# respond.io

> Team inbox for WhatsApp, social chats, email and calls with AI agents

respond.io is a messaging platform for consumer-facing businesses that puts WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, WeChat, website chat, SMS, email and voice calls in one shared inbox. AI agents can answer and qualify leads, and workflows, broadcasts and CRM sync handle the rest. Plans are a monthly fee that includes a set number of users, and from Growth up the price follows how many contacts you talk to each month.

- **Category:** Help Desks & Live Chat
- **Made by:** Rocketbots Limited (respond.io) (since 2017)
- **Website:** https://respond.io
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 18, 2026

## Pricing

respond.io is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $79 per month for up to 5 users, billed annually ($99 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 7-day free trial of Growth for 5 users and 1,000 contacts, no credit card needed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | $79 per month for up to 5 users, billed annually ($99 billed monthly) | Team and custom inboxes, mobile app, AI Assist and prompts, basic reports and 2FA. The comparison table shows unlimited monthly active contacts and 5,000 AI credits. |
| Growth | $159 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($199 monthly) | 10 users. Adds broadcasts, workflows, AI agents, advanced reports, Zapier and Make, and the developer API. The price rises with the contact tier you pick. |
| Advanced | $279 per month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually ($349 monthly) | 10 users. Adds masked phone numbers and emails, multiple workspaces, webhooks, HTTP requests, SSO and custom channels. Sold through sales; price rises with contacts. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited users, more workspaces, higher API rate limits and a custom contact allowance. Priced on request. |

Read from https://respond.io/pricing on Oct 18, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with respond.io before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save up to 20% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): respond.io's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 20%: Starter is $948 a year against $1,188 billed monthly, Growth $1,908 against $2,388. Source: https://respond.io/pricing

## Key features

- **One inbox for messaging channels:** WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat, a website chat widget, email (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, SMTP) and SMS through providers, in one shared inbox.
- **Calls in the same thread:** WhatsApp Business calls, Messenger calls and VoIP calls sit beside the chats with that contact; recording, transcripts and summaries come from Growth.
- **AI agents:** From Growth, AI agents answer questions, qualify leads, follow up and route conversations to people, drawing on AI credits that grow with the contact tier.
- **Workflows and broadcasts:** Automations for routing, assignment and follow-ups, and bulk messages to segments of contacts, both from the Growth plan.
- **Lifecycle stages and CRM sync:** Track each contact through lifecycle stages; HubSpot sync starts on Growth and Salesforce on Advanced.
- **Native mobile apps:** iOS and Android apps with the full inbox, calls, assignments and team activity, included on every plan.

## Good for

- Consumer businesses that sell and support customers over WhatsApp
- Teams handling leads from Meta and TikTok ads in chat
- Field or hybrid teams who answer chats and calls from their phones

## Worth knowing

- WhatsApp fees are charged by Meta on top of the plan, and SMS and VoIP are billed at the provider's rates.
- Contacts past the tier cost $12 per 100 on Growth and $15 per 100 on Advanced; extra AI credits are $15 per 1,000.
- Extra users cost $12, $20 and $24 a month on Starter, Growth and Advanced billed yearly ($15, $25 and $30 monthly).
- Starter has no broadcasts, workflows, AI agents or developer API; those start on Growth.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 18, 2026. respond.io puts WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, website chat, email, SMS and calls in one shared inbox, with apps for both phones. It suits businesses whose customers would rather message than email. Starter is $79 a month for up to 5 users billed annually, but workflows, broadcasts and AI agents start on Growth at $159, and Meta bills WhatsApp fees on top.

- **Value for money: B.** Starter is $79 a month for up to 5 users billed annually ($99 monthly), so a team of five pays a price per head inside the cheaper quarter of help desks. One person pays the whole $79. Workflows, AI agents and the API start on Growth at $159, and Meta's WhatsApp fees come on top.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** No free plan, but a 7-day free trial of Growth for 5 users and 1,000 contacts, with no credit card needed. A week is short, but it's enough to plug in WhatsApp and see how the inbox feels.
- **Features: B.** The whole job, with more channels than most: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, Viber, LINE, WeChat, chat, email and SMS in one inbox, calls in the same thread, AI agents, workflows, broadcasts and lifecycle stages. Starter leaves the automation out.
- **Ease of use: C.** No App Store rating on record. Each channel needs connecting, WhatsApp included, then there are workflows, AI agents and lifecycle stages to set up, and a contact tier to keep an eye on.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with the full inbox on every plan, plus HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Shopify, Zapier, Make, Calendly and Google Sheets, and a developer API from Growth. No desktop app, which an A needs.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from respond.io's own pages on 18 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among help desk and live chat tools

- respond.io's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 14 of the 22 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 4.
- It stands best on value for money (B, above 13 of 22) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $79 a month, against a middle price of $21.59 for the category: 20 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 4 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/customer-support

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace respond.io you would be making one mailbox that several people work at once. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $948 a year.

- You could not: One mailbox that several people work at once.
- You could not: An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- You could not: A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Shopify, Zapier, Make, Calendly, Google Sheets

**Tags:** Shared inbox, AI support agent, Live chat, Workflow automation, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Trengo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/trengo): Shared inbox for WhatsApp, email and chat with AI agents, in euros. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/respond-io-vs-trengo)
- [Intercom](https://toolgpa.com/tools/intercom): Helpdesk with live chat and the Fin AI agent priced per outcome. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/intercom-vs-respond-io)
- [Zendesk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zendesk): Ticketing, messaging, help center and AI agents for support teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/respond-io-vs-zendesk)
- [Helpwise](https://toolgpa.com/tools/helpwise): Shared inbox for email, chat, WhatsApp and SMS with a help center. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/helpwise-vs-respond-io)
- [Tidio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tidio): Live chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/respond-io-vs-tidio)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 18, 2026:

- https://respond.io/pricing
- https://respond.io/
- https://respond.io/about
- https://respond.io/mobile-app
- https://respond.io/integrations
- https://respond.io/help/organization-settings/ai-credits
- https://respond.io/terms-of-service

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/respond-io
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).