A WhatsApp tool or one CRM for every conversation
Wati is a focused, mature WhatsApp Business tool. If most of your customer conversations happen on WhatsApp, it gives your team a shared inbox for your business number and template messaging built over several years, and there is no reason to change a setup that works. The question changes when WhatsApp is only one of the places where customers reach you. A typical small business also gets website enquiries, replies to leads by email and tracks deals in a spreadsheet or separate CRM, and each extra tool adds a login, a bill and one more place where a lead's history can go missing. Wati does not include a native deals CRM, so the pipeline usually lives somewhere else and is connected through integrations.
Vedain takes the other approach. It is a CRM first, with WhatsApp Business, website live chat with an AI assistant, email inbox sync for Gmail and Outlook, deals, campaigns, workflows and reports in the same product. A chat on your website and a WhatsApp conversation both end up on the same lead and contact records, so whoever picks up the follow-up can see what was said on every channel before replying. For an owner, that also means one bill and one place to check how the team is responding.
Platform cost: worked monthly examples
Both products charge a monthly platform fee, and in both cases WhatsApp message charges come on top. The examples below compare only the platform side, at September 2026 list prices, before GST. For Vedain we assume every team member also takes a ₹500 monthly CRM seat, since leads, deals and the WhatsApp inbox live there. Vedain's cheaper agent seats (one free per CRM seat, up to three per workspace, then ₹200 a month each) are only for people who answer website chats and support tickets, not WhatsApp, so they do not change these figures. The one-time ₹1,500 WhatsApp registration fee is left out. For Wati, Growth includes 3 users and does not allow extra users. Pro includes 5 users and charges ₹1,299 a month for each extra user. We assume the ₹1,299 charge also applies on annual billing; confirm that with Wati.
| Team size | Vedain (platform + CRM seats) | Wati monthly billing | Wati annual billing (per month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 users | ₹1,000 + 3 × ₹500 = ₹2,500 | Growth ₹2,999 | Growth ₹2,199 |
| 6 users | ₹1,000 + 6 × ₹500 = ₹4,000 | Pro ₹6,499 + 1 × ₹1,299 = ₹7,798 | Pro ₹4,899 + 1 × ₹1,299 = ₹6,198 |
For a 3-person team, Wati's Growth plan on annual billing is lower than Vedain's monthly total on platform cost alone. The gap closes when you count what else the Vedain figure covers: website live chat with AI answers, a sales pipeline and email sync, which a Wati customer would usually buy separately. At 6 users the Growth plan is no longer an option, and the difference moves in Vedain's favour on both monthly and annual Wati billing. Vedain's ₹1,000 fee covers 1 admin and 5 users; a seventh person adds ₹250 a month to the WhatsApp fee plus ₹500 for the CRM seat.
Message costs: a published rate card or a vendor rate card
On any WhatsApp provider, the platform fee is only part of the bill: every template message, such as an order update or a promotional offer, is charged per message. How clearly a provider shows those rates decides how easily you can forecast your monthly spend. Vedain publishes its per-message rates on its pricing: marketing messages ₹0.98, utility ₹0.14, authentication ₹0.14, and service replies free. You buy prepaid credits from ₹5,000, and 18% GST applies to Indian billing. Wati bills messages from its own rate card. It does not publish how its rates differ from Meta's own rates, so ask Wati for its current price per category and compare.
The 1 October 2026 change for utility templates
From 1 October 2026, Meta makes utility template messages sent inside the 24-hour customer service window billable again. Until now, businesses that replied to a customer with a utility template, such as a delivery update, inside that window often did not pay for it. After the change, those messages count towards your bill on every provider. If your business sends many order or appointment updates, look at how many go out inside the window and multiply by your provider's utility rate. With a published rate, that is a quick calculation you can do before the month starts.
AI: an add-on or included in the plan
Wati offers AI agents as an add-on, and its pricing page does not show the price for it. The Pro plan includes 500 Co-pilot credits. If AI replies matter to you, ask Wati for a written quote for the add-on at your expected volume so that the comparison above is complete. In Vedain, the AI assistant for website chat is included in every plan, with no per-resolution or per-conversation AI fees. It learns from your website, uploaded documents and a knowledge box, answers only from that, says when it is not sure, and hands the chat to a person when asked or when it cannot help.
- Qualification: the assistant can ask up to 5 questions you choose, such as company, team size, budget or timeline, during the chat and saves the answers on the lead.
- After business hours: it keeps answering, does not promise a live reply, and asks visitors who want a person for their email so your team can follow up.
- Learning loop: a list of questions the AI could not answer, sorted by how often they were asked, shows you what to add to its knowledge next.
- Scope: this AI works on website live chat. Treat it as part of the website channel rather than as a WhatsApp chatbot.
Leads, follow-up and user limits
A conversation only helps the business if someone follows it up. In Vedain, a website visitor becomes a lead as soon as they give an email address, and existing leads and contacts are matched by email so you do not create duplicates. Each chat appears on the lead's activity timeline. From there the same record carries deals in your pipeline, synced emails, workflows and reports, so a manager can see which enquiries turned into business without exporting data between tools. A missed or unanswered chat also shows on the timeline, so it is not lost when the person who saw it is away.
User limits are the other practical point. Wati's Growth plan includes 3 users and does not allow a fourth, so a growing team has to move to Pro, which includes 5 users, and then pay ₹1,299 a month for each person after that. Vedain's WhatsApp fee includes 1 admin and 5 users, and each extra user is ₹250 a month, plus the ₹500 CRM seat. If some of your staff answer only website chats or support tickets and never WhatsApp, they can take Vedain agent seats instead: one free per CRM seat (up to three per workspace), then ₹200 a month each, with no CRM seat or WhatsApp fee for them. For teams that add sales or support staff every few months, the cost of each new person is small and predictable on both sides once you know these numbers.
Be clear about what Vedain does not have. It has no native mobile app for agents, so your team works in a browser. It has no Instagram or Messenger inbox yet, no no-code chatbot flow builder for the website widget, and no large app marketplace. It is also newer and smaller than Wati, with no public review-site ratings to quote. Weigh these gaps against the benefit of one record per customer before you decide.
Set-up and WhatsApp Business registration
Getting started on WhatsApp Business always involves registering your business number with Meta through a provider. With Vedain there is a one-time ₹1,500 registration fee, then the ₹1,000 monthly platform fee and prepaid message credits from ₹5,000. Keep your business documents, the phone number you plan to use and access to your Meta business account ready before you begin, as these are the usual reasons registration gets delayed. Start registration early in the week so any queries can be answered quickly.
The website chat side is simpler. You add a one-line script to your site, or use the WordPress plugin, and there are step-by-step guides for Shopify, Wix, Webflow and other builders. The Setup Assistant confirms when the widget is live. Vedain's CRM and website chat come with a 14-day free trial with no card needed, and after the trial the chat widget stays free with AI answers for up to 100 conversations a month. Wati offers a 7-day trial and has no free plan.
Moving from Wati to Vedain, step by step
A move goes smoothly when you plan it around your busiest messaging days and keep customers informed. The steps below are a sensible order for a small team. Confirm the number-transfer details with both providers before you fix a date, because the timing of the switch affects any scheduled broadcasts or automated messages.
- Export your data from Wati: contacts, labels or tags you rely on, and a list of the approved message templates you use most.
- List your recurring sends, such as payment reminders or delivery updates, and estimate monthly volume by category so you can price them on Vedain's published rates.
- Start the Vedain trial and set up the CRM first: users, pipeline stages and lead fields, then import your contacts.
- Register WhatsApp Business in Vedain and agree the switch date for your number with both providers.
- Add the website chat widget, load your website and documents into the AI knowledge, and set business hours.
- Recreate your key templates, run a small test send, then pause scheduled sends on Wati before the number moves.
- Keep your Wati export for reference and cancel the Wati plan once everything is running on Vedain.
Who should stay on Wati
Wati is the better choice for a business where WhatsApp is the only customer channel and there is no need for a CRM, pipeline or website chat. If your team is small, stays at three people or fewer, and you are happy with annual billing, Wati's Growth plan is priced well for what it does. It also makes sense to stay if your team relies on Wati-specific features, integrations or workflows that Vedain does not offer, or if your agents need a native mobile app. Vedain also has no Instagram or Messenger inbox yet. If instead you want WhatsApp, website chat, email and deals in one record, with message rates published up front, Vedain is worth a trial.