Gupshup pricing: what the per-message model really costs
On its self-serve WhatsApp pages, checked August 2026, Gupshup lists a fixed per-message fee "as low as $0.001", about 9 paise, with no subscription fee and no volume commitment, and WhatsApp's own charges passed through at actuals. As a rate card, that is genuinely one of the leanest in the market, which is why Gupshup shows up on every list of the best WhatsApp API providers in India.
The number that matters, though, is the total cost of getting a message strategy running, and the per-message fee is the smallest part of it. The self-serve tier is an API: to run campaigns, answer replies and build bots, you either write software against it or step up to Gupshup's Conversation Cloud, AI agents and campaign products, which are sold demo-first without published pricing.
For an enterprise that path is normal. For a ten-person D2C brand it means engineering time or a sales cycle before the first broadcast goes out.
Who Gupshup is actually for
Gupshup's own numbers describe its customer: the platform reports handling over 300 million messages a day across more than 50,000 customers in 60+ countries. It runs multiple channels, WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, Instagram, and has invested heavily in AI, including its own fine-tuned model and autonomous agents for sales and support.
Banks, large marketplaces and high-volume OTP senders are squarely its market, and at those volumes its per-message economics and delivery infrastructure are hard to argue with.
The businesses that go looking for Gupshup competitors are usually a size below that: teams that need broadcast software with an audience picker, an inbox their support staff can log into today, and automations that don't require a developer. That's the gap Growcord is built for.
Gupshup vs Growcord
| Gupshup (self-serve) | Growcord | |
|---|---|---|
Pricing model | Per-message fee listed as low as $0.001; no subscription | Flat plans from ₹299/mo (₹99/mo billed yearly) |
Meta's WhatsApp charges | Billed at actuals | ✓ Meta's exact published rate, shown as credits before you send |
Campaign dashboard | Enterprise products, sold via demo | ✓ Included, audiences, scheduling, per-campaign reports |
Chatbot builder | AI and bot products, sold via demo | ✓ No-code flow builder included on every plan |
Shared team inbox | Not listed on its self-serve pages | ✓ Included, with roles and assignment |
Ecommerce automations | Build against the API | ✓ Cart recovery, COD confirmation, order updates, review requests included |
Developer API & webhooks | ✓ Core offering, at very large scale | ✓ REST API, API keys and webhooks on every plan |
Getting started | Self-serve API signup; platform products demo-led | ✓ Self-serve, free tier with 1 number, 50 conversations/month |
Billing for Indian businesses | Fees quoted in USD | ✓ Rupees via Razorpay with GST invoice |
Best fit | Enterprises, very high volumes, in-house engineering | SMBs, D2C brands and teams that want software ready on day one |
Competitor pricing and features as published on their website, checked August 2026.
The case for Growcord as a Gupshup alternative
Growcord's bet is that most Indian businesses don't want to assemble a WhatsApp stack, they want to open one. A four-person handicrafts exporter in Jaipur should be able to tag last season's buyers on Monday, schedule a catalogue broadcast for Thursday morning, and have the replies arrive where their two support staff are already logged in, without booking developer time for any of it.
Every plan includes those working parts: broadcast campaigns with scheduling and delivery reports, a no-code bot builder, auto-replies, a shared inbox with team roles, contacts with tags and segments, sales pipelines, template creation with approval sync, and the ecommerce set, abandoned cart, COD confirmation, order updates, back-in-stock and review requests, wired to Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier or your own webhooks.
Developers aren't locked out, either. There's a REST API with API keys and webhooks, so the same account your support team uses in the inbox can also receive orders from your backend, the practical middle ground between a raw API and a closed marketing tool. If you want the API details first, the developer integration page covers authentication and message sending.
Pricing is deliberately boring: Basic ₹299/month (₹99/month yearly), Startup ₹799 (₹399), Commerce ₹1,999 (₹999), Enterprise ₹5,999 (₹2,999), with add-ons at ₹149 for an extra member, ₹299 for an extra number and ₹399 per 1,000 extra conversations.
Meta's conversation fees are passed through at Meta's published rate with nothing added, Growcord earns on the subscription, not on your message volume. Subscriptions carry a 7-day unconditional money-back guarantee; unused credits stay in your wallet, and conversations Meta has already delivered aren't refundable. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.
Where Gupshup still wins
Be honest with yourself before switching. If you're sending millions of messages a month, running OTP flows across SMS and RCS as well as WhatsApp, or you specifically want autonomous AI agents backed by an enterprise contract, Gupshup is built for that and Growcord isn't pretending to be.
The right question is whether your next twelve months look like an enterprise messaging operation or like a business that needs marketing, support and order updates working this week.
Moving from Gupshup to Growcord
Start on the free tier
Create a Growcord account, no card, 1 number and 50 conversations a month, and click through the inbox, campaigns and bot builder to confirm it covers what you built or planned on Gupshup.
Reconnect your number
Release the number from your Gupshup account, then connect it to Growcord through Meta's embedded signup. Display name, verification and messaging tier stay with the number.
Re-submit templates and import contacts
Recreate your approved templates inside Growcord, approval typically takes minutes to a few hours, and upload contacts by CSV with tags.
Repoint your integrations
Swap API calls to Growcord's REST endpoints and update webhook URLs. The API docs cover authentication and message formats; most teams repoint in an afternoon.
Get the dashboard Gupshup's rate card doesn't include
Free tier with 1 number and 50 conversations a month. Plans from ₹99/month billed yearly when you're ready.
Start free, no card neededWhy Growcord
What you get here that you don't get elsewhere
Frequently asked questions
Is Gupshup free to use?
Gupshup's self-serve WhatsApp API has no subscription fee, you pay a per-message fee listed as low as $0.001 plus Meta's charges at actuals, as published on their site in August 2026. Its fuller platform products, like campaign tools and AI agents, are sold through sales demos without published pricing, so the total cost depends on your contract.
What is the difference between Gupshup and Growcord?
Gupshup is primarily messaging infrastructure, an API and enterprise products for very high volumes across WhatsApp, SMS and RCS. Growcord is finished software on the official WhatsApp Cloud API: campaigns, bots, a shared inbox and ecommerce automations ready on day one, from ₹99/month billed yearly, with a REST API included for developers.
Can I switch my WhatsApp number from Gupshup to Growcord?
Yes. You release the number from Gupshup and reconnect it to Growcord through Meta's embedded signup. The number, display name, verification status and messaging tier travel with the number. Templates need to be re-submitted from Growcord, and chat history does not move between platforms, so export what you need first.
Who should stay on Gupshup?
Businesses sending very large volumes, think millions of messages monthly, teams that need SMS, RCS and WhatsApp under one enterprise contract, and companies with engineers who prefer building on raw infrastructure. Gupshup reports handling over 300 million messages a day; at that scale its per-message economics are a genuine advantage.
Does Growcord have an API like Gupshup?
Yes. Every Growcord plan includes a REST API with API keys and webhooks, send messages, manage templates and receive inbound events programmatically. The difference is that the API sits alongside a full dashboard, so your support and marketing teams get working software while your developers integrate at their own pace.
Why businesses pick Growcord
Official WhatsApp Business API
Built on Meta's Cloud API, the sanctioned channel, not a modded app. No number-ban roulette.
Indian pricing, GST invoice
Plans from ₹99/month billed yearly. Paid in ₹ via Razorpay, with a proper GST invoice every time.
Free tier, no card needed
1 number and 50 conversations a month to prove it on real customers before paying anything.
Support from New Delhi, in IST
A real team on email and WhatsApp, Monday to Saturday 10:00–19:00 IST, not a ticket void.
Talk to us
Get set up on WhatsApp this week
Tell us what you sell and how many customers you message. We'll reply on WhatsApp with the plan that fits and, if you want it, walk you through the Meta approval step.
- No sales call unless you ask for one
- Answers from the team that builds it, in IST hours
- Free tier available. You can start before you decide
Documentation and official resources
Keep reading
Related guides and comparisons
Last updated: 2026-08-07