Short answer: AiSensy is a strong broadcast-first platform with a genuinely free entry tier, but chatbots and AI are paid add-on layers on top of every plan. If AI-led selling is the point, an AiSensy Basic + AI Agent stack starts at Rs 5,000/month plus GST, while InboxWA starts at Rs 999/month with AI included and charges nothing over Meta's own per-message rates.
What is AiSensy, and who is it genuinely good for?
AiSensy is one of India's best-known WhatsApp Business API platforms, and its headline draw is real: a Free Forever plan at Rs 0 that includes official API access, live chat for one agent, a Click-to-WhatsApp Ads manager and a free Blue Tick application, per AiSensy's own documentation. Paid plans include one owner plus five agent seats, and Pro adds a broadcast scheduler, click tracking with retargeting and campaign budget analytics.
If your model is high-volume campaign broadcasting, especially fed by Meta ads, AiSensy's tooling is mature and its brand is established. It is a fair default for teams that mainly blast approved templates and handle replies manually. Where the economics change is the moment you want the platform to answer customers for you.
How much does AiSensy cost in India in 2026?
As of July 2026, AiSensy Basic is Rs 1,500/month and Pro is Rs 3,200/month, both plus GST (Rs 1,350 and Rs 2,880 on annual billing), per aisensy.com/pricing. Chatbots and AI are not in either plan: Chatbot Flows cost Rs 2,500/month extra for 5 flows, and the AI Agent Builder is Rs 3,500/month extra. Per-message WhatsApp charges are billed on top of everything.
| AiSensy plan / add-on | Price (India, monthly, ex-GST) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free Forever | Rs 0 | API access, 1-agent live chat, 10 tags, CTWA ads, Blue Tick application. No broadcasts, no chatbots. |
| Basic | Rs 1,500 (Rs 1,350 annual) | Broadcasting, CRM integrations, 10 tags / 5 attributes, 1 owner + 5 agents. |
| Pro | Rs 3,200 (Rs 2,880 annual) | Adds scheduler, click tracking + retargeting, smart routing, 100 tags / 20 attributes. |
| Add-on: Chatbot Flows | +Rs 2,500 for 5 flows | Required for any no-code chatbot; +Rs 2,500/month per extra 10 flows. Excluded from the free trial. |
| Add-on: AI Agent Builder | +Rs 3,500 | LLM agent with KB answers from your site/docs; 3,500 AI messages/month, paid top-ups (overage rate unpublished). |
| Extra agent seat | +Rs 750 per agent | Beyond the included 1 owner + 5 agents. |
Source: aisensy.com/pricing and AiSensy wiki articles, verified July 2026. All AiSensy billing is pre-paid; WhatsApp per-message charges apply on top of every tier.
What are the AiSensy free plan limitations?
The Free Forever plan is API access, not a working automation stack: no broadcasts, no chatbots, live chat for a single agent, and caps of 10 tags and 5 custom attributes, per AiSensy's wiki (July 2026). The 14-day trial unlocks Pro features and 500 test AI messages, but Chatbot Flows stay behind the Rs 2,500/month add-on even during the trial. So the free tier is a good on-ramp for getting a number live and running Click-to-WhatsApp ads, but doing anything automated means Basic plus at least one add-on. For a broadcast-volume sanity check before you commit anywhere, see our bulk messaging 2026 playbook.
Does AiSensy charge a markup on Meta's WhatsApp fees?
Effectively yes, though it is never labelled one. From January 2026 AiSensy bills Rs 1.09 per delivered marketing message and Rs 0.145 per utility/authentication message in India (per AiSensy's own pricing update), while Meta's published India rate card is roughly Rs 0.86 marketing and Rs 0.115 utility/auth (see independent 2026 rate cards citing Meta's developer docs). That is about 26% over list, and even adding 18% GST to Meta's rate does not reach Rs 1.09. Industry roundups put most Indian BSPs in a 10-30% markup band; AiSensy sits inside it.
InboxWA takes the opposite position. You top up a wallet and pay Meta's exact published rates: Rs 0.8560 marketing, Rs 0.1150 utility, Rs 0.1250 authentication per conversation, with user-initiated service conversations free. We forward Meta's invoice; we do not decorate it. On 10,000 marketing conversations a month, Meta's rate costs Rs 8,560 versus Rs 10,900 at Rs 1.09, a difference of Rs 2,340 every month. Full maths on the WhatsApp API pricing comparison page.
AiSensy vs InboxWA: side-by-side
| Capability | AiSensy (as of July 2026) | InboxWA |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan with broadcasts + AI chatbot | Rs 5,000/mo ex-GST (Basic Rs 1,500 + AI Agent Rs 3,500) | Rs 999/mo ex-GST (Starter, AI included) |
| AI chatbot in base plans | No; Rs 3,500/mo add-on (3,500 AI messages) | Yes; prompt-mode AI from Starter, 1,000 AI calls/mo |
| AI grounded on your own catalogue (RAG) | Add-on only: KB from website crawl / doc uploads | Growth Rs 2,499/mo: RAG on your catalogue, FAQs and pricing; deterministic price lookups |
| Chatflow builder | Rs 2,500/mo add-on for 5 flows | Unlimited chatflows on Growth |
| Meta conversation fees (India, marketing) | Rs 1.09 billed vs Meta's ~Rs 0.86 list (~26% over) | Rs 0.8560, Meta's exact rate, zero markup, no minimum |
| Team seats | 1 owner + 5 agents; then Rs 750/mo per agent | No per-seat pricing: 10 seats on Growth, unlimited on Scale |
| Free entry | Free Forever plan (API access, no broadcasts/chatbots) + 14-day Pro trial | 7-day full Growth trial, no card; no permanent free tier |
| Click-to-WhatsApp Ads manager | Yes, even on the free plan | No native ads manager |
| E-commerce automations | Broadcast/campaign-centric | Abandoned cart, COD verification, order tracking, review requests, win-back; Shopify sync, Razorpay |
| Data residency and consent | Not published on pricing pages | Meta Cloud API direct, data hosted in India, DPDP-aligned, per-contact opt-in ledger |
| Support | Users on Trustpilot report 2-3 day response delays vs a 24-hour promise | Founder-run, direct support; dedicated Slack channel on Scale |
AiSensy data from aisensy.com/pricing, AiSensy wiki and blog, G2, Trustpilot and third-party rate cards, verified July 2026. Prices ex-GST. Features and prices may change; check the linked sources.
Where AiSensy is genuinely strong
- Free entry point. Free Forever plus a 14-day no-card Pro trial is the lowest-risk way in India to get an official API number live.
- Broadcast and ads tooling at scale. Scheduler, click-based retargeting and campaign budget analytics on Pro; CTWA ads manager on every tier.
- Brand and maturity. A large installed base and an established BSP operation; free Blue Tick application is a nice touch.
- Included seats. 1 owner + 5 agents free on paid plans is generous at the entry level (extra agents Rs 750/month after that).
Where InboxWA is the better fit
- AI is the product, not an add-on. If a chatbot is a paid add-on, it is not really part of the platform. InboxWA ships prompt-mode AI in your tone at Rs 999 and RAG grounded on your catalogue at Rs 2,499, with human escalation when confidence drops. We publish the test methodology in our AI evaluation framework, and our Data + RAG onboarding service carries an 85%+ eval pass-rate guarantee.
- Zero markup on Meta fees. Meta's exact published rates via wallet, no minimums. At volume this is often the entire subscription price back.
- No per-seat tax, no flow-count meter. Unlimited chatflows on Growth; seats are bundled, never Rs 750-a-head.
- D2C revenue automations. Abandoned cart recovery and COD verification that cuts RTO, plus order tracking, review requests and win-back flows out of the box.
- India-first by design. Data hosted in India, DPDP Act aligned, opt-in consent ledger per contact, and a broadcast dispatcher that paces under Meta rate limits and auto-throttles on quality-rating dips.
What do AiSensy users report on G2 and Trustpilot?
AiSensy holds 4.3/5 on G2 (110 reviews, May 2026) and 4.0/5 on Trustpilot (49 reviews), below rivals like Wati at ~4.6. The recurring themes in negative reviews, as of July 2026: support replies taking 2-3 days against a 24-hour promise, platform instability (random logouts, recurring bugs), pricing-transparency complaints about add-on stacking (about 30% of negatives per third-party aggregation), and shallow analytics. Reddit threads aggregated by review roundups land in the same place: effective for basic broadcasting, frustrating when you push beyond it. To be fair, a 4.3 G2 score is a solid product; these are friction points, not a failing platform.
Our verdict
Stay with AiSensy if you are broadcast-first, value the Rs 0 entry tier and CTWA ads manager, and do not need a chatbot, or are happy paying Rs 2,500-3,500/month extra when you do.
Choose InboxWA if you want AI answering customers from day one at Rs 999/month, answers grounded on your own catalogue with prices it cannot invent, Meta fees at cost, and no per-seat or per-flow meters. At 10,000 marketing conversations a month, the fee pass-through alone saves roughly Rs 2,340/month, nearly the cost of the Growth plan.
Also comparing others? See our Wati and Interakt breakdowns, or the full best WhatsApp CRM in India roundup.
AiSensy alternative: frequently asked questions
Is AiSensy really free to use?
Partly. AiSensy's Free Forever plan (Rs 0) gives you WhatsApp Business API access, live chat for one agent, Click-to-WhatsApp ads and Blue Tick application, but no broadcasts and no chatbots, as of July 2026. You still pay per-message WhatsApp charges. To broadcast you need Basic at Rs 1,500/month plus GST, and any chatbot or AI capability is a separate paid add-on.
How much does AiSensy cost per month in India in 2026?
As of July 2026, AiSensy Basic is Rs 1,500/month and Pro is Rs 3,200/month, both plus GST, with annual billing at Rs 1,350 and Rs 2,880 respectively. Chatbot Flows cost an extra Rs 2,500/month for 5 flows, the WhatsApp AI Agent Builder is Rs 3,500/month, extra agents are Rs 750/month each, and WhatsApp per-message charges are billed on top.
Does AiSensy include an AI chatbot in its plans?
No. As of July 2026, no AiSensy base plan includes a chatbot. The drag-and-drop Chatbot Flows builder is Rs 2,500/month extra, and the LLM-based AI Agent Builder is Rs 3,500/month extra with 3,500 AI messages included. InboxWA includes prompt-mode AI from its Rs 999 Starter plan and RAG-grounded AI on Growth at Rs 2,499.
Does AiSensy charge a markup on WhatsApp message fees?
AiSensy bills Rs 1.09 per delivered marketing message and Rs 0.145 per utility or authentication message in India from January 2026, while Meta's own published India rates are roughly Rs 0.86 and Rs 0.115. That works out to about 26% above Meta's list price, though AiSensy does not describe it as a markup. InboxWA charges Meta's exact published rates with zero markup.
What is the best AiSensy alternative in India in 2026?
If you mainly need large-scale broadcasting with a free entry point, AiSensy remains a reasonable choice. If you want an AI chatbot without add-on fees, InboxWA bundles AI from Rs 999/month, grounds answers on your own catalogue with RAG from Rs 2,499, charges zero markup on Meta fees, and has no per-seat pricing. Wati and Interakt are other established options worth comparing.
Can I move my WhatsApp number from AiSensy to InboxWA?
Yes. Meta supports migrating a WhatsApp Business API number between providers, and your number moves with you. InboxWA connects directly to Meta's Cloud API, and our guided setup service (Rs 9,999) handles the migration, template re-creation and go-live checks with you.
How does InboxWA's AI pricing work?
Every plan includes a monthly AI-call allowance: 1,000 calls on Starter (Rs 999), 2,500 on Growth (Rs 2,499) and 5,000 on Scale (Rs 4,999). A fresh AI call counts as 1 and a cached answer counts as 0.5; overage is Rs 0.25, Rs 0.20 and Rs 0.15 per call by plan. The AI never invents prices: product and price lookups are deterministic, and a confidence gate hands the chat to a human with full context.
Try the AI-first alternative
7-day free trial of Growth features, no card required. Annual billing saves two months. Questions? Talk to the founder or write to [email protected].