Trengo and Cue are both customer service platforms that put several channels into one shared inbox. Trengo covers email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and a website widget, with voice as an add-on, and prices by plan with a set number of users and conversations. Cue is built around WhatsApp, with phone, email, web chat and Messenger in the same inbox, and prices by monthly active contacts with unlimited seats.
The short version: if you need social channels such as Instagram alongside email, Trengo covers more of them. If WhatsApp carries most of your customer conversations, you want calls on the same customer record, and your team is large or growing, Cue is the closer fit.
Trengo vs Cue at a glance
Trengo | Cue | |
|---|---|---|
What it is | Omnichannel shared inbox with automation and AI add-ons | Customer service platform built around WhatsApp, with phone, email, web chat and Messenger |
Channels | Email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, website widget and more | WhatsApp, phone, email, web chat (Live Chat) and Messenger |
Phone | Voice calling as an add-on on Boost and Pro, with usage charges; fuller integration on Enterprise | Cue Phone included on every plan, in the same inbox as messages |
Automation and AI | Flowbots, AI HelpMate, AI Journeys (in beta); AI conversations charged per conversation | Flows, chatbot builder and AI Agents from the Automate plan, with included AI resolutions |
Users | 10 users on Boost, 20 on Pro; extra users charged | Unlimited seats on every plan |
Pricing | Published; by plan, with included users and conversations | Published; by monthly active contacts; unlimited seats; extra AI resolutions from £0.99 |
Entry price | €299 a month billed annually (Boost) | £249 a month (Connect) |
Best for | Teams that need email plus social channels in one place | WhatsApp-led service teams that also take calls |
Trengo details are from trengo.com/pricing, checked October 2026.
What Trengo does well
Trengo is a solid shared inbox, and many teams like it for good reasons.
Channel breadth. Trengo puts email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and a website widget in one inbox on every plan. If Instagram or Facebook comments are a real source of customer contact for you, that matters.
Team workflow. Conversations can be assigned, tagged and discussed with internal notes, so it's clear who owns what. Users tend to describe the interface as clean and easy to pick up.
Automation without code. Flowbots let you build simple automated flows, and AI HelpMate drafts replies from your help content and past conversations. AI Journeys, a no-code builder for automated journeys, is listed as in beta on Trengo's pricing page.
Integrations. Trengo connects with CRM and ecommerce tools, and offers an open API.
If your support runs on email and social messages, and your team size is stable, Trengo is a sensible choice.
What Cue does
Cue is an omnichannel customer service platform built around WhatsApp. The platform supports WhatsApp, phone, email, Facebook Messenger and web chat, all managed from a single inbox, with every conversation saved on one contact record.
WhatsApp at the centre. A shared inbox on the WhatsApp Business Platform, with Broadcasts for updates and reminders. Cue is a badged Meta Business Partner.
Flows and chatbots. Build routing, triage and automated journeys in the Flows builder, and add chatbots for common requests.
AI Agents. From the Automate plan, AI Agents answer from content you approve on WhatsApp, email, Messenger and web chat, and hand to a person when they can't help. Payflex resolves 82% of customer queries with Cue's AI on its digital channels.
Unlimited seats. Branch staff, specialists and managers can all work in the inbox without a per-user charge.
Integrations. Connect your CRM and other systems through Cue integrations.
How Cue handles calls
With Cue Phone, calls arrive in the same inbox as WhatsApp, email, web chat and Messenger, matched to the contact by phone number, so the agent sees the customer's message history before picking up. You can set up a keypad menu with up to 12 options, route by team or site, set opening hours with an out-of-hours message that can point callers to WhatsApp, and record and transcribe calls onto the contact record. Calls are answered by your team; Cue's AI Agents work on digital channels, not calls.
Reporting
Cue's reporting covers conversations across WhatsApp, email, Messenger and web chat, including volumes and response times. For calls, reporting at launch covers minutes used, and the recording and transcript of each call sit on the contact record.
Automation and AI compared
Both platforms let you automate routine work without code. The difference is in packaging.
Trengo charges for AI conversations as an add-on: €0.25 per AI conversation on annual billing, or €0.30 monthly. Flowbots handle rule-based flows, and AI HelpMate suggests or sends answers drawn from your knowledge content.
Cue includes AI Agents on the Automate plan (500 AI resolutions a month) and the Scale plan (1,000 a month). A resolution is a customer enquiry your AI agent closes without a person picking it up. Extra resolutions are £0.99 each in bundles of 100, 500 or 1,000, or £1.49 out of bundle. The Connect plan doesn't include AI Agents or the chatbot builder.
Because the two count different things (an AI conversation against a resolved enquiry), compare them on your own volumes rather than the headline rate.
Phone in Trengo vs phone in Cue
Trengo lists voice calling as an add-on on the Boost and Pro plans, with usage-based charges, and full integration on Enterprise.
Cue includes phone on every plan. Connect comes with one phone number, Automate with three and Scale with five, and every plan includes 50 free outbound minutes a month with call recording and transcripts. Calls can be shared by round robin, least calls today or longest idle, and agents can hold, warm or cold transfer, and make one-to-one outbound calls from a conversation, for example to follow up a WhatsApp enquiry. You can get a new number through Cue in the UK or elsewhere in EMEA, including South Africa, or port an existing one.
Cue Phone doesn't include a dialler or AI answering, so teams that rely on those will need a dedicated phone system alongside.
Trengo vs Cue pricing
Trengo prices by plan, with users and conversations included. Prices from trengo.com/pricing, checked October 2026:
Trengo plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
Boost | €299 a month | €349 a month | 10 users, 6,000 conversations a year (500 a month on monthly billing) |
Pro | €499 a month | €599 a month | 20 users, 18,000 conversations a year (1,500 a month on monthly billing) |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Extra users cost €25 (Boost) or €40 (Pro) a month on annual billing. Extra conversations are €15 per 100 on annual billing. Voice and SMS have usage charges.
Cue prices by monthly active contacts: the unique customers you talk to in a month. Every plan includes unlimited seats. Prices are at 1,500 monthly active contacts, exclude VAT and are on a 12-month contract.
Cue plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
Connect | £249 a month (R4,500) | WhatsApp, phone, email, Messenger, Live Chat and Broadcasts in one inbox; 1 phone number; 50 free outbound minutes |
Automate | £499 a month | Chatbot builder, AI Agents with 500 AI resolutions a month, auto-assign, 1 app integration, 3 phone numbers |
Scale | £699 a month | Single sign-on, 3 app integrations, 1,000 AI resolutions, 5 phone numbers, dedicated onboarding |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom integrations, automations, limits and SLAs |
WhatsApp message charges and extra phone minutes are priced separately. Extra minutes start at £35 a month for 1,000 outbound minutes, with the same number of inbound minutes free. South African teams can see pricing in rand.
The practical difference: Trengo's cost rises with users and conversations, Cue's with the number of customers you talk to. For a large team handling a moderate number of customers, unlimited seats usually count for more.
When to choose Trengo, and when to choose Cue
Choose Trengo if:
Instagram, Facebook and email are major channels for you
your team size is small and stable
you want a familiar shared inbox with simple automation
Choose Cue if:
most of your customers contact you on WhatsApp
you want calls and messages on the same contact record
many people need access to the inbox, across branches or departments
you plan to automate routine enquiries with AI Agents on digital channels
Stellantis brands using Cue saw a 196% increase in customer response rate and a 14-point NPS improvement on WhatsApp.
If you're still weighing options, our list of Trengo alternatives covers six more platforms.
See Cue for yourself
If WhatsApp is where your customers are and calls need to sit alongside it, book a demo and we'll show you how Cue would run for your team. You can also see Cue pricing.
