# A WhatsApp AI agent finishes the job, not just the sentence. > A WhatsApp AI agent handles a conversation end to end: it reads the message, checks your live systems, does the thing asked for, and logs what it did. An agent reads what the customer meant, looks the answer up in the systems you already run, does the thing being asked for, and keeps a record of having done it. That last part is what makes it an agent. Talk to Volty · See the mechanics ## What a WhatsApp AI agent is A WhatsApp AI agent is software that handles a WhatsApp conversation end to end. It reads what the customer meant rather than which keyword they used, looks the answer up in the systems your business actually runs on, does the thing being asked for, and logs what it did. It runs on a business number connected to the official WhatsApp Business API, because the consumer app has no way to give software that access. The distinction from a chatbot is not how well it writes. A chatbot produces a reply; an agent produces an outcome. Which is why an agent needs write access to a calendar, an order table or a CRM, and a record of every action it took there. “Do you have a slot this Saturday?” A chatbot replies Sends the opening hours and asks the customer to call. An agent resolves Reads the live calendar, offers the two free slots, holds the one the customer picks. “How much for 200 of these?” A chatbot replies Sends a price list and hopes the right line is on it. An agent resolves Prices the quantity off the current rate card, writes the quote, logs it against the customer. “Where is my order?” A chatbot replies Asks for an order number, then asks somebody in the office. An agent resolves Looks the order up, states where it is, and sets a follow-up if it has not moved by tomorrow. How it works ## An agent that can act needs a reason to be trusted with it Write access is what makes an agent useful and what makes it worth being careful about. These are the four constraints Volty runs under. - It acts, and the actions are enumerated. · Sending, resolving, snoozing, labelling and writing to your tables are the things it does. That list is short on purpose: an agent whose action set is open-ended is one you cannot review. - It reaches your other systems, never your passwords. · It can call the tools your business already runs on, but only the ones an admin ticked off when approving that rule. Credentials are swapped in at the last moment, so they never sit inside the automation or turn up in its history. Switch an integration off and every rule using it stops immediately. - Every run is journalled. · When a rule ran, why it ran, and what it did. If a run fails, the rule pauses and tells you rather than spiralling quietly in the background. - Nothing new ships without approval. · A new rule arrives with a preview of exactly what it would have done and waits on an approval card. Draft mode does the same thing for replies: every one is held for a person until you switch that inbox to live. ## Three ways to run an AI agent on WhatsApp Each of the three answers customers on your own WhatsApp number. They differ in who builds the agent, what it can reach and how it is billed. | | Meta Business Agent | A WhatsApp Business Solution Provider | Build it yourself on the Cloud API | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What it is | Meta's own AI agent for numbers on the WhatsApp Business Platform. It does not run in the WhatsApp Business app. | The company that puts your number on the WhatsApp Business Platform and handles onboarding, templates and billing. Voltade is one of them. | Your own software on Meta's Cloud API. It receives each message, calls an AI model you choose and sends the reply. | | What it answers from | Your business information, FAQs, files and websites. Connectors let it look up a customer record, check stock or an order's status, read a schedule and book an appointment. | It depends on the provider. Volty connects to the tools your business already runs. | Whatever your software looks up in your own systems. | | Messaging customers first | It only replies inside the 24 hour window a customer opens by messaging you. | Volty follows up with an approved template once the window has closed, and sends broadcasts. | You build any follow-up yourself, with an approved template once the window has closed. | | Setting it up | Each connector is an API you define for Meta: its address, its authentication and its operations. | Anyone on your team asks Volty in chat to connect a tool, and an admin approves it once. | You write and host every part of it, including the hand-off to a person. | | Who can use it | A number not already running another AI agent, from a business in a country Meta has authorised. Every vertical except Finance, Government, Health, Alcohol, Gambling, over-the-counter drugs and matrimony services. | Any business Meta allows on the WhatsApp Business Platform. | Any business Meta allows on the WhatsApp Business Platform. | | What it costs | US$2.00 per million tokens, as one charge covering the AI and the delivery of the message. About 4 to 5 US cents for a typical message. | Each provider sets its own price, on top of Meta's per-message rates. Volty plans start at US$157 a month after a free 7-day trial. | From 1 October 2026, Meta's utility rate for each service reply, plus the AI model, which Meta estimates at about 2 to 9 US cents a message. Then the time it takes to build and run. | ### Meta Business Agent What it is Meta's own AI agent for numbers on the WhatsApp Business Platform. It does not run in the WhatsApp Business app. What it answers from Your business information, FAQs, files and websites. Connectors let it look up a customer record, check stock or an order's status, read a schedule and book an appointment. Messaging customers first It only replies inside the 24 hour window a customer opens by messaging you. Setting it up Each connector is an API you define for Meta: its address, its authentication and its operations. Who can use it A number not already running another AI agent, from a business in a country Meta has authorised. Every vertical except Finance, Government, Health, Alcohol, Gambling, over-the-counter drugs and matrimony services. What it costs US$2.00 per million tokens, as one charge covering the AI and the delivery of the message. About 4 to 5 US cents for a typical message. ### A WhatsApp Business Solution Provider What it is The company that puts your number on the WhatsApp Business Platform and handles onboarding, templates and billing. Voltade is one of them. What it answers from It depends on the provider. Volty connects to the tools your business already runs. Messaging customers first Volty follows up with an approved template once the window has closed, and sends broadcasts. Setting it up Anyone on your team asks Volty in chat to connect a tool, and an admin approves it once. Who can use it Any business Meta allows on the WhatsApp Business Platform. What it costs Each provider sets its own price, on top of Meta's per-message rates. Volty plans start at US$157 a month after a free 7-day trial. ### Build it yourself on the Cloud API What it is Your own software on Meta's Cloud API. It receives each message, calls an AI model you choose and sends the reply. What it answers from Whatever your software looks up in your own systems. Messaging customers first You build any follow-up yourself, with an approved template once the window has closed. Setting it up You write and host every part of it, including the hand-off to a person. Who can use it Any business Meta allows on the WhatsApp Business Platform. What it costs From 1 October 2026, Meta's utility rate for each service reply, plus the AI model, which Meta estimates at about 2 to 9 US cents a message. Then the time it takes to build and run. ### What providers offer, and what Volty adds Providers offer some mix of three things: - Shared inbox. Every message lands in one inbox your team shares, and a person types each reply. Nothing answers on its own. - Chatbot builder. You set up menus and keyword rules, and they answer fixed questions such as opening hours or prices. - AI agent. The software reads each question and answers in plain language from your business's own information, including questions nobody wrote an answer for. Volty is Voltade's AI agent for WhatsApp. It answers on your own number, and it also: - Connects to your tools by asking. Anyone on your team asks Volty in chat to connect a tool, and an admin approves it once. HubSpot, Google Calendar, Notion, Shopify, Slack and Plato Medical are built in. - Keeps its promises. When Volty tells a customer it will get back to them, it records a follow-up and returns at the time it set. Once a customer's 24 hour window has closed, it follows up with an approved template. - Sends broadcasts. One approved template goes once to one audience you choose, and a broadcast requested in chat waits for a person's approval. - Replies live or as drafts. Volty sends replies itself or drafts them for your team to approve, and an inbox can switch between the two on a schedule. When a teammate replies, Volty steps back. - Builds tools for your team. Ask Volty for a dashboard, a report or a standing rule, and Volty writes it as a mini app or an automation. Everything Volty writes waits for an admin to approve it before it goes live. Meta bills the customer. From 1 October 2026, what Meta charges for the service replies Volty sent past 1,000 per business phone number a month is deducted from your monthly Volty bill. The deduction runs for your first year on Volty. Read How Volty works to see what Volty does in a WhatsApp conversation. Asked and answered ## Common questions about WhatsApp AI agents ### A WhatsApp AI agent is software that handles a WhatsApp conversation end to end: it reads what the customer meant, looks the answer up in the systems your business actually runs on, does the thing being asked for, and logs what it did. The distinction from a chatbot is not how well it writes. A chatbot produces a reply; an agent produces an outcome, which is why it needs write access to a calendar, an order table or a CRM and a record of every action it took there. ### Connecting an AI agent to WhatsApp goes through the WhatsApp Business API, never the consumer app. A Meta Business Partner puts your business number on the API, Meta Business Manager verifies the business, and the number is then pointed at whatever runs the agent. The part that takes the time is not the connection: it is deciding which systems the agent may read, which it may write to, and what it must escalate. An agent with no write access is a chatbot with better prose. WhatsApp Business API documentation ### Running a WhatsApp AI agent costs whatever Meta charges for the messages plus whatever the platform charges. Meta prices per message by market and by category: a marketing template is US$0.0118 in India and $0.1365 in Germany, and utility messages, the ones that confirm a booking or an order, are US$0.0014 in India. From 1 October 2026 service messages become chargeable too, with 1,000 free per business phone number per month. An agent does not change any of those rates. What it changes is which category you land in, because it can tell that a customer's 24 hour window has closed and switch to an approved template rather than failing the send. The full WhatsApp pricing guide ### Meta Business Agent does not run on the WhatsApp Business app at all. It needs an enterprise WhatsApp Business Platform account, and a business switches it on deliberately. Any AI you see inside the app is Meta's own and is Meta's setting rather than anything a messaging vendor controls. Turning it off has no effect on an agent your business runs on the WhatsApp Business API, because that one answers on your own number through a separate connection. ### Yes, as a broadcast of an approved template to contacts who opted in, and Meta's rules decide how far it reaches. A business-initiated message to somebody outside their 24 hour reply window has to be an approved template, the recipient has to have opted in, and Meta caps how many unique customers you can message outside the service window in a rolling 24 hours: 250 for a new business, tiering to 2,000, 10,000 and 100,000 for as long as the quality rating holds. So what decides whether a send lands is whether the list consented and the number is in good standing. Inside a conversation, an agent replies, tracks whether that customer's 24 hour window is still open, and switches to an approved template when it has closed. Volty also sends broadcasts: one approved template sent once to one audience, picked as chosen contacts, segments, everyone, or a spreadsheet. A broadcast requested in chat waits for a person's approval. After it sends, a follow-up broadcast can go to the contacts who replied, read without replying, never read it, or failed to receive it. How messaging limits and tiers work ## Keep reading - The WhatsApp Business API The hub: what the API is, what Meta charges, and every guide we have on it. - WhatsApp chatbot The simpler machine, when it is the right one, and what it costs to run. - WhatsApp automation 24 agents built on the same API, filtered by the industry you are in. - Case studies A swim school at 300% more enquiries handled, a TCM clinic at +60% chat traffic. - WhatsApp Business API pricing Meta's per-message rates by market and category, and what changes on 1 October 2026. ## Tell us which system holds the answer. The calendar, the stock table, the CRM, whichever one your team keeps checking by hand. That is where an agent starts. Free scoping, no commitment. Talk to Volty · Browse the agent catalogue Updated 29 Sep 2026 ## Links - [See the mechanics](https://voltade.com/how-volty-works) - [WhatsApp Business API documentation](https://voltade.com/learn/whatsapp) - [The full WhatsApp pricing guide](https://voltade.com/sg/learn/whatsapp/whatsapp-business-api-pricing) - [How messaging limits and tiers work](https://voltade.com/learn/whatsapp/whatsapp-messaging-limits) - [The WhatsApp Business APIThe hub: what the API is, what Meta charges, and every guide we have on it.](https://voltade.com/whatsapp-business-api) - [WhatsApp chatbotThe simpler machine, when it is the right one, and what it costs to run.](https://voltade.com/whatsapp-chatbot) - [WhatsApp automation24 agents built on the same API, filtered by the industry you are in.](https://voltade.com/whatsapp-automation) - [Case studiesA swim school at 300% more enquiries handled, a TCM clinic at +60% chat traffic.](https://voltade.com/case-studies)