Linkubit vs respond.io (2026): what each one does, what each adds to Meta's rate, and which to choose
respond.io: An omnichannel customer-conversation platform for mid-market B2C teams — WhatsApp, email, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and more in one inbox — billed by users and monthly active contacts. Linkubit: an AI salesperson that answers, qualifies, quotes from your catalogue and takes the payment, on WhatsApp, email, Instagram and Messenger.
The difference is what happens after a customer writes. Linkubit's AI answers as a salesperson — it qualifies, quotes only from your catalogue, keeps your rules in code and takes the payment in the chat — on every plan, with WhatsApp at Meta's rate and nothing added. respond.io is the better choice if a support or sales team of five or more, with customers on many channels, that wants a mature inbox and is fine paying in dollars per active contact. Every figure below is from respond.io's own pages, dated.
What's different
Six things Linkubit does, each beside what respond.io’s own pages say about the same thing. Where those pages say nothing, the line says so rather than guessing.
An AI salesperson, not a flow builder
It reads the enquiry, answers in the customer's language — a Hindi voice note included — asks the qualifying questions you set, moves the lead through your stages and opens a priced deal. Nobody draws a flowchart, and it is on every plan, including Free.
respond.io: AI agents. AI Agents on Growth and above, with AI Assist, AI Prompts and chat summaries; "AI usage is included at no extra cost" on paid plans.
Quotes only what your catalogue says
A price it states is read from your catalogue or your documents; a unit price the catalogue does not carry, or a price with no source behind it, is refused before the reply leaves. Deal values and payment requests come from the same list, never from a number typed in the chat.
respond.io: Not on respond.io's pricing page as read on 18 September 2026.
Rules enforced in code, with a human one step away
A gate runs before every action and every send — no discounts, no promises outside the catalogue, hand a refund to a person — and a verifier reads every reply. Anything the agent may not do is refused in code, not in a prompt; a rule it would like changed becomes a request for a human, never a change.
respond.io: Not on respond.io's pricing page as read on 18 September 2026.
One customer, one record, four channels
WhatsApp, email, Instagram DM and Messenger (the last two from Pro) arrive in one inbox on one contact — the person who clicked an Instagram ad, wrote on WhatsApp and replied by email is one record with one history, one owner and one pipeline card.
respond.io: Channels its site lists: WhatsApp, Email, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, web chat, custom channels.
The payment happens in the chat
A UPI or card request inside WhatsApp, or a Razorpay link from your own account, at the catalogue price. The money goes to you; Linkubit never holds it. The deal closes itself when the payment lands.
respond.io: Not listed on the pricing page.
Ads that lead to WhatsApp, built and measured in the same place
Click-to-WhatsApp, lead-form, Google Search and Performance Max campaigns are created from the product — paused until you switch them on — and every lead carries the ad it came from. Qualified leads and won deals are reported back to Meta and Google, so the ad platforms learn from your pipeline, not from clicks.
respond.io: Not on respond.io's pricing page as read on 18 September 2026.
At a glance
| Linkubit | respond.io | |
|---|---|---|
| AI | The AI salesperson is the product, on every plan including Free: it answers, qualifies, quotes only from your catalogue and opens a priced deal. One credit is one AI reply. | AI agents. AI Agents on Growth and above, with AI Assist, AI Prompts and chat summaries; "AI usage is included at no extra cost" on paid plans. |
| Channels | WhatsApp and email on every plan; Instagram DM and Messenger from Pro | WhatsApp, Email, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, web chat, custom channels |
| Payments in the chat | A UPI or card payment request inside WhatsApp, or a Razorpay link, always at the catalogue price, paid into your own account — Linkubit never holds the money | Not listed on the pricing page. |
| WhatsApp per-message charge | None — Meta's per-message rate, billed by Meta to your own WhatsApp Business Account, and nothing added by Linkubit | No mark-up stated. respond.io bills by monthly active contacts rather than per message; WhatsApp's own conversation charges are passed through from Meta. The page does not print a per-message mark-up. |
| Trial | 14 days of Pro with 25 credits to start, no card; +75 when you connect your WhatsApp number and +100 when you add a card (no charge) | 7 days on Growth features, no card; broadcasts excluded. |
| Free plan | Free plan: 30 AI replies a month, up to 150 contacts, one WhatsApp number, no time limit | None. |
| Starting price | ₹499 a month (Starter, 3 seats), billed monthly; ₹4,990 a year | US$79.00 a month, about ₹6,952 (Starter) |
Which to choose
Choose respond.io if
- More channels — TikTok, custom channels, a full email inbox — and a more mature inbox for large support teams.
- Multiple workspaces, SSO and webhooks for an organisation with several brands or regions.
- Zapier and Make integrations and a developer API on Growth and above; Linkubit has no public API today.
Choose Linkubit if
- Lead qualification, a pipeline with stages that refuse illegal moves, deal values from your catalogue and revenue attribution from the ad click — a revenue platform, not an inbox with a CRM connector.
- The AI is a salesperson with rules in code: it quotes from the catalogue, a discount is refused unless you wrote it into a rule, and it hands the conversation to a person on the topics you name.
- UPI payment requests inside WhatsApp, with the deal closed from the payment, and Click-to-WhatsApp ads built and attributed from the same place.
- Rupee pricing from free and ₹499 a month, with no charge per active contact: a busy month costs credits for what the AI and campaigns do, not $12 per hundred people who wrote in.
Not sure? Start a free Linkubit workspace — 14 days of Pro with 25 credits to start, no card; +75 when you connect your WhatsApp number and +100 when you add a card (no charge) — and put it on your own number beside whatever you use today. Nothing sends until you say so.
respond.io's plans, and Linkubit's
respond.io’s plans as its pricing page printed them on 18 September 2026; where a price is shown only on annual or quarterly billing, the row says so. Linkubit’s plans are from its own price list, which the API is held to.
| Plan | Per month | Per month, annual | Seats | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| respond.io — as printed on respond.io, 18 September 2026; priced in US dollars, rupee figures converted at ₹88 to the dollar on 18 September 2026 | ||||
| Starter | ≈ ₹6,952 (US$79.00 at ₹88) | — | 5 users | $79 a month; team inboxes, AI Assist, basic reports; unlimited active contacts |
| Growth | ≈ ₹13,992 (US$159.00 at ₹88) | — | 10 users | $159; broadcasts, workflows, AI Agents, API; 1,000 monthly active contacts then $12 per 100 |
| Advanced | ≈ ₹24,552 (US$279.00 at ₹88) | — | 10 users | $279; multiple workspaces, webhooks, SSO; 1,000 contacts then $15 per 100 |
| Enterprise | On request | — | Unlimited | Custom |
| Linkubit — from the pricing page | ||||
| Free | Free | — | 1 | 30 AI replies a month, up to 150 contacts; WhatsApp at Meta’s rate |
| Starter | ₹499 | ₹416 | 3 | 100 AI replies a month; WhatsApp at Meta’s rate |
| Pro | ₹999 | ₹833 | 5 | 300 AI replies a month; WhatsApp at Meta’s rate |
| Scale | ₹2,499 | ₹2,083 | 15 | 1000 AI replies a month; WhatsApp at Meta’s rate |
Questions people ask
What does Linkubit do that respond.io does not?
Lead qualification, a pipeline with stages that refuse illegal moves, deal values from your catalogue and revenue attribution from the ad click — a revenue platform, not an inbox with a CRM connector. The AI is a salesperson with rules in code: it quotes from the catalogue, a discount is refused unless you wrote it into a rule, and it hands the conversation to a person on the topics you name. UPI payment requests inside WhatsApp, with the deal closed from the payment, and Click-to-WhatsApp ads built and attributed from the same place. Rupee pricing from free and ₹499 a month, with no charge per active contact: a busy month costs credits for what the AI and campaigns do, not $12 per hundred people who wrote in. Where respond.io is the better choice: a support or sales team of five or more, with customers on many channels, that wants a mature inbox and is fine paying in dollars per active contact.
Is respond.io available in rupees?
Its pricing page is in US dollars: $79, $159 and $279 a month, plus overage per hundred monthly active contacts on the upper plans. Linkubit is priced in rupees, from free.
respond.io or Linkubit for an Indian sales team?
respond.io is the stronger inbox for a large support team on many channels. Linkubit is built for the sale — an AI that qualifies, quotes from your catalogue, opens the deal and takes the UPI payment — at a price a three-person team can start on.
Sources
- Starter $79, Growth $159, Advanced $279 a month; 5, 10 and 10 users. respond.io, seen 18 September 2026.
- "$12 per 100 MACs on Growth and $15 per 100 MACs on Advanced" beyond 1,000 monthly active contacts. respond.io, seen 18 September 2026.
- 7-day trial with Growth features, 5 users, 1,000 MACs, no card; broadcasts excluded. respond.io, seen 18 September 2026.
- "AI usage is included at no extra cost." respond.io, seen 18 September 2026.
Accurate as of 18 September 2026, when we last read respond.io’s public pricing page; its prices and features may have changed since. Linkubit’s figures come from its own price list. Spotted something that has moved? Tell us and the page is corrected and re-dated.
Wati, AiSensy, Interakt, Gallabox, DoubleTick, Zoko, QuickReply.ai and respond.io are trademarks of their respective owners. Linkubit is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of them; each is named only to compare what its own public pages say.
More comparisons: vs Wati · vs AiSensy · vs Interakt · vs Gallabox · vs DoubleTick · vs Zoko · vs QuickReply.ai · All comparisons · Choosing a tool
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