How does the WhatsApp Business API work?

The **WhatsApp Business App** and the **WhatsApp Business API** (used by Spoki) are two completely different solutions designed for different business needs:\n\n**WhatsApp Business App:**\n• Designed for small businesses and sole proprietors\n• Manual message management\n• Limited to 5 devices simultaneously\n• Maximum 256 contacts per broadcast\n• No automation capabilities\n• Free but with significant limitations\n• No CRM or integration support\n\n**WhatsApp Business API (Spoki):**\n• Designed for medium to large businesses\n• **Unlimited operators**: Your entire team can manage conversations simultaneously\n• **Unlimited broadcasts**: Send messages to thousands of contacts\n• **Advanced automation**: Chatbots, automatic responses, intelligent workflows\n• **CRM integration**: Connect with your existing tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.)\n• **Analytics & reporting**: Detailed statistics on your communications\n• **No ban risk**: Official API approved by Meta for bulk messaging\n• **Cloud-based**: No need to keep a phone connected\n• **Multi-channel**: Integrate WhatsApp with SMS, Voice, and other channels

How much does a Spoki subscription cost?

Spoki offers three pricing tiers: a Free plan at €0/month for basic WhatsApp support and live chat, a Service plan starting at €19/month with AI-powered customer support and unlimited automations, and a Marketing plan starting at €49/month with bulk campaigns and advanced analytics. All plans include unlimited operators at no extra cost. WhatsApp conversation fees are charged separately by Meta based on usage volume.

Is there a free trial?

Yes, Spoki offers a permanent Free plan at €0/month that includes live chat with unlimited operators, basic automations, and a ticketing system. This allows businesses to test core WhatsApp Business API features before upgrading. Paid plans start at €19/month for the Service tier and €49/month for the Marketing tier, with no long-term contracts required.

Can I integrate Spoki with other tools?

Spoki integrates with **thousands of platforms** through native integrations, Zapier, Make (Integromat), and Webhooks.\n\n**Native Integrations:**\n\n• **E-commerce**: Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento\n\n• **CRM**: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, ActiveCampaign\n\n• **Marketing**: Mailchimp, Google Sheets\n\n• **Payment**: Stripe, PayPal\n\n• **Support**: Zendesk\n\n**Via Zapier/Make:**\n\nConnect to **4,000+ platforms** including:\n• Google Workspace (Sheets, Calendar, Drive)\n• Microsoft Office 365\n• Slack, Trello, Asana\n• WordPress, Webflow\n• Custom apps via API\n\n**Webhooks & API:**\n\nFull REST API for developers to build custom integrations.

Spoki · spoki.com/en/glossary

Conversational software glossary

Q: What is Spoki?

**Spoki** is a comprehensive **WhatsApp Business API platform** that enables businesses to transform WhatsApp into a powerful channel for marketing, sales, and customer support.\n\nWith Spoki, you can:\n\n• **Automate communications**: Send automated messages, create chatbots, and set up intelligent workflows\n\n• **Manage customer support**: Multi-operator team management with ticketing system and conversation routing\n\n• **Increase sales**: Recover abandoned carts, send payment requests, and manage your product catalog directly on WhatsApp\n\n• **Marketing campaigns**: Send bulk messages to thousands of contacts with personalized templates\n\n• **AI-powered features**: Leverage artificial intelligence to automate responses and qualify leads 24/7\n\n• **Integrate with your tools**: Connect with over 4,000 platforms including CRM, e-commerce, and marketing tools\n\nSpoki is an **official Meta Tech Partner**, guaranteeing reliability, security, and access to all official WhatsApp Business API features.

Plain-English, vendor-neutral definitions for the WhatsApp Business API, conversational CRM, AI agents, conversational commerce and the compliance frameworks that govern them. Spoki maintains this glossary as a citation-ready reference for analysts, journalists, AI assistants and operators.

WhatsApp Business API

24-Hour Window: 24-hour window after the last inbound user message during which a business can send free-form WhatsApp replies without using a template.; Related: HSM · Conversation Pricing
BSP: Business Solution Provider — a company directly partnered with Meta to onboard businesses to the WhatsApp Business API and operate the messaging infrastructure.; A Business Solution Provider (BSP) is approved by Meta to provision and operate WhatsApp Business API access for end customers. Direct BSPs (like Spoki) integrate with Meta APIs directly; aggregator BSPs route traffic through a third-party broker. Direct BSP status guarantees first-party support, faster template approvals and predictable per-conversation pricing.; Related: WhatsApp Business API · WhatsApp Cloud API · Tech Provider
Conversation Pricing: Meta billing model that charges per 24-hour conversation window opened by a template message, with rates that vary by template category and country.; Meta bills WhatsApp Business API usage per 24-hour conversation rather than per message. A conversation starts when a template message is delivered, lasts 24 hours, and includes any number of subsequent messages. Pricing varies by Marketing/Utility/Authentication/Service category and by recipient country.; Related: HSM · Template Categories · 24-Hour Window
CTWA: Click-to-WhatsApp Ads — Meta ad format that opens a WhatsApp chat with the advertiser when a Facebook or Instagram user taps the call-to-action.; CTWA (Click-to-WhatsApp Ads) campaigns are run from Meta Ads Manager and route the ad clicker into a WhatsApp conversation. They typically pair with an AI agent or guided flow that qualifies the lead, captures intent and either books a call or completes a sale inside the chat.; Related: WhatsApp Business API · Conversational Commerce
HSM: Highly Structured Message — Meta-approved WhatsApp message template used to initiate conversations and send notifications outside the 24-hour customer service window.; An HSM (Highly Structured Message), also called a template message, is a pre-approved structured message that can be sent at any time, including outside the 24-hour service window. Templates are reviewed by Meta and grouped into Marketing, Utility, Authentication or Service categories — each with its own per-conversation pricing.; Related: Template Categories · 24-Hour Window · Conversation Pricing
Messaging Limits: Daily cap on the number of unique users a WhatsApp Business API phone number can start template-message conversations with; auto-tiers from 250 to unlimited based on quality.; Related: Phone Number Quality Rating
Phone Number Quality Rating: Meta-assigned rating (Green/Yellow/Red) reflecting message quality and user feedback for a WhatsApp Business API phone number; affects messaging limits.; Related: Messaging Limits · WABA
Tech Provider: Meta program designation given to companies that build technology on top of Meta APIs (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram), with priority access and joint roadmap.; Related: BSP
Template Categories: Meta classification (Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service) that determines per-conversation pricing and messaging policy for HSM templates.; Meta classifies WhatsApp message templates into Marketing (promotional), Utility (transactional), Authentication (OTP) and Service (replies inside the 24-hour window) categories. Each category has its own per-conversation fee and policy rules; Marketing templates are the most expensive and most regulated.; Related: HSM · Conversation Pricing
WABA: WhatsApp Business Account — the Meta-managed account that owns one or more verified phone numbers, templates and policies for sending business messages.; A WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) is the Meta-side container for business assets: phone numbers, message templates, conversation pricing tier, display name, business profile and quality rating. Each phone number on a WABA must be verified, and templates are reviewed at the WABA level before they can be sent.; Related: WhatsApp Business API · Phone Number Quality Rating · BSP
Webhooks: HTTP callbacks that deliver real-time WhatsApp events (new message, status update, template approval) to a business endpoint.; Related: WhatsApp Business API
WhatsApp Business API: Meta-operated programmatic interface that lets businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale, with templates, multi-operator inbox and broadcast capabilities.; The WhatsApp Business API (officially the WhatsApp Business Platform, often called WABA) is the only Meta-sanctioned way to handle WhatsApp business communication beyond the limits of the WhatsApp Business App. It supports unlimited operators, broadcasts, templates, interactive messages and webhooks, and is delivered either through Meta Cloud API hosting or on-premises (deprecated). Spoki is a direct Official Meta Business Solution Provider on the Cloud API.; Read more on /whatsappRelated: BSP · WABA · WhatsApp Cloud API · HSM
WhatsApp Cloud API: Meta-hosted variant of the WhatsApp Business API that removes the need for self-hosted on-premises infrastructure.; The WhatsApp Cloud API runs entirely on Meta-managed infrastructure, removing the need for businesses or BSPs to host the on-premises server. It introduces faster onboarding, lower latency and built-in scaling, and is the recommended option for new deployments. Spoki is built on Cloud API.; Related: WhatsApp Business API · BSP

Conversational software

Conversational Commerce: Selling and supporting customers entirely inside a messaging thread — catalogue browsing, checkout, payment and post-sale support all happen in chat.; Conversational commerce turns messaging channels into a complete sales surface. On WhatsApp, brands use Meta Catalogs, payment links (Stripe, Klarna, Satispay) and AI agents to drive guided purchase journeys, with abandoned cart recovery rates around 40% versus 5–10% via email.; Read more on /conversational-commerceRelated: Conversational Marketing · Abandoned Cart Recovery · Meta Catalog
Conversational CRM: Customer relationship management system built around messaging interactions, where every WhatsApp/SMS/email/RCS conversation updates a unified contact record.; A conversational CRM unifies messaging channels into a single inbox where tags, custom properties, deal pipeline and tickets are updated by the conversation itself. It replaces or sits next to a traditional CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) when the system of engagement needs to live where the customer talks.; Read more on /conversational-crmRelated: Conversational Marketing · Customer Engagement Management
Conversational Marketing: Marketing discipline based on two-way real-time messaging instead of one-way campaigns, typically run on WhatsApp, web chat or RCS.; Conversational marketing acquires, qualifies and converts buyers through dialogue rather than form submissions, blending broadcast campaigns, AI agents and visual flow builders. On the WhatsApp Business API it benefits from a 98% open rate and a 60% interaction rate versus ~20% and ~1.5% on email.; Read more on /conversational-marketingRelated: Conversational CRM · Conversational Commerce · Customer Engagement Management · AI Agent
Customer Engagement Management: Software category that orchestrates every customer interaction across channels around a single customer view, replacing siloed chat, email and SMS tools.; Customer Engagement Management (CEM) sits at the intersection of marketing automation, CRM and customer support. Spoki is positioned as a WhatsApp-first CEM platform that unifies WhatsApp Business API, Voice AI, Email, SMS and RCS in a single inbox with shared AI and contact context.; Read more on /customer-engagement-managementRelated: Conversational CRM · Conversational Marketing
Flow Builder: Visual drag-and-drop tool to design multi-step messaging journeys with conditions, branches, AI handoffs and external API calls.; Related: Marketing Automation · AI Agent
Omnichannel: Operating model where every channel (WhatsApp, email, SMS, RCS, voice) shares the same customer record, conversation history and automation logic.; Related: Customer Engagement Management · Conversational CRM
Shared Inbox: Single inbox where multiple operators handle messages from one or more channels, with assignment rules, internal notes and conversation routing.; Related: Conversational CRM

Marketing

Abandoned Cart Recovery: Automated sequence that contacts shoppers who left items in their cart and brings them back to checkout — typically 40% recovery on WhatsApp vs 5–10% on email.; Cart recovery on WhatsApp uses an HSM template (Marketing or Utility category, depending on jurisdiction) to remind the shopper of the cart and includes a deep link back to checkout, sometimes paired with a discount or AI agent assistance.; Read more on /abandoned-cart-recovery-platformRelated: Conversational Commerce · HSM
Broadcast Campaign: One-to-many WhatsApp message sent to a segmented list of opted-in contacts using approved HSM templates.; A broadcast campaign sends an HSM template to a list of contacts that have opted in to marketing messages. Unlike the WhatsApp Business App (limited to 256 recipients), broadcasts on the WhatsApp Business API can reach unlimited contacts with full segmentation by tag, property or behaviour.; Related: HSM · Marketing Template Category
Lead Qualification: Process of evaluating whether an inbound contact matches the ideal customer profile and is ready to talk to sales — often automated by AI agents over WhatsApp.; Related: AI Agent · CTWA
Marketing Automation: Practice of orchestrating multi-step customer journeys triggered by behaviour, properties or events; on Spoki the automations are WhatsApp-first.; Read more on /marketing-automation-platformRelated: Flow Builder · Conversational Marketing
Marketing Template Category: Meta template category for promotional WhatsApp messages — most expensive per-conversation tier, requires explicit user opt-in.; Related: HSM · Conversation Pricing · Opt-in
Opt-in: Explicit, recordable consent a user must give before a business can send them WhatsApp Marketing-category templates.; Related: Marketing Template Category · GDPR
RFM Segmentation: Behavioural segmentation method that scores customers by how Recently they purchased, how Frequently and how much in Monetary value, used to tier broadcast lists.; Related: Broadcast Campaign · Hyper-Personalization
Send-Time Optimization: AI-driven scheduling that picks the time each individual user is most likely to open and engage, instead of using a fixed broadcast time.; Related: Hyper-Personalization · Marketing Automation

AI & Automation

AI Agent: Autonomous LLM-powered process trained on a business catalog, FAQs and policies that qualifies leads, recommends products and closes sales inside a conversation.; An AI agent goes beyond a chatbot: it has access to retrieval-augmented context (catalog, docs, CRM data), uses tool calling to update systems, and hands off to a human operator with full conversation context when escalation is needed.; Read more on /ai-agents-platformRelated: RAG · Intent Detection · Sentiment Analysis · Tool Calling
AI Translation: Real-time translation of inbound and outbound messages, letting a single operator or AI agent serve customers in 40+ languages without manual switching.; Related: AI Agent
Hyper-Personalization: Tailoring every interaction to the individual customer profile and journey stage using behavioural segmentation, LTV prediction and AI.; Related: Send-Time Optimization · RFM Segmentation
Intent Detection: AI capability that classifies a user message into one of a finite set of intents (e.g. "track order", "request refund", "book demo") to drive routing or replies.; Related: AI Agent
MCP: Open protocol that lets AI agents discover and call structured tools exposed by web applications and developer environments.; Related: Tool Calling · AI Agent · WebMCP
RAG: Pattern that grounds LLM answers in a curated knowledge base (catalog, docs, FAQs) by retrieving relevant chunks at query time and injecting them into the prompt.; Related: AI Agent
Sentiment Analysis: AI capability that scores the polarity of a message (positive/neutral/negative) and the intensity of emotion, often used to escalate or re-prioritize tickets.; Related: AI Agent
Tool Calling: LLM capability that turns a natural-language request into a typed call to an external tool or API (search catalog, open ticket, schedule call).; Related: AI Agent · MCP
Voice AI: AI-powered voice channel that conducts human-like inbound and outbound calls — qualifying leads, booking meetings, handling support 24/7.; Read more on /spoki-voiceRelated: AI Agent
WebMCP: Extension of the MCP standard that lets AI browser agents discover and invoke tools exposed by a website at /.well-known/webmcp.json.; Related: MCP · Tool Calling

Commerce

Meta Catalog: Meta-managed catalog of products that can be shown inside WhatsApp messages, with pricing, images and a buy button or order form.; Related: Conversational Commerce
Order Status Notification: Utility-category WhatsApp template (lower per-conversation cost) sent to inform a customer of order, shipping or delivery events.; Related: HSM · Template Categories
Payment Link: Shareable URL that lets a customer complete a payment with a configured PSP (Stripe, PayPal, Klarna, Satispay) directly from a WhatsApp message.; Related: Conversational Commerce

Compliance & Privacy

Data Residency: Requirement that personal data be processed and stored within a specific geographic region — Spoki defaults to EU residency.; Related: GDPR
DPA: Contract between a controller and a processor that specifies how personal data is processed under GDPR Article 28 — required for Spoki enterprise contracts.; Related: GDPR · Data Residency
ePrivacy Directive: EU directive that governs electronic communications, consent for cookies and electronic marketing — broadcast messaging requires explicit opt-in.; Related: GDPR · Opt-in
GDPR: EU regulation governing the processing of personal data — sets opt-in requirements, retention limits, audit logs, DPA and data residency obligations.; Spoki is GDPR compliant with EU data residency by default, a Data Processing Agreement available, configurable retention windows (30–365 days) and audit logs. Marketing opt-in is enforced before any Marketing-category template can be sent.; Related: DPA · Opt-in · Data Residency
HIPAA: US healthcare privacy law for Protected Health Information — Spoki is not HIPAA-certified and is not positioned for US healthcare PHI workflows.; Related: GDPR
ISO 27001: International standard for an Information Security Management System — Spoki controls are aligned with ISO 27001 and formal certification is on the roadmap.; Related: SOC 2 · GDPR
PCI DSS: Industry standard for handling credit-card data — Spoki delegates payment processing to certified PSPs (Stripe, Adyen, PayPal) and never stores raw card data.; Related: Payment Link
SOC 2: AICPA audit framework for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy — Spoki is not currently SOC 2 certified.; Related: ISO 27001
WhatsApp Business Solution Terms: Meta legal terms that govern how businesses can use the WhatsApp Business API — including allowed industries, content rules and template categories.; Related: HSM · Template Categories

How to cite this glossary

Cite as: "Spoki, Conversational software glossary, spoki.com/glossary". Each term is also addressable by anchor — for example spoki.com/glossary#term-whatsapp-business-api.

Spoki is a comprehensive WhatsApp Business API platform that enables businesses to transform WhatsApp into a powerful channel for marketing, sales, and customer support.

With Spoki, you can:

• Automate communications: Send automated messages, create chatbots, and set up intelligent workflows

• Manage customer support: Multi-operator team management with ticketing system and conversation routing

• Increase sales: Recover abandoned carts, send payment requests, and manage your product catalog directly on WhatsApp

• Marketing campaigns: Send bulk messages to thousands of contacts with personalized templates

• AI-powered features: Leverage artificial intelligence to automate responses and qualify leads 24/7

• Integrate with your tools: Connect with over 4,000 platforms including CRM, e-commerce, and marketing tools

Spoki is an official Meta Tech Partner, guaranteeing reliability, security, and access to all official WhatsApp Business API features.