WhatsApp Business Platform vs. WhatsApp Business App: Which is Right for You?

WhatsApp is one of the world’s most popular messaging apps with over 2 billion monthly active users. Consumers use WhatsApp to communicate with friends, family and brands. In fact, over 175 million users message a business every day on WhatsApp. In this blog post, we will explore the different ways consumers can communicate over WhatsApp and how brands can best reach their customers.

How to Use WhatsApp

There are several different ways consumers can interact with friends, family, and businesses over WhatsApp. Let’s take a look at the differences between how consumers and businesses can use WhatsApp and how to use the WhatsApp API.

WhatsApp Consumer App

The WhatsApp consumer app is meant for person-to-person communication, such as between friends or family members. This is a free app that anyone can download. This app is not meant for businesses to use, and it does not have any API integration capabilities.

WhatsApp Business App

The WhatsApp Business App is designed for small businesses to communicate with their customers. Like the consumer app, it is a free app that anyone can download. Because it’s designed for small businesses, it allows up to four people to respond to customer messages through the app or the browser. It does not provide any API or bot integrations and is meant for manual one-to-one communication only.

WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly known as the WhatsApp Business API)

The WhatsApp Business Platform, formerly known as the WhatsApp Business API, provides the greatest level of flexibility and customization for medium and large businesses looking to communicate with their customers over WhatsApp. Businesses can integrate with any system, including CRMs and bots, and can also have thousands of agents communicating with customers over WhatsApp, both programmatically and manually. WhatsApp may also designate businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform as an official business account, providing them a green checkmark next to their sender name.

Differences between the WhatsApp Business App vs. Platform

The key difference between the WhatsApp Business App and the WhatsApp Business Platform that users should be aware of is that the Business App is meant for entrepreneurs and small businesses. That’s why it’s limited to only 4 agents and is entirely manual, with no bot or API integration. Meanwhile, the Business Platform is meant for larger businesses and enterprises, so it is fully customizable, can integrate with a variety of external systems such as CRMs and AI, and can have thousands of agents.

WhatsApp Feature Comparison

Use the WhatsApp Business Platform with Twilio Today

Twilio helps organizations build and scale WhatsApp use cases from notifications, promotions, and verification to customer support and conversational commerce. Using the WhatsApp Business Platform with Twilio helps reduce development time with access to Twilio Messaging Services, including features like Sticky Sender, Advanced Opt-Out, and messaging queueing.

Additionally, businesses can use WhatsApp as a part of Twilio’s future-proof, multi-channel APIs that are designed to support conversational workflows and WhatsApp’s rich messaging features. You can also integrate WhatsApp into software like Twilio Flex and Frontline. Twilio also provides onboarding support and Professional Services to help businesses develop their WhatsApp use cases. Get started with the WhatsApp Business Platform with Twilio today!