Wootdesk vs Respond.io: seat pricing without a contact meter

Respond.io charges on two axes at once: a per-user fee and a monthly active contact (MAC) allowance. Your bill moves when your team grows and again when your audience grows.

Wootdesk charges per seat with unlimited conversations, so the invoice only changes when you add people. Pick Respond.io if you need ten channels including WeChat, Viber and LINE on day one. Pick Wootdesk if WhatsApp and Instagram carry your volume and you want a bill you can forecast.

Start free7 days free · No credit card · Cancel any time

Side by side

WootdeskRespond.io
Entry priceUS$28/month (≈ R$149), 2 seatsUS$79/month, 5 users
What the price scales withSeats onlyUsers + monthly active contacts
Conversation / contact cap on entry planNo cap1,000 monthly active contacts
Extra userFrom US$6/month (≈ R$34)US$12/month on Starter
Free trial7 days, no credit card7 days, no credit card
AI on the entry planWootAI includedAI Prompt and AI Assist on Starter; AI Agents from Growth
Voice callsTwilio Voice and WhatsApp Calling in the inboxAI Agent voice calls from Growth
ChannelsWhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat, Telegram, SMSWhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, SMS, email, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat

Respond.io figures read from its official pricing page on 26 August 2026. https://respond.io/pricing

Verified August 26, 2026, according to the official pricing page. Plans, prices and limits change without notice, and some vendors show different prices by region. Check the vendor's own page before deciding. Respond.io is a trademark of its owner; Wootdesk is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by it.

A 3-agent team handling 2,000 conversations a month

  • Three people answering, one WhatsApp number, one Instagram account.
  • Around 1,500 distinct people contacted per month — the figure that matters for a contact-metered plan.
  • Monthly billing, no annual commitment, list price with no discount.

Wootdesk

US$50 (≈ R$269)

Prata plan, 4 seats included, unlimited conversations

Charged in BRL. The USD figure is an estimate at R$5.40/US$1.

Respond.io

From US$79

Starter at US$79 covers 5 users and 1,000 MACs; 1,500 contacts exceeds the included allowance

The pricing page states the 1,000 MAC allowance for Starter but not what exceeding it costs, so no overage figure is quoted here.

The gap is not really the sticker price, it is which number moves. On Wootdesk the invoice tracks headcount. On Respond.io it also tracks how many people wrote to you, so a good campaign month and a bad one cost different amounts.

Two meters versus one

Respond.io's plans carry a user count and a monthly active contact allowance. Starter is US$79 for 5 users and 1,000 MACs; Growth is US$159 for 10 users; Advanced is US$279. Extra users are US$12, US$20 and US$24 a month depending on tier. Those figures are on the official pricing page as of 26 August 2026.

A monthly active contact is a person who exchanged messages with you in the billing period. That makes the bill a function of your marketing, not just your staffing. Teams running seasonal promotions tend to notice this in the month after a campaign lands.

Wootdesk meters one thing: seats. Conversations are unlimited on every paid plan. Whether 300 or 3,000 people write in this month, the invoice is the same. That is a deliberate trade — it is simpler to forecast, and it does not punish a good month.

Channel breadth versus channel depth

Respond.io supports a genuinely long list: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, SMS, email, Telegram, Viber, LINE and WeChat. If you sell into markets where LINE or WeChat is the default — Japan, Taiwan, mainland China — that list is a real advantage and this comparison should end here.

Wootdesk covers WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat, Telegram and SMS, and puts the depth into the channels that carry Latin American, Iberian and South Asian volume. Voice is the clearest example: Twilio Voice and WhatsApp Calling land in the same inbox as the chats, with the recording and duration filed on the conversation.

What you get before you upgrade

On Respond.io, Starter includes AI Prompt and AI Assist; AI Agents and AI voice calls start at Growth (US$159). Public reviews on G2 repeatedly mention the entry plan lacking workflow, API and webhook access — worth confirming against the current feature matrix before you decide.

Wootdesk includes WootAI on the entry plan, along with the voice channel and the automation rules. The upgrade path is about seats and channels, not about unlocking the AI you were shown in the demo.

Setup time and who does it

Both products connect to the WhatsApp Business Platform, so the Meta-side work is the same either way: a verified business, an approved number, template messages for anything outside the 24-hour window. Neither vendor can shorten Meta's review.

The difference is what happens after. Wootdesk provisions the workspace and connects the first number as part of onboarding, and support is handled by people who set up these accounts daily. Respond.io is self-serve with documentation and an AI assistant on the help centre — faster if you like working alone, slower if you hit something the docs do not cover.

When Respond.io is the better choice

There are cases where we are not the right answer. These are the honest ones:

  • You need LINE, Viber or WeChat. Wootdesk does not offer them; Respond.io does.
  • Your team is 10+ agents already and the per-user price at Growth works out cheaper per head than paying for seats individually.
  • You want a single vendor for TikTok messaging alongside WhatsApp — Respond.io lists TikTok as a supported channel and Wootdesk does not.
  • Your contact volume is low and stable but your team is large. A contact meter is kind to you in that shape; a seat meter is not.
  • You are already deep into Respond.io's workflow builder and the migration cost outweighs the billing difference.

Moving from Respond.io to Wootdesk

Expect the WhatsApp number migration to be the long pole. Everything else takes an afternoon.

  1. 1. Export your contacts

    Pull the contact list out of Respond.io as CSV, including custom fields and tags. Do this first — it is the piece you cannot reconstruct later.

  2. 2. Open the Wootdesk trial

    Seven days, no credit card. Create the workspace and invite one teammate so you can test assignment and private notes with a real second person.

  3. 3. Import contacts and rebuild labels

    Import the CSV and recreate your tag structure. Labels rarely map one to one between platforms, so treat this as a chance to drop the ones nobody used.

  4. 4. Rebuild automations before you move the number

    Set up routing rules, business hours and canned responses while the old system is still live. Nothing should be improvised on cutover day.

  5. 5. Migrate the WhatsApp number

    A number can be connected to one Business Solution Provider at a time. You disconnect it from Respond.io's BSP and connect it to Wootdesk's, and there is a window with no messages flowing while that happens. Our onboarding team schedules it with you.

  6. 6. Cut over out of hours

    Do the switch at the quietest point of your week and keep the Respond.io account open, read-only, for one billing cycle so you can still look up old threads.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wootdesk cheaper than Respond.io?
It depends on shape, not size. Wootdesk starts at US$28/month for 2 seats with unlimited conversations; Respond.io starts at US$79/month for 5 users and 1,000 monthly active contacts. Small team with high contact volume favours Wootdesk. Large team with low contact volume can favour Respond.io.
What is a monthly active contact?
On Respond.io it is a person you exchanged messages with during the billing month, counted once regardless of how many messages. It matters because it makes your bill move with your audience size, not only with your team size. Wootdesk does not meter contacts.
Can I keep my WhatsApp number when I switch?
Yes. The number belongs to your business, not to the platform. It can only be connected to one Business Solution Provider at a time, so migrating means disconnecting it on one side and connecting it on the other, with a short gap in between.
Does Wootdesk support voice calls?
Yes, through Twilio Voice and WhatsApp Calling. Calls ring inside the shared inbox, are recorded automatically, and the recording and duration are saved to the same conversation as the chats and emails.
Do I need a credit card to try Wootdesk?
No. The trial runs seven days with no card and no sales call. You create the workspace, connect a channel and use the product. Respond.io also advertises a 7-day trial with no credit card on its pricing page.
Which channels does Wootdesk not support?
LINE, Viber, WeChat and TikTok are not available. Respond.io lists all four. If your customers reach you on any of them, that is a genuine reason to choose Respond.io over Wootdesk.
Is AI included or an add-on?
WootAI is included on Wootdesk's entry plan. On Respond.io, AI Prompt and AI Assist are on Starter, while AI Agents and AI voice calls begin at the Growth tier, according to its pricing page in August 2026.
In what currency will I be charged?
Wootdesk charges in Brazilian reais through Asaas. Prices shown in US dollars and euros on this site are estimates for comparison, converted at a fixed rate, and the amount that reaches your statement is the BRL one.

Try it against your own inbox

Seven days, no credit card, no sales call. Connect one channel and see whether the difference shows up in your week.

Start freeSee pricing

Other comparisons

Wootdesk vs WatiWootdesk vs SleekFlowWootdesk vs Trengo