Introduction to WhatsApp Business API
WhatsApp Business API (WABA) is the official, secure, and reliable method for businesses around the world to reach and communicate with their customers. With 1.6 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messenger app.
Octopods helps your business receive and reply to WhatsApp messages directly within your Intercom Inbox. We give you access to the WhatsApp Business API platform and create a seamless integration between WhatsApp and Intercom.
With WhatsApp Business API, your account lives entirely in the cloud, and cannot be connected to the regular WhatsApp mobile app. It will only be accessible through Intercom.
What Octopods WABA Offers
Access to the world's largest and most popular messaging service.
Freedom to communicate with your customers using rich media—text, images, documents, and audio.
Message Templates for notification purposes, so you can keep your customers informed more effectively.
A robust, spam-free network that your customers trust and rely on.
Deep Integration with the Intercom Inbox.
A Chrome browser extension to further enhance your WABA experience within Intercom.
What you need to get started
We support three official WhatsApp partners as of today. That means you will require an account with at least one of them in order to be able to connect WhatsApp to Intercom.
The providers we support are:
Our personal recommendation is 360dialog. Because of the reduced pricing, and the simplified application process that takes just a few minutes.
Here's how to apply for an account with any of these providers. There are certain prerequisites required for each, and they are listed at the top of the following articles:
Pricing
Here are the costs you can expect from Octopods and the WhatsApp providers mentioned above.
Octopods WhatsApp subscription
$99 per month for every WhatsApp account you connect.
WhatsApp provider - 360dialog
You must apply using your own number.
WhatsApp application fee: Free of charge
Messaging fee: You'll pay a fixed rate of US$15 per month (paid upfront)
Template messaging fee: WhatsApp templates don’t have additional charges (starting February 1st, 2022).
Instead businesses are charged per conversation. Each conversation includes all messages delivered in a 24 hour session.
For more information, please refer to the official WhatsApp pricing.
WhatsApp provider - Twilio
You'll need to purchase a Twilio phone number, which costs about $1 per month (depending on region).
WhatsApp application fee: Free of charge
Messaging fee: You'll pay for every message sent or received. The fee is about $0.005 per message. If you send and receive 10,000 messages per month, the cost will be $50 per month.
Template messaging fee: WhatsApp templates don’t have additional charges (starting February 1st, 2022). But Twilio charges a per message fee for all countries: $0.005 per message.
The WhatsApp fees varies by country. Please refer to the official pricing: official WhatsApp pricing.
WhatsApp provider - MessageBird
You can apply using your own number, or purchase a MessageBird phone number for about $1 per month (depending on region).
WhatsApp application fee: Free of charge
Messaging fee: You'll pay for every message sent or received. The fee is about $0.005 per message. If you send and receive 10,000 messages per month, the cost will be $50 per month.
Template messaging fee: WhatsApp templates don’t have additional charges (starting February 1st, 2022). But MessageBird charges a per message fee for all countries: $0.005 per message.
The WhatsApp messaging fee varies by country. Please refer to the official pricing: official WhatsApp pricing.
Example pricing calculation
Let's assume you have a Twilio WhatsApp account, and you send and receive about 10,000 messages per month. The costs involved will be as follows:
Octopods subscription: $99
Twilio phone number: $1
Twilio messaging fee: $0.005 x 10,000 messages = $50
Total cost:
$99 + $1 + ($0.005 x 10,000) = $150 per month.
Note: You will pay Octopods and the WhatsApp provider separately. We do not charge you on the provider's behalf.
Ready to apply?