Softwr

Communication · head to head

Gupshup vs LINE WORKS

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
LINE WORKS logo

LINE WORKS

Communication

Business chat built on the LINE interface, aimed at Japanese firms whose staff and customers already use LINE

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only LINE WORKS has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; LINE WORKS the external LINE bridge, which is the main reason to choose it, only matters where LINE has consumer penetration, so buyers outside Japan, Taiwan and Thailand are paying for a feature they cannot use.
  • They diverge on capability: Gupshup covers WhatsApp Business API, LINE WORKS covers External LINE messaging.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Gupshup and LINE WORKS actually diverge.

Attributes where Gupshup and LINE WORKS differ
AttributeGupshupLINE WORKS
Starting price$0.001/messageFree
Pricing modelPer message sentPer user per month
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS

Identical on both: 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 Gupshup

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

Only in LINE WORKS

  • External LINE messaging
  • Chat and channels
  • Voice and video calls
  • Shared address book
  • Calendar and bulletin board
  • Drive
  • Business email
  • Admin controls

What people use each for

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

Gupshup

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

LINE WORKS

  • A Japanese retail or service chain whose customers expect to book and enquire over LINE rather than emailnot Gupshup
  • A clinic, dealership or estate agency that needs customer conversations on LINE but under corporate retention and auditnot Gupshup
  • A Japanese SME under 30 staff that wants managed business chat at no licence cost on the free tiernot Gupshup
  • The Japanese subsidiary of a foreign group that needs a local tool for front-line staff alongside the group standardnot Gupshup

Where each one falls short

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

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.

LINE WORKS

  • The external LINE bridge, which is the main reason to choose it, only matters where LINE has consumer penetration, so buyers outside Japan, Taiwan and Thailand are paying for a feature they cannot use.
  • The free tier caps total storage at 5GB across the whole organisation, not per user, so a team sharing photos or documents exhausts it within weeks and is pushed onto a paid plan.
  • Business email is only on the Advanced plan at 800 yen per user, so an organisation wanting both chat and mail pays nearly double the Standard rate for every seat including staff who only chat.
  • Developer documentation, support and the integration catalogue are strongest in Japanese, which makes it awkward to administer from a non-Japanese IT function.
  • It has no serious developer or engineering workflow story, so organisations that also run Slack or Teams for technical teams end up maintaining two chat systems and two directories.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

LINE WORKS

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 30 users
    • 5GB total storage
    • Chat, calls, calendar and address book
  • Standard$450/month
    • Unlimited users
    • 1TB shared storage
    • Annual contract price, 540 yen monthly
  • Advanced$800/month
    • Everything in Standard
    • Business email
    • 100TB shared storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Gupshup if

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

Choose LINE WORKS if

  • You need external line messaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want chat and channels.
LINE WORKS review

Questions people ask

Is Gupshup or LINE WORKS better?
Neither clearly leads. Gupshup starts at $0.001/message and LINE WORKS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Gupshup or LINE WORKS?
LINE WORKS has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $0.001/message for Gupshup and Free for LINE WORKS.
Does Gupshup or LINE WORKS run on more platforms?
Gupshup runs on Web, API. LINE WORKS runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
Can I use LINE WORKS for free?
Yes. LINE WORKS has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gupshup starts at $0.001/message.
What is Gupshup best used for?
Gupshup is most often used for an e-commerce brand sending order and delivery notifications over whatsapp to customers across india and southeast asia, a bank or fintech running one-time passcodes and transactional alerts with fallback from whatsapp to sms, a company deploying a whatsapp chatbot for tier one support with handover to human agents for anything it cannot resolve, a marketing team running whatsapp template campaigns to opted-in lists in markets where email engagement is low. Of those, an e-commerce brand sending order and delivery notifications over whatsapp to customers across india and southeast asia and a bank or fintech running one-time passcodes and transactional alerts with fallback from whatsapp to sms are not what LINE WORKS is typically brought in for.
What can Gupshup do that LINE WORKS cannot?
Gupshup covers WhatsApp Business API, Flat platform fee, RCS messaging, SMS and voice. LINE WORKS covers External LINE messaging, Chat and channels, Voice and video calls, Shared address book.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

LINE WORKS: Can LINE WORKS really message ordinary LINE users?

Yes. That is its core differentiator and the reason Japanese customer-facing businesses buy it.

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.

LINE WORKS: Is there a free plan?

Yes, up to 30 users with 5GB of total organisation storage.

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.

LINE WORKS: Does the Standard plan include email?

No. Business email is Advanced only, at 800 yen per user per month on an annual contract.

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.

LINE WORKS: Is it worth buying outside Japan?

Generally no. Without the consumer LINE bridge it competes poorly against Slack, Teams or Lark on features and ecosystem.

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