Wootdesk vs Wati: no contact meter, no AI credit counter

Wati is a WhatsApp-first platform with three plans that step up on two axes at once: users (3, 5, 10) and monthly active contacts (500, 1,000, 2,500). AI arrives as a credit balance — 2,500, 10,000 and 25,000 credits respectively — that you can exhaust before the month ends.

Wootdesk bills per seat with unlimited conversations and no AI credit counter. Choose Wati if you are in India, want its campaign tooling, and your contact volume fits comfortably inside a tier. Choose Wootdesk if you would rather not watch two meters and a credit balance.

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Side by side

WootdeskWati
What the price scales withSeats onlyUsers, monthly active contacts and AI credits
Users on the entry plan2 seats, more from US$6/month3 users on Growth
Contact allowanceNone — conversations are unlimited500 on Growth, 1,000 on Pro, 2,500 on Business
AIWootAI included, no credit balance2,500 / 10,000 / 25,000 credits by plan; 1, 2, then unlimited AI agents
ChannelsWhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat, Telegram, SMS3 channels on Growth; unlimited on Pro and Business
VoiceTwilio Voice and WhatsApp Calling in the inboxAI voice on the Business plan
Automation limits on entry planRules included, no monthly trigger cap2 chatbots, 30 keyword rules, 1,000 automation triggers/month
Free trial7 days, no credit card7 days, no setup fee

Wati plan structure from its official pricing page and help centre, read on 26 August 2026. Prices are not listed here — see the note below. https://www.wati.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. Wati 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

  • Around 1,500 distinct people contacted per month — the number a contact meter charges on.
  • Three agents, one WhatsApp number.
  • Monthly billing.

Wootdesk

US$50 (≈ R$269)

Prata plan, 4 seats, unlimited conversations, WootAI included

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

Wati

See wati.io/pricing

Growth allows 3 users but 500 monthly active contacts; 1,500 contacts requires Pro (1,000) or Business (2,500)

No price is quoted here because Wati's page renders regional figures and independent sources disagree. The tier logic above is from Wati's own pages.

The point of this scenario is not the sticker price, it is which tier you land in. At 1,500 monthly contacts a three-person team is pushed past the entry plan by the contact meter, not by headcount — the upgrade is triggered by your customers, not your hiring.

Three meters instead of one

Wati's plans move on users, monthly active contacts and AI credits together. Growth carries 3 users and 500 contacts, Pro 5 users and 1,000, Business 10 users and 2,500, with AI credit balances of 2,500, 10,000 and 25,000 according to Wati's pricing page in August 2026.

Three meters means three ways to be pushed into an upgrade, and they rarely fill at the same rate. A four-person team with modest volume hits the user ceiling first; a two-person team after a campaign hits the contact ceiling first.

Wootdesk meters seats. Conversations are unlimited, WootAI has no credit balance, and the automation rules have no monthly trigger cap. The bill changes when you hire, and not otherwise.

Automation with a monthly allowance

Wati's Growth plan documents 2 chatbots, 30 keyword rules and 1,000 automation triggers a month, with campaign volume up to 15,000 messages a month. Those are real numbers on their help centre, and for many businesses they are generous.

They matter most in the month you outgrow them. An automation that stops firing because the monthly trigger allowance ran out is a support incident, not a billing event, and it usually surfaces as customers not getting a reply.

One channel deeply, or several channels together

Wati is WhatsApp-first in a stricter sense than Wootdesk: the entry plan connects three channels and the platform's tooling — template campaigns, broadcast lists, catalogue and coupon templates — is shaped around WhatsApp commerce.

Wootdesk connects WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat, Telegram and SMS on every plan, with voice through Twilio and WhatsApp Calling. If WhatsApp is genuinely your only channel, Wati's focus is an advantage rather than a limitation.

Where each vendor is closest to its customers

Wati is strongest in India, where it has the deepest presence and its billing, support hours and rate cards are built for that market. Being close to your vendor's centre of gravity is worth more than a feature comparison suggests.

Wootdesk is built for Brazil and Portuguese and Spanish-speaking markets first, with English support alongside. Billing is in Brazilian reais through a Brazilian processor, which is an advantage there and something to weigh if your finance team needs local invoicing elsewhere.

When Wati is the better choice

Several situations point clearly at Wati:

  • You are in India. Wati's support, billing and market presence are strongest there, and local invoicing matters to most finance teams.
  • WhatsApp is genuinely your only channel and you want tooling built around it rather than a multi-channel inbox.
  • You run high-volume template campaigns and want catalogue and coupon templates as first-class features.
  • Your contact volume is stable and sits comfortably inside a tier, which makes contact metering harmless.
  • You need per-region WhatsApp rate cards handled by a vendor that publishes them in detail.

Moving from Wati to Wootdesk

The WhatsApp number transfer is the only step with real downtime. Plan the rest around it.

  1. 1. Export contacts, tags and attributes

    Pull the full contact list with custom attributes and tags before anything else. Segmentation logic lives in those fields and cannot be reconstructed from message history.

  2. 2. Save your approved message templates

    Copy the text of every approved WhatsApp template. Templates are approved by Meta against your WhatsApp Business Account, so keeping the exact wording saves you a fresh approval round.

  3. 3. Document your automations before touching anything

    Screenshot or export your chatbots and keyword rules. You are rebuilding, not importing, and the trigger conditions are the part people forget.

  4. 4. Open the Wootdesk trial and rebuild

    Seven days, no card. Recreate keyword rules, canned responses, business hours and labels while Wati is still handling live traffic.

  5. 5. Transfer the WhatsApp number

    The number can be connected to one Business Solution Provider at a time, so it is disconnected on Wati's side and connected on Wootdesk's, with a short window where nothing flows. Do it out of hours.

  6. 6. Watch the first week closely

    Keep both dashboards open for a few days. Template delivery and automation triggers are where differences surface first, and it is easier to fix them while the old setup is still fresh.

Frequently asked questions

Why does this page not list Wati's prices?
Wati's pricing page renders figures by region and returned none to a direct read, and independent round-ups published the same month disagree by wide margins. Rather than print a number that might be wrong for your country, this page compares plan structure and links to the official page.
What is a monthly active contact on Wati?
A contact you had a genuine two-way interaction with during the billing month, through messages or calls. Growth includes 500, Pro 1,000 and Business 2,500 according to Wati's pricing page in August 2026. Wootdesk does not meter contacts at all.
How many users does each Wati plan include?
Three on Growth, five on Pro and ten on Business, per Wati's official pages in August 2026. Wootdesk's entry plan includes two seats with additional seats from around US$6 a month, so small teams can size more precisely.
What happens when AI credits run out?
Wati allocates AI credits per plan — 2,500, 10,000 and 25,000 by tier — so AI usage is capped by a balance that can be consumed before the month ends. WootAI has no credit balance on Wootdesk plans.
Can I keep my WhatsApp number when switching?
Yes. The number belongs to your business. It can only be connected to one Business Solution Provider at a time, so migration means disconnecting on one side and connecting on the other, with a short gap in between. Schedule it outside business hours.
Do my approved templates transfer?
Templates are approved against your WhatsApp Business Account rather than the platform, but you should still save the exact wording of each one before migrating. Keeping identical text makes re-approval faster if any template needs resubmitting.
Does Wootdesk support channels beyond WhatsApp?
Yes — Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat, Telegram and SMS on every plan, plus voice through Twilio Voice and WhatsApp Calling. Wati connects three channels on its entry plan and unlimited channels on higher tiers.

One meter instead of three

Seven days, no credit card. Connect your number and see what a month looks like without a contact allowance or a credit balance to watch.

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