Top 9 Gupshup Alternatives for WhatsApp Automation [Tried & Tested]

Ever since the WhatsApp Business Platform was launched, brands all over the world have adopted WhatsApp as a communication channel due to real-time interactions and dynamic automation capabilities.

This resulted in a boost in the availability of WhatsApp business tools in the market to help brands manage their WhatsApp conversations effectively. 

Gupshup is one of these WhatsApp solutions that gives direct access to the WhatsApp Business API, enabling you to achieve your communication goals with advanced WhatsApp messaging functionality. However, as with any tool, you might run into some challenges when your business begins to grow. 

That is why, I have curated a list of top Gupshup alternatives that will shorten your search. In this guide, I’ll explore their features and why they can be a great fit for your WhatsApp marketing. But before I jump into Gupshup’s alternatives, let’s understand what Gupshup is first.

What is Gupshup?

Gupshup is an AI-powered sales and marketing solution that comes with multiple messaging APIs for numerous channels, including WhatsApp, RCS, and voice. On top of its marketing, the platform is primarily focused on building AI-driven workflows and chatbots for automated communication. 

Being an official WhatsApp Business Service provider, Gupshup lets you interact with your target audience with its AI-driven flows to send different kinds of WhatsApp messages ranging from marketing to transactional. 

Why do businesses switch from Gupshup?

Although Gupsup is an excellent tool for setting up your automated workflows, that doesn’t mean it can fulfill the needs of businesses operating in different industries. Having said so, below are some of the common reasons why brands might be looking to switch from Gupshup:

Cost considerations

The most common reason why you may look for a Gupshup alternative is price. While Gupshup offers competitive pricing for enterprises, its model may not always align with the budgets of smaller businesses. 

For example, companies that only need WhatsApp automation for limited campaigns might find themselves paying for features they never use. Additionally, messaging surcharges or advanced add-ons can quickly increase the total bill. For SMBs, this can strain WhatsApp marketing budgets, making more transparent and flexible pricing models from competitors a better fit.

Slower customer support

Customer assistance is another aspect where users have sometimes expressed dissatisfaction with Gupshup. Onboarding can be a slow process, particularly if it is your first time using the WhatsApp Business API. In addition to that, having delayed responses from the support team can further stall your campaign launches. 

If you rely on WhatsApp automation for time-sensitive engagements, any deals can lead to lost sales or missed revenue opportunities.

Scalability & flexibility

Another challenge with Gupshup lies in balancing its scalability with its flexibility. While it can handle large volumes of messages for an enterprise, it may not provide the agility that growing SMBs require. 

For instance, as a small business, you probably don’t need advanced automations and want to spend time setting up complex campaigns. This lack of flexibility means that Gupshup may feel “too heavy” for small businesses, who are better off going for one of the alternatives mentioned in this list. 

Best Gupshup alternatives for WhatsApp automation

Now that you understand some of the reasons why looking for a Gupshup alternative might be a better choice for efficiently managing your WhatsApp workflows, it’s time to check out the best tools you can use in place of Gupshup, starting with Zixflow:

Zixflow

Zixflow is a new-age conversational and automation platform that gives you reliable business tools to scale your communication across multiple channels on top of WhatsApp, such as RCS, email, and SMS. It is a full-fledged suite that goes beyond just a traditional marketing tool. 

The platform consists of three major components: contact management (CDP), multichannel marketing, and workflow automation. 

The CDP is a native part of Zixflow, something that most WhatsApp automation tools seriously lack. Customer management within Zixflow allows you to not only save contacts but also enhance the data with AI-powered tools. 

For example, Zixflow has an Email Finder feature that can help you find the right email addresses for valuable contacts. In addition to that, the built-in AI engine lets you craft personalized icebreakers to get in touch with contacts effectively.

Moving on to the marketing section, Zixflow includes an omnichannel marketing capability where you make use of numerous communication channels to run promotional and customer support initiatives. WhatsApp, RCS, SMS, and email are some channels that are available to you for connecting with your customers. 

Automation is also a crucial aspect of Zixflow. The automation builder in the platform is straightforward, involving a drag-and-drop editor to set up desired workflows to interact with customers using custom RCS and WhatsApp chatbots. By using conditional logic flows and tailored triggers, the system can take care of redundant customer queries or kickstart sequences without requiring any human intervention.

These are some major elements of Zixflow. On top of these features, Zixflow includes numerous additional features for efficiently managing your business operations. For example, the solution consists of the following amazing features:

• A unified inbox for responding to all incoming chats
• Message template builder for all the channels for designing engaging templates based on your needs
• An AI-Wizard to craft engaging messaging content at the click of a button
• Sales cadences to run follow-up sequences to keep customers interested in your business

These are still only a few useful functionalities of the Zixflow business suite. It would be better to see all these features in action yourself. So, you can get started with a 7-day free trial of Zixflow.

Twilio

When it comes to messaging tools, Twilio is one of the most well-known communication platforms internationally. It is a developer-first solution that offers messaging APIs for multiple outreach channels, including WhatsApp, and due to its developer-centric ecosystem, it allows you to build highly customized communication flows. 

Since the messages are sent via an API, it makes Twilio a strong contender for a Gupshup alternative in terms of scalability, making it an ideal solution for enterprises that want to run large-scale WhatsApp Broadcast campaigns. 

However, this level of customizability comes at a cost. Setting up these APIs and building a complex messaging infrastructure requires a decent amount of technical expertise. That being said, if you are a smaller brand that lacks the required manpower or doesn’t require such a high-end WhatsApp marketing framework, then you can utilize other Gupshup alternatives like Zixflow, which is pretty easy to use. 

Wati

If you are looking to use WhatsApp as the only channel for customer engagement and support, then Wati can be a good Gupshup alternative for you. This is because Wati is purely a WhatsApp-centric channel and comes with advanced WhatsApp marketing features to let you make the most of your WhatsApp marketing strategy. 

Being a WhatsApp-only tool, you can easily use Wati to run outreach campaigns at scale and set up automated workflows using pre-built templates. These templates make it easy for non-technical users to get started with their WhatsApp marketing initiatives quickly.

When you compare it to other Gupshup alternatives on this list, Wati is a standout tool for businesses that just want WhatsApp as a singular channel. On the other hand, if multichannel communication is your goal, then it’s better to go for tools that come with numerous outreach channels, such as Zixflow. 

Interakt

Interakt is similar to Wati, as it also only supports WhatsApp as a main channel for engagement. However, on top of WhatsApp, it includes Instagram, where you can build automated flows to engage customers directly using the DMs. 

Interakt is designed in a way that businesses operating in a wide range of industries can use the platform to streamline their WhatsApp customer engagement. Furthermore, the solution has a WhatsApp CRM to handle your contacts’ data from the platform you are using to run outreach campaigns. 

That being said, Interakt also suffers from the same issue as Wati. That is, if you want an omnichannel marketing framework, you need to go for another tool, as Interakt primarily only has WhatsApp. 

Zoko

Zoko is a WhatsApp marketing and automation platform that is built for e-commerce brands using Shopify, looking to adopt WhatsApp into their outreach strategy. Using the solution, you gain access to WhatsApp’s commercial features, allowing you to streamline your communication and sales processes. 

In addition to that, Zoko enables you to sell your products directly on the WhatsApp app. By syncing your product catalogs with Zoko, you can send them as part of your promotional messages. This way, your messages are not only interactive but also conversion-driven. 

Moreover, Zoko gives you the ability to send WhatsApp Broadcasts messages at scale to interact with both current customers and high-interest individuals. With tailored marketing messages, you can increase the chances of getting more sales, thereby maximizing the overall ROI of your marketing efforts. 

Plivo

Plivo is a global marketing and automation platform that acts as a service provider with numerous messaging APIs for voice, chat, SMS, and WhatsApp. Being an official WhatsApp Business Partner, it comes with native support for WhatsApp automation and has developer-centric capabilities to let brands get started with the solution effortlessly. 

Plivo is an automation-heavy tool, emphasizing more on completely automating your WhatsApp interactions using tools like WhatsApp chatbots and AI agents. These workflows work around the clock to make sure your customers don’t wait for you to come online to reply to them, resulting in greatly reduced wait times and enhanced shopping experiences. 

As I said before, Plivo is more aligned toward automation rather than engagement. Although Plivo does include full accessibility of the WhatsApp Business API, the marketing aspect is a bit lacking relative to other Gupshup alternatives.

Infobip

Infobip is also a leading enterprise-grade WhatsApp conversation platform that has a global presence across numerous countries. Being an international multichannel platform, Infobip includes a range of communication channels and APIs such as WhatsApp, RCS, email, SMS, Voice, and more. 

In addition to its large support of outreach channels, Infobip has automation functionality in the form of chatbot builders to engage customers and nurture leads with timely messages sent automatically via a workflow. 

All in all, Infobip is an all-round platform for bigger businesses that have enough manpower to manage all the initiatives being run using the tool. So, it makes sense that its pricing is relatively on the higher side compared to other Gupshup alternatives that I have mentioned above. Lastly, if you are a small business that doesn’t need this many features, it would be a good choice to stick to a tool that feels right for your needs. 

Tyntec

Tyntec is an official WhatsApp Business API provider that emphasizes security and compliance on top of its enterprise-grade messaging. Same as Infobip, it offers a large number of communication channels, consisting of WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, and Line, to name a few. 

It offers WhatsApp automation and customer verification. Since the platform focuses on data protection and reliability, it can be a trusted choice for industries that require the exchange of confidential information, such as finance and healthcare. 

Tyntec is a solid Gupshup alternative when it comes to building customer journeys on mobile devices. So, if mobile journeys are crucial for your business success, then Tyntec is a good option for you. 

Freshchat

Freshchat, a component of Freshworks’ business suite, is a messaging solution. With its WhatsApp messaging functionality, you can handle your chats from the platform itself. By utilizing a pre-approved WhatsApp messaging template, you can run customer engagement campaigns over WhatsApp. 

That is not all. As Freshworks includes a wide range of components, you can save your contacts’ data in the system, which can be auto-populated within Freshchat when setting up your WhatsApp campaigns. The saved messaging template can also be in different languages, enabling you to run multilingual initiatives for your global target audience. 

The fact that Freshworks has numerous offerings makes it a good alternative to Gupshup. However, you have to take into account the usage costs associated with the solution. 

Each product of Freshworks has its own cost. This means if you opt to go for multiple products, your expenses can greatly increase. In that sense, it would be more cost-efficient to choose a unified suite like Zixflow that has straightforward pricing. 

Optimize your WhatsApp workflows with the right Gupshup alternatives

WhatsApp automation has become central to how you communicate with customers, and the choice of platform often determines how effective those efforts will be. 

For some brands, the challenge lies in finding pricing that scales without unnecessary overhead. Others need automation that extends beyond basic messaging into workflows that result in WhatsApp CRMs. On the other hand, as a bigger enterprise, you need an infrastructure that can handle millions of interactions without downtime, while smaller companies prioritize ease of setup and minimal technical barriers. 

The search for a Gupshup alternative is less about replacing it and more about identifying a separate platform that aligns with your business goals and customer expectations. 

By evaluating your options by considering various aspects like cost, functionality, scalability, and reliability of support, you can make informed decisions to select a solution to enhance your WhatsApp automation.

With that said, Zixflow is a standout tool for not only setting up your WhatsApp workflows but also running multichannel campaigns for an all-around customer engagement. So, why not take a look at its capabilities with a 7-day free trial or schedule a tailored demo to help us meet your unique needs?