# Wassist vs Kanal: the WhatsApp AI agent or the WhatsApp marketing app

Pick Wassist if you want an agent that sells in the conversation: it answers product questions from your catalogue in your brand's voice, takes the order with in-chat checkout and looks up orders by phone number. Pick Kanal if you mainly want WhatsApp marketing, meaning broadcast campaigns, cart recovery flows and segments, from a self-serve Shopify app on a fixed monthly plan.

- **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 | Kanal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built for | Turning product questions into orders: an AI agent that answers, recommends and closes in the chat. | WhatsApp marketing: campaigns, cart recovery and automations, with an AI agent answering replies. |
| AI agent | The core product on every plan, trained on your catalogue, metafields and policies and written in your brand's voice. | Answers sizing, shipping and order questions. Not included on the entry Pro plan (89€/month). |
| Checkout | Product cards and Shopify checkout inside the WhatsApp thread. | One-tap links back to Shopify checkout from cart reminders. |
| Order questions | Looks up the shopper's orders by their WhatsApp phone number, so they never type an order number. | Order confirmations, shipping updates and live tracking sent from Shopify. |
| Integrations | Shopify, Gorgias, eDesk, Klaviyo, LoyaltyLion and Recharge. | Shopify, Recharge, Gorgias, Klaviyo, Meta and Google Ads. |
| Channels | WhatsApp. | WhatsApp, plus SMS and RCS from the Scale plan, and iMessage. |
| Pricing model | Per conversation: 30p on Pro (£300/month minimum) or £1 on pay-as-you-go. | Monthly plans at 89€, 149€, 350€ and 1,900€, plus Meta's per-message costs. |
| Setup | Self-serve Shopify install, or a managed launch. Roarsome went live 15 days after the first call. | Self-serve Shopify install in about five minutes; done-for-you setup from the 350€ Business plan. |
| Best for | UK Shopify brands doing £1–10M where shoppers ask before they buy. | Shopify brands that want to run WhatsApp as an outbound marketing channel. |

Kanal details from https://getkanal.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.
- **Kanal:** Kanal lists Pro at 89€/month (one user, campaigns and cart recovery, no AI agent), Scale at 149€, Business at 350€ and Agency at 1,900€ a month. Meta's per-message costs are charged on top at cost.

## When Kanal is the better choice

- Your WhatsApp plan is mostly outbound: drops, sales and cart recovery sent to a large opted-in list.
- You want SMS, RCS or iMessage in the same tool as WhatsApp.
- You'd rather pay a fixed monthly fee than pay per conversation.
- You want to install it today and run every campaign yourself.

## 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 Kanal?

Yes. Both put Shopify brands on WhatsApp. Wassist is built around an AI agent that answers product questions and takes orders in the chat; Kanal is built around campaigns, cart recovery and automations.

### How does Wassist pricing compare with Kanal?

Wassist charges per conversation: 30p on Pro with a £300 monthly minimum, or £1 on pay-as-you-go. Kanal charges a monthly plan from 89€ to 1,900€, with Meta's message costs on top, and its AI agent isn't on the 89€ plan.

### Does Wassist work with Gorgias?

Yes. Anything the agent shouldn't answer, such as a faulty item or a lost parcel, lands in Gorgias with the whole conversation attached, so nobody asks the shopper twice.

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

Roarsome went from first call to a live agent in 15 days, connected to Shopify and Gorgias with handover rules in place, then tuned the agent weekly from real conversations.