WhatsApp CRM for Indian SMBs: The 2026 Buying Guide

Small Indian sales teams keep losing leads inside WhatsApp because they bolt the channel onto a CRM that was never built for it. The right WhatsApp CRM organises conversations, ownership, and follow-up around the message thread itself — which is where ₹1,847 deals and ₹18 lakh deals actually close in 2026.

The short answer: A WhatsApp CRM is software that turns WhatsApp into a managed sales channel — shared inbox, ownership rules, automated follow-ups, and lead tracking — so a small Indian team can handle hundreds of conversations without dropping any. Look for five things: WABA support, shared inbox with conflict rules, follow-up automation, BSP fit, and India pricing under ₹10,000 per month.

What does WhatsApp CRM mean in 2026?

A WhatsApp CRM is a customer relationship system whose primary surface is WhatsApp, not email. It sits on top of the WhatsApp Business API (also called WABA) and adds a shared inbox, lead records, ownership rules, and automation around message threads. Most Indian SMBs we work with had a generic CRM first and a WhatsApp side-channel second; the move to WhatsApp CRM merges the two.

A few entities worth knowing before you compare tools:

• WABA — the WhatsApp Business API. The compliant rails for any business sending more than a handful of messages per day.
• BSP — Business Solution Provider. A Meta-approved vendor that resells WABA access and usually bundles a WhatsApp CRM on top.
• Opt-in — explicit permission a contact gives before you can message them on WABA. Without opt-in, your sender reputation craters and your number gets restricted.
• Conversation-based pricing — WhatsApp's billing model. You pay per 24-hour conversation window, not per message.
• Message template — pre-approved structured message used to start a conversation outside the 24-hour window.

A WhatsApp CRM without WABA underneath is just a chat tool with a database — it will get your number flagged the first time you scale beyond fifty broadcasts.

How do you know you need a WhatsApp CRM?

You need a WhatsApp CRM the moment a single human on a single phone is no longer enough. Three operational signals show up before the lead loss does, and most Indian SMBs we onboard hit at least two of them. The compliance and pricing rules below assume Meta's current official WhatsApp Business pricing structure for 2026.

The first signal is reply-overlap. Two reps share one WhatsApp number, both pick up the same lead, and the prospect gets two different answers within the same hour. The second is delay. A lead messages at 11:14am, the rep handling that contact list is on another call, and the reply lands at 1:47pm — by which time the prospect has heard back from three competitors. The third is follow-up amnesia. The rep meant to circle back after the demo on Tuesday but it never made it onto a list anywhere, and the deal quietly dies on Thursday.

Quantitatively, the threshold is sharper than most owners realise. From our work with 600+ small businesses, a team handling 25-100 leads per day from WhatsApp typically sees conversion sit at 1-2 percent without a CRM and climb to 7-8 percent once shared inbox, ownership, and automated follow-ups are in place. The lift is not from better salespeople — it is from no leads being dropped. For context on why those first minutes decide the outcome, the case for responding inside the first 5 minutes still holds in 2026.

Eighty percent of sales happen after the fifth to twelfth follow-up. Manual processes miss those touchpoints quietly — the rep does not realise until the quarter ends and the funnel is empty.

What should a WhatsApp CRM do for an Indian SMB?

A buying-fit WhatsApp CRM has to clear five specific bars. Anything below this list is a chat tool with marketing copy, not a CRM. The bar is shaped by what Indian SMBs with 25-200 leads per day actually need — not the enterprise feature list every BSP advertises.

Criterion	Why it matters for an Indian SMB	Bare minimum to clear the bar
Shared inbox with ownership rules	Two reps on one number = guaranteed lead overlap. The CRM has to enforce who owns what.	Per-rep lead assignment, conversation lock when a rep is replying, visible owner badge on every thread.
WABA support with opt-in workflow	Without compliant WABA + opt-in, your sender reputation drops and Meta restricts your number.	Verified WABA application included, opt-in collection at the start of every new conversation.
Automated follow-up sequences	Five to twelve touches typically close a B2B deal. Manual rarely lasts past touch three.	Drip sequences, branching by reply, ability to pause when a human takes over.
Lead qualification (manual or AI)	At 100 leads per day, your reps cannot work all of them. You need to surface the hot ones.	Status field + filters at the minimum; AI scoring as a bonus.
India pricing under ₹10,000 per month	Most Indian SMBs cannot stomach USD-billed enterprise SaaS for a 4-rep team.	INR billing, transparent tier under ₹10k, no surprise per-message markup on utility messages.

If you want a deeper definitional read on the category itself before you compare vendors, the definitional guide on WhatsApp CRM covers the contrast against traditional CRMs in more depth.

How do the major WhatsApp CRM tools in India compare?

The Indian WhatsApp CRM market in 2026 has five contenders most small teams will shortlist: Kraya, Wati, AiSensy, Interakt, and Gallabox. They differ less on WABA plumbing — that is largely commoditised — and more on shared inbox UX, automation depth, and how aggressive their India pricing is. The comparison below is the lens we use when SMBs ask us where to start.

Tool	Shared inbox quality	Follow-up automation	AI lead qualification	India starting price
Kraya	Conversation lock + AI suggestions for the reply	Drip + branch + memory-aware retries	Conversation-based AI scoring built in	₹2,999 / month
Wati	Solid, role-based access, mature workflows	Sequence-based, less branching by reply	Add-on, paid tier required	₹2,499 / month (~$29)
AiSensy	Inbox UX simpler, suits very small teams	Broadcast-led, follow-ups manual unless upgraded	Limited; no native AI scoring	₹999 / month entry tier
Interakt	Good ownership rules, weaker on bulk views	Drip flows, branching is paid tier	No native AI scoring	₹2,499 / month
Gallabox	Cleanest UI on the list, strong on team chat	Drip sequences, no AI branching	None built in	₹2,099 / month entry tier

A more granular tool-by-tool breakdown — including which is best for an agency, a coaching institute, or a fitness studio — lives in the longer tool-by-tool breakdown for startups and SMBs. If you are leaning towards one of the named tools but want to evaluate alternatives, the Wati alternatives page covers the side-by-side picks in detail.

Best for / Not for, by category:

• Best for AI-led follow-up: Kraya. Branching on reply intent and conversation memory are the differentiators.
• Best for a multi-team enterprise of 50+: Wati. Maturity of role-based access shows.
• Best for a single-product D2C broadcast strategy: AiSensy. Broadcast features are deeper than the rest.
• Best for a clean inbox UX with team chat: Gallabox.
• Best for a balanced mid-market starter: Interakt.
• Not for: Salesforce-heavy enterprise teams with 6-figure contract values — those workflows do not survive a WhatsApp-first surface.

What does a WhatsApp CRM cost in India in 2026?

WhatsApp CRM cost in India has two layers stacked on top of each other. The first is Meta's own conversation-based pricing on the WhatsApp Business API. The second is the SaaS tier your BSP charges for the CRM interface, automation, and shared inbox. Both are paid separately and both can sting if you skip the maths.

Cost layer	What it pays for	2026 India range
Meta conversation pricing	Each 24-hour conversation window opened with a contact list. Service conversations (user-initiated) are free up to 1,000 per month; utility, marketing, and authentication categories are paid.	Utility: ₹0.32 per conversation. Marketing: ₹0.74 per conversation. Authentication: ₹0.27 per conversation.
SaaS tier (BSP / WhatsApp CRM)	Shared inbox, automation, lead tracking, AI features, integrations.	Entry: ₹999-₹2,999 per month. Growth: ₹3,500-₹6,500 per month. Pro: ₹7,000-₹9,999 per month.
One-time setup (optional)	Some vendors charge for WABA application, template approval, and first-month rollout assistance. Others bundle.	₹0 (DIY) to ₹10,000 (managed onboarding).
Number verification	Meta's display-name approval and green-tick verification for high-trust accounts. Optional.	Free for display name; green tick gated and reviewed by Meta.

For a 4-rep team running 100 leads per day with a 5-message automated sequence per lead, the realistic all-in monthly cost in 2026 lands at ₹4,500-₹7,200 across both layers. The free vs paid trade-offs are covered in the free vs paid WhatsApp CRM breakdown; the short version is free tiers run out the moment automation matters.

The hidden cost is not the SaaS tier — it is what you spend in lost leads while you delay the rollout. A Pune coaching institute we worked with calculated their delay cost at ₹2.4 lakh per quarter before they switched.

Should you go bring-your-own-API or use a managed BSP?

You will hit this choice during week one of any WhatsApp CRM rollout. The bring-your-own-API route means you apply for WABA directly with Meta, get your own credentials, and plug them into a CRM that supports BYOAPI. The managed BSP route means you let the vendor handle everything: WABA application, number provisioning, template approval, and credentials. Both are valid; they suit different teams.

Bring-your-own-API suits a team with at least one engineering hire, a tolerance for two-week setup delays, and a strong preference for owning the number permanently. It is also cheaper at scale — Meta's wholesale conversation rates, published on the official WhatsApp Business Platform page, are lower than what most BSPs bill through. The downside is real: you handle compliance, template rejections, and Meta's policy interpretations yourself.

Managed BSP suits the other 85 percent of Indian SMBs. Setup is three to five days, the BSP absorbs Meta's policy turbulence, and you get a working WhatsApp CRM in week one rather than week three. The trade-off is vendor lock-in on the number (some BSPs make it hard to migrate later) and a markup of roughly 8-15 percent on conversation costs. For a team without an in-house developer, the markup is well worth the time saved.

One nuance worth flagging: even with a managed BSP, you can still bring your own number. The WhatsApp Business API is tied to a phone number, and that number belongs to your business regardless of which BSP issues credentials against it. If you decide to move BSPs later, the number goes with you — provided you initiated the WABA application under your own Meta Business account. The deeper integration playbook lives in the guide to integrating WhatsApp CRM with your existing tools.

When is a WhatsApp CRM the wrong choice?

A WhatsApp CRM is not the right tool for every business. Three situations make the spend hard to justify, and we tell prospects so before they spend the ₹2,999.

The first is volume. If your team handles fewer than 10 leads per day and they all come from one source, a well-organised spreadsheet plus the WhatsApp Business app is genuinely enough. The CRM overhead — setup, training, ownership rules — eats more time than it saves at that scale. The second is sales cycle length. If your typical deal closes after 12 months of nurture, multiple stakeholders, and a procurement gate, a Salesforce or HubSpot configuration fits the workflow better than a WhatsApp-first surface. You can still use WhatsApp for tactical touches, but it should not be the system of record.

The third is the one-person business. If you are a solo consultant taking five enquiries a week, the WhatsApp Business app on your phone — with labels, quick replies, and the built-in catalogue — covers the use case. Paying for a CRM at that scale buys complexity, not capability. The honest answer matters here: most BSP marketing copy implies every business needs a WhatsApp CRM, and that is not true.

If you cannot articulate which leads you are losing today, do not buy a WhatsApp CRM yet. The first month after rollout is when the bill comes due — for both the SaaS tier and the team time to operate it.

How do Indian SMBs roll out WhatsApp CRM in week one?

A clean week-one rollout looks the same across the dozen Indian SMBs we have walked through it in 2026. The seven days break into three blocks: setup, content, and team operating rhythm. Skipping any of the three is the usual reason a rollout stalls in week three.

Days one and two are setup. You apply for WABA (DIY or via your chosen BSP), provision the phone number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, and get the display name approved. Days three and four are content and compliance. You submit your first batch of message templates for utility and marketing categories, build the opt-in workflow you will use on website forms and ads, and load the first 50-200 contacts into the CRM. Days five through seven are team operating rhythm. You walk the reps through assignment rules, set up the first automated follow-up sequence (5-7 touches over 10 days), and decide who in the team owns inbound monitoring during business hours.

The single most common mistake is skipping the operating rhythm step. Teams that nail setup and content but never write down their assignment rules drift back to the old "whoever sees it first" pattern within two weeks. Document the rules on day five — even a single shared note works.