Sonar vs Twilio

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

Prices checked 8 October 2026. Dollar prices converted at today's rate of R16.43 to the dollar*.

At a glance

Sonar and Twilio at a glance
	Sonar	Twilio
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	≈ R0.08*
Added per update or login-code message	Nothing within your plan's messages	≈ R0.08*
Added per reply after the free 1,000	Nothing within your plan's messages	≈ R0.08*
Team members included	Unlimited	No app: Twilio is an API, so your team works in software you build or buy
Discount for paying yearly	None	None (volume discounts on request)
Free option	Free trial: 50 contacts and 250 messages, with replies you type free	Free trial credit
Screens to send broadcasts, write templates and chat	Included	None: you build them or buy another product
Fee on messages your customers send you	Nothing	$0.005 each
Fee on failed messages	Nothing	$0.001 each
POPIA consent, opt-outs and STOP handling	Built in	Yours to build

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 Twilio
Example month	Meta's charges	Sonar total	Twilio total
Small club or shop1,000 marketing and 200 update messages to 500 people	R654	R1,003Starter	≈ R753*Pay as you go
Growing retailer4,000 marketing and 1,000 update messages to 2,000 people	R2,647	R2,996Starter	≈ R3,058*Pay as you go
Busy online store10,000 marketing and 3,000 update messages to 5,000 people	R6,697	R8,196Plus	≈ R7,765*Pay as you go
High volume20,000 marketing and 5,000 update messages to 10,000 people	R13,237	R14,736Plus	≈ R15,292*Pay as you go

Sonar costs less in 2 of the 4 examples. Twilio costs less for the small club or shop and busy online store examples.

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

Where Twilio is the better choice

No monthly fee at all: you pay $0.005 a message on top of Meta's rate, so it costs less on paper if you have developers to build on it.
A programmable API for WhatsApp, SMS, voice and email from one provider, at very large scale.
Volume discounts on request.

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

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Sources

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