SonarWhatsApp Business API pricing in South Africa
Free trial, no card needed. Plans in rand, and WhatsApp's own charges at Meta's rate with no markup.
Starter
- 10,000 messages a month
- 2 WhatsApp numbers
Plus
AI included- 50,000 messages a month
- 5 numbers and the AI Agent
Growth
- 150,000 messages a month
- 10 numbers and CRM integration
Scale
- 1,000,000 messages a month
- 100 WhatsApp numbers
Plus WhatsApp's own charges, paid to Meta from your card: about R0.62 for a marketing message and nothing for replies until you pass 1,000 a month. See the rates
Past your plan's messages: R0.07 a marketing message and R0.02 an update, a login code or a paid reply.
Prices in rand. * Pound and dollar figures are estimates at today's exchange rate; Sonar bills in rand.
Every plan includes
- Broadcasts
- Team inbox
- Templates
- Flows
- Events and RSVPs
- Updates from your till or booking app
- POPIA consent tools
- Unlimited team members
- Two-step sign-in
Work out your monthly cost
Pick the business closest to yours, then change any number. We find the cheapest Sonar plan and price the same month on Wati and Twilio, WhatsApp's own charges included.
Estimates for a month. WhatsApp's charges use Meta's 1 October 2026 rate card in US dollars, converted at today's rate (19 October 2026); every number gets 1,000 free replies a month. Wati and Twilio figures are from their published prices (Wati checked 12 October 2026, Twilio 8 October 2026) and include WhatsApp's charges, which they bill through; Sonar's customers pay WhatsApp directly. Wati has no agent numbers listed, so they're left out of its total.
Questions
Why do I add a card to Meta?
Your WhatsApp account belongs to your business, so Meta bills its message charges to a card you add there, at Meta's own rate with no markup. Sonar's plan is a separate charge, in rand. Many WhatsApp platforms work this way; others pay Meta for you and add a margin.
What does WhatsApp charge per message?
WhatsApp charges per message, by the type of message and the country of the person receiving it. These are its charges for messages to South African numbers, and they are the same whichever platform you send through.
| Message type | What it's for | Per message | About in rand* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Offers, news, event invites and win-back messages | $0.0379 | R0.62 |
| Utility | Order, booking and account updates a customer asked for | $0.0095 | R0.16 |
| Authentication | One-time login and verification codes | $0.0095 | R0.16 |
| Service | Your free-form replies while a customer service window is open. The first 1,000 a month on each number are free | $0.0095 | R0.16 |
What's free
- Messages your customers send you.
- Your first 1,000 replies each month on each WhatsApp number.
- Everything you send for 72 hours after someone messages you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button, as long as you reply within 24 hours.
WhatsApp (Meta) rate card of 1 October 2026. Rand figures use today's rate of R16.43 to the US dollar (19 October 2026). WhatsApp lowers its update and login-code rates at very high monthly volumes, and bills these charges to your WhatsApp account directly, usually in US dollars.
What changed on 1 October 2026?
- Replies are no longer always free. Each WhatsApp number now gets 1,000 free service messages a month. After that, every reply costs the utility rate, about R0.16 in South Africa.
- Utility messages inside the 24-hour window are charged. An order or booking update sent while a customer service window is open used to be free. It now costs the utility rate too.
- A new rate card. WhatsApp updated its prices for every country on the same day. The rates above use the new South African card.
Marketing messages are charged as before: every one costs the marketing rate, unless it goes out in the 72-hour free window after an ad.
What does a month cost?
WhatsApp's charges plus Sonar's, for three businesses messaging customers in South Africa. Try your own numbers in the calculator.
| Small club or shop | Growing retailer | Busy online store | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing messages | 1,000 | 5,000 | 15,000 |
| Update messages | 200 | 2,000 | 6,000 |
| Replies to customers | 500 | 1,500 | 4,000 |
| WhatsApp's charges, paid to Meta* | R654 | R3,505 | R10,748 |
| Sonar plan | Starter, R349 | Starter, R349 | Plus, R1,499 |
| Total a month | R1,003 | R3,854 | R12,247 |
How much does the AI Agent cost?
The AI Agent and Copilot come with Plus and up, included on Standard replies, or roughly R0.05 to R0.30 a reply on Advanced replies and R0.10 to R0.75 on Extreme replies for VIP chats, depending on the conversation.
Extra numbers, upgrades and the free trial
Extra WhatsApp numbers are R499 a month each. Agent numbers, a team member's own WhatsApp Business app number connected to Sonar, are R499 a month each with AI replies on the fast model included.
Prices are in rand with no setup fee, and every plan starts with a free trial: 50 contacts and 250 messages, with replies you type free. Upgrade mid-month and you pay only the difference for the days left; a cheaper plan starts when your month ends. How billing works.
How does Sonar compare to Wati and Twilio?
| Sonar | Wati | Twilio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan | From R349 | From $69 | None |
| Team inbox and broadcast screens | Included | Included | Build your own |
| AI Agent (WhatsApp chatbot) | Included on Plus and up | AI agents are a paid add-on | Build your own |
| Automated follow-ups | Included | Included | Build your own |
| POPIA consent, opt-outs and STOP | Built in | Not listed | Build your own |
| Team members | Unlimited | 3 on Growth; 5 on Pro and Business, then $39 or $89 a month each | No app to log in to |
| Extra WhatsApp numbers | R499 a month | $29 a month | No extra fee |
| Staff on the WhatsApp Business app | Agent numbers, R499 a month | Not listed | No |
| Billed in | Rand | US dollars | US dollars |
From each company's own pricing pages. Side by side, with sources: Sonar vs AiSensy, Sonar vs Wati, Sonar vs respond.io and Sonar vs Twilio.
Who builds Sonar?
Sonar is built by Whats-Hub, a company owned by the Hout Bay United Football Community Trust, so the profit goes into football programmes that change young lives in Hout Bay.
More guides
- POPIA and WhatsApp marketing
- Event invites with one-tap RSVPs
- AI Agent and Copilot: a WhatsApp chatbot in your voice
- Use Sonar with the WhatsApp Business app
- Import your contacts
- Order and booking updates from your other systems
- Connect a client's WhatsApp number
- WhatsApp API providers in South Africa, compared
- Switching to Sonar
- WhatsApp RSVPs for events
- Competitions and prize draws
Sources
- Meta: WhatsApp Business Platform pricing and rate cards
- Sonar's plans and message fees are read live from the prices checkout charges.
* Rand figures for WhatsApp's charges are estimates at today's exchange rate. WhatsApp bills in US dollars, so what you pay depends on the rate on the day and your bank's card fees. Sonar bills its own fees in rand.