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respond.io vs Social Intents · November 2026

A simpler respond.io alternative for WhatsApp teams

respond.io is a powerful omnichannel platform, priced per user and per active contact. If your team mostly needs WhatsApp and website chat, Social Intents gives you unlimited agents and broadcasts from $69/month billed annually, with replies from Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat.

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Meta Tech Provider · Official WhatsApp Business PlatformNo credit card required · 14-day free trial4.7 on CapterraReplies in Slack Microsoft Teams Google Chat

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respond.io vs Social Intents: the quick verdict

Both are built on the official WhatsApp Business Platform and neither marks up Meta’s fees. They differ in scope and in how they charge.

respond.io is the better fit when

  • You run sales across many channels, including TikTok, Instagram, email and calls
  • You need visual workflows with HTTP requests, webhooks and multiple workspaces
  • Contact lifecycle stages and Meta or TikTok ads attribution drive your reporting

Social Intents is the better fit when

  • WhatsApp and website chat are your main channels and the team keeps growing
  • Your people live in Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat all day
  • You want broadcasts with consent checks on an entry-level plan

What a growing team pays each month

Plan fees only, yearly billing, for plans that include WhatsApp broadcasts. WhatsApp fees go to Meta on both.

5 agents

respond.io Growth $159
Social Intents Basic $69

10 agents

respond.io Growth $159
Social Intents Basic $69

20 agents

respond.io Growth $359
Social Intents Basic $69

30 agents

respond.io Growth $559
Social Intents Basic $69

respond.io Growth: $159/month with 10 users, $20 per extra user, and 1,000 Monthly Active Contacts before on-demand charges ($12 per 100). Social Intents Basic: $69/month with unlimited agents, 1,000 conversations and 2,000 broadcast messages a month; Pro ($99) raises those to 5,000 and 10,000. Prices as published in November 2026.

Feature comparison: respond.io vs Social Intents

Sourced from respond.io’s pricing page and help content, checked in November 2026.

Plans and seats (as of November 2026, yearly billing)

Entry plan

respond.io
Partly:Starter $79/mo with 5 users; no broadcasts or workflows
Social Intents
Yes:Basic $69/mo with unlimited agents and WhatsApp broadcasts

Plan with broadcasts

respond.io
Growth $159/mo with 10 users
Social Intents
Basic $69/mo

Extra users

respond.io
$12 (Starter), $20 (Growth) or $24 (Advanced) per user per month; unlimited on Enterprise
Social Intents
Yes:Included on Basic, Pro and Business (Lite has 1 seat, Starter 4)

Usage metric

respond.io
Monthly Active Contacts: Growth and Advanced start at 1,000, then $12 or $15 per extra 100 on demand
Social Intents
Conversations per month (1,000 / 5,000 / 10,000) and broadcast messages (2,000 / 10,000 / 50,000) on Basic / Pro / Business

WhatsApp message fees

respond.io
Yes:Paid to Meta via a top-up in respond.io; respond.io says it adds no charges on top
Social Intents
Yes:Billed by Meta to your own WhatsApp Business Account, no markup

Channels and team

Channels

respond.io
Yes:WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, email, calls and more
Social Intents
Yes:Website chat, WhatsApp, SMS and Messenger

Where agents reply

respond.io
respond.io inbox and mobile app
Social Intents
Yes:Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, or the web and mobile inbox

AI

respond.io
Yes:AI Assist, AI Agents (Growth+), AI credits included with on-demand overage
Social Intents
Yes:AI chatbot on ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, trained on your site, with handoff to a person

Automation

respond.io
Yes:Visual workflows with HTTP steps and webhooks (Advanced)
Social Intents
Partly:Routing, chatbot handoff and integrations; no drip journeys

Campaign safety

Opt-out handling

respond.io
Not detailed on the pricing page
Social Intents
Yes:STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE and “stop promotions” opt-outs applied automatically

Quiet hours and frequency guard

respond.io
Not detailed on the pricing page
Social Intents
Yes:Sends held outside 9 AM–8 PM by default; frequency guard on every broadcast

US contacts (marketing to +1 paused by Meta)

respond.io
Not detailed on the pricing page
Social Intents
Yes:Pre-flight flags +1 numbers; SMS fallback through your Twilio number

Security and trust

Certifications and reviews

respond.io
ISO 27001 certified; 4.8/5 from 561 reviews on G2
Social Intents
4.7 on Capterra

respond.io details from respond.io/pricing and respond.io/whatsapp-pricing-calculator as of November 2026. “Not detailed on the pricing page” means we couldn’t confirm it publicly, not that it’s missing. Verify with respond.io.

Why teams switch from respond.io

Three reasons we hear from teams that moved.

01

Broadcasts without the Growth jump

On respond.io, broadcasts start on Growth at $159/month. Social Intents includes WhatsApp broadcasts, with consent checks and quiet hours, on Basic at $69/month billed annually.

02

Seats that don’t scale your bill

respond.io charges $20 a month for each Growth user beyond ten. On Social Intents Basic and up, adding the night shift, a sales pod or contractors costs nothing.

03

Replies from the chat app you live in

respond.io has a polished inbox and mobile app. Social Intents takes a different approach: WhatsApp threads appear in Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat, so nobody has to watch another tool.

Compliance built in: opt-in evidence, STOP opt-outs, quiet hours and pre-flight checks.
US reach: SMS fallback through your Twilio number when Meta pauses +1 marketing.
Free tools: link and QR generators, pricing calculator and more.

respond.io pricing vs Social Intents pricing

Every plan, as listed on each company’s site in November 2026, on yearly billing.

respond.io

  • Starter$79/mo5 users, no broadcasts
  • Growth$159/mo10 users, broadcasts, workflows, AI Agents
  • Advanced$279/mo10 users, SSO, workspaces, webhooks
  • EnterpriseCustomUnlimited users
  • 7-day free trialNo card needed

Social Intents

  • Basic$69/moUnlimited agents, 1 WhatsApp number, broadcasts
  • Pro$99/mo5 numbers, 5,000 conversations
  • Business$199/mo10 numbers, 10,000 conversations
  • Lite / Starter$29 / $391 and 4 seats, no WhatsApp broadcasts
  • 14-day free trialNo card needed

Lite is $29 on monthly billing. Social Intents prices are per month, billed annually unless noted. See full pricing.

Test it on your own WhatsApp number

Unlimited agents and broadcasts are part of the 14-day trial.

Start Free Trial

How to move from respond.io to Social Intents

Keep your number and your consent records; rebuild only what you actually use.

  1. Export contacts and opt-out status

    Export contacts from respond.io with their tags, lifecycle stage and consent fields. Keep unsubscribes flagged so they import as opted out.

  2. Confirm your number is business-owned

    In Meta Business Suite, check that the WhatsApp account holding your number sits in your business portfolio. Under Meta’s new model the number’s account always belongs to the business, while each partner gets its own Messaging account for templates and billing.

  3. Add Social Intents with Embedded Signup

    Connect the same number from your Social Intents trial. Where the new account model is live, respond.io can keep handling conversations while you test; otherwise, disconnect it from respond.io first.

  4. Rebuild templates and routing

    Templates don’t follow you between partner-owned Messaging accounts, so recreate the ones you use from our template library. Map respond.io workflows to routing rules, AI chatbot handoff and integrations.

  5. Connect your team chat and cut over

    Connect Slack, Teams or Google Chat, invite everyone, send a test broadcast, then remove respond.io’s access and cancel at the end of your billing cycle.

Frequently asked questions

Answers for teams comparing respond.io and Social Intents.

Is Social Intents a good respond.io alternative?
For teams that mainly need WhatsApp and website chat, yes. Social Intents is built on the official WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API), includes unlimited agents and WhatsApp broadcasts from the Basic plan at $69/month billed annually, and lets agents answer from Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat. If you need many messaging channels, advanced workflow automation or contact lifecycle management, respond.io is the more complete platform.
Is Social Intents an official WhatsApp provider?
Yes. Social Intents is a Meta Tech Provider; you connect your number through Meta’s Embedded Signup and messages go through the official WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API). Meta bills message fees to your own WhatsApp Business Account.
How does respond.io pricing work?
As of November 2026, respond.io lists Starter at $79/month, Growth at $159/month and Advanced at $279/month on yearly billing ($99, $199 and $349 monthly), plus custom Enterprise. Starter includes 5 users and Growth and Advanced include 10, with extra users at $12, $20 or $24 per month. Growth and Advanced start with 1,000 Monthly Active Contacts, with on-demand overage at $12 or $15 per 100. Broadcasts start on Growth. WhatsApp fees are paid separately.
Does respond.io mark up WhatsApp fees?
respond.io says it adds no extra charges on WhatsApp messages, so you pay what Meta charges, topped up through its platform. Social Intents also adds no markup: Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business Account directly. On this point the two are equal; the differences are seats, where your team replies and plan price.
What is a Monthly Active Contact?
respond.io counts a contact as active in a billing month if they message or call you, or you start a conversation with them. Social Intents plans are measured in conversations per month and, for WhatsApp broadcasts, monthly message limits of 2,000, 10,000 and 50,000 on Basic, Pro and Business.
Can I switch from respond.io without changing my WhatsApp number?
Yes. With Meta’s new account model, rolling out from September 23, 2026, a business-owned number can be shared with more than one partner, so you can connect Social Intents through Embedded Signup alongside respond.io and cut over when ready. If your account hasn’t moved to the new model, disconnect the number from respond.io first. Templates in a Messaging account owned by respond.io need to be recreated.
Will my number get banned if I change providers?
No. Changing providers doesn’t affect your standing with Meta. Restrictions come from policy violations and a low quality rating, usually from messaging people who never opted in. Social Intents tracks opt-in evidence, applies opt-outs automatically, holds sends for quiet hours and runs a frequency guard so you don’t over-message.
Can I try Social Intents before switching?
Yes. The free trial lasts 14 days, needs no credit card and includes WhatsApp broadcasts, so you can test a real campaign and the Teams, Slack or Google Chat workflow.

Other WhatsApp platform comparisons

Each comparison quotes public pricing and links the source.

WATI alternative

Capped users vs unlimited agents, and replies in Slack or Teams.

Interakt alternative

Per-plan message rates vs Meta billing you directly.

AiSensy alternative

Agent add-ons and wallet billing vs a flat team plan.

WhatChimp alternative

A low-cost WhatsApp tool vs replies in the chat apps you use.

360dialog alternative

Raw API access per number vs a ready team inbox.

WhatsApp Business API providers

A fair, vendor-neutral checklist for choosing any provider.

Related WhatsApp resources

Practical guides and free tools for WhatsApp teams.

WhatsApp Broadcasts

Consent-aware campaigns with pre-flight checks and quiet hours.

WhatsApp template library

90 ready-made templates across 34 categories.

Shared WhatsApp team inbox

Assign, collaborate and answer as a team.

WhatsApp pricing calculator

Estimate Meta’s per-message fees by country.

Free WhatsApp tools

Link generator, QR codes, text formatter and more.

WhatsApp marketing to US numbers

Why +1 marketing is paused and how SMS fallback helps.

Sources and methodology

We quote respond.io’s public prices on yearly billing because that is what its pricing page shows by default. Team-size totals add published per-user fees only and exclude Monthly Active Contact overages and WhatsApp fees. Confirm current pricing with respond.io.

  • Meta Tech Provider on the official WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)
  • Unlimited agents from the Basic plan up
  • Replies in Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat
  • 4.7 on Capterra

Ready for a simpler respond.io alternative?

Unlimited agents, WhatsApp broadcasts with built-in guardrails, and replies from Teams, Slack or Google Chat, from $69/month billed annually.

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14-day free trial • No credit card required • Unlimited agents from Basic