WhatsApp Business API Pricing Comparison for SEA SMEs 2026: Qiscus vs WATI vs SleekFlow vs Respond.io
Rates checked on 9 November 2026 against Meta's rate card effective 1 October 2026 and each provider's own pricing page. Every figure below links to its source at the end of the page.
⚠️ Corrected 2026-11-09: this page previously said service messages are always free, that the free window after a Click-to-WhatsApp ad lasts 72 hours, that Respond.io drops its markup only on Advanced and above, and it quoted Qiscus plan prices and older WATI and SleekFlow subscription prices. Meta now charges service messages after 1,000 free per phone number per month, the free entry point window lasts up to 7 days, Respond.io states no usage markup on any plan, and Qiscus no longer publishes plan prices. An opening anecdote about one company's invoice, and unsourced claims about which provider is most popular in which country, were removed because they had no source.
The short answer
A WhatsApp Business API bill has three parts:
- Meta's per-message rate, set by the recipient's country and the message category (marketing, utility, authentication, service).
- The provider's markup on that rate, if it has one. This is where providers differ most, and it is published: WATI and SleekFlow publish their own per-message rate cards, Respond.io and Twilio state how they charge.
- The provider's subscription, which buys seats, inbox and automation.
On the list prices we checked, the provider that is cheapest overall depends on volume. At low volume the cheapest subscription wins. Once you send a few thousand marketing messages a month, a provider that passes Meta's rate through without a markup wins, because the markup is charged on every message.
What Meta charges in Southeast Asia (from 1 October 2026)
Meta has billed per delivered message since 1 July 2025, and only for messages from a business to a user. Rates vary by category and by the recipient's country calling code. Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are not named on Meta's rate card: they sit in the Rest of Asia Pacific region and pay that region's rate.
| Recipient market | Marketing | Utility | Authentication | Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | USD 0.0411 | USD 0.025 | USD 0.025 | USD 0.025 |
| Malaysia | USD 0.086 | USD 0.014 | USD 0.014 | USD 0.014 |
| Singapore | USD 0.0732 | USD 0.016 | USD 0.016 | USD 0.016 |
| Rest of Asia Pacific (TH, PH, VN) | USD 0.0842 | USD 0.0113 | USD 0.0113 | USD 0.0113 |
Meta USD list rates, effective 1 October 2026. Indonesia and Malaysia also carry a separate authentication-international rate (USD 0.136 and USD 0.0418).
The rules that change the bill:
- Service messages are charged again. From 1 October 2026 each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, which do not roll over. Meta charges from the 1,001st.
- Free entry point window. When a user messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad on the Android or iOS app and you reply inside the customer service window, Meta charges nothing for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages to that user for up to 7 days.
- Volume tiers lower utility and authentication rates as monthly volume grows, counted per market and category across the whole business portfolio. Marketing has no volume tiers.
- Rates change only on the first day of a quarter (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October), with at least one month's notice for a rate change. The next possible change is 1 January 2027.
- Meta Business Agent, Meta's own AI agent, is billed separately at USD 2.00 per million tokens. Meta's own estimate is about 4 to 5 US cents a message, and it stays charged inside the free entry point window.
What each provider charges per message
The table compares each provider's published per-message rate with Meta's. The markup column is our arithmetic: provider rate divided by Meta's rate.
| Provider (plan) | Indonesia marketing | Malaysia marketing | TH / PH / VN marketing | Malaysia utility | Markup on Meta (marketing) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta list rate | 0.0411 | 0.086 | 0.0842 | 0.014 | none |
| WATI (Growth, Pro) | 0.0514 | 0.1075 | 0.1053 | 0.0182 | about 25% |
| WATI (Business) | 0.0485 | 0.1015 | 0.0994 | 0.0168 | about 18% |
| SleekFlow | 0.04727 | 0.09890 | 0.09683 | 0.01610 | about 15% |
| Respond.io | Meta rate | Meta rate | Meta rate | Meta rate | none stated ("no usage markups") |
| Twilio | Meta + 0.005 | Meta + 0.005 | Meta + 0.005 | Meta + 0.005 | flat USD 0.005 per message, inbound or outbound |
All USD per delivered message, rate cards effective 1 October 2026.
Two details sit under the averages:
- WATI marks utility up more than marketing. On Growth and Pro, its utility rate is about 30% above Meta's in every market we checked (Malaysia 0.0182 against 0.014), and its service rate is about 20% above (Malaysia 0.0168 against 0.014).
- SleekFlow does not mark up service messages. Its service rates match Meta's in all four markets above (Indonesia 0.0250, Malaysia 0.0140); its marketing, utility and authentication rates are about 15% above.
What each provider charges per month
| Provider | Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WATI | Growth | USD 49 | USD 39 | 3 users, up to 15,000 broadcasts a month |
| WATI | Pro | USD 99 | USD 79 | 5 users |
| WATI | Business | USD 249 | USD 199 | 5 users |
| SleekFlow | Pro | USD 109 | USD 99 | 3 seats, from 1,000 monthly active contacts |
| SleekFlow | Premium | USD 339 | USD 299 | 10 seats, from 3,000 monthly active contacts |
| SleekFlow | WhatsApp number hosting | USD 10 | per number, on top of the plan | |
| Respond.io | Starter | USD 99 | USD 79 | 5 users |
| Respond.io | Growth | USD 199 | USD 159 | 10 users |
| Respond.io | Advanced | USD 349 | USD 279 | 10 users |
| Qiscus | all | quote only | quote only | priced by products, agents, monthly customers and channels |
Qiscus states that its WhatsApp messages are "charged per message, by message type and your customer's country, based on Meta's rates", and asks buyers to request a quote. It does not publish whether a markup applies, so ask for the per-message rate in writing.
Worked examples (arithmetic on list prices)
These examples use the published rates above, monthly billing, and no volume discounts. They compare cost only: the plans differ in seats, contact limits and features.
Example A: 10,000 marketing messages a month to Malaysian numbers. Meta's share alone is 10,000 × USD 0.086 = USD 860.
| Setup | Messages | Subscription | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Respond.io Starter | 10,000 × 0.086 = 860 | 99 | USD 959 |
| SleekFlow Pro | 10,000 × 0.0989 = 989 | 109 + 10 hosting | USD 1,108 |
| WATI Growth | 10,000 × 0.1075 = 1,075 | 49 | USD 1,124 |
| WATI Pro | 10,000 × 0.1075 = 1,075 | 99 | USD 1,174 |
| Twilio (no inbox subscription) | 10,000 × (0.086 + 0.005) = 910 | none | USD 910 |
Example B: 1,000 utility messages a month to Indonesian numbers, sent outside the customer service window. Meta's share is 1,000 × USD 0.025 = USD 25.
| Setup | Messages | Subscription | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| WATI Growth | 1,000 × 0.0325 = 32.50 | 49 | USD 81.50 |
| Respond.io Starter | 1,000 × 0.025 = 25 | 99 | USD 124.00 |
| SleekFlow Pro | 1,000 × 0.02875 = 28.75 | 109 + 10 hosting | USD 147.75 |
Where the order flips. WATI Growth costs USD 50 a month less than Respond.io Starter but charges more per marketing message. Dividing the USD 50 by the per-message gap gives the break-even:
- Malaysia: 50 ÷ (0.1075 − 0.086) ≈ 2,326 marketing messages a month
- Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam: 50 ÷ (0.1053 − 0.0842) ≈ 2,370
- Indonesia: 50 ÷ (0.0514 − 0.0411) ≈ 4,855
Below those volumes WATI Growth is cheaper on list price; above them Respond.io Starter is. The same method works for any pair: subtract the subscriptions, divide by the per-message gap.
How to price your own bill
- Count last month's outbound messages by recipient country and category. A Malaysian marketing message costs about six times a Malaysian utility message on Meta's rate card (0.086 against 0.014), so classification matters more than provider choice for some senders.
- Take out what is free: replies inside an open free entry point window, and the first 1,000 service messages per number.
- Multiply each remaining group by the provider's published rate, not Meta's, unless the provider states it passes Meta's rate through.
- Add the subscription, seats and any per-number fee.
- Re-check on the first day of each quarter, the only days Meta changes rates.
Choosing between them
- Low volume, few agents: WATI Growth has the lowest published subscription here. Its per-message rates are the highest of the providers that publish a rate card.
- Thousands of marketing messages a month: Respond.io states it adds no usage markup, so the gap to WATI and SleekFlow grows with every message.
- Mostly service replies: SleekFlow passes service messages through at Meta's rate; WATI adds about 20%. Both start charging only after the 1,000 free.
- LINE alongside WhatsApp: SleekFlow's pricing page lists LINE among its channels. Check the LINE connector against your own LINE Official Account before buying.
- TikTok Shop chat in the same inbox: Qiscus lists TikTok Shop chats among its TikTok messaging products. Pricing is by quote.
- Developers adding WhatsApp to an existing Twilio account: Twilio adds a flat USD 0.005 per message, inbound or outbound, on top of Meta's rate. That is below WATI's and SleekFlow's markups on marketing messages, but above Respond.io's stated zero, and the inbox and broadcast tools the others sell are not part of that price.
What we did not check
We read published rate cards and pricing pages. We did not test delivery, support quality or the inbox products, and we did not obtain negotiated or volume-discounted prices. Taxes are not included in any figure above.