Four ways to buy, four kinds of bill
All prices below are published by agencies and platforms, checked on 13 October 2026. They are asking prices, and the spread is enormous: Codingclave found AED 5,000 to AED 150,000 for "a WhatsApp chatbot" on the first page of Google. The spread shrinks once you separate the routes.
| Route | Setup | Monthly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency build, then you run it | AED 4,000–40,000 | Hosting AED 100–300 + model AED 100–500 | Codingclave |
| Managed AI agent | AED 5,000–15,000 (median ~6,500) | AED 1,500–5,000 (median ~2,400) | SLGO, OrcaFlo citing CrankUp |
| Self-serve platform with AI agents | Usually none | AED ~400–1,200 | OrcaFlo |
| Fully custom, in-house engineering | USD 20,000–50,000 (AED ~73,000–184,000) | USD 1,500–5,000 | SLGO |
Other agencies' build ranges for comparison: Atlio AED 4,000–22,500, Innovatrix AED 12,000–40,000, Gravitybase AED 20,000–50,000 for WhatsApp bots.
What the build tiers buy
Codingclave's tiers are the clearest:
| Tier | Does | Build | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Rule-based | Buttons, 20–40 canned answers, hours, location, "talk to a human" | AED 4,000–8,000 | 1–2 weeks |
| 2. AI FAQ + qualification | Free-text answers from your content, qualifying questions, lead to CRM, agent takeover | AED 8,000–18,000 | 2–4 weeks |
| 3. CRM-integrated | Two-way CRM sync, booking slots, order status, payment links, bilingual | AED 18,000–40,000 | 4–6 weeks |
If you also need the CRM itself built, that's a separate project; see CRM costs in the UAE.
Platform prices (self-serve)
As compiled by OrcaFlo from providers' pages, October 2026:
| Platform | Cheapest plan with AI agents | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| respond.io Growth | USD 199/month, USD 159 billed yearly | 10 users, 1,000 active contacts, 10,000 AI credits; a reply uses 2–5 credits |
| SleekFlow Pro | AED 499/month, AED 399 billed yearly | + AED 55/month to host a WhatsApp API number |
| Gallabox Essential | AED 1,214/month quarterly, AED 911 yearly | AI agents on WhatsApp start at this tier |
Meta's fees: smaller than people fear
Meta charges per message, and the full rate card is in our WhatsApp Business API guide. For a bot that mostly replies to customers, the relevant line is the service reply: from 1 October 2026, 1,000 free a month per number, then AED 0.0576 to UAE numbers. Marketing templates are the expensive line at AED 0.2115 each.
Worked example: 24 months, 2,000 bot replies a month
A clinic or real estate office gets about 2,000 customer messages a month and wants AI answers, lead qualification and handoff to staff. Meta's service fees: (2,000 − 1,000 free) × AED 0.0576 = AED 58 a month, about AED 1,382 over two years. Same for every route.
| Route | Calculation | 24-month total |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve platform (respond.io Growth, yearly) | 24 × USD 159 × 3.6725 + Meta | ~AED 15,400 + your set-up time |
| Agency-built Tier 2 bot, you host it | AED 8,000–18,000 + 24 × (AED 200–800) + Meta | AED 14,200–38,600, before maintenance |
| Managed AI agent (SLGO medians) | AED 6,500 + 24 × AED 2,400 + Meta | ~AED 65,500 |
| Savage Sales (our product, special offer) | 24 × AED 3,999 + Meta | ~AED 97,400 |
| One support agent instead (Atlio estimate) | 24 × AED 4,000–7,000 | AED 96,000–168,000 |
We put our own product in the table because you'd ask anyway. It costs more than a self-serve platform because the price covers sales work, not just answering: qualifying, objection handling, CRM sync and hot-lead alerts, run for you. If you have someone in-house who will build and tune flows, a platform is cheaper.
SLGO adds a warning for the build route: plan maintenance at 15–20% of the build cost a year, because models get deprecated and prompts decay. Our build-route row doesn't include it.
What nobody tells you
Meta bans general-purpose assistants, not business bots. Since 15 January 2026, ChatGPT-style assistants may run on WhatsApp only where Meta is legally required to allow them. A bot that answers your own customers, qualifies leads or books appointments is a normal business use; our WhatsApp API guide explains the line.
Arabic is engineering, not a toggle. Atlio lists bilingual Arabic-English with dialect awareness as one of five factors behind the price spread. Ask to test the bot in Arabic before you sign.
Volume caps hide in agency fees. Managed plans often include 3,000–6,000 AI messages a month up to a cap. Ask what happens in Ramadan or a sale week.
Customer data needs a legal basis. A bot that stores names and phone numbers falls under the UAE PDPL. Read WhatsApp marketing rules and PDPL before you start broadcasting to bot contacts.
A bot without follow-up is a FAQ page. Most value comes from qualifying and passing hot leads to a person fast. Decide who receives the handoff and how quickly they respond.
Which route to choose
| Situation | Route |
|---|---|
| Under ~200 conversations a month, simple questions | Rule-based bot or platform |
| Someone in-house can build flows | Self-serve platform with AI agents |
| Need bookings, payments, CRM sync, no tech team | Managed AI agent |
| Unique workflow, own engineers | Custom build |
What Savage Media charges
| Savage Media | Special offer | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Savage Sales | AED 3,999/month | Replies to every lead in 30 seconds, warms up, handles objections, CRM integration, hot-lead alerts in Telegram/WhatsApp |
| Savage Full | AED 9,900/month | Production, content and sales automation in one studio |
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