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Automate AI vs respond.io

respond.io and Automate AI both run on the official WhatsApp Business API with a shared inbox, broadcasts, no-code automation and AI agents. respond.io is a multichannel conversation platform priced in US dollars by monthly active contacts; Automate AI is built around WhatsApp, with published plans billed in INR.

Here’s an honest side-by-side, using what respond.io publishes on its own website.

respond.io details checked on 8 November 2026 from respond.io/. Products change, so confirm on their site.

Feature by feature

FeatureAutomate AIrespond.io
PricingPublishedMarketing Plan ₹1,500 a month billed yearly (₹17,999) or ₹1,833 a month billed every 3 months (₹5,499); AI Assistant + Marketing + Automation Plan ₹2,333 a month billed yearly (₹27,999) or ₹2,833 a month billed every 3 months (₹8,499); Series 4 ₹2,899 a month billed yearly (₹34,788); billed in INR; no public free trial. Free wallet credit with your first purchase; unlimited users and contacts on every plan; WhatsApp messages charged per delivered message, India from ₹0.95 marketing and ₹0.15 utility on Series 4 (₹0.99 and ₹0.19 on the other plans).PublishedStarter $79, Growth $159, Advanced $279 a month billed yearly ($99, $199, $349 billed monthly); Enterprise custom; Growth and Advanced priced by monthly active contacts; 7-day free trial; Meta’s fees paid on top.Source
Shared team inboxYesShared inbox with unlimited users on every plan: take-turns, least-busy or department auto-assignment, managers kept to their department, internal notes, quick replies, pinned chats, drafts, statuses and tags, hidden customer numbers for staff, a staff activity report, and several branches under one login, each with its own number, wallet, plan and team. The app itself works in English, Hindi and 8 more Indian languages.YesTeam and custom inboxes on every plan; auto-assignment (round robin, least open) through Workflows on Growth and up; 5 users on Starter, 10 on Growth and Advanced.Source
Broadcast campaignsYesTemplate campaigns on every plan with images, video, documents, buttons and carousels: send now, schedule or at each person’s usual read time; groups, ready-made audiences or everyone with an open 24-hour window; A/B testing, a random 10% test first, and follow-up steps to people who didn’t reply; quality protection; results by sent, delivered, read, replied, failed and clicked, with sales per campaign from your store; 84 ready-made templates; Smart Links, a chat button and QR codes. RCS campaigns on the AI + Automation Plan and Series 4.YesBroadcasts with scheduling, segments and a test send on Growth and up, not Starter; reports show sent, delivered, read and failed. Says it isn’t built for cold bulk messaging.Source
No-code chatbot builderYesNo-code flow builder (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4) with keywords, buttons, lists, media, questions, conditions, webhooks, email and Meta conversion events, plus keyword auto-replies and a welcome flow. An away message answers outside business hours on every plan. Describe a flow and AI drafts it for you to check and publish.YesNo-code Workflows builder with templates and branching, on Growth and up; a keyword trigger isn’t in its trigger list.Source
AI that answers from your documentsYesAI + Automation Plan and Series 4: the AI Assistant answers from your PDF, Word and text files or your website, in the customer’s language, hands over to a person (7 triggers, WhatsApp alerts to up to 10 numbers) and follows up when customers go quiet. AI Copilot (AI Autopilot in the app) builds chatbot flows, templates, contact groups, campaign drafts, the AI Assistant and your store, and never sends messages. Plus AI Template Studio, the AI Media Library and Ask AI about your business. Basic AI answers without a key (100 replies a day by default), or use your own AI key with no limit from us; voice notes and voice replies, photo, PDF and video understanding and AI follow-up need your own key.YesAI Agents answer from websites, files and images and escalate to a person, on Growth and up.Source
Drip / follow-up sequencesYesDrip sequences (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4) that stop on reply and respect business hours and spend caps, with ready-made drips, a report per step, “what happens next” and “Set up with AI”; scheduled birthday and anniversary messages. Follow-up steps on campaigns come with every plan.PartlyWorkflows have wait steps and AI agents can follow up on idle chats; time-based triggers aren’t supported and no separate drip feature is listed.Source
CRM and lead scoringYesContacts, groups, tags, statuses, custom fields, follow-up reminders and Lead Source rules; chat summaries and AI-set chat statuses with your own AI key. AI Sales Center (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4, with your own AI key) scores every lead 0–100 with the reason, a summary, the objection and the next best action, with a funnel and goals; it never messages customers itself.PartlyLifecycle stages; AI agents ask your qualifying questions and move contacts to stages such as “Hot Lead”; no numeric lead score listed.Source
IntegrationsYesFacebook Lead Ads, IndiaMART, JustDial and website forms saved as contacts (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4); Shopify order messages and cart recovery, Razorpay and Shiprocket on the same plans; Google Sheets, Meta Conversions API and Zapier (through Webhooks by Zapier until our Zapier app is published). No HubSpot or Salesforce connectors.YesHubSpot (Growth and up), Salesforce (Advanced), Google Sheets, Calendly, Zapier, Make and n8n; the Shopify listing adds the chat widget, with order messages through Zapier, Make or n8n.Source
Instagram automationPartlyKeyword auto-replies to Instagram comments and DMs, with a private DM to commenters (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4); no Instagram inbox.YesInstagram DMs in the same inbox, on every plan.Source
Business app + API on one numberYesKeep using your WhatsApp Business app on the same number (every plan): new customer messages and replies sent from the phone app show in the inbox. When you connect, our team can bring in your app contacts and up to 6 months of one-to-one chats, within 24 hours, if you allowed chat sharing in Meta’s window. Photos and files show as placeholders, and imported messages never start automations or AI replies.YesConnects a WhatsApp Business app number; messages sent from the app show in respond.io; past chats aren’t imported.Source
Catalogue, store and paymentsPartlyYour own online store and business website (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4): designs for 12 industries, your own domain, discount codes, delivery dates, Razorpay or cash on delivery, orders on WhatsApp or enquiry-only mode, WhatsApp order updates and Shiprocket. WhatsApp Shop switches for your Meta catalogue; no in-chat WhatsApp payments.PartlyShares your Meta product catalogue in chat; no own store or payment gateway integration listed; AI agents can send a payment link.Source
Click-to-WhatsApp adsYesCreate Click-to-WhatsApp ads for Facebook and Instagram from the Meta Ads menu on every plan, with AI drafting the ad (your own AI key); see spend, chats and new contacts per ad; Meta Conversions API events.PartlyTracks the chats Click-to-WhatsApp ads start and sends Conversions API events (Growth and up); ads are created in Meta Ads Manager.Source
Voice and callingYesWhatsApp calls in the browser on every plan: take calls and call customers who allow it, with optional recordings (and transcripts with your own AI key). Voice AI (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4): an AI agent phones your contacts, one from a chat or up to 1,000 from a list, in 11 languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali, and puts the summary, transcript and recording in the chat; ordinary phone calls, charged per minute from the wallet.YesWhatsApp calls with customers, also in the mobile app, with recording on Growth and up; AI agents answer inbound WhatsApp and VoIP calls on Advanced and up; outbound AI calls not listed.Source
Developer API and webhooksYesREST API for contacts, chats, templates and campaigns, webhooks with logs, a Postman collection and SDKs for PHP, Node.js, Python, Java and Ruby (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4). AI Connections, our MCP server, on every plan: connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to read contacts, chats, templates and campaign results; any send waits for an owner’s or manager’s approval within 15 minutes, and what the AI tool reads goes to that AI company.YesDeveloper API on Growth and up; webhooks and HTTP request steps on Advanced and up; an MCP server on every plan.Source
Mobile appPartlyAndroid app, downloaded from your dashboard (not on Google Play yet), that updates itself and alerts you to new messages; installable web app on iPhone. Both in English, Hindi and 8 more Indian languages.YesiOS and Android apps on the App Store and Google Play, on every plan.Source

“Not listed” means we couldn’t find it on respond.io’s website; it may still be available. Features that need the AI + Automation Plan or Series 4 are noted.

Choose Automate AI if
  • You want unlimited users on every plan and a monthly plan price billed in INR, not one set by monthly active contacts.
  • You want AI in the plan: Basic AI answers chats without a key, or connect your own AI key with no limit from us (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4).
  • You want an AI Copilot that builds chatbot flows, templates and campaign drafts, and never sends anything itself.
  • You want AI lead scoring from 0 to 100 with the reason for every score.
  • You want Voice AI that phones your contacts, up to 1,000 from a list, in 11 languages including Hindi and English, or to create Click-to-WhatsApp ads from inside the platform on every plan.
  • Your leads come from IndiaMART, JustDial or Facebook lead forms (AI + Automation Plan and Series 4), or you want your own online store and website with cash on delivery.
  • You want your WhatsApp Business app contacts and up to 6 months of one-to-one chats brought in when you connect the same number.
respond.io may suit you if
  • You want WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, Telegram, email and SMS in one inbox.
  • You want native apps on the App Store and Google Play.
  • You rely on HubSpot, Salesforce, Make or n8n integrations.
  • You want AI agents that answer incoming calls.
  • You want a 7-day free trial before you pay.

Questions

Is Automate AI a good respond.io alternative?

If you sell mainly on WhatsApp and want unlimited users, AI lead scoring, AI phone calls in Hindi, English and other Indian languages, your app chat history brought in when you connect, Click-to-WhatsApp ad creation and leads from IndiaMART and JustDial, Automate AI is worth comparing. respond.io covers many more channels in one inbox, has native mobile apps, connects to HubSpot and Salesforce, and offers a free trial.

How does respond.io price its plans?

On 8 November 2026 respond.io’s pricing page listed Starter at $79, Growth at $159 and Advanced at $279 a month billed yearly ($99, $199 and $349 billed monthly), with Growth and Advanced priced by monthly active contacts, Meta’s fees paid on top and a 7-day free trial. Starter doesn’t include broadcasts, workflows, AI agents or the developer API.

How does Automate AI price its plans?

Marketing Plan ₹1,500 a month billed yearly (₹17,999) or ₹1,833 a month billed every 3 months (₹5,499); AI Assistant + Marketing + Automation Plan ₹2,333 a month billed yearly (₹27,999) or ₹2,833 a month billed every 3 months (₹8,499); Series 4 ₹2,899 a month billed yearly (₹34,788). Prices are billed in INR, and there’s no public free trial. Every plan includes unlimited users and contacts, and free wallet credit comes with your first purchase; WhatsApp messages are charged per message. See our pricing page.

Do both support WhatsApp coexistence?

Yes. Both can connect a number that stays on the WhatsApp Business app, and messages sent from the app show in the inbox. respond.io says past chats aren’t imported; on Automate AI our team can bring in your app contacts and up to 6 months of one-to-one chats within 24 hours of connecting, if you allowed chat sharing in Meta’s window.

See Automate AI on your own number.

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Sources

respond.io is a trademark of its owner. This page is Automate AI’s own comparison and isn’t endorsed by respond.io.