WhatsApp Business Solution Providers – Which one is the best for your company?

Companies looking to access the WhatsApp Business API from Meta must go through Meta’s Partners, also known as WhatsApp Business Solution Providers (BSPs). Currently, there are a lot of these partners in the market, with different pricing packages and API solutions to choose from. One group of BSPs focuses on adding the WhatsApp API to their omnichannel messaging packages. Another group looks to provide it to partners and developers while some WhatsApp Business Solution Providers focus solely on providing user-friendly interfaces for end users. This article covers some of the top-rated and fastest-growing WhatsApp Business API providers.

It’s important to note that the BSPs in this article are not listed by importance or company size. The analysis of each of the companies on our list covers aspects such as the sign-up process, features, pricing, and the ideal users of each BSP without bias.

360dialog is one of the largest and fastest-growing BSPs that serves companies of all sizes, regions, and industries. 360dialog specializes in providing the WhatsApp Business API for companies that are looking for reliable and cost-effective WhatsApp API access. Business users can benefit from 360dialog’s robust hosting solutions with a developer-friendly, lightweight API at competitive, scalable, and transparent pricing.

360dialog is the only WhatsApp BSP that focuses solely on providing WhatsApp Business API solutions. By doing so, 360dialog helps companies and organizations build use cases around the WhatsApp Business API and the WhatsApp solutions developed by partners or the company itself such as:

• WhatsApp Team Inbox
• WhatsApp Newsletter
• Marketing Automation
• CRM Software Integration (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.)

You can use any phone number not connected with another WhatsApp account to access the API from 360dialog. That includes mobile, landline, and toll-free numbers. You can also use port numbers from other BSPs or Partners to use 360dialog’s API.

The sign-up process for companies that want to access 1-9 APIs is pretty straightforward & simple and does not require Facebook business verification at first. 360dialog uses the embedded sign-up flow, which allows businesses to gain access to the API in roughly 5 minutes, so long as the business meets all the requirements specified by Meta and in 360dialog’s documentation. Companies that want to access a larger number of APIs might need to go through a longer signup process to get access to the Partner Hub and the Partner API, from which they can keep track of all the APIs and sign-ups.

360dialog has price plans that vary based on whether the client is an end user or a partner that is looking to provide the API for its end users. The company does offer some discounts and special tariffs for partners or businesses that need a large volume of APIs or meet certain requirements.

However, there are only three price packages that are available publicly and they all include the first 1000 conversations each month being free, after which users get charged based on WhatsApp’s Conversation-Based Pricing:

The basic price plan for small and local businesses, complete with unlimited messages with up to 10 messages per second.

The most scalable option for small and medium-sized businesses, available for companies with no limit on the frequency of WhatsApp messages.

The most high-availability package with high-performance features for established enterprises with software solutions and clients of their own.

Read more about the 360dialog pricing plan.

360dialog is the ideal choice for developers or development-centric businesses, especially ISVs (Independent software vendors) and SIs (System Integrators). And that is because the support team focuses on documenting all the details and providing continuous support to clients and developers. In addition, 360dialog has a partnership program dedicated to ISVs and SIs.

Read more about the 360dialog partnership program.

360dialog has helped companies like Carrefour, IKEA, Pepsico, Bayer CropScience, REWE, Aldi, and Unilever. The company’s support and hosting capabilities alongside the security features it provides make its solution the ideal fit for enterprises that deal with a large volume of WhatsApp data and want to automate messaging and campaigns. Moreover, the solution is secure and effective for Fintech companies that want to ensure any transaction that involves the API is entirely safe and secure.

360dialog provides the WhatsApp Business API only, which is a programming interface, not a messaging interface. However, the company provides the API at a cost-effective price. It has a long list of partners that can provide clients with shared inboxes, CRMs, chatbots, and integration solutions (even at discounted prices). Therefore, even small to medium enterprises can benefit from 360dialog’s offer.

In addition to the WhatsApp API, Twilio also provides APIs for SMS, emails, voice, video, IoT, and integration solutions. You can find the full range of their service on their website. However, for the purposes of this comparison, we’ll only take the WhatsApp Business API into consideration.

Twilio offers clients the option to use their own numbers (mobile, landline, and toll-free numbers) but also encourages users to get a number from them for roughly $1 per month, depending on the country.

The sign-up process of Twilio is simple and intuitive for Businesses that want to register a WhatsApp sender for a brand they own. However, for businesses that don’t own the brand such as ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) or SIs (System Integrators), the process might take longer because a “Request Access” form needs to be filled out according to their documentation. The full sign-up process is documented in Twilio’s documentation.

Twilio’s pricing depends on your region and the number of outgoing and incoming messages. Their pricing package starts at $0.05 and then increases based on usage. You can get an estimate of the cost on their website.

The first 1000 conversations each month with Twilio are free, after which the conversation rates from Facebook are passed to the client. However, Twilio also charges what they call the “Twilio per message rate”, which is an additional $0.005 per message.

In addition to WhatsApp API, Twilio also offers bulk SMS services and APIs for email, Video, and Audio. As a result of this, Twilio suits companies that are looking for omnichannel messaging services and bulk SMS better. Their main focus is on a platform that integrates multiple communication channels. Therefore, WhatsApp Business API isn’t their priority—but it’s part of the package they sell. Twilio can be an ideal fit for companies that want to integrate all their communication channels into one platform.

WATI is the WhatsApp division of Clare.AI, a company that specializes in artificial intelligence, neuro-linguistic programming, and several other messaging APIs like Messenger, WeChat, and Line. WATI specializes in WhatsApp solutions but it doesn’t focus solely on providing the WhatsApp Business API — it also provides a messaging interface (Shared Inbox) alongside other CRM and sales integrations.

WATI allows clients to use any phone number, even if it was previously registered as a WhatsApp account, as long as the number has been disconnected.

The sign-up flow for WATI is pretty straightforward. It is a six-step process that involves selecting a payment plan and filling in your business information. However, businesses are required to complete the Facebook business verification process in order to use the WhatsApp Business API, as is mentioned in WATI’s documentation:

WATI claims that users get access to their accounts within 30 minutes of completing all the sign-up steps.

It’s also worth mentioning that WATI provides a free 7-day trial that allows users to try their platform, but with limited functions.

According to Wati’s pricing page (as stated in January 2023), their plans start from $40 per month (annually) and include multiple features like a shared inbox, chatbot builder, multiple integrations, and multiple agent access. They also charge a flat rate per message and conversation depending on the region and whether the latter is user or business-initiated.

WATI is ideal for businesses that don’t necessarily have development capabilities and want a software solution to send and receive messages, with ready-to-use integrations. WATI goes beyond just providing the WhatsApp Business API and has a wide range of solutions and integrations that might be useful to some businesses.

MessageBird provides a wide range of API and messaging solutions, the WhatsApp Business API being just one of them. It focuses on omnichannel messaging solutions and provides a shared inbox similar to that of WATI.

MessageBird allows users to use either a Virtual Mobile Number (VMN) from them (not available in all regions) or their mobile or landline numbers. Of course, just like with the previous BSPs, if a user decides to go with their numbers, they must disconnect it from any other WhatsApp Account.

Activating the WhatsApp Channel with MessageBird requires users to go through four steps, as mentioned in their documentation. According to their documentation (referenced on February 3, 2023), the steps involved are:

1. Signing up for WhatsApp Business through the MessageBird dashboard;
2. Verifying your business on Facebook;
3. Choosing a number and a display name;
4. Activating the WhatsApp channel in the MessageBird account.

MessageBird doesn’t estimate the time it takes to register your WhatsApp number in their documentation.

MessageBird provides multiple pricing options. Their tiers grant access to all their messaging channels, including WhatsApp. However, they do charge per conversation when it comes to WhatsApp conversations based on region. They charge an initiation fee and a “MessageBird fee” per message. For example, as seen below in the screenshot (February 2023) businesses in the USA have to pay a $0.0147 initiation fee + $0.005 MessageBird fee for Business Initiated conversations and a $0.0088 initiation fee + $0.005 MessageBird fee for user-initiated conversations. The first 1000 messages every month are free.

MessageBird focuses on providing an omnichannel messaging solution for businesses. Their solutions include an inbox solution, with multiple agent seats and a flow builder. They also provide multiple support and coaching plans. So MessageBird seems to be the ideal solution for businesses seeking an omnichannel messaging solution with pricing that depends on the volume of messages sent and received. The solution is also developer-friendly, and just like the previous BSPs, they serve companies of all sizes.

There are currently a lot of WhatsApp Business Solution Providers (BSPs) on the market and there are some that we didn’t get the chance to explore but would still like to give them honorable mentions — like Vonage, Infobip, and Sinch. Each Business Solution Provider has its point of focus, support levels, messaging rates, and pricing plans. Choosing one is highly subjective, and it highly depends on the use cases. For example, if you want a Shared team Inbox that can be integrated with HubSpot, you can either go for WATI or 360dialog and one of its partners. But if you are looking for an omnichannel solution that involves sending bulk SMS, Twilio or Messagebird can prove to be more suitable options.