orca.floHow much does a WhatsApp chatbot cost in the UAE? (2026)
Short answer
As of October 2026, a WhatsApp chatbot in the UAE costs AED 5,000–15,000 to build plus AED 1,500–5,000 a month through an agency, from about AED 477 a month on an API platform with AI plus Meta’s fees, about 4–5 US cents a reply with Meta’s own agent, or $14.99 a month plus 3¢ per message with OrcaFlo.
Updated
There are four ways to pay for a WhatsApp chatbot in the UAE, and their bills look nothing alike: an agency build, an API platform plus Meta’s per-message fees, Meta’s own AI agent, or an AI that links to the WhatsApp number you already use. Here is what each really costs, with prices from the providers’ own pages as of October 2026, and a worked bill at three volumes.
The four ways to pay, side by side
| Setup | Monthly | Per message | Best when | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agency build | AED 5,000–15,000 for an AI chatbot; simple flow bots from AED 1,500 | AED 1,500–5,000; flow bots from AED 400 | Usually inside the monthly fee up to a cap, often 3,000–6,000 AI messages | You want something custom, built and looked after for you |
| API platform + Meta’s fees | Usually none; some sell onboarding (SleekFlow: AED 3,699 one-off) | About AED 477–1,214 for a plan with a WhatsApp AI agent | Meta: AED 0.0576 per reply after 1,000 free a month, AED 0.2115 per marketing message (UAE) | You need the official API, a green tick or many channels in one inbox |
| Meta’s own business agent | None | None | About 4–5 US cents per AI reply ($2 per million tokens) | You only need questions answered, and Meta offers it to you |
| QR-linked AI (OrcaFlo) | No setup fee | $14.99 on the Starter plan | 3¢ per message, customer and assistant messages | You want AI on the number you already use, live the same day |
1. An agency builds it for you
UAE agencies build a chatbot on the WhatsApp Business API, connect it to your systems and maintain it for a monthly fee. CrankUp, a Dubai agency, publishes the most detailed ranges (May 2026): AED 5,000–15,000 to set up and AED 1,500–5,000 a month for an AI chatbot, with most small businesses landing around AED 6,500 setup and AED 2,500 a month for a bilingual bot. Simple flow bots start at AED 1,500–3,000 plus AED 400–800 a month, and delivery takes 1 to 4 weeks.
GoDesign (June 2026) quotes AED 2,600–13,000+ for setup plus roughly AED 150–600 a month for the platform, with Meta’s fees on top. Packaged products sit in between: Smart Reception UAE lists its WhatsApp AI receptionist at AED 1,500 a month plus AED 1,000 setup (AED 1,000 plus AED 500 on its current offer).
What you pay for is people: someone designs the conversations, writes the Arabic, connects your CRM and fixes things when they break. Ask whether Meta’s message fees are inside the monthly price or billed on top, how many AI messages the fee covers, and what a change after launch costs.
2. An API platform plus Meta’s fees
- respond.io: Starter is $99 a month ($79 billed yearly) and has no AI agents, broadcasts or workflows. Growth, the cheapest plan with AI Agents, is $199 a month ($159 billed yearly) with 10 users, 1,000 monthly active contacts and 10,000 AI credits. An AI agent reply uses 2–5 credits; extra credits are $15 per 1,000.
- SleekFlow (UAE prices): Pro is AED 499 a month (AED 399 billed yearly) with AI agents, 10 seats and 500 monthly active contacts. A WhatsApp Business API number costs AED 55 a month to host, and message fees follow SleekFlow’s rate card.
- Gallabox: Basic is AED 549 a month billed quarterly (AED 412 billed yearly) for 3 users, with AI agents on the website widget. AI agents on WhatsApp start with Essential at AED 1,214 a month billed quarterly (AED 911 billed yearly).
- WATI: Growth is $69 a month ($59 billed yearly). Its AI agent, Astra, needs the Pro plan at $149 a month ($119 billed yearly) and is a separate add-on from $99 a month for 5,000 credits.
- Interakt: Growth is $55 a month plus taxes, and WhatsApp AI agents are a $74.99 monthly add-on that includes 100 AI messages, then $0.011 per AI message. Message costs follow Interakt’s regional rate card.
On top of every plan, Meta charges per delivered message. For UAE numbers that is AED 0.0576 for each reply after the first 1,000 replies a month per number (replies became chargeable again on 1 October 2026), AED 0.0576 per utility template and AED 0.2115 per marketing template. Messages your customers send are free. Every rate is in WhatsApp Business API pricing in the UAE, and side-by-side calculators are on OrcaFlo vs WATI, OrcaFlo vs respond.io and OrcaFlo vs SleekFlow.
3. Meta’s own business agent
Meta now sells its own AI agent for WhatsApp. On the WhatsApp Business Platform it costs $2.00 per million tokens, which Meta estimates at about 4–5 US cents a message. It has been charged that way since 1 August 2026, and it is charged even inside the free entry point window after a click-to-WhatsApp ad. In the WhatsApp Business app it appears as an AI agent where offered; WhatsApp says it is available in limited countries to select businesses.
It is the cheapest way to get questions answered from your catalog and business profile. Switching it on in the app turns off greeting messages, away messages and broadcast lists and disconnects linked devices, so it can’t run alongside a linked tool on the same number. See OrcaFlo vs Meta Business AI.
4. An AI linked to the number you already use
Tools like OrcaFlo link to the WhatsApp Business app by QR code, the way WhatsApp Web does, so there’s no Meta onboarding and no Meta fee on that connection. OrcaFlo’s price: No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message. No setup fee. Your customers’ messages and the assistant’s replies both count; messages you type yourself don’t. Every invoice comes with a payment processing fee, shown as its own line.
The trade-off: OrcaFlo isn’t Meta’s official API or an official WhatsApp app, so there’s no green tick, and WhatsApp says linking an unofficial app can lead to a temporary or permanent ban. Running a WhatsApp chatbot without the API explains how the connection works and how the risk is kept down.
A worked monthly bill at 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 messages
Say half of the messages are your customers’ and half are the chatbot’s replies, every reply goes to a UAE number inside the 24-hour window, there are no templates or broadcasts, and each customer sends about 10 messages back and forth. Prices are list prices with monthly billing, before VAT. Meta’s fee uses its UAE rate of AED 0.0576 per reply after the first 1,000 replies a month (rate card effective 1 October 2026); providers that bill message fees through their own rate card may charge more.
| Messages a month (both sides) | 1,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta’s fee on replies (official API) | AED 0.00 (0 of 500 replies charged) | AED 28.80 (500 of 1,500 replies charged) | AED 230.40 (4,000 of 5,000 replies charged) |
| Interakt Growth + AI agents add-on and its AI message fees + Meta’s fee | $134 plus taxes | $153 plus taxes | $247 plus taxes |
| SleekFlow Pro (UAE) + number hosting + Meta’s fee | AED 554 (about $151) | AED 583 (about $159) | AED 784 (about $214), plus contacts above 500 |
| respond.io Growth + Meta’s fee | $199 | $207 | $262–412 (extra AI credits, capped at $150; at 5 credits a reply the AI pauses after 4,000 replies) |
| WATI Pro + Astra Pro AI agent + Meta’s fee | $248 | $256 | $311 |
| Meta’s own agent (AI replies only) | $20–25 | $60–75 | $200–250 |
| OrcaFlo Starter (no Meta fee) | $44.99 | $104.99 | $314.99 |
| Agency-built AI chatbot (CrankUp’s range) | AED 1,500–5,000 a month, after AED 5,000–15,000 setup | AED 1,500–5,000 a month, after AED 5,000–15,000 setup | AED 1,500–5,000 a month, after AED 5,000–15,000 setup |
What the numbers say
At 1,000 and 3,000 messages the QR-linked option costs the least of the tools in the bill apart from Meta’s own agent, because there is no big plan fee to pay off first. Meta’s agent is cheaper per AI reply, if Meta offers it to you and answers are all you need.
As volume grows the API platforms catch up. At 10,000 messages a month, Interakt’s Growth plan with its AI add-on and SleekFlow’s Pro plan both cost less than OrcaFlo before their extras (taxes, contacts above the plan, AI usage limits). WATI’s Pro plan with Astra comes in just under OrcaFlo too, before WATI’s own message rates, and respond.io can as well, depending on how many credits each AI reply uses. Agencies cost the most, and in return they build something custom and run it for you.
Hidden costs to ask about
- Yearly vs monthly prices. Many pricing pages lead with the yearly price: respond.io Growth is $159 a month billed yearly but $199 billed monthly, and SleekFlow Pro is AED 399 or AED 499.
- Seats. Extra users cost $25 a month on respond.io Growth ($20 billed yearly) and $39 on WATI Pro; Rasayel charges $30 per user with a 5-user minimum.
- Contacts. Plans priced by monthly active contacts charge more when you talk to more people: respond.io adds $12 per 100 above 1,000 on Growth, and SleekFlow’s Pro price covers 500.
- AI credits. AI replies often use credits: 2–5 per AI agent reply on respond.io, top-ups in packs of 5,000 on Gallabox, $20 per 1,000 extra Astra credits on WATI.
- Number hosting. SleekFlow charges AED 55 a month to host a WhatsApp Business API number; Rasayel charges $20 a month for each extra number.
- Meta’s fees and markups. Ask whether Meta bills you directly or the provider resells the fees. Gallabox lists a discounted markup, and Interakt lists no template markups, as Enterprise features, so ask what applies on smaller plans.
- Onboarding. SleekFlow sells 60-day dedicated onboarding for AED 3,699 one-off; agencies charge setup.
- Replies are no longer free on the API. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges for replies after 1,000 a month per number, so older guides that say replies are free undercount.
- OrcaFlo’s own extras. Every invoice comes with a payment processing fee, shown as its own line. Customer messages count toward the bill as well as the assistant’s replies.
Work out your own number
Count a month of messages
Estimate how many customers write to you a week and how many messages each conversation runs to, both sides. Multiply to a month.
Split replies from broadcasts
On the API, replies inside 24 hours are service messages; offers sent to a list are marketing templates and cost more.
Price the API route
Plan + seats + AI credits + Meta: AED 0.0576 per reply after 1,000 free, AED 0.2115 per marketing message to UAE numbers.
Price the QR route
On OrcaFlo’s Starter plan: $14.99 a month plus 3¢ per message. See pricing for the trial and the plans.
Which should you choose?
If you need a green tick, very large broadcasts or one inbox for Instagram, TikTok and email as well, pay for an API platform and budget for Meta’s fees. If you want something bespoke and someone else to run it, an agency is worth the setup fee. If you only need questions answered and Meta offers its agent to you, try that first. If you want an assistant that answers, books and follows up in Gulf Arabic on your existing number, and you accept the trade-off of an unofficial connection, a QR-linked tool is the cheapest place to start.
Our fair list of the best WhatsApp chatbots in the UAE compares eight tools at 3,000 messages a month, and businesses in Dubai can see local examples. This guide is also in Arabic.
Questions
It depends on how it’s built. Dubai agencies quote about AED 5,000–15,000 to build an AI chatbot plus AED 1,500–5,000 a month; API platforms with AI start around AED 477 a month plus Meta’s fees; Meta’s own agent is about 4–5 US cents a reply. OrcaFlo: From $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message, after a 14-day free trial.
The WhatsApp Business app’s away and greeting messages are free, but they send the same text to everyone. Chatbots that answer real questions are paid. See how to set up automatic replies.
On the official API, yes: since 1 October 2026 Meta charges AED 0.0576 per reply to a UAE number after the first 1,000 a month, plus template fees. A tool linked by QR code, like OrcaFlo, has no separate Meta fees on that connection.
The headline price is often billed yearly and leaves out seats, contacts above the plan, AI credits, number hosting and Meta’s fees. Ask for a quote at your own monthly message count, billed the way you’ll pay.
Not always. Per AI reply, Meta’s own agent costs less where it’s offered, and at around 10,000 messages a month some API plans cost less than OrcaFlo, whose bill grows with every message. At 1,000 and 3,000 messages OrcaFlo costs less than the API platforms in the bill above.
Usually the build, Arabic and English content, CRM connection, hosting and monthly tuning. CrankUp’s breakdown of a typical AED 2,500 monthly fee includes AI usage, Meta’s fees, hosting, monitoring and maintenance. New conversation flows after launch are often extra.
Stop losing customers to slow replies.
No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message. No setup fee. Let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.