All four tools promise to automate WhatsApp, Instagram and other chat channels for small businesses, online stores and local shops. They differ in the three places that decide your bill and your workload: which channels they actually connect, what their free tier really lets you test, and how much you pay on top of the subscription once Meta's own WhatsApp charges are added.
Pro plan, billed annually — the first plan that includes WhatsApp. A free plan exists, but without WhatsApp.
Growth plan, billed annually — the first plan with workflows, AI Agents and broadcasts. Starter ($79/mo) is inbox-only.
Pro plan, billed annually — the first plan with broadcasts and AI Agents. Plus $15/mo per WhatsApp number for hosting.
Growth plan, billed annually. Three users, and you cannot add a fourth on this plan.
| ManyChat | respond.io | SleekFlow | Wati | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Creators and shops whose customers arrive via Instagram / TikTok | Teams handling sales and support across many channels, including LINE | Retail and e-commerce teams selling inside chats in Asia-Pacific markets | Small teams whose customers are on WhatsApp first and foremost |
| Channels (per vendor docs) | Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, WhatsApp, SMS, email | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat, SMS, email, web chat, VoIP | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, LINE, WeChat, Viber, TikTok, web chat (SMS via Twilio in the US; email in beta) | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, web chat, RCS |
| LINE Official Account | Not supported — LINE is not on the official channel list | Supported on all plans, with limits (messaging only, no calls, Flex Messages not supported — see detail section) | Supported — one LINE Official Account per SleekFlow account, with message-type limits | Not supported — not in the official channel list |
| Free option | Yes — 25 active contacts/month, 2 channels, no WhatsApp | No free plan — 7-day trial | No permanent free plan on the US pricing page — 7-day Pro trial | No free plan — 7-day trial |
| First plan that really automates | Pro $29/mo billed annually ($39 monthly) — WhatsApp starts here | Growth $159/mo billed annually ($199 monthly) — Starter has no workflows, AI Agents or broadcasts | Pro $109/mo billed annually ($139 monthly) — Essential has no broadcasts or AI agents | Growth $59/mo billed annually ($69 monthly) — automation triggers capped at 1,000/month |
| How the platform charges you | Per active contact (people you exchange messages with each month); overage per extra contact | Per monthly active contact on Growth and up (Starter: unlimited contacts, fewer features); extra seats cost extra | Per monthly active contact plus seats; extra contacts and WhatsApp number hosting cost extra | Per plan and seats, plus a monthly cap on automation triggers — contact count is not the meter |
| WhatsApp message fees on top | Yes — billed through the ManyChat Wallet at ManyChat's own rates (reported around 15% above Meta's list for marketing/utility templates) | Yes — at Meta's published rates; respond.io states it adds no markup | Yes — at SleekFlow's own rate card (e.g. US utility $0.00391/message vs Meta's $0.0034), plus $15/mo number hosting | Yes — at Wati's own rate card (US Growth/Pro: marketing $0.0400, utility $0.0061 per message vs Meta's $0.0250 / $0.0034) |
| Team size fit | 1 user on Free, up to 10 on Advanced | 5 users on Starter, 10 on Growth/Advanced, extras paid | 3 seats on Essential, 10 on Pro/Premium, extras paid | 3 users on Growth (hard cap), 5 on Pro/Business, extras paid on Pro and up |
| Trade-off to know | Powerful for social funnels, thin as a multi-agent support inbox — and no LINE | The honest automation entry point is $159/mo, not the $79 headline | Number hosting and rate-card pricing sit on top of the subscription | The 4th team member forces a move from Growth to Pro; triggers are capped on every plan |
Prices are USD, before tax, as published by the vendors in November 2026. ManyChat's current five-plan structure applies to accounts created on or after 2 March 2026; older accounts are being migrated by country. Plans change — always confirm the current price and what's included on the vendor's site before you buy. Prices checked November 2026 — always confirm on the vendor's site.
Every WhatsApp automation bill has two independent meters. Layer 1 is the platform: most tools charge per active contact — the number of people you exchanged messages with that month (Wati is the exception: it meters seats and automation triggers instead). Layer 2 is the channel owner: since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered WhatsApp message, priced by category and the recipient's country — it is no longer per-conversation pricing, despite what older articles still say.
On Meta's rate card effective 1 October 2026, one delivered message to a North America number costs $0.0250 (marketing) or $0.0034 (utility / authentication / service). To a number in Japan and the rest of Asia-Pacific it costs $0.0842 (marketing) or $0.0113 (utility / authentication / service). Replies inside the 24-hour service window ("service" messages) are free for the first 1,000 per business number each month; beyond that they cost the utility rate. Some platforms pass these fees through at Meta's rate; others bill them on their own rate card at higher prices — that difference, not the subscription, is what grows with your broadcast volume. One more North America quirk: Meta currently does not deliver marketing templates to US phone numbers at all, so the North America marketing rate effectively applies to Canada.
Worked example (floor estimate). A small store with 1,000 active contacts messaging customers in Japan sends, per month: one marketing broadcast to 1,000 people, 2,000 utility messages (order and shipping updates) and 3,000 service replies (2,000 of them billable after the free 1,000). Meta's share at list rates: 1,000 × $0.0842 + 2,000 × $0.0113 + 2,000 × $0.0113 = $129.40/month, whichever tool you use. Add the platform fee for the first plan that actually includes WhatsApp broadcasts and automation, and the floor totals are: ManyChat Pro ≈ $158.40 ($29 + $129.40), Wati Growth ≈ $188.40 ($59 + $129.40 — but its 1,000-trigger cap may push this workload to Pro), SleekFlow Pro ≈ $253.40 ($109 + $15 hosting + $129.40), respond.io Growth ≈ $288.40 ($159 + $129.40). Where a vendor bills WhatsApp on its own rate card (ManyChat, SleekFlow, Wati), the real Meta-side portion will be higher than this floor; respond.io states it charges Meta's rates with no markup, so its floor is the closest to the real figure. The lesson is not the ranking — it is that at small volumes the platform fee dominates, and as broadcast volume grows, the per-message layer and any rate-card markup start to dominate instead.
ManyChat is a social-first automation builder: comment-to-DM flows on Instagram posts and reels, story replies, TikTok and Messenger automations, broadcasts and drip sequences. Since March 2026 it bills by Active Contacts — people who interacted with your automations or inbox that month. The free plan covers 25 active contacts and any 2 of Instagram, TikTok, Messenger and Telegram — but not WhatsApp. Essential ($14/mo billed annually, $17 monthly) raises the cap to 250 contacts, still without WhatsApp. Pro ($29/mo billed annually, $39 monthly) is where WhatsApp, SMS and email unlock, with 2,500 contacts and up to 3 channels; Business ($69/$99, 7,500 contacts) and Advanced ($139/$199, 25,000 contacts) remove the channel limit. On top of the subscription, WhatsApp template messages are charged per delivery from a ManyChat Wallet. And the channel limit that matters most for Asia-focused businesses: ManyChat does not support LINE — it is not on the official channel list, so a funnel that ends on LINE needs a second tool for that half.
Respond.io is an omnichannel team inbox: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat, SMS, email, web chat and voice calls land in one workspace, with a workflow builder, broadcasts and AI Agents on top. The pricing needs reading carefully. Starter ($79/mo billed annually, $99 monthly) includes 5 users and unlimited monthly active contacts — but no Workflows, no AI Agents and no broadcasts; it is an inbox plan. The platform most teams are actually shopping for starts at Growth ($159/mo billed annually, $199 monthly): 10 users, from 1,000 monthly active contacts (raising the tier to 2,500 contacts takes it to $239/mo billed annually), with automation, broadcasts and AI Agents included. Advanced ($279/$349) adds deeper integrations and multiple workspaces. WhatsApp fees are charged at Meta's published rates — respond.io states it adds no markup, which makes its message layer the easiest of the four to forecast. The LINE connection is real but bounded, per respond.io's own help docs: it is messaging only (no LINE calls), Flex Messages are not supported and show as unsupported content, delivered/read status is not available, customers must message you first, and your broadcast volume is capped by your LINE Official Account plan, which is a separate subscription with LINE itself.
SleekFlow combines a shared inbox with commerce features — product catalogs, payment links and campaign broadcasts — across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, LINE, WeChat, Viber, TikTok and web chat, with a strong base among retail brands in Asia. Essential ($49/mo billed annually, $69 monthly) covers 3 seats and an AI inbox co-pilot, but no broadcasts and no AI agents, and it is still rolling out country by country. Pro ($109/mo billed annually, $139 monthly) is the working plan: 10 seats, from 500 monthly active contacts, broadcasts, the flow builder and AI agents. Premium ($279/$349) starts at 1,000 contacts with more integrations. Two extra line items are easy to miss: WhatsApp number hosting costs $15/month per number, and WhatsApp messages are billed on SleekFlow's own rate card rather than Meta's list price (its published US utility rate is $0.00391 per message against Meta's $0.0034). Extra contacts cost $20 per 100 beyond your tier. On LINE, SleekFlow connects one LINE Official Account per account, and its help center lists concrete limits — for example, some incoming message types such as location, stickers and contact messages are not received — so LINE-heavy workflows should be checked against that list before buying.
Wati is built on the official WhatsApp Business Platform and stays close to it: a team inbox, broadcast campaigns with retargeting, a no-code chatbot builder, WhatsApp catalog and WhatsApp calling. Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, web chat and RCS sit alongside, but broadcasts and the deepest features are WhatsApp's. Growth ($59/mo billed annually, $69 monthly) includes 3 users — with no way to add a fourth — 15,000 broadcast messages a month and 1,000 automation triggers a month. Pro ($119/mo billed annually, $149 monthly) includes 5 users (extras $39/user/month), unlimited broadcasts and 2,000 triggers. Business ($279/$349) raises triggers to 5,000 and adds multiple WhatsApp numbers. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. WhatsApp messages are billed from prepaid credit on Wati's own rate card, which sits above Meta's list prices (US examples on the Growth/Pro card: marketing $0.0400 and utility $0.0061 per message, against Meta's $0.0250 and $0.0034). And the boundary is explicit in Wati's own channel documentation: no LINE, no Telegram, no WeChat, no email channel. If your customers are on WhatsApp, that focus is a feature; if they are on LINE, Wati is simply not a candidate.
If customers reach you on LINE, your shortlist is respond.io and SleekFlow — ManyChat and Wati do not connect LINE at all. If everything is WhatsApp, all four qualify and Wati's focus becomes an advantage. If Instagram comments drive your sales, ManyChat's funnel tooling is the home turf.
Headline prices mislead in this category: ManyChat's free plan has no WhatsApp, respond.io's Starter has no automation or broadcasts, SleekFlow's Essential has no broadcasts. Price the first tier that includes the channels and automation you need — that is the real starting price.
Estimate your monthly active contacts and your monthly delivered messages by category (marketing broadcasts are the expensive line). Add platform fee + per-message fees, and check whether the vendor bills messages at Meta's rate or on its own rate card. Our worked example above shows the method with Japan rates.
Connect the actual WhatsApp number or LINE account you will run, send one real broadcast to a small opted-in list, and watch both bills: the platform meter and the message meter. Seven-day trials are short, so run that test in the first days, not the last.
No. The subscription buys the platform; Meta separately charges per delivered WhatsApp message on the Business Platform, by category and recipient country. Since 1 July 2025 the model is per-message (older per-conversation explanations are outdated), and since 1 October 2026 service replies inside the 24-hour window are also charged after 1,000 free per number per month. Depending on the vendor, those charges are passed through at Meta's rate or billed on the vendor's own, higher rate card. The free WhatsApp Business app is a different product and does not offer this level of automation or multi-agent access.
Respond.io and SleekFlow connect a LINE Official Account; ManyChat and Wati do not list LINE among their supported channels. Even where LINE is supported, expect limits: respond.io documents messaging-only support with no LINE calls and no Flex Messages, and SleekFlow connects one LINE account with restrictions on some message types. You also keep paying LINE itself — in Japan, LINE Official Account plans run from a free tier with 200 messages a month to paid plans, and broadcasts consume that quota while automated replies sent via the Reply API do not. Check the Japanese version of this page for the LINE-side breakdown.
It depends on why you are moving. If you have outgrown a single-operator funnel and need a team inbox with routing across many channels, respond.io is the structural alternative. If you sell in chats across WhatsApp, Instagram and LINE and want catalog and payment features, look at SleekFlow. If WhatsApp is your only serious channel and ManyChat's contact pricing is the pain point, Wati meters seats and triggers instead of contacts. None of these is a drop-in clone — export your flows and contact lists before you switch, and expect to rebuild automations rather than import them.
Only ManyChat has a permanent free plan, and its limits define what "free" can prove: 25 active contacts a month, 2 channels, and no WhatsApp. The other three offer 7-day trials. Separately, Meta gives each WhatsApp number 1,000 free service messages a month, so a support-only setup can keep the Meta layer near zero at small volumes — but marketing broadcasts are charged from the first delivered message.
Because this guide is compiled from the vendors' published specifications, pricing pages, rate cards and help documentation — not from hands-on testing, and not from paid placements. Where a judgment appears (for example, that a headline plan understates the real entry price), the published plan contents it rests on are shown next to it so you can verify the reasoning yourself.