The short answer
There is no single best WhatsApp CRM for a small business in 2026. There are two different products wearing the same name.
If you run a sales team, and each person needs a seat in a shared inbox on the official WhatsApp Business API, start with Kommo, WATI, respond.io or Gallabox. If WhatsApp is one more channel on a CRM you already live in, look at Zoho CRM or HubSpot. If you are the owner, and you would rather send a voice note than open a pipeline, LVLZ is built for that job: you message an agent, and the leads, bookings and follow-ups get filed.
Figures below were read from each vendor's own page on 25 October 2026. LVLZ against Kommo, as a table, is at /compare/kommo. The full set is at /compare.
How we compared them
Each price comes from the vendor's pricing page, the help article behind it, or the legal catalog or edition PDF when the marketing page hid the number. Review roundups were not a source. Contradictions are quoted both ways. A monthly price that was not on the page is not invented here.
WhatsApp message fees sit under almost every subscription. From 1 October 2026, service messages inside the customer-service window are charged after a free allowance. WATI and respond.io both describe it. respond.io states 1,000 free service messages per number each month.
Prices on 25 October 2026
| Tool | Public price we found | How it is billed | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kommo | Base $25, Advanced $35, Pro $45 per user | Six months minimum. No monthly billing on the page | A sales team in pipelines |
| WATI | Growth $59, Pro $119 a month | Those figures are the annual prices. Monthly exists, the page does not state it | Shopify and broadcasts |
| respond.io | Starter $79, Growth $159, Advanced $279 a month | Yearly view. Monthly costs more; the fetched page did not list it | Several channels, one inbox |
| Zoho CRM | Standard $14, Professional $23, Enterprise $40, Ultimate $52 per user | Annual. Monthly is $20, $35, $50, $65 | A CRM you already run, plus WhatsApp |
| HubSpot | Service Hub Professional from $100 a seat. Marketing Hub Professional from $800 | Annual, plus required onboarding | Teams already on HubSpot |
| GoHighLevel | Starter $97, Unlimited $297, Pro $497 | Or $970, $2,970 and $4,970 a year. WhatsApp is a $10 add-on | Agencies and funnels |
| Gallabox | Basic $112, Essential $248, Advanced $474 a month | Annual. Quarterly is $150, $331 and $632 | A WhatsApp-first team in one inbox |
| LVLZ | Personal $29, Pro $59, Business $149 | Monthly, or ten months for the year. Not per seat | An owner who texts the work |
Sources for that table, in order: Kommo's tariff page, WATI pricing, respond.io pricing, Zoho's USD edition PDF, HubSpot's product catalog, HighLevel pricing, Gallabox pricing and LVLZ pricing.
Kommo
Kommo is a team CRM you work inside. The tariff page lists Base at $25, Advanced at $35 and Pro at $45 per user a month, billed for six months at $150, $210 or $270 per user. The FAQ on that page says monthly payment is not available. Enterprise is custom. The trial is 14 days, no card, with Pro features and 10GB of storage.
WhatsApp numbers: Base includes one, plus one more per extra user; Advanced includes three; Pro is unlimited. AI credits conflict on the same page. The feature table and the FAQ say 750, 1,250 and 2,250 per user a month, and the FAQ's example is that a Pro seat grants 2,250. The plan cards show 2,500 and 5,000. Quote the FAQ, and recheck the cards before you buy. From 1 September 2026, new Base and Advanced customers in some regions pay a different price. Kommo documents it in the pricing update and the subscription overview. Existing customers keep the old price, and Pro stayed at $45. Pick it for a shared pipeline, broadcasts and more than one number. The row-by-row version is LVLZ vs Kommo.
WATI
WATI is a WhatsApp inbox for teams that broadcast and sell, with a Shopify add-on. On the pricing page, Growth is $59 a month billed annually: 3 users, no extra users, 1,000 automation triggers, 15,000 broadcasts and 250 AI credits. Pro is $119 a month billed annually: 5 users, extra users at $39, 2,000 triggers and 500 AI credits. Business is custom, with extra users at $89. Meta message charges are on top. The trial is 7 days, with no setup fee. Another WhatsApp number is $29 a month, and the Shopify add-on is $4.99 a month.
Those are annual prices. A FAQ mentions a switch from monthly to annual, so monthly billing exists, but no monthly dollar amount was published. The pricing help also describes Meta charging service messages inside the 24-hour window after a free allowance, from 1 October 2026. Pick WATI when someone will sit in the inbox. Skip it when that person is you, between clients.
respond.io
respond.io is an omnichannel inbox. WhatsApp is one channel, and the subscription does not include WhatsApp fees. The yearly view of the pricing page, fetched on 25 October 2026, shows Starter at $79 a month ($948 a year, down from $1,188), Growth at $159 ($1,908 a year) and Advanced at $279 ($3,348 a year). Growth and Advanced start at 1,000 monthly active contacts. AI agents start on Growth. Extra users on the yearly plans are $12, $20 and $24. The trial is 7 days, no card.
A monthly toggle exists. Prices quoted for it in third-party articles were not on the official page, so they are not repeated here. Monthly costs more than the yearly figures. The fees article is the source for 1,000 free service messages per number each month from 1 October 2026. Pick respond.io when several channels should land in one queue.
Zoho CRM
Zoho is a CRM that can add WhatsApp, not a WhatsApp product that grew a CRM. The current USD PDF, zohocrm-edition-comparison-usd.pdf, lists annual and monthly prices per user: Standard $14 or $20, Professional $23 or $35, Enterprise $40 or $50, Ultimate $52 or $65. A free edition covers 3 users. The Enterprise page confirms $40 a year or $50 a month. We are not using the older PDF last updated on 1 February 2022. The public pricing page did not render dollar amounts, which is why the PDF is the source.
WhatsApp is available on the trial and on every paid edition, per Zoho's help article. Message credits are extra. Pick Zoho when you already run the business there and WhatsApp should file into leads you track. Do not pick it only to answer chats.
HubSpot
WhatsApp is not on Starter. The knowledge base, updated 20 October 2026, requires Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise. The product FAQ says the same.
Service Hub and the legal catalog put Professional at $100 per Service Seat a month, with required onboarding of $1,500. One Service Seat is included, an extra Service Seat is $100, and a Core Seat is $50. A HubSpot blog has said $90 a seat billed annually. The catalog and the product page are the numbers used here. The Service Hub pricing page failed to load figures when we checked it. Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800 a month billed annually, or $890 monthly, includes 3 core seats, and requires $3,000 of onboarding. The add-ons catalog lists 1,000 extra WhatsApp messages at $70 a month. Pick HubSpot only if you are already on it and Professional is justified.
GoHighLevel
HighLevel, still called GoHighLevel, is an agency platform of funnels, snapshots and sub-accounts. Pricing is Starter $97 a month or $970 a year (3 sub-accounts), Unlimited $297 or $2,970, and Pro $497 or $4,970. The trial is 14 days. WhatsApp is not in the base fee. The pricing guide lists it as a resale add-on at $10 a month per sub-account, plus usage, marked subject to change. Pick it to sell funnels, or if you already run the business there. If you mostly keep contacts and follow-ups, the switch guide says what moves. LVLZ does not rebuild funnels or bulk SMS.
Gallabox
Gallabox is a WhatsApp-first shared inbox, priced in USD, INR and AED. On the USD column of the pricing page, annual prices per month are Basic $112, Essential $248 and Advanced $474. Quarterly, the same plans show as $150, $331 and $632 a month. Basic caps you at 3 users and 500 AI credits. Essential includes 6 users, extra users at $18, 2,000 AI credits and AI agents. Advanced charges $24 per extra user and includes 8,000 credits. WhatsApp message charges are separate. Enterprise is custom. Pick it when several people will live in one WhatsApp inbox. Annual Basic already costs several times one LVLZ workspace.
LVLZ
LVLZ is the tool we make, so read this section with that in mind. It is a WhatsApp CRM / AI CRM for small businesses. You message or call an agent on WhatsApp, including by voice note. It files leads, clients and bookings, runs follow-ups, and shows every action in the web app. It asks before anything is published, paid, or sent to someone new.
Plans are Personal $29, Pro $59 and Business $149 a month. The year is ten months' price: $290, $590 and $1,490. Every plan has a 7-day trial and no card. Personal and Pro are one owner's agent, not a seat per employee. Business adds a shared workspace, roles and a team inbox. The agent still talks with the account owner. It is not a multi-rep WhatsApp Business API inbox, and it does not send broadcast campaigns. If that is the job, buy Kommo, WATI, respond.io or Gallabox.
The fit we will defend is an owner who knows the clients, and whose CRM today is a chat plus a notebook. A sample day, messages included, is in WhatsApp CRM for salons.
How to choose
Count the people who answer customers tomorrow. One owner, and the work arrives as a voice note: LVLZ. Pricing is a workspace. If today's system is a board or a contact list, the move is written for monday.com, Airtable and GoHighLevel. Two to ten people on one business number, with templates and campaigns: Kommo, WATI, respond.io or Gallabox. A CRM you already trust: Zoho or HubSpot, after you confirm the edition includes WhatsApp. HubSpot Starter does not. The same LVLZ facts, in a table, are at /compare and /compare/kommo.