# Wassist vs Charles: a WhatsApp AI agent for Shopify, or a conversational marketing suite

Pick Wassist if you're a UK Shopify brand that wants an AI agent answering product questions and taking orders on WhatsApp, priced per conversation in pounds and live in about two weeks. Pick Charles if you're a larger brand that wants campaigns, automations and AI agents across WhatsApp, RCS, webchat, Instagram and Messenger, built through its cowork assistant.

- **What it is:** Wassist is a WhatsApp AI agent for Shopify brands. It answers product questions in your brand's voice, takes orders with in-chat checkout, and looks up orders by phone number.
- **Best for:** UK DTC brands doing £1–10M on Shopify. Pay-as-you-go for smaller stores.
- **Price:** 30p per conversation, £300/month minimum on Pro; £1 per conversation on pay-as-you-go.
- **Updated:** November 2026

## Side by side

| | Wassist | Charles |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built for | Turning product questions into orders: an AI agent that answers, recommends and closes in the chat. | Conversational marketing: campaigns and automations built with its cowork assistant, with AI agents answering replies. |
| AI agent | The core product, trained on your catalogue, metafields and policies and written in your brand's voice. | charles AI agents answer size, delivery, stock and returns questions in the thread and hand over to a person. |
| Checkout | Product cards and Shopify checkout inside the WhatsApp thread. | Product recommendations in the chat. |
| Order questions | Looks up the shopper's orders by their WhatsApp phone number. | Delivery and returns questions answered by the AI agent. |
| Channels | WhatsApp. | WhatsApp, RCS, webchat, Instagram Direct and Facebook Messenger. |
| Pricing model | Per conversation: 30p on Pro (£300/month minimum) or £1 on pay-as-you-go. | No price list on its website. |
| Setup | Self-serve Shopify install, or a managed launch. Roarsome went live 15 days after the first call. | Connect the shop and CRM; Charles says there's no implementation project before the first campaign. |
| Best for | UK Shopify brands doing £1–10M where shoppers ask before they buy. | Larger brands running conversational marketing across several channels. |

Charles details from https://www.hello-charles.com, checked 2026-11-11.

## Pricing

- **Wassist:** Pro is 30p per conversation with a 1,000-conversation monthly minimum, so £300/month ex VAT covers your first 1,000. Smaller stores can pay as you go at £1 per conversation, with no monthly fee and a free UK WhatsApp line.
- **Charles:** Charles doesn't publish prices on its website, so you'll need a quote from its team to compare like for like.

## When Charles is the better choice

- You need RCS, webchat, Instagram and Messenger in the same tool as WhatsApp.
- Outbound campaigns and automations are the main job, and you want an assistant to build them for you.
- You run a large CRM programme and want WhatsApp to be one channel inside it.

## How to switch in 15 days

- **Day 0, Qualification call:** Agree the goal and the bottleneck. For Roarsome: lift conversion from 1.3% to 2%, with one person answering every question.
- **Day 4, The plan:** Inbound only and customer-led. Start with a footer link to keep volume manageable, launch at about 80% quality and tune from real conversations.
- **Day 15, Live:** The agent connects to Shopify and your helpdesk, with handover rules for faulty items, lost parcels and “I want a person”.
- **Weekly, Tuning:** Review real conversations every Friday and adjust the agent: duties, pre-orders, rewards points, size measurements.

## Questions

### Is Wassist an alternative to Charles?

Yes, for brands whose main WhatsApp job is answering shoppers and selling in the chat. Wassist is a WhatsApp AI agent for Shopify; Charles is a broader conversational marketing platform across several channels.

### How is Wassist priced compared with Charles?

Wassist publishes its prices: 30p per conversation on Pro with a £300 monthly minimum, or £1 per conversation on pay-as-you-go. Charles doesn't list prices on its website.

### Does Wassist only work with Shopify?

Wassist is built for Shopify brands and also connects to BigCommerce, WooCommerce and Magento stores.

### How long does it take to launch Wassist?

Roarsome went from first call to a live agent in 15 days, connected to Shopify and Gorgias with handover rules in place.