Whapi
Whapi.Cloud is an unofficial WhatsApp API gateway, founded in 2021, that lets developers and SMBs connect WhatsApp numbers via QR code for messaging, group, channel, and community automation without Meta approval or per-message billing, priced at a flat $29/month per number.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Whapi does
Whapi.Cloud is a WhatsApp API provider founded in 2021 and operated as a Russian sole proprietorship (Individual Entrepreneur Pletnev Alexander Viktorovich, registered in Barnaul), with Terms of Service governed by Romanian law. The company operates an unofficial WhatsApp API gateway built on the WhatsApp Web multi-device (Linked Devices) protocol, enabling developers and businesses to connect existing WhatsApp numbers via QR code pairing without Meta Business verification, template pre-approval, or per-message billing. The product spans REST API endpoints and webhooks for messaging, groups, communities, channels (newsletters), statuses (stories), and interactive messages (buttons, lists, polls, products), with ready-made code samples in Python, PHP, Node.js, and Java.
The commercial model is a fixed monthly subscription of $29 per connected WhatsApp number, augmented by a permanent free sandbox (5 conversations/month, 150 messages/day, 1,000 API requests/month) and a White Label/Partner Program for agencies and SaaS vendors. Distribution is entirely self-serve and product-led: developers discover the platform through SEO, multilingual documentation (six languages), GitHub open-source repositories, and native integrations with no-code automation platforms (Make, n8n, Pabbly Connect, Integrately). More recent investment in an MCP server and AI Agent Skills targets AI-coding-agent ecosystems (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot). Disclosed scale includes 3,300+ developers and SaaS teams, 5,500+ active API channels, and 21M+ monthly API requests, with no disclosed revenue or external funding.
The company serves three primary segments: developers and SaaS teams building WhatsApp-powered products; SMBs needing WhatsApp for customer communication, marketing, and operational notifications; and agencies/WhatsApp solution providers white-labeling the API. The core value proposition is cost predictability (flat subscription versus Meta's per-message tariffs), instant onboarding (minutes versus weeks of Meta approval), and access to WhatsApp features (Groups, Channels, Communities, Statuses) that the official Meta API restricts. The principal structural risk is regulatory: the platform relies on an unofficial API surface and could face enforcement action from Meta that disrupts access for all connected channels.
Whapi firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Whapi
- Legal name
- Individual Entrepreneur Pletnev Alexander Viktorovich (ИП Плетнев Александр Викторович)
- Website
- https://whapi.cloud
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Whapi.Cloud is an unofficial WhatsApp API gateway, founded in 2021, that lets developers and SMBs connect WhatsApp numbers via QR code for messaging, group, channel, and community automation without Meta approval or per-message billing, priced at a flat $29/month per number.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Whapi industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Messaging API / Communication Platform API
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Telegraph & Other Message Communications (4822)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cloud PBX & Hosted Telephony (HDAIAHAB)
Keywords
Where Whapi is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bucharest
- HQ country
- Romania
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Whapi business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- API Subscription (per WhatsApp number): Fixed monthly/annual subscription priced per connected WhatsApp number. No per-message, per-conversation, or per-API-request charges. Price is fixed regardless of usage volume on paid plans. Discounts available for multiple numbers and partner/white-label volumes.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Developer Sandbox — Free Forever |
| Subscription | Monthly | Developer Premium — $29/month (billed monthly) |
| Subscription | Annual | Developer Premium — Annual (billed annually) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Whapi product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Whapi.Cloud provides a REST API gateway for WhatsApp that lets developers and businesses send and receive messages, manage groups, channels, communities and statuses, and build automations via simple HTTP requests and webhooks. Connection is established by scanning a QR code on an existing WhatsApp number — no Meta business verification or message template approval is required, and pricing is a fixed subscription per connected number with no per-message charges.
Product overview
Whapi.Cloud is a WhatsApp API platform for developers and integrations. The core offering is the WhatsApp API platform which enables sending/receiving messages, managing groups, channels, statuses, and communities via simple HTTP requests. The platform is offered as a unified product with tiered pricing: a free Developer Sandbox for testing and a paid Developer Premium plan ($29/month) for production. Additional products include the MCP server for AI agent integration, the White Label & Partner Program for reselling, the WhatsApp Number Checker for validation, and a suite of free developer tools. Code examples are provided in Python, PHP, Node.js, and Java. No per-message charges apply — pricing is subscription-based per connected WhatsApp number.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- WhatsApp API (Core Platform) Full WhatsApp API platform enabling developers to send and receive messages, manage groups and channels, and build automations via simple HTTP requests with JSON payloads, Bearer token authentication, and real-time webhooks.
- WhatsApp Groups API API for creating and managing WhatsApp groups programmatically — adding or removing members, sending messages, managing admin roles, and tracking group events via webhooks.
- WhatsApp Channels API API for creating WhatsApp channels (newsletters), publishing text and media updates, and managing subscribers — features not generally available on the official Meta API.
- WhatsApp Status (Stories) API API for publishing and receiving text, image, video and GIF WhatsApp status updates that disappear after 24 hours.
- WhatsApp Community API API for managing WhatsApp communities — structured collections of groups under one umbrella — including creating communities, linking groups, sending announcements, and managing participants.
- White Label & Partner Program White-label API offering for agencies and SaaS vendors to use Whapi.Cloud embedded inside their own products or infrastructure, including partner dashboard, Partner API, and resold client support.
- MCP Server (whapi-mcp) Official Model Context Protocol server with 165 tools covering messaging, groups, channels, communities, and more, enabling AI coding agents (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, 40+ others) to interact with the WhatsApp API; published on npm.
- WhatsApp Number Checker Tool and API endpoint to check whether phone numbers are registered on WhatsApp globally, enabling validation before sending messages and reducing wasted spend.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3,300+ developers and SaaS teams trust the platform
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Whapi
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Whapi technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability7 records
Feature12 records
Whapi partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Make (formerly Integromat)coreNative integration with Make (formerly Integromat) no-code automation platform. Whapi.Cloud provides a ready-made Make connector allowing users to build WhatsApp automations without backend code. Published as a native node in Make's integration marketplace.
- n8ncoreNative integration with n8n open-source workflow automation platform. Users can connect WhatsApp to their workflows via dedicated n8n nodes. Also accessible via standard HTTP requests/webhooks. Published integration page and custom node available.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Whapi competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Respond.io: Customer conversation platform unifying WhatsApp (alongside other channels) with CRM, automation, and team-inbox workflows. Comparable to Whapi as a developer/SMB WhatsApp-automation platform with bot-building and integration focus, but explicitly multi-channel and grounded in the official Meta API rather than the unofficial gateway model.
- AiSensy: WhatsApp Business API platform focused on marketing automation, bulk campaigns, chatbots, and click-to-WhatsApp ads — primarily serving SMBs in India and emerging markets. Direct overlap with Whapi's SMB use cases (broadcasts, chat automations, CRM integrations) via the official API channel, but with regional concentration and a marketing-first go-to-market.
- Interakt: WhatsApp commerce and marketing platform (by Jio Haptik) serving Shopify-based SMB merchants with broadcast campaigns, abandoned-cart recovery, and chatbot automation. Comparable to Whapi's retail and e-commerce use cases (order notifications, cart reminders, customer retention), operating through the official WhatsApp Business API with a vertical focus on Shopify merchants.
Broad incumbents
- Twilio: The dominant communications-platform-as-a-service incumbent offering the official WhatsApp Business API alongside SMS, voice, email, video, and customer engagement tooling. Twilio competes with Whapi's developer-led WhatsApp automation use case from a position of much greater scale, geographic reach, and compliance posture, but serves a broader enterprise customer mix rather than Whapi's SMB/developer niche.
- MessageBird (Bird): Omnichannel communications platform (rebranded as Bird) offering official WhatsApp Business API, email, SMS, voice, and marketing automation. Broader incumbent competitor for multi-channel customer engagement programs, with comparable CPaaS economics for high-volume WhatsApp senders but a focus on larger enterprise customers and adjacent channels beyond WhatsApp.
Direct peers
- 360dialog: Official WhatsApp Business API partner that provides a hosted API plus partner platform for resellers and developers. Direct competitor for developers and agencies building WhatsApp integrations, with comparable white-label/partner economics, though grounded in the official Meta BSP channel rather than the unofficial protocol approach.
- Gupshup: Conversational messaging platform offering WhatsApp Business API alongside multiple other channels (SMS, RCS, Instagram, voice). Direct competitor in WhatsApp bot-building and customer engagement use cases for SMBs and enterprises, with comparable developer tooling, partner program, and pricing-per-message models aimed at high-volume senders.
- Evolution API: Open-source unofficial WhatsApp API gateway using the same WhatsApp Web multi-device protocol as Whapi. Evolution API is the closest direct peer in technical approach and target customer (developers building WhatsApp bots and automations), competing head-to-head on features like groups, channels, and webhooks — and is often deployed self-hosted by users who would otherwise pay Whapi for a managed version.
- WATI: Official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider offering a customer-facing messaging platform with bots, broadcasts, CRM integrations, and team inbox. Competes with Whapi for the same SMB and mid-market developer/agency segment targeting WhatsApp automation, but uses the sanctioned Meta Cloud API rather than unofficial gateways. Comparable in customer use cases (chatbots, marketing automation, e-commerce reminders).
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Whapi social profiles
Digital presenceWhapi financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Whapi leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Whapi funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Whapi M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Whapi
What does Whapi do?
Whapi.Cloud provides a REST API gateway for WhatsApp that lets developers and businesses send and receive messages, manage groups, channels, communities and statuses, and build automations via simple HTTP requests and webhooks. Connection is established by scanning a QR code on an existing WhatsApp number — no Meta business verification or message template approval is required, and pricing is a fixed subscription per connected number with no per-message charges.
Is Whapi a public or private company?
Whapi is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Whapi founded?
Whapi was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Whapi based?
Whapi is headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, in the Europe region.
How does Whapi make money?
One revenue line is on record: API Subscription (per WhatsApp number).
Who are Whapi's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Respond.io, AiSensy and Interakt. Broad incumbents are Twilio and MessageBird (Bird). Direct peers are 360dialog, Gupshup, Evolution API and WATI.
Does Whapi have an API?
Yes. Whapi.Cloud provides a WhatsApp API that enables developers to send and receive messages, manage groups and channels, and build automations using simple HTTP requests. The API is REST-based with JSON endpoints, webhooks for receiving events, and Bearer token authentication. Key features include: sending text, media (images, videos, documents, audio, stickers), locations, contacts, and interactive messages; group and community management; channel posting; webhook-based real-time event receiving; no per-message charges (subscription-based pricing). Ready-made code examples are available in Python, PHP, Node.js, Java, and cURL. A free sandbox environment is available for testing with usage limits. Developer documentation is at whapi.readme.io/reference/sendmessagetext.
What industry is Whapi in?
Whapi's product category is Messaging API / Communication Platform API. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAIAHAB, Cloud PBX & Hosted Telephony. Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 4822.