A Wati alternative where the AI does the selling
Wati is one of the most widely used WhatsApp platforms anywhere: a shared team inbox, broadcasts across WhatsApp, RCS, and SMS, and a deep integration ecosystem, on the Shopify App Store since 2020. The structural difference is what the AI is for, and as of August 2026 there is a second difference: Wati's AI agent is no longer part of a Wati plan. It is a separately priced product called Astra, from $99 per month on top of a Wati Pro or Business subscription. Wati's AI answers FAQs and assists your agents, metered by credits, on plans that also meter seats, automation triggers, and broadcasts, with different prices on its site and its Shopify listing. Our AI is the salesperson: it shows products, builds carts, hands over checkout links, recovers carts, and confirms COD orders, included in flat conversation tiers from $29 per month. Here is the honest side-by-side, including where Wati is ahead.
Last updated
Wati at a glance, checked August 2026
- The AI agent is now sold separately: wati.io's Pro card reads "Astra AI Agents: Create and deploy AI Agents to web, WhatsApp and voice (Astra add-on, priced separately)". Astra is its own subscription, from $99 per month, and Wati's docs say it needs a Wati Pro or Business plan underneath.
- Team-inbox heavyweight: a shared multi-agent inbox is the core product, with broadcasts across WhatsApp, RCS, and SMS, drip campaigns, opt-in widgets, and integrations up to HubSpot on Pro and Salesforce on Business.
- Established Shopify presence: "Wati: AI Chat & Abandoned Cart" has been on the App Store since 11 September 2020, holding 3.7 stars across 112 reviews as of August 2026.
- Two price lists that disagree: $49/$99/$249 monthly on wati.io ($39/$79/$199 per month billed annually) versus $69/$149/$349 on its Shopify listing, with different bundles, different seat prices, and different published overage rates in each.
- Many meters: user seats ($24 to $59 each on the site, $89 on the listing, none addable on Growth), automation triggers (1,000 to 5,000 per month free, then $25 for another 1,000 up to $1,325 for 100,000), Astra AI credits, AI Co-pilot credits (250 to 1,500 per month), broadcasts capped at 15,000 per month on Growth and unlimited on Pro and Business, message charges by country on top, and a $4.99/month Shopify integration add-on on site plans.
The AI agent is now a separate purchase, called Astra
This is the biggest change on Wati's pricing since our last check, and it is easy to miss because the plan names did not change. Wati's website no longer bundles an AI agent into the Pro plan. The Pro card lists "Astra AI Agents: Create and deploy AI Agents to web, WhatsApp and voice (Astra add-on, priced separately)". Astra carries its own price list: Free at $0 with 100 credits, Pro at $99 per month ($79 billed annually) with 5,000 credits, and Business at $399 per month ($319 billed annually) with 25,000 credits. Wati's documentation states that Astra requires a Wati Pro or Business plan, so it is an addition to the plan fee rather than an alternative to it.
The arithmetic follows: a merchant who wants an AI answering customer questions pays for both products. Wati Pro at $79 per month on annual billing plus Astra Pro at $99 per month comes to $178 per month, before seats, before automation-trigger overage, and before Meta's per-message charges.
Astra's credits are not consumed evenly either, which is what makes the meter hard to budget for. Wati's published rates are 1 credit per simple action or text response, 3 credits for a rich text response (images, PDF, table, docs) and actions, and 5 credits per minute of a voice agent call. Extra credits are $20 per 1,000. A conversation where the AI sends a product image and a spec PDF costs three times what a plain text answer costs, so the monthly bill does not follow from a customer count in any obvious way.
And Wati's two price lists disagree about all of this. Its Shopify App Store listing still advertises an "AI agent for FAQs and product assistance" as a feature bundled into the Pro plan, while wati.io sells that same agent separately as Astra. We are not inferring intent here: those are the vendor's own two published price lists, read on the same day, saying different things about whether the AI is included in what you buy. That is worth stating plainly, and worth resolving with Wati's sales team in writing before you subscribe from either place.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Wati | Us |
|---|---|---|
| AI that sells in chat (catalog connected, carts, checkout) | Not advertised, and no longer in the plan. On wati.io the AI agent is a separate product, Astra, from $99 per month on top of a Wati Pro or Business plan, and it handles FAQs and product assistance. The plan itself carries only a credit-metered AI Co-pilot for human agents. The Shopify listing still shows the AI agent as a bundled Pro feature | Yes, core product: product cards, carts, and your store's own checkout links, included on every tier |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Yes, core of its Shopify app, with drip campaigns | Yes, timed reminders with resume links, and the AI answers the objection in the same thread |
| COD confirmation before dispatch | Yes, COD verification automation is advertised | Yes, Confirm and Cancel buttons with the decision tagged on the order |
| Order updates | Yes, confirmation and shipping notifications | Yes, confirmation, shipped with tracking, delivered |
| Broadcast campaigns and segmentation | Yes, core product, across WhatsApp, RCS, and SMS, capped at 15,000 per month on Growth and unlimited on Pro and Business | Not yet. If bulk campaigns are your first need today, Wati serves it and we do not |
| Shared team inbox | Yes, the core product, with per-seat pricing | Single-operator dashboard today; no team inbox yet |
| Voice agent | Yes, through Astra, metered at 5 credits per minute of call | No. WhatsApp chat is the whole surface we cover |
| Store platforms | Platform-agnostic with widgets and integrations; Shopify via its app or a $4.99/month add-on | Native Shopify and WooCommerce apps, POS in early access, and selling without a website |
| Billing meters | Plan fee, Astra subscription, Astra AI credits, seats, automation triggers, AI Co-pilot credits, broadcasts on Growth, API calls, messages by country | One: conversations. A chat session counts once, whatever the AI does in it |
Pricing comparison, checked August 2026
| Wati | Us | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $49 per month on wati.io ($39 per month billed annually, 3 users, no extras addable), or $69 per month on its Shopify listing | $29 per month flat, same price everywhere |
| Cheapest plan that can run an AI agent | Wati Pro at $99 per month ($79 annual) plus an Astra subscription at $99 per month ($79 annual), because Astra requires Pro or Business. That is $178 per month at annual billing. The Shopify listing instead advertises the AI agent inside its $149 Pro plan | The selling AI is included from $29 per month |
| AI metering | Astra AI credits: 100 free, 5,000 on Astra Pro, 25,000 on Astra Business, extra credits $20 per 1,000. Burn rate is 1 credit per simple action or text response, 3 credits for a rich text response (images, PDF, table, docs) and actions, and 5 credits per minute of voice agent call. Separately, the plan's AI Co-pilot for agents runs 250 to 1,500 credits per month by tier | No AI meter; a conversation counts once, however much the AI talks |
| Automation triggers | 1,000, 2,000, or 5,000 per month included by tier, then $25 per month for another 1,000 triggers, $50 for 2,000, $225 for 10,000, and $1,325 for 100,000. The Shopify listing publishes a different rate again: automation $40 per 1,000 credits and AI $30 per 1,000 credits | No trigger meter; automations run as often as your orders do |
| Extra fees | Extra users at $24 (Pro) to $59 (Business) per user per month on wati.io, or $89 per user per month on the Shopify listing, broadcast caps on Growth, $4.99/month Shopify add-on, message charges by country | No seat, trigger, or credit fees; upgrade the tier when you outgrow it |
A note on fairness: Wati's annual entry price is $39 per month against our $29, so the gap at the door is one plan feature, not a chasm, and its team inbox, multichannel broadcasts, voice agent, and integration catalog are all far beyond anything we ship today. The comparison is structural, not a scoreboard. Wati prices the humans (seats), rations the automation (triggers, credits, broadcasts), and as of August 2026 sells the AI itself as a second subscription; we price the customer conversations and include the automation. Which model is cheaper depends entirely on whether people or AI do your selling. The full anatomy of a WhatsApp bill is in our WhatsApp API pricing guide.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Wati if
Your WhatsApp operation is a human team: agents in a shared inbox, drip campaigns and broadcasts across WhatsApp, RCS, and SMS, and CRM integrations up to Salesforce. It is an established, widely integrated platform, and it now reaches further than chat, into web and voice, through Astra. Just price the AI as a second subscription rather than a plan feature, and get in writing which of Wati's two price lists you are actually on.
Choose us if
You want the AI to be the salesperson rather than a support sidekick, and you want it in the price rather than bolted on: catalog answers, carts, real checkout links, packaged cart recovery and COD confirmation from $29 per month flat, with one meter and no seat, trigger, or credit fees, native on Shopify and WooCommerce, POS in early access, or with no website at all. And you can live without broadcasts and a team inbox for now, because we do not have them yet.
Wati alternative questions
How much does Wati cost?+
As of August 2026, wati.io lists Growth at $49, Pro at $99, and Business at $249 per month, or $39, $79, and $199 per month billed annually, while its Shopify App Store listing shows Growth $69, Pro $149, and Business $349 per month, so the number you pay depends on where you sign up. On top of the plan: the AI agent itself, now sold separately as Astra from $99 per month; extra users at $24 (Pro) to $59 (Business) per user per month on wati.io, or $89 per user per month on the Shopify listing, with Growth allowing no extra users at all beyond the 3 included; monthly automation triggers capped at 1,000 to 5,000 by tier, then $25 per month for another 1,000, $50 for 2,000, $225 for 10,000, and $1,325 for 100,000; AI Co-pilot credits from 250 to 1,500; a $4.99 per month Shopify integration add-on on the site plans; and Meta message charges by country billed separately.
Is Wati's AI included in the plan?+
Not on wati.io any more. Wati has spun its AI agent out into a separately priced product called Astra. The Pro card on wati.io now reads "Astra AI Agents: Create and deploy AI Agents to web, WhatsApp and voice (Astra add-on, priced separately)". Astra is Free at $0 with 100 credits, Pro at $99 per month ($79 annual) with 5,000 credits, and Business at $399 per month ($319 annual) with 25,000 credits, and Wati's docs say it requires a Wati Pro or Business plan underneath. So an AI answering customer questions costs plan plus Astra: $79 plus $99, or $178 per month, at annual billing. Worth knowing before you compare: Wati's Shopify App Store listing still advertises an "AI agent for FAQs and product assistance" as a bundled Pro feature while its website sells that agent separately. A vendor's own two price lists disagreeing about whether the AI is included is a question to settle with sales before you subscribe.
Does Wati's AI actually sell?+
Wati's AI, now the separately priced Astra agent, handles FAQs and product assistance across web, WhatsApp, and voice, alongside an AI Co-pilot that assists human agents and is metered by monthly credits. That is support automation: answering questions and helping your team. It is not advertised as an agent that shows product cards, builds carts, and hands over checkout links in chat. That agentic selling loop is exactly what our product is: the AI sells with the catalog connected, included on every flat tier with no credit meter and no separate AI subscription.
Why does Wati show two different price lists?+
Its own website and its Shopify App Store listing carry different plans: $49/$99/$249 monthly on wati.io against $69/$149/$349 on the Shopify listing, checked August 2026. They disagree on more than the number. The listing bundles an AI agent into Pro while wati.io sells that agent separately as Astra; extra seats are $24 to $59 per user per month on the site but $89 on the listing; and the listing publishes overage rates the website does not, at $40 per 1,000 automation credits and $30 per 1,000 AI credits, while the website publishes an automation-trigger ladder the listing does not. Confirm which set applies to you before subscribing. We publish one price list, and it is the same on every platform.
Is there a cheaper Wati alternative?+
Wati's cheapest entry is now $39 per month billed annually, or $49 month to month, against our flat $29. The entry gap is small; what sits behind it is not. Wati Growth caps you at 3 users with no extras addable, 1,000 automation triggers, and 250 AI Co-pilot credits per month, and an actual AI agent needs Wati Pro plus an Astra subscription on top, which is $178 per month at annual billing. Our $29 tier includes the full AI sales agent, packaged cart recovery and COD confirmation, with one meter: conversations. If a shared team inbox and broadcast campaigns are your first need, Wati serves those today and we do not.