Sonar vs Infobip

Both send WhatsApp messages through Meta's official API. Here is what each costs a South African business, from Infobip's published prices and Meta's 1 October 2026 rate card.

Prices checked 17 October 2026. Dollar prices converted at today's rate of R16.43 to the dollar*.

At a glance

Sonar and Infobip at a glance
	Sonar	Infobip
Cheapest plan that sends broadcasts	Starter, R349 a month	No monthly fee: you pay per message
Billed in	Rand	US dollars
Added to Meta's rate per marketing message	Nothing within your plan's messages	≈ R0.21*
Added per update or login-code message	Nothing within your plan's messages	≈ R0.05*
Added per reply after the free 1,000	Nothing within your plan's messages	≈ R0.05*
Team members included	Unlimited	Not stated on the pricing page
Discount for paying yearly	None	None listed
Free option	Free trial: 50 contacts and 250 messages, with replies you type free	Free trial (terms not on the pricing page)
Monthly fee for the WhatsApp number	Included in your plan	Not published: contact sales
Marketing Messages route (formerly MM Lite)	Every marketing message, at Meta's own rate	$0.046 a marketing message to South Africa
Other channels	WhatsApp, plus Facebook Page and Instagram messages from the Plus plan	SMS, RCS, Viber, email and more

Meta's own per-message charge is the same on both, and is not included above. In South Africa it is about R0.62 per marketing message and R0.16 per update or login-code message. See WhatsApp pricing in South Africa.

What a month costs

Each total is the cheapest plan that covers the month on each platform, plus Meta's charges, for messages to South African numbers. Monthly billing on both.

What a month costs on Sonar and Infobip
Example month	Meta's charges	Sonar total	Infobip total
Small club or shop1,000 marketing and 200 update messages to 500 people	R654	R1,003Starter	≈ R872*Pay as you go (Broadcast)
Growing retailer4,000 marketing and 1,000 update messages to 2,000 people	R2,647	R2,996Starter	≈ R3,529*Pay as you go (Broadcast)
Busy online store10,000 marketing and 3,000 update messages to 5,000 people	R6,697	R8,196Plus	≈ R8,924*Pay as you go (Broadcast)
High volume20,000 marketing and 5,000 update messages to 10,000 people	R13,237	R14,736Plus	≈ R17,646*Pay as you go (Broadcast)

Sonar costs less in 3 of the 4 examples. Infobip costs less for the small club or shop examples.

Sonar's Starter plan covers up to 10,000 messages a month; above that you need Plus at R1,499 a month.

Where Infobip is the better choice

SMS, RCS, Viber and email on the same platform, with direct connections to mobile networks.
No subscription: you pay only for the messages you send.
A cheaper Marketing Messages route for marketing, at $0.046 a message to South Africa.

Where Sonar is the better choice

Sonar's plan is billed in rand, so that part of your bill doesn't move with the dollar.
Unlimited team members on every plan.
POPIA consent tools on every plan: opt-in and opt-out keywords are handled for you, each contact has a consent record, and messages to anyone without consent are blocked.
Scheduled broadcasts, templates and the team inbox from R349 a month.

Switching from Infobip? We'll move your contacts and templates to Sonar for you, free. How switching works

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Sources

* Infobip's prices are in US dollars, so rand figures are estimates at today's exchange rate. Prices change, so check Infobip's own pricing page before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Email support@whats-hub.co.za and we'll fix it.