What Is SendPulse? Email Plus Chatbots for Messaging Apps
By Joris van Huët · SendPulse's own site
The short answer: if your customers message you on Instagram or WhatsApp more than they open email, SendPulse lets one account run chatbots on those apps and email campaigns to the same contacts, with a CRM between them. Email and chatbots are priced separately: email Standard is $12 a month on monthly billing for 500 subscribers, and the Basic chatbot plan is free up to 500 chatbot subscribers (email pricing and chatbot pricing, checked on 24 October 2026).
Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.
Before you switch on both products:
- Add the two bills together. Email Standard at 2,500 subscribers is $38 a month on monthly billing, and chatbot Pro starts at $9.60 a month billed annually for 500 chatbot subscribers, so a mixed setup is at least $38 + $9.60 = $47.60 a month before WhatsApp message costs (email pricing, chatbot pricing).
- Start from the channel that already talks to you. If your Instagram inbox fills with questions, start there; a direct connection needs only an Instagram business account (Instagram setup guide).
- Track the hand-off. Contacts who share an email in chat land in a mailing list named after the bot (data saving guide); its growth shows the chat is feeding email.
What SendPulse does
SendPulse calls itself an AI-driven email and chatbot marketing platform (homepage). Chatbots run on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, TikTok and Viber; email covers campaigns, automation and transactional mail over SMTP; and there are pop-ups, websites, courses, SMS and a CRM with deal pipelines. It is an official WhatsApp Business API provider.
Its MCP server lets AI agents read chatbot conversations, manage CRM deals and send email from plain-language prompts; SendPulse says the agent asks for approval at key steps and may not always recognise its limits.
Who it suits
It suits shops, course creators and service businesses whose leads arrive in DMs and should end in an email list and a CRM deal. A team that only sends newsletters pays for breadth it will not use, and automation flows are capped: 10 on email Standard, 50 on Pro.
Prices
Email plans, USD, monthly billing, from the SendPulse pricing page on 24 October 2026:
| Subscribers | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $12 | $14.40 |
| 2,500 | $38 | $45.60 |
| 5,000 | $52 | $62.40 |
| 10,000 | $78 | $93.60 |
Both paid email plans send unlimited emails; the free plan sends 15,000 a month. Yearly billing takes 20% off and six-month billing 10% (email pricing). Chatbot plans are priced on their own pricing page, from a free Basic plan.
How it compares
Brevo. Brevo also sells email, SMS and WhatsApp, but lists WhatsApp, popups and push among the extra channels of its Professional plan at $499 a month (Brevo pricing). If messaging-app automation is why you are shopping, SendPulse's entry is far cheaper; if one plan for transactional and marketing email is why, Brevo is built for it.
Mailchimp. Mailchimp's Essentials plan starts at $13 a month (Mailchimp pricing), close to SendPulse's email Standard at 500 subscribers. The decider is whether you need Instagram and WhatsApp chatbots in the same account.
A platform sold in modules has every reason to show you the next one; price only the channels where customers already write to you.
Getting started
Connect an Instagram chatbot, ask for an email in the flow, and send a welcome email automatically: How to use SendPulse walks through it.
FAQ
Is there a free plan?
Yes, for each product: free email sends up to 15,000 emails a month (email pricing), and the free Basic chatbot plan covers 3 bots, 500 subscribers and 10,000 messages a month (chatbot pricing).
Do chatbot contacts end up on my email list?
Yes, once they share an email address or phone number. SendPulse creates a mailing list named after the chatbot and adds them, along with the app they came from (data saving guide).
Do WhatsApp messages cost extra?
Yes, Meta's charges apply on top: from 1 October 2026, service replies are charged at the destination country's Utility template rate, with 1,000 a month per bot free (chatbot pricing).