Softwr

Communication · head to head

Disciple vs Gupshup

Disciple logo

Disciple

Communication

White-label community apps published under your own brand on iOS, Android and web

From
£599/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Gupshup logo

Gupshup

Communication

Conversational messaging and CPaaS with a flat platform fee stacked on top of Meta per-message rates

From
$0.001/message
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Disciple the entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.; Gupshup the Gupshup platform fee of about 0.001 dollars per message is negligible next to Meta pass-through rates, so comparing providers on their own fee is misleading, and the country and category mix of your traffic determines almost the entire bill.
  • They diverge on capability: Disciple covers Native branded apps, Gupshup covers WhatsApp Business API.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Disciple and Gupshup actually diverge.

Attributes where Disciple and Gupshup differ
AttributeDiscipleGupshup
Starting price£599/month$0.001/message
Pricing modelPer month, flat fee with no transaction chargePer message sent
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, API

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Communication).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Disciple

  • Native branded apps
  • Web community
  • Groups and feeds
  • Courses
  • Live streaming and video
  • Subscriptions and payments
  • Multi-tier membership
  • Push notifications and analytics

Only in Gupshup

  • WhatsApp Business API
  • Flat platform fee
  • RCS messaging
  • SMS and voice
  • Bot Studio
  • Agent inbox
  • Campaign manager
  • Emerging market reach

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Disciple

  • A membership body moving several thousand paying members off Facebook Groups into an app that carries its own name in the App Storenot Gupshup
  • A fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licencenot Gupshup
  • A sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithmnot Gupshup
  • A brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorshipnot Gupshup

Gupshup

  • An e-commerce brand sending order and delivery notifications over WhatsApp to customers across India and Southeast Asianot Disciple
  • A bank or fintech running one-time passcodes and transactional alerts with fallback from WhatsApp to SMSnot Disciple
  • A company deploying a WhatsApp chatbot for tier one support with handover to human agents for anything it cannot resolvenot Disciple
  • A marketing team running WhatsApp template campaigns to opted-in lists in markets where email engagement is lownot Disciple

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Disciple

  • The entry plan starts at £599 a month, so a community with a few hundred members pays more per head than almost any percentage-fee alternative, and the flat fee only wins above a revenue threshold you should calculate before signing.
  • Video is metered at 10,000 minutes on the entry plan and 20,000 on Pro, so a community that leans on live streaming will hit overage or a plan upgrade rather than the unlimited storage the marketing implies.
  • Owning your own App Store listing means owning App Store review, rejections and the annual developer account, and a policy change at Apple becomes your problem rather than the platform vendor's.
  • Apple and Google still take their cut of in-app purchases regardless of Disciple charging no transaction fee, so the zero percent claim applies to Disciple's share only and not to the total cost of collecting money in-app.
  • Pricing is in sterling, which introduces exchange rate exposure and, for some buyers, VAT handling that a US-billed competitor would not create.

Gupshup

  • The Gupshup platform fee of about 0.001 dollars per message is negligible next to Meta pass-through rates, so comparing providers on their own fee is misleading, and the country and category mix of your traffic determines almost the entire bill.
  • Gupshup publishes no single flat rate for a full send, so accurate cost modelling requires you to build a country by country and category by category forecast before any provider comparison is meaningful.
  • Meta moved from conversation-based to per message billing in July 2025, which materially changed the economics of high-frequency messaging, and any budget or ROI model built on the old conversation pricing is now wrong.
  • Template approval sits with Meta rather than Gupshup, so rejections and category reclassifications can stall a campaign regardless of provider, and support quality on chasing them is a common complaint.
  • The product surface is broad, spanning CPaaS APIs, bot building and campaign tooling, and the non-API tools are less refined than dedicated conversational marketing platforms, so many buyers use Gupshup purely as a pipe.

Pricing, plan by plan

Disciple

£599/month
  • Branded App$599/month
    • Branded iOS, Android and web apps
    • 5 admin seats
    • 10 groups
  • Branded App Pro$999/month
    • Unlimited admin seats and groups under fair use
    • Unlimited monetised courses
    • 20,000 video minutes
  • Organisation$3400/month
    • From £3,400 per month
    • Custom feature development
    • API access and custom integrations

Gupshup

$0.001/message
  • Messaging$0.001/message
    • About 0.001 USD Gupshup platform fee per outgoing template message
    • Same fee on outgoing and incoming session messages
    • Meta per-message charges passed through on top, varying by country and category

Which should you pick?

Choose Disciple if

  • You need native branded apps.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want web community.
Disciple review

Choose Gupshup if

  • You need whatsapp business api.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want flat platform fee.
Gupshup review

Questions people ask

Is Disciple or Gupshup better?
Neither clearly leads. Disciple starts at £599/month and Gupshup at $0.001/message, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Disciple or Gupshup?
Disciple starts at £599/month and Gupshup at $0.001/message.
Does Disciple or Gupshup run on more platforms?
Disciple runs on Web, iOS, Android. Gupshup runs on Web, API.
What is Disciple best used for?
Disciple is most often used for a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store, a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence, a sports club or faith organisation that wants push notifications to reach members directly rather than competing with a social feed algorithm, a brand running a customer community that must live on its own domain and its own app listing for reasons of ownership or sponsorship. Of those, a membership body moving several thousand paying members off facebook groups into an app that carries its own name in the app store and a fitness or coaching business selling subscriptions where a percentage-based platform fee would cost more each month than a flat licence are not what Gupshup is typically brought in for.
What can Disciple do that Gupshup cannot?
Disciple covers Native branded apps, Web community, Groups and feeds, Courses. Gupshup covers WhatsApp Business API, Flat platform fee, RCS messaging, SMS and voice.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Disciple: How much does Disciple cost?

Branded App is £599 a month, Branded App Pro is £999 a month, and the Organisation tier starts at £3,400 a month. Annual billing gives two months free.

Gupshup: What does Gupshup charge?

About 0.001 USD per outgoing template message and per session message in each direction, plus roughly 0.0001 USD per second on voice. Meta per-message charges are passed through on top.

Disciple: Does Disciple take a cut of member payments?

No. All plans are 0% transaction fees on Disciple's side. Apple and Google still take their standard in-app purchase commission, which is separate.

Gupshup: Is Gupshup cheaper than other WhatsApp providers?

On its own platform fee it is competitive, but that fee is a small fraction of the total. Meta pass-through rates dominate, so provider choice rarely changes your bill much.

Disciple: Is the app published under my brand?

Yes. iOS and Android apps go into the stores under your own name and branding, not as a section within a shared platform app.

Gupshup: Did WhatsApp pricing change?

Yes. Meta retired per 24-hour conversation pricing on 1 July 2025 and moved to per message billing, and Gupshup followed.

Disciple: Is there a member limit?

Plans advertise unlimited members subject to fair use. The real limits are admin seats, groups, courses and video minutes, which differ by plan.

Gupshup: Is it only for India?

No, but its strongest carrier and operator reach is in India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

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