Karobar and respond.io both put customer chats from several apps into one shared inbox, so a team can answer WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and TikTok messages without passing a phone around. They are built for different jobs, though. respond.io covers a wide list of channels, including email, SMS, Telegram and a website chat widget, with a visual automation builder and AI agents. Karobar covers fewer channels and adds tools for selling inside the chat: orders, payments, couriers, a product catalogue and stock.
This page puts the two side by side. Every statement about respond.io links to respond.io's own pages, numbered in the sources list at the end, and was checked on 3 October 2026. Where we could not find something on respond.io's pages, we left it out instead of guessing. Karobar's details come from our own product and our pricing page.
| Feature | Karobar | respond.io |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest monthly price | Individual plan, $20 a month (1 user). Paying yearly saves 12%. | Starter plan, $79 a month when billed yearly ($948 a year) or $99 billed monthly. Prices are in USD.[1] |
| Plans | Individual $20, Team $39, Brand $59, Enterprise $199 a month, and Custom on request. | Starter, Growth ($159 a month billed yearly) and Advanced ($279 a month billed yearly), plus Enterprise with custom pricing.[1] |
| Users included | 1, 3, 5 and 10 users on Individual, Team, Brand and Enterprise. | Starter 5 (extra users $12 a month each), Growth 10 ($20 each), Advanced 10 ($24 each), Enterprise unlimited.[1] |
| How contacts are counted | Saved contacts: 1,000, 5,000, 15,000 and 50,000 by plan. | Monthly Active Contacts, meaning people you talked to in the billing month. Unlimited on Starter; Growth and Advanced start with 1,000, then $12 or $15 per extra 100.[1] |
| AI credits | 200, 400, 600 and 2,000 a month by plan. Extra credits cost $1 per 100. | 5,000 on Starter, then 10,000, 20,000 and 40,000. Extra credits cost $15 per 1,000, with a hard cap at 200%.[1] |
| Free trial | 7 days, no card needed. | 7 days, no credit card. Growth plan features for 5 users and 1,000 Monthly Active Contacts, but no broadcasts.[1] |
| WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger DMs | Yes. WhatsApp through the official Cloud API, or a number linked to the WhatsApp Business app. | Yes, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger are all listed channels.[3] |
| TikTok DMs | Yes, in the same inbox as other chats. | Yes, in open beta. Not available in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, and the business cannot start a conversation.[6] |
| Telegram, LINE, Viber and WeChat | Not available. | Yes, all four are listed. Viber needs Growth or above.[3] |
| Email and SMS | Not available yet (coming soon). | Yes. Email through Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or IMAP/SMTP; SMS through Twilio, MessageBird and others.[3] |
| Website chat widget | Not available yet (coming soon). | Yes. Chats are session based, so you cannot message the visitor again after the chat ends unless you have their details.[4] |
| Instagram comment to DM | Yes. Opening DM with a button, a link DM, a follow-up, and rotating public replies. How it works. | Auto Private Replies: one DM per comment, within 7 days, on posts, reels, ads and live stories.[13] |
| Facebook comment to DM | Yes, with the same options as Instagram. | Private Replies on Page posts. Ads are not supported.[14] |
| Automation | Keyword auto replies, conversation starters, and chatbot flows (flows on WhatsApp only). | Workflows, a visual builder for automating processes.[9] |
| Broadcasts | WhatsApp broadcasts and campaigns, with templates written in the app and sent to Meta for approval. | Yes, from Growth up, with monthly limits that depend on the plan. Not possible on Instagram.[10] |
| AI in conversations | Karobar AI drafts replies from your catalogue, prices, stock and business details. A person sends them. | AI Agents that qualify leads, route chats and recommend products across WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and voice.[7] |
| Orders | Built-in Sales Desk: orders made from a chat, with COD, advance and partial payments, courier and tracking number. | Orders placed through the Meta Product Catalog on WhatsApp arrive in the inbox with their details.[11] |
| Shopify | No Shopify integration. | Contact and order syncing with Shopify through Zapier.[12] |
| Mobile apps | Web app that works on phone and desktop; iOS and Android apps coming. | iOS and Android apps. AI Agents, Broadcasts and Workflows are not in the mobile app.[16] |
Who each tool fits
respond.io fits teams that talk to customers on many channels at once. If your customers write on Telegram, LINE, Viber or WeChat, if support runs through email, or if you need SMS and a chat widget on your website, respond.io lists all of these on its integrations page. It also has native iOS and Android apps, a visual workflow builder, and plans that include 5 or 10 users from the start. Teams that want AI agents to qualify leads and route chats will find them on Growth and above.
Karobar fits shops and small brands that sell through DMs and comments: a customer asks the price on Instagram, confirms on WhatsApp, and pays cash on delivery. Karobar keeps that whole path in one place. The chat, the order, the payment status, the courier and the tracking link sit together, and customers get order updates without anyone copying details into a spreadsheet. It starts with one user at $20 a month, which suits a founder answering chats alone, and grows to teams of 3, 5 and 10.
If the main thing you need is a wide channel list, respond.io covers more of it today. If the main thing you need is taking and tracking orders inside the chat, Karobar was built around that job.
Pricing explained
The two tools count different things, so the monthly price alone does not tell you what you will pay. Here is how each bill is built.
| What is counted | Karobar | respond.io |
|---|---|---|
| Users | Fixed per plan: 1, 3, 5 or 10 | 5 or 10 included, extra users from $12 to $24 a month each, unlimited on Enterprise |
| Contacts | Saved contacts, from 1,000 to 50,000 | Monthly Active Contacts: unlimited on Starter, from 1,000 on Growth and Advanced |
| AI | 200 to 2,000 credits a month, extra $1 per 100 | 5,000 to 40,000 credits, extra $15 per 1,000, capped at 200% |
| Yearly billing | Saves 12% | Headline prices are the yearly rates; monthly billing costs more |
Karobar sells plans by team size. Individual is $20 a month for 1 user, 1 of each account type and 1,000 contacts. Team is $39 for 3 users, 3 of each account type and 5,000 contacts. Brand is $59 for 5 users and 15,000 contacts, and Enterprise is $199 for 10 users and 50,000 contacts. An account type means one connected Facebook page, Instagram account, TikTok account, WhatsApp number, YouTube channel, Google Business Profile, or Meta, TikTok or Snapchat ad account. Full details are on the pricing page.
respond.io shows Starter at $79, Growth at $159 and Advanced at $279 a month, each billed yearly. Billed monthly, the pricing page's own product data lists $99, $199 and $349. Starter includes unlimited monthly active contacts, while Growth and Advanced start with 1,000 and charge $12 or $15 per extra 100 contacts. Broadcasts, Workflows and AI Agents start on Growth, so a team that needs them should compare against Growth, not Starter.
AI credits are not the same unit. Each tool spends credits on its own AI features, in its own way. A credit on one tool does not equal a credit on the other, so compare how many AI replies you expect to use, not the raw numbers.
WhatsApp message fees. Meta charges businesses per message on the official WhatsApp API, and from 1 October 2026 it also charges for service replies after the first 1,000 a month for each business phone number (Meta's pricing page). respond.io says WhatsApp fees are not included in any subscription and that they pass through from Meta at cost, with no added markup. Whichever tool you pick, ask how Meta's fees reach your bill before you send a large campaign.
Channels
Both tools bring WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and TikTok DMs into one inbox. Beyond that, respond.io lists far more channels. Its integrations page includes Telegram, LINE, Viber, WeChat, SMS through providers such as Twilio and MessageBird, email through Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or any IMAP/SMTP mailbox, a website chat plugin, voice calls and custom channels. Karobar does not offer Telegram, LINE, Viber or WeChat. Email, SMS and a website chat widget are on the way but are not available today.
Where Karobar goes further is comments and reviews. Comments from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube arrive in Karobar, where your team can reply or let Karobar AI draft a reply, and Google Business Profile reviews sit alongside them. On Karobar's WhatsApp side you can connect a number through the official Cloud API or link a number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app.
Two details are worth knowing on respond.io. Its TikTok channel is in open beta, is not available in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, and does not let the business start a conversation (TikTok overview). And broadcasts cannot be sent through its Instagram channel because of Instagram's own limits (Instagram overview).
Automation and AI
respond.io's automation is built around Workflows, a visual builder for automating processes (Workflows overview). Its AI Agents qualify leads, update CRMs, route chats and recommend products across WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and voice. respond.io's help pages note that AI Agents can only read the most recent 20 messages of a conversation and cannot see internal comments.
Karobar's automation is aimed at the questions a shop gets every day:
- Keyword auto replies on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and TikTok. See inbox auto reply.
- Conversation starters on Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, so new customers can tap a question instead of typing.
- Chatbot flows on WhatsApp only. See chatbots and flows.
- Comment to DM on Instagram and Facebook, with an opening DM that carries a button, a link DM, a follow-up and rotating public replies. See comment to DM and our Instagram comment to DM guide.
- WhatsApp templates and broadcasts, written in the app and sent to Meta for approval. See WhatsApp marketing.
Karobar AI takes a different approach from an autonomous agent. It drafts replies using your own catalogue, prices, variants, stock status (available, few left, sold out), business details and saved knowledge, and a person on your team reviews and sends them. It also drafts replies to comments and Google reviews, and the Karobar AI agent answers questions about your ads, inbox and sales. Karobar also shows insights from Meta, TikTok and Snapchat ad accounts.
Commerce and orders
This is the largest difference between the two. On respond.io, the commerce features we found are the Meta Product Catalog on WhatsApp, where orders placed through the catalog arrive in the inbox with their details, and a Shopify connection through Zapier that syncs contacts and orders. The Shopify card on the integrations page adds respond.io's web chat plugin to a Shopify store.
Karobar has order handling built in through the Sales Desk:
- Create an order from the chat you are in, with cash on delivery, advance or partial payments, and a confirmation status.
- Add the courier and tracking number. Tracking links are made automatically for TCS, Leopards, PostEx, Trax, Swyft and Daraz.
- Send Notify customer messages when an order is confirmed, paid, shipped or delivered.
- Keep a product catalogue with variants, imported from CSV or XLSX, and stock per warehouse. Stock changes through stock documents, not automatically when an order is placed.
- Sync your WhatsApp catalogue with Meta in both directions. Carts sent from the WhatsApp catalogue become orders automatically.
To be clear about the limits: Karobar has no Shopify or WooCommerce integration and does not book couriers for you. If your store runs on Shopify and you want orders to flow from it, respond.io's Zapier route covers that and Karobar does not. Our guide to taking orders from Instagram DMs shows the Karobar routine step by step.
Team inbox and apps
In Karobar, the owner invites team members and chooses which parts of the app each one can open. Chats are assigned by hand or automatically to the teammate with the fewest open chats, and only the assigned person can send in that chat, so two people never reply to the same customer. See team inbox. Karobar runs in the browser at app.karobar.io on phones and computers; its iOS and Android apps are not public yet.
respond.io has native iOS and Android apps with full inbox access. Its help center lists AI Agents, Broadcasts, Workflows, Contacts and Reports as not available in the mobile app, so those stay on the web.
Karobar's app and AI replies work in English, Roman Urdu, Urdu, Arabic, German, Malay and Thai.
Switching considerations
If you are thinking of moving from respond.io to Karobar, or the other way, check these points first:
- List the channels you use. If any of your chats come through email, SMS, Telegram, LINE, Viber, WeChat or a website widget, Karobar cannot take them over today.
- Plan the WhatsApp number move. Ask both providers how your WhatsApp number and its approved templates move across, and choose a quiet hour for the change.
- Export your contacts and import them into the new tool.
- Rebuild your automations. Workflows and keyword replies do not transfer between tools. Write down what each one does before you switch.
- Check your team size. Count how many people need to send messages and compare that with the users included in each plan.
- Use the trial. Both tools offer 7 days free. Run real conversations and, if you sell, a few real orders through it before you decide.
How we checked
Every fact about respond.io on this page was checked on 3 October 2026 on respond.io's own website and help center, listed in the sources below. We did not use review sites or third-party blogs. Where we could not find a feature described on respond.io's pages, we left it out rather than say it does not exist. Prices and features change, so check each company's pages before you buy. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
Facts about other companies and platforms come from their own pages, checked on the dates shown. Plans and prices change; check the source before you decide.
- respond.io: Pricing (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io FAQ: Does respond.io pricing stay predictable at scale? (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io: Integrations (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Website Chat Widget overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Instagram overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: TikTok overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io: AI Agents (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: AI Agents known limitations and workarounds (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Workflows overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Broadcasts overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Meta Product Catalog (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Shopify integration through Zapier (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Instagram Auto Private Replies (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Facebook Private Replies (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io: Mobile app (checked 2026-10-03)
- respond.io Help: Mobile app overview (checked 2026-10-03)
- Meta for Developers: WhatsApp Business Platform pricing (checked 2026-10-03)