Wati vs AiSensy: Chatbots Included or Bought as Add-Ons
By Joris van Huët
Enterprise Interim CMO & Marketing Leader · 15+ years · 50+ orgs
Published
2026-10-26
The short answer: for a brand that mostly broadcasts to Indian customers and answers replies by hand with a team of five or six, AiSensy is the lower bill: its Basic plan is $45 a month on monthly billing with one owner and five agent logins, and its card charges $0.014 per marketing message to an Indian number against Wati's $0.0189 (AiSensy pricing, AiSensy country rates, Wati rate card). Once chatbots do the answering, the gap closes: AiSensy sells Chatbot Flows for $80 a month and its AI agent for $50, while Wati's Growth plan at $69 includes chatbots with 1,000 automation triggers a month (Wati pricing). All checked on 26 October 2026.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.
Run your numbers first:
- A month of campaigns, with and without bots. For example, 12,000 marketing templates to Indian numbers. AiSensy Basic with Chatbot Flows: $45 + $80 + 12,000 x $0.014 = $293. Wati Growth: $69 + 12,000 x $0.0189 = $295.80. Without chatbots, AiSensy is $45 + $168 = $213. At Meta's own USD rate of $0.0118 the messages alone would be $141.60 (Meta pricing, AiSensy pricing, Wati pricing).
- The people who answer. AiSensy Basic includes an owner and five agents, with more at $20 a month each; Wati Growth includes three users and no more, and Pro at $149 includes five (AiSensy pricing, Wati pricing). Count the logins you use today.
- What a campaign earned. Both report delivery and reads; AiSensy adds click tracking on Pro, Wati on Pro too. The figure that matters is orders from recipients against a held-back group, which How to use Wati sets up step by step.
What each base plan holds
| Wati Growth | AiSensy Basic | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $69 | $45 |
| Longer terms | $59 a month billed annually | 5% off quarterly, 10% off yearly |
| Logins | 3 users, no extras | Owner plus 5 agents, extra $20 |
| Broadcasts | 15,000 a month | Included, at 40 messages a second |
| Chatbots | Included, 1,000 triggers a month | Chatbot Flows add-on, $80 a month |
| AI | 250 AI credits a month; Astra agents from $99 | AI Chat Agent add-on, $50 for 1,000 AI messages |
| Marketing message, India | $0.0189 | $0.014 (₹1.09) |
| Marketing message, Netherlands | $0.2555 | $0.192 |
| Free route | 7-day trial | $0 plan without broadcasts; 14-day trial |
From the Wati pricing page and rate card, and AiSensy's USD pricing page, country rates and trial FAQ. Meta's own USD card lists $0.0118 for India and $0.1597 for the Netherlands.
Where the money goes
The base price and what sits outside it
AiSensy's Basic plan is the cheaper door, and it is a door: Chatbot Flows, five drag-and-drop bots with cart and catalogue handling, cost $80 a month on top, and the AI Chat Agent another $50 for 1,000 AI messages (AiSensy pricing). Wati includes chatbots and keyword rules on Growth and counts each run against 1,000 automation triggers a month, with more sold on its plan page (Wati pricing). A team that answers by hand pays less on AiSensy; a team that automates pays about the same.
Two rate cards, both above Meta's
Neither passes Meta's rate through untouched. For India, AiSensy's help centre quotes ₹1.09 per marketing message and ₹0.145 for utility, authentication and service messages (AiSensy fee article), where Meta's INR card lists ₹0.8631 and ₹0.115 (Meta pricing). Wati's USD card for India lists $0.0189 for marketing, $0.0025 for utility and $0.0017 for service (Wati rate card). Per message AiSensy is the lower of the two in both markets checked; at a few hundred messages a month the plan price matters more.
Free windows from ads
Conversations that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad are free for a while, and the two vendors describe that while differently. AiSensy's pricing notes say replies stay free inside a 72-hour window; Wati's rate card says a conversation that starts from the ad is free; Meta's own page says the free entry point window may stay open for up to 7 days (AiSensy pricing, Wati rate card, Meta pricing). Plan follow-ups on the shorter figure.
One AI step: the agent answers, and knows when to stop
AiSensy's agent builder trains on your website and goes live on a test number you enter as soon as training starts. In the setup wizard two skills come pre-checked, FAQ/Support and Human Handoff. Keep both. Configure the handoff to collect the customer's name, order ID and a one-line description before it transfers, and add ground rules such as "Do not invent prices, discounts or product availability." Every reply counts as one AI message, with 500 free for testing.
The human check happens twice. Before launch, someone messages the test number with the ten questions customers ask most, including one refund and one angry complaint, and confirms the agent hands those two over. After launch, the person who picks up each handover reads the details the AI collected before replying, so the customer never has to repeat the order number.
The free version first
AiSensy's $0 plan gives you the WhatsApp Business API on your number, live chat and the click-to-WhatsApp ads manager, but no broadcasting (AiSensy pricing). For a team that only answers inbound chats from ads, that runs on its own. For campaigns, price last month's sends on both cards in a spreadsheet before starting either trial.
Read how AiSensy's trial ends before you start it. The 14 days run on Pro features, and if a valid payment card is on the account when they end, the base plan is activated automatically; without a card the project drops back to the $0 plan (trial FAQ). So a card added during the trial, for whatever reason, is what turns it into a paid plan on day 14.
Choose Wati if your job is
- Automating replies with chatbots and keyword rules from the entry plan.
- Running a team inbox across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and TikTok.
- Adding Astra AI agents for web, WhatsApp and voice as the team grows.
Choose AiSensy if your job is
- Broadcasting to Indian customers at the lower per-message rate of the two.
- Giving six people inbox logins on a $45 plan.
- Starting on a $0 plan for inbound chats from click-to-WhatsApp ads.
FAQ
Does AiSensy charge per user?
Basic includes one owner and five agents, Premium one owner and nine; extra agents cost $20 a month each on any plan (AiSensy pricing).
Are chatbots included in AiSensy's trial?
No. Its trial FAQ says Chatbot Flows are not included; flows go live only with the paid add-on, listed at ₹2,500 a month in the FAQ and $80 on the USD pricing page (trial FAQ, AiSensy pricing).
What happens when Wati's 1,000 automation triggers run out?
Its pricing FAQ says that beyond the plan's triggers you answer customers manually, or buy more triggers on the Your Plan page, month by month (Wati pricing).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am Joris van Huët, an enterprise interim CMO. 15+ years, 50+ organizations, including ING, P&G, Nestlé, BNP Paribas, WeTransfer and Vinted. I take on innovation projects (venture building, design sprints), agentic marketing (setting up and running AI agents) and hands-on multi-channel work. See the track record.
I wrote and published this with AI assistance, and I answer for it. Claims about my own experience are limited to the track record above, and a statistic links to its source or is labelled as an example. I sell interim and fractional CMO work, which is why this site exists. How this site is written.
A senior operator doing the work: campaigns, channels, CRM and AI agents, live from day one.