 days idle; Crisp's free desk ships without AI credits; Meta's Business Agent is free where available but only answers — it cannot write to your booking book or POS. The channel itself always carries per-conversation costs once customers message you.
Why do WhatsApp chatbot prices vary so much?+
Because the tool families bill for different things: flow builders bill active contacts, API platforms bill the subscription plus Meta's conversation fees, CRM inboxes bill per seat, and AI-agent builders bill message credits. The same 200-conversation month can cost $29, $50, €59-plus-fees or $40 depending on the family — which is why the entry price alone is the wrong way to budget.