ChatRail vs Evolution API

Evolution API pricing and features, side by side

Feature	ChatRail	Evolution API
Free tier	Included: Sandbox: 1 number, 500 messages and 50 AI replies a month, no expiry	Partly, or you build it: Open source (Apache 2.0 with branding conditions); you host it
Entry price (1 number)	$15 / month(Core, 1 number)	$0 licence(plus the server you run it on)
Annual billing	Card billing is monthly; 12 months prepaid in crypto for the price of 10	Not applicable
Five numbers	$79 / month(Team includes 5 numbers)	Your hosting(plus your time)
Message volume	Included: Unlimited on paid plans, with number-safety guardrails: first messages to new people are paced, and a per-recipient limit stops runaway loops	Included: No limits of its own; send limits are up to you
Media and groups	Included: Images, video, voice notes, documents, polls and contact cards; replies, mentions and reactions; create and manage groups, with a member-add guardrail	Included: Media and groups via the Baileys WhatsApp Web library; also supports Meta's Cloud API
Webhooks	Included: Signed webhooks with delivery state and conversation context; reactions, edits, deletions, poll votes and group changes; media download URLs	Included: Webhooks, plus RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS and Socket.io
AI replies	Included: 50 AI replies a month to try on the free Sandbox and Core; 10,000 included on Core + AI ($29), no API key needed; 50,000 on Team; or bring your own key	Partly, or you build it: OpenAI, Dify, Typebot and Flowise integrations; you bring the keys
MCP	Included: MCP tools on Core + AI and Team	Not included or not listed: Not listed
No-code	Included: n8n, Zapier and Activepieces guides, plus an importable n8n workflow	Included: n8n, Typebot, Chatwoot

IncludedPartly, or you build itNot included or not listed

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Trial: ChatRail's Sandbox is free with no expiry. Evolution API: Free to self-host.

Free software, not free to run

Self-hosting Evolution API means a Node.js 20+ server, PostgreSQL or MySQL, and (recommended) Redis. You keep it patched, backed up and monitored.

The expensive part is WhatsApp itself. Linked-device libraries break when WhatsApp changes its web protocol, and when that happens your messages stop until you upgrade. With ChatRail, that upgrade is our job.

Send limits are on you too. Nothing in a self-hosted stack stops a bug from messaging the same customer a hundred times in a minute. ChatRail stops it at 10 in five minutes.

What running it yourself involves

A self-hosted WhatsApp API is a small production service. Plan for a server that stays up, a database you back up, updates when WhatsApp changes its web protocol, an alert when a session drops so someone can scan the QR code again, and limits so a bug can't flood a customer.

ChatRail runs all of that for you: the transport, backups, session monitoring with a webhook and a dashboard flag when a number disconnects, signed webhooks with retries, and a per-recipient limit of 10 messages in five minutes. You keep your own number and your own code.

Choose Evolution API if

• You have ops capacity and want full control of the stack.
• You need data to stay on your own infrastructure.
• You want Chatwoot, Typebot or a message queue wired in directly.

Choose ChatRail if

• You would rather not run a server, a database and Redis for WhatsApp.
• You want protocol breakage to be someone else's pager.
• You want number-safety guardrails and managed AI replies included.

Switching

Both are REST APIs over a linked WhatsApp device, so switching mostly means pairing the number again and updating send calls and webhook handling. The quickstart covers pairing and your first message. Webhooks covers signature checks and media downloads.

Questions