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, drip campaigns, and a deep integration ecosystem, on the Shopify App Store since 2020. The structural difference is what the AI is for and how it is sold. On wati.io the AI agent is a separate product called Astra, from $99 per month on top of a Wati Pro or Business plan, and the plans themselves meter seats, automation triggers, and AI credits, at prices that depend on your country. 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 October 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 connecting it to WhatsApp needs a Wati Pro or Business plan underneath.
- Team-inbox heavyweight: a shared multi-agent inbox is the core product, which its Shopify listing describes as omnichannel across WhatsApp, RCS and SMS, with broadcasts, drip campaigns, opt-in widgets, and integrations up to HubSpot on Pro and Salesforce on Business.
- Established Shopify presence: "Wati: WA Cart Recovery & AI" has been on the App Store since 11 September 2020, holding 3.7 stars across 122 reviews as of October 2026. It also has an official WooCommerce plugin.
- Prices depend on your country: wati.io shows US, UAE and Saudi visitors $69, $149 and $349 per month ($59, $119 and $279 billed annually), and Pakistan visitors $49, $99 and $249 ($39, $79 and $199). The Shopify listing shows the $69 list, but bundles an AI agent into Pro and prices extra users at $89.
- Many meters: user seats (priced by country, $89 each on the Shopify listing, none addable on Growth), automation triggers (1,000 to 5,000 per month free, then sold per 1,000), 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 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 connecting Astra to WhatsApp requires a Wati Pro or Business plan, and Astra Free works on a web widget only, so on WhatsApp 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 on WhatsApp pays for both products. At US and Gulf prices, Wati Pro at $119 per month plus Astra Pro at $79 per month, both on annual billing, comes to $198 per month, or $248 month to month. At Pakistan prices it is $158, or $198 month to month. All of that is 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 Shopify listing says something different. It advertises an "AI agent for FAQs and product assistance" as a feature of its $149 Pro plan, while wati.io sells that agent separately as Astra. Both are the vendor's own published pages, read on the same day. Resolve which one applies to you 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. Its Shopify app sends a WhatsApp message asking the customer to Confirm or Cancel, and tags can be set up to filter COD orders | 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, 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 | A Shopify app, an official WooCommerce plugin, and widgets and integrations for other stores; Shopify on site plans via a $4.99/month add-on | Shopify and WooCommerce, POS in early access, and selling without a website |
| Customer languages | Its Shopify app lists Arabic among its languages; Astra Pro handles multi-lingual text conversations | The AI replies in the language the customer writes in, including Arabic and Urdu |
| 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 October 2026
| Wati | Us | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $69 per month at US and Gulf prices ($59 billed annually), $49 at Pakistan prices ($39 billed annually); 3 users, no extras addable | $29 per month flat, same price everywhere |
| Cheapest plan that can run an AI agent | Wati Pro plus Astra Pro, because connecting Astra to WhatsApp requires Pro or Business: $198 per month on annual billing at US and Gulf prices ($119 + $79), $158 at Pakistan prices. 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 sold per 1,000 at a price that depends on your country; the Shopify listing shows automation at $40 per 1,000 credits and AI at $30 per 1,000 credits | No trigger meter; automations run as often as your orders do |
| Extra fees | Extra users priced by country ($89 per user per month on the Shopify listing), none addable on Growth, 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 $59 per month at US and Gulf prices and $39 at Pakistan prices, against our $29, so the gap at the door is 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 October 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, 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 confirm the price for your country in writing.
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, 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?+
Wati prices by country. As of October 2026, visitors from the US, the UAE and Saudi Arabia see Growth at $69, Pro at $149 and Business at $349 per month, or $59, $119 and $279 per month billed annually, and its Shopify App Store listing shows the same $69, $149 and $349 with the note "Pricing varies by country". Visitors from Pakistan see $49, $99 and $249, or $39, $79 and $199 billed annually. On top of the plan: the AI agent, sold separately on wati.io as Astra from $99 per month; extra users, which the Shopify listing prices at $89 per user per month, with Growth allowing no users beyond the 3 included; automation triggers capped at 1,000 to 5,000 per month by tier, then sold per 1,000; 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. Wati sells its AI agent as a separate product called Astra. The Pro card on wati.io 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 for a web widget only, Pro at $99 per month ($79 annual) with 5,000 credits, and Business at $399 per month ($319 annual) with 25,000 credits, and connecting Astra to WhatsApp needs a Wati Pro or Business plan underneath. So an AI answering customers on WhatsApp costs plan plus Astra: at US and Gulf prices, $119 plus $79, or $198 per month on annual billing, and $248 month to month; at Pakistan prices, $158 or $198. Wati's Shopify App Store listing, by contrast, lists an "AI agent for FAQs and product assistance" inside its $149 Pro plan, so settle which applies to you with Wati before you subscribe.
Does Wati's AI actually sell?+
Wati's AI, 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 do different people see different Wati prices?+
Because Wati prices by country. Its pricing page loads the plans for the visitor's location: US, UAE and Saudi visitors see $69, $149 and $349 per month, Pakistan visitors $49, $99 and $249. Earlier versions of this page read the Pakistan figures as Wati's website price list and called the Shopify listing a second list; most of that gap was regional pricing. Two real differences remain between the listing and wati.io: the listing includes an AI agent in Pro, and it prices extra users at $89 per month. Confirm the price for your country in writing before subscribing. We charge the same flat price in every country and on every platform.
Is there a cheaper Wati alternative?+
Wati's cheapest entry is $59 per month billed annually at US and Gulf prices, or $69 month to month, and $39 billed annually at Pakistan prices, against our flat $29. Behind the entry price, 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 AI agent on WhatsApp needs Wati Pro plus an Astra subscription, which is $198 per month on annual billing at Gulf prices. 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.