Paxbird vs WhatsApp chatbot platforms: Interakt, Wati, AiSensy and Gallabox for travel agencies
General WhatsApp platforms give agencies a shared inbox, broadcasts and an AI agent trained on their documents. Paxbird is built for travel: it qualifies the trip, gets DMC prices and drafts the quote. Prices, features and when each makes sense.
Paxbird team4 min read
The short answer
- Interakt, Wati, AiSensy and Gallabox are general WhatsApp Business platforms. They give you a shared team inbox, broadcasts, chatbot flows and AI agents trained on your website and PDFs, for any industry including travel.
- Paid plans start at about ₹1,500 to ₹2,800 a month, and AiSensy has a free plan. WhatsApp's own message fees are charged on top, and AI comes as an add-on or a credit allowance.
- None of their travel pages describe pricing a trip from rate sheets or asking DMCs for quotes. Paxbird is built around that loop: it asks the trip questions, gets prices from your DMCs and drafts quote options for you to approve.
- Choose a general platform for broadcasts, campaigns and FAQ-style support. Choose Paxbird when the work that piles up is turning enquiries into priced quotes.
Most Indian travel agencies already use WhatsApp for sales, and many have looked at Interakt, Wati, AiSensy or Gallabox. These are capable platforms, but they're built for every industry. Paxbird does one job for travel agencies: getting from a traveller's "hi" to a priced quote you can approve.
What the general platforms do
All four connect your business to the official WhatsApp Business Platform. You get:
a shared inbox your team can work from
bulk broadcasts and campaigns
chatbot flows
AI agents that answer from your website and documents, and hand the chat to a person when needed
Interakt is owned by Jio Haptik and calls itself a full-stack growth engine for marketing, sales and support. Its AI support agent is "trained on your website & docs". Its travel page quotes WTFares, a travel agency customer.
Wati calls itself an AI-powered customer engagement platform. Its AI support agent answers from your PDFs and website pages. Its Zostel case study claims a 40% faster first response.
AiSensy calls itself an AI-first WhatsApp marketing platform. It has a free plan, and its AI agent builder is trained on your website, PDFs and brochures. Its Hummingbird case study claims 65% more bookings.
Gallabox offers omnichannel AI agents across WhatsApp, Instagram and web chat. Its Pickyourtrail case study claims a 77% boost in lead generation.
Side-by-side comparison
| Starts at | AI | Channels | Keep the WhatsApp Business app | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interakt | ₹2,799/mo + taxes (Growth, monthly billing) | AI agents as an add-on on Growth and Advanced | WhatsApp, Instagram, voice | Yes |
| Wati | ₹2,199/mo billed annually; ₹2,999 monthly (Growth) | AI credits included (2,000 on Growth) | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger | Yes |
| AiSensy | Free plan; ₹1,500/mo (Basic) | AI agent builder add-on, ₹1,350/mo with 1,000 AI messages | In beta, switched on by support | |
| Gallabox | ₹2,399/mo billed annually (Basic) | AI credits included (500 on Basic); knowledge base from Essential | WhatsApp, Instagram, web chat | Switched on by support |
| Paxbird | Not announced; early access | AI front desk built for travel enquiries and quotes | WhatsApp, Instagram, Gmail | Yes |
WhatsApp's message fees are charged on top of every plan. Prices are as listed on each platform's pricing page on 10 October 2026.
The part a chatbot doesn't do
A travel enquiry isn't a support question. To quote a honeymoon in Bali, someone has to ask the right things: dates, departure city, number of travellers, budget, hotel style. Then someone has to get rates from two or three DMCs, wait, chase, read the PDFs, add your markup and lay out the options.
General platforms handle the first part well if you build the flows, and their AI agents can answer questions from your brochures. None of their travel pages describe pricing a trip from rate sheets or asking DMCs for quotes. That second part is where most of an agent's time goes, and it's what Paxbird is built for:
- It asks the questions you set for each trip type, in the chat, at any hour.
- It sorts every lead into hot, warm or browsing.
- It prices fixed packages instantly from your rate sheets.
- It emails your DMCs for custom trips, chases them and reads their PDF quotes.
- It drafts two or three options with your markup and waits for your approval.
- It sends the approved quote on the same channel as a PDF and a link.
Where the general platforms are stronger
- Marketing. Broadcasts and campaigns at scale are their core business.
- Breadth. They serve every team in a business, from marketing to support, not just sales enquiries.
- Entry price. AiSensy's free plan and low-cost Basic plan make it easy to start.
- Maturity. These are established products with published customer case studies.
Where Paxbird is stronger
- It understands travel enquiries. The questions change by trip type, and leads are sorted by how ready they are to book.
- It gets the price. DMC emails, follow-ups and PDF parsing are built in, not left for you to do by hand.
- It covers email. Gmail sits alongside WhatsApp and Instagram, and email isn't listed as a channel on any of the four platforms' sites.
- It's built for approval. Every quote waits for you, and Paxbird pauses in a chat as soon as you reply yourself.
What WhatsApp itself costs
Meta moved the WhatsApp Business Platform to per-message pricing on 1 July 2025. Since 1 October 2026, service messages, meaning replies to customers who messaged you first, are charged after the first 1,000 per business phone number each month. These fees apply to any tool on the official platform, Paxbird included, so compare tools on what they do rather than on the message fees.
Which should you choose?
- You mainly need broadcasts, offers and a shared inbox: a general WhatsApp platform fits, and AiSensy's free plan is a low-risk way to try one.
- You need an AI that answers FAQs from your brochure: any of the four can do that with their AI add-ons or credits.
- Your team is buried in enquiries that each need a priced quote: Paxbird is built for that work.
Frequently asked questions
Which WhatsApp platform is cheapest for a travel agency?
AiSensy has a free plan and a Basic plan at ₹1,500 a month. Wati's Growth plan is ₹2,199 a month billed annually, Gallabox Basic is ₹2,399 a month billed annually, and Interakt Growth is ₹2,799 a month plus taxes on monthly billing. WhatsApp's per-message fees are extra on all of them.
Are WhatsApp customer service messages still free?
Not entirely. Since 1 October 2026, Meta charges for service messages after the first 1,000 per business phone number each month. This applies on the official WhatsApp Business Platform, whichever tool you use.
Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app on my phone?
Interakt and Wati support using the WhatsApp Business app and their platform on the same number. AiSensy offers it in beta, switched on by support, and Gallabox switches it on through support. Paxbird lets agencies keep their number and keep using the WhatsApp Business app.
Can a WhatsApp chatbot send travel quotes?
These platforms can send PDFs and itineraries you prepare, and their AI agents answer questions from your documents. None of their travel pages describe pricing a trip from rate sheets or requesting rates from DMCs.
Do I need both a WhatsApp platform and Paxbird?
Only if you run marketing broadcasts and campaigns at scale. For answering and quoting enquiries, Paxbird covers the conversation on its own.
From “hi” to a priced quote, while you sleep.
Paxbird is in early access and onboarding agencies from a waitlist. Pricing has not been announced.
Join the waitlist