WhatsApp shared inbox pricing: per seat, per number, per message or quoted
Shared inbox tools charge by user, phone, contact, active chat, message or quote. How each model scales when you add people, numbers or volume, and what to ask.
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- By WavesFlo team
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- 3 min read
A shared inbox bill grows with people, numbers or volume, and each tool picks a different one to charge for. Reading the pricing pages of ten vendors on 27 October 2026, six models cover almost all of them: per user plus per phone, per seat, a plan plus add-ons, per channel, per monthly active contact, and a quote. Which one is cheapest depends on whether your team has many people, many numbers or a lot of messages.
How do shared inbox tools charge?
| Model | Who uses it | What makes the bill grow |
|---|---|---|
| Per user plus per phone | Periskope | Each user and each phone after the first, billed separately |
| Per seat, numbers also take seats | TimelinesAI | Seats: unlimited numbers, each needing one |
| Plan plus extra users and numbers | WATI, Gallabox | Users beyond the plan, and each extra number or channel |
| Plan with channels, seats and active chats | ChatDaddy | Channels and seats beyond the plan, and chats over the cap |
| A plan per number | Wassenger | Each plan lists one number; agents rise with the tier |
| Monthly active contacts | respond.io | Contacts over the limit, users and AI credits |
| Per-message pass-through | WATI, Interakt, AiSensy, DoubleTick, Gallabox, respond.io, Wassenger | Marketing, utility, authentication and service messages, by country |
| A quote | WavesFlo; DoubleTick leaves its amounts to a demo | Set on your numbers, people and terms |
Which model suits which team?
- Many people on few numbers: avoid per-user pricing; a plan with included seats or a quote costs less as the team grows.
- Many numbers with few people: avoid per-number pricing, and read how a vendor counts a number. TimelinesAI's seat rule and Wassenger's one-number plans are the extremes.
- A lot of outbound volume: the per-message pass-through is the biggest line, and the plan fee barely matters. See what WhatsApp messages cost in India.
- Several channels, not just WhatsApp: a per-channel or per-contact model is built for that.
What should you ask before you sign?
- Count your people, your numbers and your monthly messages, and ask the vendor which of the three its price scales with.
- Ask what happens to the price at twice each of them.
- Ask whether the displayed price is monthly or yearly-billed, and whether tax is extra.
- Ask what message charges come to at your volume, and whether they are marked up.
- Ask for the renewal terms in writing, including what a downgrade does.
How do you build a cost model in ten minutes?
Put your three counts in a sheet and apply each vendor's rule. Add a column for message charges, because for outbound-heavy teams that line decides the answer.
Vendor,People,Numbers,Messages/month,Plan fee,Per-user,Per-number,Per-message,Total
Vendor A,15,10,20000,,,,,
Vendor B,15,10,20000,,,,,
Vendor C,15,10,20000,,,,,
Rule: Total = plan + extra users x per-user + extra numbers x per-number + messages x rateRun it three times: at your size, at double, and at half. The vendor whose line moves least across the three is the one whose model suits how you grow. Currencies and billing periods go in separate columns, not converted, until you have a rate you trust.
Where does WavesFlo fit?
WavesFlo is the quote in the table's last row, and how that quote is built takes one line: connected numbers and team members, billed for the year, with no charge per message. So the people and number counts from the first step above are the two figures to bring to a demo.
For worked totals across vendors, see what a 10-number, 15-agent team pays.
Questions
What is the most common way WhatsApp inbox tools charge?
A plan fee that includes some users, then a charge for each extra user, plus WhatsApp's per-message charges passed through. Per-seat pricing is the next most common.
Is per-seat or per-number pricing cheaper?
Per-seat suits few people on many numbers only if numbers do not take seats. Per-number suits many people on few numbers. The cheaper one is whichever of your two counts is smaller.
Do inbox tools charge for WhatsApp messages?
Tools that use Meta's Cloud API pass through per-message charges by category and country. Tools that link a phone the way WhatsApp Web does, such as Periskope and TimelinesAI, printed no per-message charge in the pricing text we read.
Why do some vendors not publish prices?
WavesFlo quotes because the price depends on the numbers and people in the estate and the terms, which a price list cannot capture. DoubleTick's page names its plans but leaves the amounts to a demo.