Wati alternative: how RelayPlus and Wati compare

RelayPlus puts WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger conversations in one shared inbox, with the channel shown on every conversation. All three Wati plans include a shared team inbox.

RelayPlus is a Meta-approved Tech Provider on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Wati describes itself as a Meta Business Partner and a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP).

This page looks most closely at four points, each with what Wati's own pages say:

• Billing: with direct billing, Meta bills your WhatsApp messages to your own WhatsApp Business Account at Meta's own rates. Wati charges for messages from prepaid Wati credits, at rates on its own rate card.
• Arabic: the RelayPlus app is available in English and Arabic, with a right-to-left layout in Arabic. Arabic is not among the interface languages Wati's help centre lists.
• Stores and payments in the Gulf: Salla and Zid orders come into RelayPlus, and you can send payment links through Tap, MyFatoorah, Moyasar, Tabby or Tamara in a WhatsApp conversation while its 24-hour window is open. Salla and Zid are not named in Wati's integrations library.
• Telegram: RelayPlus connects your own Telegram bot, and private chats with it arrive in the same shared inbox. Telegram is not in the list of channels Wati's help centre gives.

WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger conversations arrive in one shared RelayPlus inbox, with the channel shown on every conversation.

Direct messages to your TikTok account arrive there as conversations marked as TikTok, and conversations from the chat widget on your own website arrive there too, marked with a globe icon. TikTok's business messaging works only for TikTok accounts with Advanced Access or for Verified Business Accounts.

An owner or workspace admin connects your own Telegram bot by creating it in @BotFather and pasting its token into RelayPlus. Messages people send to the bot in a private chat arrive in the same shared inbox as WhatsApp.

Wati lists WhatsApp (messages and calling), Instagram, Facebook, RCS, SMS, TikTok and website chat as channels it connects, and its plan comparison includes SMS only on the Business plan.

The plan price is what you pay RelayPlus. With direct billing, Meta bills your WhatsApp messages to your own WhatsApp Business Account at Meta's own rates.

Before you send a broadcast, RelayPlus shows an estimated cost: the number of contacts it can reach, multiplied by one stored rate for the template's category. When you pick a template to send from the inbox, each one shows its estimated cost before you send it.

Because that estimate uses one rate per category rather than each recipient's country, the amount Meta bills can differ from it. Meta charges for a template message when it is delivered, at a rate set by the template's category and the recipient's country, and RelayPlus's guide to WhatsApp Business API pricing lists Meta's published rates for each market.

Wati charges for WhatsApp messages on top of the plan price, at rates from its own Wati rate card that vary by message type. Wati bills those messages from prepaid credits bought in advance, and says that an account that runs out of credits cannot send messages, including campaigns and automated messages, until the balance is topped up.

Shopify, Salla, WooCommerce and Zid bring their orders into RelayPlus, and orders are linked to the customer's contact through the phone number on the order. Shopify also brings in its products and customers.

Connect Tap, MyFatoorah, Moyasar, Tabby or Tamara with your own account, then send a payment link in a WhatsApp conversation while its 24-hour window is open. RelayPlus follows each payment link and shows when it is paid.

The RelayPlus app is available in English and Arabic, with a right-to-left layout in Arabic.

Wati's integrations page names Shopify and WooCommerce among its online store platforms and PayTabs under payment processing, and its WhatsApp Pay checkout guide supports Razorpay and PayU for businesses in India.

Meta has its own process for moving a WhatsApp business number from one provider to another, and Meta's documentation describes it for moves between Solution Partners. Before the number moves, Meta requires two-step verification to be turned off on it: in WhatsApp Manager if you own the account, or by your current provider if they own it.

RelayPlus is a Meta-approved Tech Provider and does not run this process for you in the app. If your number is with Wati today, talk to us before you move it.

You can import contacts from a CSV or Excel (XLSX) file of up to 200,000 rows and 25 MB. RelayPlus checks the file first and shows how many rows are valid, invalid or duplicates before anything is imported.

Templates are created in RelayPlus and submitted to Meta for review. RelayPlus does not read templates already approved on your account, so they do not appear in RelayPlus by themselves.

On the Enterprise plan, we help you move your numbers and data over. You can export your contacts, conversations and messages from Settings at any time.

Growth costs $48 a month billed monthly, or $41 a month billed annually ($492 a year), and includes 3 users.

Business costs $104 a month billed monthly, or $83 a month billed annually ($996 a year). It includes 5 users, and each extra user is $27 a month.

Enterprise is priced for your team on an annual contract, from 25 users. Prices are in US dollars and exclude applicable taxes.

You can start a free trial without entering a card.

For Wati's prices, see Wati's own pricing page at wati.io/pricing.