respond.io pricing, plans and free trial (October 2026)

respond.io's pricing page leads with $79, $159 and $279 a month for Starter, Growth and Advanced, but those are the yearly-billed rates: billed monthly the same plans are $99, $199 and $349. It prices by plan, users and monthly active contacts, and WhatsApp's own charges are in no plan. The free trial runs 7 days with no card, on Growth features for 5 users and 1,000 contacts, without broadcasts.

What does each respond.io plan cost and include?

The page crosses out the yearly totals ($1,188 against $948 on Starter), which is how the monthly-billed rates work out. Enterprise is custom, with unlimited users. Growth is the tier the page marks most popular, and it is the one the trial resembles.

respond.io Starter vs Growth vs Advanced: what does each tier unlock?

Starter gives a team inbox and basic reports but no broadcasts, workflows or developer API. Growth adds broadcasts, workflows, AI agents, advanced reports and the developer API. Advanced adds phone-number and email masking, multiple workspaces, HTTP requests in workflows, webhooks and custom channels.

• Starter to Growth: $80 more a month billed yearly (a rise of 101%). You gain broadcasts, workflows, AI agents, the API and advanced reports, and the user allowance doubles to 10.
• Growth to Advanced: $120 more a month, 1.8x the price. You gain masking, multiple workspaces, webhooks and custom channels, and the AI credits double.
• The same ratios hold billed monthly: $99, $199 and $349.

Which respond.io plan do you need?

• Pick Starter if you are up to five people answering customers and need no outbound sending or automation.
• Pick Growth if you send broadcasts, build workflows or connect through Zapier, Make or the API.
• Pick Advanced if agents must not see customers' phone numbers, you run several workspaces, or you need webhooks.
• Estimate your monthly active contacts first: going over the plan's allowance is billed on demand.

What does the respond.io free trial include?

What can't the trial show you?

• You cannot test broadcasts or the cost of a campaign in the trial.
• Workflows, AI agents and the developer API are in the trial, which is where the Growth plan earns its price.
• 1,000 contacts is the same as the plan's starting allowance, so you cannot see overage billing.

What should you test before the trial ends?

1. 1Connect the channels you answer on, not only WhatsApp.
2. 2Build one workflow that matches a real routine, and run it.
3. 3Put five people on the inbox for the week.
4. 4Check how a contact is counted when it writes on two channels.
5. 5Ask how a broadcast recipient counts as a monthly active contact, since the trial cannot show it.

What is a respond.io monthly active contact, and how is overage billed?

Monthly active contacts (MACs) are respond.io's second pricing axis, after users. Plans start at 1,000, and going over is billed on demand in blocks of 100 at the end of the cycle: $12 per 100 on Growth and $15 on Advanced. The page says this is meant for temporary spikes. It does not define an active contact in the text we read, and that definition decides the bill.

What a spike would cost, as arithmetic on the printed rates:

• If a Growth workspace has 1,000 included and reaches 1,800 contacts in a month, 800 over is 8 blocks of 100, or $96.
• At 3,000 contacts that is 20 blocks, or $240; on Advanced the same 3,000 is $300.
• A broadcast that wakes dormant contacts is the usual cause: if a recipient counts as active, one campaign can double the count.
• The allowance may be larger than 1,000 on higher tiers; the page says 'starting at', so ask for yours.

1. 1Ask what makes a contact active: a message sent, a message received, or either.
2. 2Ask whether a broadcast recipient counts even if they do not reply.
3. 3Ask for the allowance on the plan you are buying.
4. 4Ask whether overage is capped, or can run on.
5. 5Ask whether archived contacts stop counting.

What else adds to a respond.io bill?

• WhatsApp fees, which are not in any subscription: Meta charges by usage and you top up credit separately.
• Contacts over the plan's monthly active contact limit, billed on demand in blocks of 100 at the end of the cycle.
• AI credits over the allowance, at $15 per 1,000, with a cap at 200% of the allowance.
• Onboarding, sold as an add-on, and support calls, which the page does not map to plans.

What does respond.io cost at three team sizes?

These are arithmetic on the printed figures and cover users only, assuming the extra-user price is the same under both billing periods, which the page does not say. Monthly active contacts, AI credits over the allowance and WhatsApp fees come on top, and the page states no number count per plan, so the numbers in each shape are not priced.

Where is respond.io the better pick?

respond.io is for support teams answering customers on several channels. Its inbox spans WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and email, and the Growth plan adds workflows, AI agents and a developer API. If WhatsApp is one channel among five, a multichannel platform is the right shape.

Where does WavesFlo fit instead?

If every customer writes on WhatsApp, often to several of your numbers, respond.io's contact meter and its four other channels are the parts of the bill you would not use. WavesFlo's annual quote counts connected numbers and team members rather than contacts or messages, and its shared inbox shows each chat with the number it came in on.