orca.floMeta’s business AI or OrcaFlo? What happens after the answer
Meta now offers its own AI agent for business WhatsApp. It is native, catalog-aware and speaks Arabic, and since 1 August 2026 it is billed at $2 per million tokens, which Meta estimates at about 4–5¢ per message (Checked 7 October 2026.). Per AI reply, it is cheaper than OrcaFlo. Here is what you get for the difference.
Updated
Side by side
| OrcaFlo | Meta Business AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message, after a 14-day free trial. Counts customer and assistant messages. | $2 per 1M tokens, about 4–5¢ per AI reply (Meta’s estimate), delivery included |
| Answers questions | Yes, from your prices, documents and products | Yes, from your catalog and business info |
| Payment links | Yes (Ziina, Strabl, MyFatoorah links, or cash on delivery) | No in-chat payment in the GCC |
| Follows up people who go quiet | Yes, timed and stops when they reply | No outbound follow-ups |
| CRM and pipeline | Built in, fills itself; HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Google Sheets | No CRM |
| Hands over to your team | With the whole chat and an alert on your phone | Limited |
| Broadcasts | Paced to protect your number | Limited in the app |
| Reports | Conversion, sales quality, a live bill; sales sources in early access | Basic delivery and read stats |
| Runs from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor | Yes, logged with Undo | No |
What would you pay?
Work out your own monthly cost
- Messages (customer and assistant): 3,000
- No Meta fee: connects to your WhatsApp app
- AI replies (Meta estimates about 4–5¢ each)$60–$75
At this volume OrcaFlo costs about $37 more a month. What you get for it is below.
Estimates from public prices, checked 7 October 2026. Meta’s fee is an estimate from its rate card. Your volume and their quote decide the real number.
So which one?
If all you need is answers to common questions inside WhatsApp, Meta’s agent is the cheapest way to get them, and we’d tell you that.
Most businesses want what comes after the answer: the payment link, the booking, the follow-up two days later, the lead in the pipeline, the alert when a customer asks for a person, and a report that shows which ad brought the sale. That is the part OrcaFlo does, and it’s why it charges per message rather than per answer.
What OrcaFlo adds
It sells, not just answers
Quotes from your price list, books real slots, sends payment links, follows up people who went quiet and fills your CRM pipeline on its own. Hard questions go to your team with the whole chat.
You know before your customers do
The WhatsApp health light shows green, yellow or red for your number’s connection and delivery. If it goes red you get a notification and an email, with what to do.
Tested before customers see it
AI mystery shoppers: about 20 simulated customers chat with your assistant before you go live and you get a score, the worst chats and what to fix. Nothing is sent to anyone. Early access.
It gets better every week
Fix-It Feed finds the questions your assistant fumbled and suggests a one-tap fix: a knowledge answer, a product detail or a rule. Early access.
Go live gently
Shadow Launch: for your first days the assistant drafts each reply and a person sends, edits or skips it. Topics switch to automatic once the drafts are reliably right. Early access.
Run it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
Connect your own AI assistant and ask “who is still waiting for a reply?”, or have it set up automations, products and knowledge for you. Every change is logged and can be undone.
Your whole team, no seat fees
Add as many staff as you like, each with their own login and role. The price is per message, not per person.
A person answers
Questions, changes and cancelling all go to a real person on the OrcaFlo team at support@orcaflo-panel.com, not a ticket bot.
How OrcaFlo connects, and the trade-off
OrcaFlo links to the WhatsApp Business app on your phone by QR code, the way WhatsApp Web does. You keep your number, your chat history and the app on your phone, there’s no Meta business verification, no template approval, and no Meta fee on your replies. The trade-off: it isn’t Meta’s official Business API, so there’s no green tick, and WhatsApp can restrict numbers that behave like spam. That’s why we ask for an account at least 10 days old, pace broadcasts, and show a WhatsApp health light in your dashboard that turns red (with a notification and an email) the moment your number disconnects or messages stop going through.
Questions
Per AI reply, yes: Meta estimates about 4–5¢ per message, and OrcaFlo counts the customer’s messages as well as the assistant’s. The calculator above shows both for your volume.
Not on the same number at the same time: one assistant should answer a customer, or they’ll both reply.
OrcaFlo is set up for Gulf Arabic and English out of the box, switching per customer, and understands voice notes. Voice replies are in early access.
Related
Stop losing customers to slow replies.
Free for 14 days, then from $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message. No setup fee. Let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.