Short answer: a WhatsApp CRM puts your WhatsApp chats next to each customer’s record, so anyone in the team can see the history and reply. Unavoidable CRM does this from £29 a month for one user (Team £149 for five users), with texts, WhatsApp, email and calls in one inbox and a 14-day free trial with no card.
The free WhatsApp Business app is fine for a sole trader with a handful of chats. Once quotes, bookings and invoices start getting lost in a phone, a CRM with WhatsApp built in, or a WhatsApp inbox tool connected to a CRM, is the usual next step. Below are the options, the costs as their own pages show them in October 2026, and how to choose.
A WhatsApp CRM connects a business WhatsApp number to a shared inbox, then links every chat to a contact. In practice that means:
The WhatsApp Business app does part of this on its own. Meta lists labels, quick replies, greeting and away messages and a product catalogue as features, and the app is free to download. What it does not give you is a customer record, a pipeline, quotes or invoices, so the chat and the paperwork live in different places.
Any tool that connects to WhatsApp properly, rather than by scraping the app, uses Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform. Meta’s own pricing page says that since 1 July 2025 it charges per message, not per conversation. The rules that matter for a small business:
So a business that mostly replies to customers who message first pays Meta little or nothing. A business that sends regular offers or reminders by WhatsApp will pay per message, whichever tool it uses.
| WhatsApp Business app | HubSpot | Wati | Unavoidable CRM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Free messaging app from Meta | Large CRM platform; WhatsApp in its conversations inbox | WhatsApp messaging platform with a team inbox, broadcasts and chatbots | CRM for service businesses with WhatsApp, texts, email and calls in one inbox |
| Plan needed for WhatsApp | None | Marketing Hub or Service Hub, Professional or Enterprise | Any plan | Any plan; every plan has every feature |
| Starting price | Free to download | Service Hub Professional from $90 a seat a month on annual billing, plus a one-off $1,500 onboarding fee | Growth $59 a month billed annually (3 users); Pro $119 (5 users) | Solo £29 a month (1 user); Team £149 (5 users); Agency £399 (unlimited) |
| Customer records and pipeline | Labels only | Yes | Connects to CRMs such as HubSpot and Salesforce | Yes, with pipeline, quotes, bookings and invoices |
| WhatsApp message charges | Not applicable to normal app chats | Meta’s rates; HubSpot caps template messages at 1,000 a month | Charged on Wati’s own rate card | Provider usage passed on at cost, never marked up |
| Free trial | Free app | Free tools available; paid hubs vary | 7 days | 14 days, every feature, no card |
Prices checked October 2026 on each company’s own pricing or help pages. HubSpot and Wati show their prices in US dollars to a UK visitor, so check the price in pounds and whether VAT is added before you buy.
It is not a WhatsApp marketing platform. If your plan is large WhatsApp broadcast campaigns with chatbots, a WhatsApp-first tool like Wati is the closer fit.
Start with how your customers contact you. If almost everything arrives on WhatsApp and you are on your own, the free Business app may be enough for now. If you already pay for HubSpot Professional, connect WhatsApp there. If WhatsApp marketing is your main sales channel, look at Wati alongside your CRM.
If customers reach you by phone, text, email and WhatsApp, and the real problem is chats that never turn into quotes, bookings or paid invoices, try Unavoidable CRM for 14 days on your own enquiries. Connect your number, answer a week of messages from the one inbox and see whether anything still slips.
Not really. It has labels, quick replies and away messages, which help you sort chats, but there is no customer record, pipeline, quoting or invoicing. It works best alongside a CRM rather than instead of one.
The Business app is free to download. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, which CRMs and inbox tools use, Meta charges per template message sent outside the 24-hour customer service window, at the rate for the customer’s country. Replies inside the window are free. Your software subscription is on top.
It depends on the tool and how the number is connected. HubSpot, for example, says that once a number is connected its messages no longer show in the WhatsApp app unless you set up its coexistence option. Ask any provider this before you move your main business number.
Yes, using approved marketing templates, which Meta charges per message. Only message people who have agreed to hear from you, and keep a record of that consent. Our GDPR checklist for a UK CRM covers the basics.
Yes. 14 days with every feature and no card needed. After that it is £29, £149 or £399 a month, with no contract on monthly plans.
Related: HubSpot alternative for UK small businesses, how much a CRM costs a UK small business in 2026, our pricing page and the full comparison page.
14-day free trial, every feature, no card needed. From £29 a month per business.
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