The best Heltar alternative depends on which Heltar plan you actually need. Heltar starts at ₹600 a month, but its chatbot builder, WhatsApp Flows and developer APIs sit on the ₹3,400 Growth plan (excl. GST, as checked November 2026). RichAutomate includes a visual flow builder and the developer API on its ₹899 Pro plan, or you can stay on a ₹0 pay-as-you-go plan with a ₹0.10 platform fee per message while Meta bills its own charges directly to you.
Heltar is one of the newer WhatsApp Business API platforms in India. Its product, HeltarChat, has become a common shortlist name for small teams in Delhi NCR, Pune and Bengaluru, partly because Heltar publishes a lot of pricing explainers about other providers. A Gurugram real-estate broker might use it for site-visit reminders, a Faridabad coaching institute for fee alerts, and a Jaipur D2C store for abandoned-cart nudges. It is a capable product, and for some businesses it is the right choice.
This guide sets out what Heltar offers and what it publicly charges, based on its own homepage and pricing page as checked in November 2026. It then shows where Heltar wins, where RichAutomate fits better, two worked rupee examples, and how to switch without losing your number. Where Heltar does not publish a number, we say so instead of guessing.
What Heltar offers in 2026
Heltar describes itself as an official Business Solution Provider affiliated with Meta. Its website footer lists a registered office in Faridabad, Haryana, and a company identification number that suggests the company was incorporated in 2023. Its homepage says it has served more than 1,000 clients and positions itself, in its own words, as a more affordable alternative to Wati, Interakt, AiSensy and Gallabox.
The product is organised into a few areas:
- Marketing: bulk broadcasts, scheduled messages, delivery and read stats, and Click-to-WhatsApp ads.
- Automation: a no-code drag-and-drop chatbot builder, reminders and follow-ups.
- Customer support: a shared team inbox with AI replies, agent productivity tracking and satisfaction scores.
- AI: AI agents that answer from your documents, call your APIs mid-chat, and work in 50+ languages, plus AI voice agents on WhatsApp calls on its top plan.
- Integrations: webhooks, Shopify, Google Sheets and custom APIs, with iOS, Android and web apps.
In short, Heltar is a WhatsApp-first platform with a strong AI roadmap. The catch for a small business is not the feature list but which plan unlocks each feature.
Heltar pricing, as checked November 2026
Heltar's pricing page lists four plans in INR, excluding GST. It says quarterly billing saves 5% and yearly billing saves 10%, but it does not show those discounted prices. It does not state how many users each plan includes or how long the free trial runs, so ask for both on your quote.
| Heltar plan | Listed price (excl. GST) | What the plan adds | Bot credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | ₹600 a month | API setup, shared inbox (web and mobile), broadcasts, quick replies, tags, opt-in/opt-out, dashboards | None listed |
| Growth | ₹3,400 a month | No-code chatbot builder, WhatsApp Flows, automated journeys, AI campaign manager, roles and auto-assignment, developer APIs and webhooks | ₹500 a month |
| Pro | ₹9,300 a month | AI agents from documents and APIs, AI voice agents, call transcription, bot-to-agent handover, AI Copilot reports | ₹2,000 a month |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom bot development, high-volume messaging, custom integrations and contracts | Custom |
Heltar also adds a flat platform fee to every delivered message on top of Meta's rate. Its pricing page lists these India rates, excluding GST:
| Message type | Meta rate | Heltar fee | You pay on Heltar | RichAutomate Client Pay fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 | ₹0.1369 | ₹1.00 | ₹0.10 (Meta billed direct) |
| Utility | ₹0.115 | ₹0.03 | ₹0.145 | ₹0.10 (Meta billed direct) |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 | ₹0.03 | ₹0.145 | ₹0.10 (Meta billed direct) |
| Service (after first 1,000) | ₹0.115 | ₹0.03 | ₹0.145 | ₹0.10 (Meta billed direct) |
Two things stand out. On marketing messages, Heltar's fee of ₹0.1369 is higher than RichAutomate's flat ₹0.10. On utility and authentication messages, Heltar's ₹0.03 fee is lower. Which one costs you less therefore depends on your message mix, which the worked examples below make concrete. For the wider market, see our WhatsApp API pricing comparison for India.
Where Heltar is the stronger choice
Heltar deserves a fair hearing, and it is the better fit in a few situations:
- High-volume utility or OTP sending. A ₹0.03 fee per utility message beats a ₹0.10 fee once you send tens of thousands of order updates or OTPs a month. At 50,000 utility messages, the fee gap alone is ₹3,500 a month in Heltar's favour.
- AI voice agents on WhatsApp calls. Heltar's Pro plan lists AI voice agents and call transcription. If voice on WhatsApp is central to your support, that is a specific feature to test.
- Bundled bot credits. Growth and Pro include ₹500 and ₹2,000 of bot credits a month, which helps if you plan to run AI replies at volume and want them inside one bill.
- One invoice for Meta and platform. Heltar's "you pay" column bundles Meta's rate and its fee, so finance sees a single per-message number.
If one of these is your main requirement, run a trial on Heltar alongside any alternative before you decide.
Where RichAutomate fits better
RichAutomate is built for Indian SMBs that want automation without paying for a mid-tier plan they only half use. The differences that matter most:
Get the India 2026 WhatsApp BSP price comparison
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- Flow builder and API at ₹899, not ₹3,400. The RichAutomate Pro plan includes the visual flow builder, Meta native flows, the developer API and webhooks, a campaign scheduler with drip sequences, and up to 5 team members. On Heltar, the chatbot builder and APIs start at Growth.
- A real ₹0 floor. You can stay on pay-as-you-go with ₹0 setup and no monthly minimum, paying only Meta's rate plus ₹0.10 per message. Monthly plans are optional.
- GST-inclusive plan prices. RichAutomate plans are listed GST-inclusive in INR: Starter ₹499, Pro ₹899 and White-label ₹1,199. Heltar's prices are excluding GST, so add 18% before you compare.
- Lower fee on marketing messages. If broadcasts and promotional templates are most of your volume, ₹0.10 against ₹0.1369 adds up.
- Integrations Indian teams ask for. Pro includes Razorpay payment links in chat, Google Sheets two-way sync, and Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress and Zoho CRM connections.
- White-label for agencies. At ₹1,199 a month, agencies can resell WhatsApp automation under their own brand.
Every plan comes with a 14-day free trial, no card required, and 100 free credits on signup. Full plan details are on the RichAutomate pricing page.
Worked example 1: a broadcast-led D2C brand
Take a Jaipur home-decor brand that sends 3,000 marketing messages and 2,000 utility messages (order and shipping updates) a month, and wants a chatbot to answer product questions. On Heltar, the chatbot builder means the Growth plan. On RichAutomate, it means Pro.
| Monthly cost line | Heltar Growth | RichAutomate Pro (Client Pay) |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | ₹3,400 + 18% GST = ₹4,012 | ₹899 (GST-inclusive) |
| 3,000 marketing messages | 3,000 × ₹1.00 = ₹3,000 | Meta ₹2,589.30 + fee ₹300 |
| 2,000 utility messages | 2,000 × ₹0.145 = ₹290 | Meta ₹230 + fee ₹200 |
| Total before GST on messages | ₹7,302 | ₹4,218.30 |
Meta's share of the message cost is nearly the same on both platforms, about ₹2,819 a month. The gap of roughly ₹3,080 comes almost entirely from the plan: you need Heltar's ₹3,400 tier to get the chatbot, while RichAutomate includes it at ₹899. The RichAutomate figure is also before counting the 999 message credits a month that Pro adds to your wallet.
Worked example 2: a high-volume OTP sender
Now take a Pune fintech app that sends 50,000 authentication and utility messages a month through the API and almost no marketing. It needs the developer API but no chatbot.
- Heltar Growth (needed for APIs): ₹4,012 plan with GST, plus 50,000 × ₹0.145 = ₹7,250 in messages. Total about ₹11,262.
- RichAutomate Pro: ₹899 plan, plus Meta 50,000 × ₹0.115 = ₹5,750, plus fee 50,000 × ₹0.10 = ₹5,000. Total about ₹11,649.
Here the two land within a few hundred rupees, and Heltar edges ahead. Push that volume to 1,00,000 utility messages and Heltar's lower per-message fee wins by more. If you are an OTP-heavy sender, compare quotes carefully, and look at how each platform keeps OTP delivery quality separate from marketing traffic. For per-seat costs as your team grows, see our breakdown of WhatsApp API per-agent seat pricing.
Feature comparison at a glance
| Feature | Heltar | RichAutomate |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest paid plan | ₹600/mo excl. GST | ₹499/mo GST-inclusive, or ₹0 pay-as-you-go |
| No-code chatbot builder | From Growth, ₹3,400/mo | From Pro, ₹899/mo (keyword auto-reply on Starter) |
| Developer API and webhooks | From Growth | From Pro |
| WhatsApp Flows (in-chat forms) | From Growth | From Pro (Meta native flows) |
| AI agents | Pro, ₹9,300/mo; voice agents included | AI intent routing on Pro; bring your own AI provider as an add-on |
| Platform fee, marketing | ₹0.1369/msg | ₹0.10/msg |
| Platform fee, utility/auth | ₹0.03/msg | ₹0.10/msg |
| Free trial | Offered; length not stated | 14 days, no card, 100 credits |
| White-label for agencies | Not listed on pricing page | ₹1,199/mo |
If you are comparing other mid-market tools too, our Gallabox alternative guide and Picky Assist alternative guide use the same rupee method.
How to switch from Heltar without losing your number
Your WhatsApp Business API number belongs to your own WhatsApp Business Account, not to the platform, so you can move it. The usual steps:
- Export your data. Download contacts, tags and opt-in records from Heltar. Keep the opt-out list so unsubscribed numbers stay excluded.
- List your templates. Approved templates live on your WhatsApp Business Account, so they normally carry over. Check each one after the move.
- Disconnect the number from Heltar. Ask Heltar support to release it, or remove it from the platform, so it can be linked to a new provider.
- Connect through Meta signup on RichAutomate. Register, then link the same number using Meta's embedded signup. Once your Meta business details are ready, linking takes a few minutes.
- Rebuild one flow first. Start with your most-used chatbot path, test it end to end, then move the rest.
If you also want to keep the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, read our guide to running the app and API together before you migrate.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Heltar if you send very large volumes of utility or OTP messages, if AI voice agents on WhatsApp calls are a must-have, or if you prefer bundled bot credits on one invoice. Choose RichAutomate if you want a chatbot builder and the developer API without paying for a ₹3,400 tier, if most of your volume is marketing, or if you want to start on a ₹0 pay-as-you-go plan and add a plan only when you need it.
Whichever you trial, model your own month: count marketing, utility and service messages separately, add GST to any price listed without it, and check which plan unlocks the features you will use in the first 90 days. To test RichAutomate with your own templates and contacts, start the 14-day free trial.