respond.io is a strong messaging platform. It covers WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and other apps at volume, with workflows, broadcasts, AI agents on a published credit model, VoIP and WhatsApp Calling, and it states it adds no markup to Meta's WhatsApp charges. Teams go looking for a respond.io alternative when they're paying for apps they don't use, when contacts and users are both metered and the bill is hard to predict, when they want pricing in pounds or rand with local support, or when the job is inbound customer service with phone and email rather than sales-led messaging at scale.
This guide compares ten alternatives on how each one charges, what it includes, and who it suits. Cue publishes it and is one of the ten; the Cue entry says who it's built for and who should stay on respond.io.
Why teams move off respond.io
Two meters. Plans include a set number of users (5 on Starter, 10 on Growth and Advanced) and, from Growth, a monthly active contact allowance starting at 1,000, with charges above both: extra users from $12 a month and extra contacts from $12 per 100. A team that grows in people and in customers pays on both lines.
Breadth you don't need. Instagram, Telegram, LINE and Viber are the point of respond.io. A UK or South African service team whose customers use WhatsApp, email and the phone pays for coverage it won't switch on.
USD pricing and global support. respond.io prices in dollars. Teams that want a GBP or ZAR price list and a support desk in their own hours look for a local provider.
Calls as a service channel. respond.io's VoIP and WhatsApp Calling are real, but a service team that wants a business phone number with routing, recording and transcripts on the same record as WhatsApp is buying something different.
respond.io alternatives compared
Prices are each vendor's published list price in the currency its page shows to a UK reader, checked 5 November 2026 unless stated. They exclude tax, WhatsApp message charges and AI usage.
Platform | Best for | Priced on | Users included | Phone | WhatsApp message cost | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cue | WhatsApp-led customer service with calls and email in the same inbox | Monthly active contacts | Unlimited on every plan | Included on every plan | Published rates: £0.10 / £0.05 / £0.05 / £0.02 | £249 a month at 1,500 contacts |
SleekFlow | WhatsApp sales and commerce | Plan plus contacts and seats | 3 on Essential, 10 on Pro and Premium | Coming soon; UK VoIP hosting unavailable | Message charges plus $15 a month number hosting | $49 a month, annual |
Wati | WhatsApp campaigns for small teams | Plan plus messages | 3 on Growth, 5 above | WhatsApp Business Calling | Wati's own rate card | £49 a month, annual |
Trengo | Broad social inbox | Plan with users and conversations | 10 on Boost, 20 on Pro | Trengo Voice, add-on | Message charges on top | £249 a month, annual |
Front | Email-led teams | Per seat | Per seat | Voice listed; plan and price not published | Meta's charges plus 20% | $25 per seat, annual |
Crisp | Small teams wanting a flat workspace price | Per workspace | 2 free; 4 on Mini; 10 on Essentials | Listed: answer and place calls in Crisp | Message and provider charges; confirm in quote | Free; $45 a month per workspace |
Helpwise | Affordable shared inbox | Per user | 2-user minimum | Calling on Premium | Not listed | $12 per user, annual |
Hiver Omni | Gmail-based teams | Per user | Per user, 2-seat minimum | Add-on, $30 per voice seat | Not listed | $25 per user, annual |
DelightChat | WhatsApp marketing for ecommerce | Plan | 5 on Startup, 20 on Scale, 50 on Growth | Not listed | Meta's rates on top | $29 a month |
Callbell | Simple messaging inbox for SMBs | Per agent plus channel add-ons | Per agent | Not listed | WhatsApp from €20 a month plus Meta's charges | €14 per agent a month |
Sources: respond.io, SleekFlow, Wati, Trengo, Front, Crisp, Helpwise, Hiver, DelightChat, Callbell, checked 5 November 2026. Cue from cuedesk.com/pricing. Meta's own rate card is at WhatsApp Business Platform pricing.
The column that decides most respond.io switches is "priced on". If you're leaving because two meters make the bill unpredictable, pick a platform with one.
If you want one meter and phone included
Cue charges by monthly active contacts with unlimited seats, and phone, email, web chat and Messenger sit in the same inbox as WhatsApp. Book a demo or see pricing in pounds or rand.
Cue vs respond.io
Both run WhatsApp on the WhatsApp Business Platform with a shared inbox, templates, broadcasts, workflows and AI. respond.io's strength is breadth: more messaging apps, more orchestration, a larger review base. Cue's is depth on the channels a service team uses: phone and email on the same record as WhatsApp, included in every plan, priced in pounds and rand with offices in Chester and Cape Town. We compare the two in detail, with worked prices at 1,500 and 5,000 contacts, in respond.io vs Cue.
1. Cue
Cue brings WhatsApp, phone, email, web chat and Facebook Messenger into one inbox, with every conversation on one contact record and unlimited seats on every plan.
What it does well
One meter. You pay by monthly active contacts, the unique customers you talk to in a month. Adding agents, managers or seasonal staff doesn't change the subscription.
Phone in the same inbox. Cue Phone is included on every plan: calls matched to the contact, held, transferred, recorded and transcribed, with one-to-one outbound from a conversation. Phone Flows route callers by keypad menu from the Automate plan. Calls are answered by your team.
Flows and AI Agents. The Flows builder routes by answer, time of day or stored data; AI Agents on Automate and above answer routine questions on WhatsApp, email, web chat and Messenger from content you approve, with 500 resolutions a month included. Payflex resolves 82% of customer queries with Cue AI on its digital channels.
Broadcasts as approved templates with delivery and read reporting, through Broadcasts.
UK and South African pricing and support.
Pricing: Connect £249, Automate £499 and Scale £699 a month at 1,500 monthly active contacts, excluding VAT, on a 12-month contract (R4,500, R8,800 and R13,300). Connect carries a one-off £249 onboarding fee; onboarding is free from Automate. WhatsApp messages are £0.10 marketing, £0.05 utility, £0.05 authentication and £0.02 service, with 1,000 free service messages a month per number. Full details on the pricing page.
Proof: Pace Car Rental moved from phone, email and several WhatsApp lines to one WhatsApp line in Cue and now averages a 5 to 10 minute response time. On G2, a digital marketing manager at TiAuto Investments, a South African automotive group, describes Cue's onboarding, training, reporting and account management (review dated 4 September 2026). Cue is rated 4.9 out of 5 on G2 from 32 reviews (5 November 2026).
Watch out for: No Instagram, Telegram, LINE or Viber. Cue Phone is standard telephony with no voicemail, dialler or AI answering. AI Agents aren't on Connect. If you need many messaging apps or sales-style orchestration at volume, respond.io is the better tool, and this page says so.
2. SleekFlow
SleekFlow is a WhatsApp-led platform for sales and commerce teams, with broadcasts, flows and a shared inbox.
What it does well: WhatsApp broadcasts and flows, Instagram and Messenger in the same inbox, and commerce features for selling over chat.
Pricing: Essential $49 a month annually ($69 monthly) with three seats and 500 monthly active contacts; Pro $109 ($139) with ten seats and 500 contacts; Premium $279 ($349) with ten seats and 1,000 contacts. Extra contacts $20 per 100, extra seats $15 on Essential and $25 on Pro and Premium, WhatsApp number hosting $15 a month. The UK page still labels email and VoIP as coming soon. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Selling over WhatsApp with a small team.
Watch out for: Two meters, like respond.io, and email and VoIP labelled coming soon. Our SleekFlow alternatives guide compares the options.
3. Wati
Wati is a WhatsApp marketing and sales platform with a low entry price, with Instagram, Facebook and TikTok alongside and WhatsApp Business Calling.
What it does well: Broadcasts, a chatbot builder, a catalogue and a simple inbox at a price small teams can start on.
Pricing: Wati shows prices by region. Checked 6 November 2026, its UK page showed Growth £49, Pro £99 and Business £229 a month billed annually (£59, £129 and £289 billed monthly), with extra users at £32 (Pro) and £74 (Business). Growth includes three users with no extra users allowed; Pro and Business include five. Messages are on Wati's own rate card.
Best for: WhatsApp campaigns for a small team.
Watch out for: Seat caps and a vendor rate card on messages. See our Wati alternatives guide.
4. Trengo
Trengo is a shared inbox for email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and a website widget, with Flowbots, AI tools and Trengo Voice.
What it does well: Channel breadth on every plan, team assignment and notes, and AI voice on the Trengo Voice add-on.
Pricing: In GBP on Trengo's own selector, Boost £249 a month annually (£291 monthly) with ten users and 6,000 conversations a year; Pro £416 (£500) with twenty users and 18,000. Extra users £21 or £33 a month on annual billing; AI conversations £0.21 each. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Email plus social in one inbox, or AI on calls.
Watch out for: Users and conversations both metered. See Trengo vs Cue.
5. Front
Front is an email-style shared inbox with WhatsApp on its Professional and Enterprise plans.
What it does well: Collaboration in the thread, rules and routing, a wide integration catalogue.
Pricing: Starter $25 per seat a month on annual billing (up to 10 seats, one channel type), Professional $65, Enterprise $105. WhatsApp at Meta's rates plus a 20% administration fee. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Email-led teams.
Watch out for: Per seat, and the 20% WhatsApp fee. See Front vs Cue.
6. Crisp
Crisp puts website chat, email, Messenger and WhatsApp into one inbox with a chatbot builder, priced per workspace.
What it does well: A flat workspace price with seats bundled.
Pricing: Free for two seats; Mini $45 a month for four seats, Essentials $95 for ten, Plus $295 for twenty or more with extra agents at $10. WhatsApp from Essentials; AI on a dollar credit allowance by plan ($5 Mini, $25 Essentials, $75 Plus). Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Small teams that want a predictable workspace fee.
Watch out for: Seat bundles rather than unlimited seats. See our Crisp alternatives.
7. Helpwise
Helpwise is a shared inbox for small teams, with WhatsApp, SMS, calling and Instagram on its Premium plan.
What it does well: Assignment and collision handling, response-time and CSAT reports, a simple interface.
Pricing: Standard from $12 per user a month billed annually ($15 monthly), Premium $23 ($29), Advanced $39 ($49). Minimum two users on Standard and Premium, three on Advanced. Helpwise's plan cards list WhatsApp from Premium, though its detailed feature table marks it differently, so confirm before you buy. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: A cheap shared inbox with WhatsApp.
Watch out for: WhatsApp needs Premium; automation is light.
8. Hiver Omni
Hiver Omni is Hiver's multi-channel product for teams that work in Gmail and want WhatsApp, chat and voice alongside it.
What it does well: Shared inbox inside Gmail, assignment and collision alerts, WhatsApp and live chat in the same workspace.
Pricing: Growth $25 per user a month billed annually ($35 monthly), Pro $55 ($65), Elite $85 ($95), two-seat minimum. Voice is $30 per voice seat a month with 1,000 pooled minutes per seat, then $0.03 a minute. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Gmail-based teams.
Watch out for: Per-user pricing and voice as an add-on.
9. DelightChat
DelightChat is built for ecommerce businesses that use WhatsApp for support and marketing.
What it does well: A shared inbox for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, email and live chat, plus broadcasts, abandoned-cart messages and order updates.
Pricing: Startup $29 a month with 5 team members, Scale $99 with 20, Growth $299 with 50. Messages at Meta's rates on top. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Ecommerce teams wanting respond.io-style WhatsApp marketing at a lower price.
Watch out for: Lighter service routing and reporting.
10. Callbell
Callbell connects WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok and live chat to a simple team inbox.
What it does well: Simple set-up, chat assignment, basic chatbots, a mobile app.
Pricing: Multi-agent chat €14 per agent a month, Plus €18, Enterprise on request for 50 or more agents, all monthly with no annual option shown. WhatsApp is from €20 a month and Instagram €20 a month on top, with the advanced bot builder €59 a month; prices in euros or US dollars, excluding VAT. Checked 5 November 2026.
Best for: Small teams that want respond.io's app coverage at a simpler price.
Watch out for: No phone or email; per-user pricing plus add-ons.
respond.io alternatives in South Africa
respond.io is used in South Africa and prices in dollars. The two local differences are rand billing and local support.
Cue is priced in rand on its South African pricing page: Connect R4,500, Automate R8,800 and Scale R13,300 a month at 1,500 monthly active contacts, with WhatsApp messages at R0.70 marketing, R0.25 utility, R0.16 authentication and R0.16 service. Cue has an office in Cape Town, and its free support plan runs on weekday hours with paid tiers above it. Hollard, Payflex and Pace Car Rental are South African customers whose results are published.
ChatInc is the local WhatsApp provider most often shortlisted; it doesn't publish prices we could verify, so ask for a quote. For a fuller SA list, see our comparison of WhatsApp Business solution providers in South Africa.
Moving your WhatsApp number from respond.io
You can move a WhatsApp Business Platform number from one provider to another. Tell respond.io you're leaving, have two-step verification switched off on the number, and let the new provider register it. Your number and your approved message templates move with you to Cue. Ask both providers in writing about timing before you set a date, and export your conversation history from respond.io first, because it lives in their software rather than on the number. Keep respond.io running until the number is live and answering in the new platform.
How to choose
How many meters can you live with? One (contacts, or a flat fee) is easier to budget than two (contacts and users).
Which apps do your customers actually use? List last month's conversations by channel. If Instagram, Telegram and Viber aren't on it, don't pay for them.
Do you need a business phone number on the same record? Cue includes one; Trengo and Hiver sell voice as add-ons; respond.io's VoIP is a different kind of calling.
Which currency and support hours? GBP or ZAR pricing and a local support desk matter more than a few dollars on the headline.
How is AI charged? Credits, per resolution, per conversation or not offered. Model it on your real volume.
See Cue for yourself
If your customers are on WhatsApp and still call and email, book a demo and we'll run one of your real enquiries through Cue, including a call and an email on the same record. Pricing is published in pounds and rand. Every comparison we've published is at Cue compared with the alternatives.
