How do team seats work in WhatsAble?
WhatsAble team seats on Pro and Agency. The owner seat is free, and each teammate is $12 a month, charged when they accept the invitation. A removed teammate leaves an empty paid seat until the owner removes it in Billing.
A seat is one person on your WhatsAble team, other than the owner. Each teammate who works in the shared inbox holds one seat. This page explains what a seat costs, when WhatsAble charges for it, what happens when someone leaves, and how to stop paying for a seat you no longer need.
Team seats are part of the Pro and Agency plans. Bulk Message has no team, so it has no paid seats. See plans.
What a seat costs
- The owner seat is free.
- Each other teammate is one seat at $12 a month.
- Every role pays the same. An Admin is one seat, and a Member is one seat.
- Seats bill monthly, whatever interval your plan runs on. On an annual plan, seats still bill each month.
- A seat is not the same as contact overage. Overage is for unique contacts above your tier. A seat is for a person on your team.
Invite a teammate
Open the Team page
Go to Settings → Team and select Invite member.
Send the invitation
Enter the person's email, choose a role, and select Send invite.
The invitee accepts
The invitee opens the link in the email and selects Accept invitation.
Sending an invitation is free. An invitation that nobody accepts costs nothing. You can cancel it, or let it expire after 48 hours.
The owner and Admins can invite people. You can invite while your subscription is active or in its free trial. When the subscription is not active, invitations are paused until the owner fixes it in Settings → Billing.
When WhatsAble charges for a seat
If you pay WhatsAble by card
WhatsAble charges for a seat when the invitee accepts, not when you send the invitation.
- WhatsAble adds the seat to your subscription and charges the card on file at once.
- The charge is prorated. You pay only for the days the teammate is on the team in the current month.
- If you have an empty paid seat, the new teammate takes it, and nothing new is charged.
If the card is declined, the invitee is not added to the team. The invitee sees this message: "The card on file for this team was declined, so you could not join." The invitation stays pending. The owner gets an email and a notification to update the payment method in Billing. After the owner updates the card, the invitee opens the same link and accepts again.
If your billing moved from the old platform
Some accounts moved to WhatsAble from the old platform, and WhatsAble then took over their billing. On such an account, a new teammate joins at once. The seat appears on your next invoice, counted from the day the teammate joined. A teammate is never refused because of a payment.
Remove a teammate
Remove a teammate on Settings → Team. The owner can remove any teammate, and an Admin can remove a Member. The teammate loses access at once. Their past replies stay in the conversation.
Removing a teammate does not lower your bill. The seat stays paid, and it becomes an empty seat. The next person who accepts an invitation takes the empty seat at no extra cost. The same is true when a teammate leaves the team on their own.
WhatsAble does not give a credit or a refund when a teammate leaves.
Remove an empty seat
The owner decides when a seat ends. To stop paying for an empty seat, the owner removes it in Billing.
Open Billing
Go to Settings → Billing and find the Seats card.
Remove the seat
Select Remove empty seat, then select Remove seat to confirm.
- Your next invoice bills one seat fewer.
- The current period stays paid. WhatsAble does not refund it.
- Each removal releases one empty seat. Seats are a count, so you do not choose a seat by person.
- Remove empty seat is unavailable when every paid seat is in use.
- A teammate who joins later adds a paid seat again.
Only the owner can open Billing, so only the owner can remove an empty seat.
Read the Seats card in Billing
The Seats card on Settings → Billing shows paid seats and seats in use side by side.
- The large number is your paid seats.
- In use counts the paid seats that a teammate holds. Empty counts the paid seats that nobody holds.
- The caption shows your monthly seat total and the price of each teammate. It also reminds you that the owner seat is free.
- The card shows one avatar for each teammate.
- The card has buttons for Invite member and Remove empty seat, and a Manage your team link to the Team page.
Example
An owner has two teammates on a card-paid Pro subscription.
| Step | Teammates | Paid seats | Empty seats | Seat charge a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | 2 | 2 | 0 | $24 |
| The owner removes one teammate | 1 | 2 | 1 | $24 |
| A new teammate accepts an invitation | 2 | 2 | 0 | $24, with no new charge |
If the owner removes the empty seat in Billing after step 2, the next invoice bills one seat, $12 a month. A teammate who accepts after that adds a paid seat again, with a prorated charge at once.
Free seats from an agreement with WhatsAble
WhatsAble can include free seats in an agreement with your company. A free seat covers a teammate you do not pay for.
Free seats lower your seat bill at once. Your paid seats fall by the number of free seats, but never below the number of teammates you still pay for.
- If you pay WhatsAble by card, you get a credit for the unused part of those seats.
- If your billing moved from the old platform, your next invoice bills the lower number of seats.
Example: you pay for 4 seats and you have 3 teammates, so 1 seat is empty. WhatsAble grants 2 free seats. You now pay for 2 seats. One seat is for the 1 teammate you still pay for, and one seat stays empty.
If an agreement later gives you fewer free seats, your paid seats rise only to the number your teammates need.
Move to Bulk Message
Bulk Message has no team, so it holds no paid seats. When your subscription moves to Bulk Message, the seat charge drops to zero shortly after the plan change takes effect.
- If you pay WhatsAble by card, you get a credit for the unused part of your seats.
- If your billing moved from the old platform, you get no credit.
If the old platform still bills your seats
Some accounts are still billed by the old platform. On such an account, the Seats card shows the seats used out of a fixed number, such as "2 of 3 used". Seat changes for these accounts go through WhatsAble support. You can see these messages:
- "Adding teammates is available soon for this organization."
- "Seats on this subscription cannot be removed here. Contact support to change them."
How seats work with other features
Team roles
- Owner. Free. Only the owner can open Billing and remove an empty seat.
- Admin. One seat. An Admin replies, invites people, edits templates, and sends broadcasts. An Admin sees everything except billing.
- Member. One seat. A Member replies in the inbox, inside the numbers and conversations you assign.
Changing a teammate's role does not change your bill.
Labels and numbers
You can limit a Member to some WhatsApp numbers or to conversations with some labels. A limit does not change the price of the seat. The number and label limits are not saved on invitations yet. Set them with Edit access after the teammate joins. See chat assignment and the team inbox.
The AI agent
The AI agent is not a teammate and does not take a seat. When a teammate takes over a conversation from the AI agent, the seat count does not change. See AI chatbots.
The API, Zapier, Make, and n8n
An API key acts for the whole organization, not for a person. A Zapier, Make, or n8n connection uses an API key, so it does not take a seat. Invite and remove teammates on Settings → Team. See API keys.
Related
Plans
Bulk Message, Pro, and Agency, and what each plan includes.
Team inbox
How your team works conversations together.
Chat assignment
Give each teammate the conversations they own.
API keys
Create, reveal, roll, and revoke the keys your integrations use.
FAQ
Do I pay when I send an invitation?
No. Sending an invitation is free. If you pay by card, WhatsAble charges for the seat when the invitee accepts. An invitation that nobody accepts costs nothing.
Does the owner pay for a seat?
No. The owner seat is free. Each other teammate is $12 a month.
Why did my bill stay the same after I removed a teammate?
A removed teammate leaves an empty seat, and the seat stays paid. The next person who joins takes it at no extra cost. To stop paying for it, the owner selects Remove empty seat in Settings → Billing.
Do I get a refund when I remove a teammate or an empty seat?
No. Removing a teammate gives no credit. Removing an empty seat lowers your next invoice by one seat. The current period stays paid.
What happens if my card is declined when someone accepts?
The invitee is not added, and the invitation stays pending. The owner updates the card in Settings → Billing. Then the invitee opens the same link and accepts again.
Can I choose which empty seat to remove?
No. Seats are a count. When you have several empty seats, each removal releases one of them.
Are seats the same as contact overage?
No. A seat is $12 a month for one person on your team. Overage is $13 for each 100 unique contacts above your tier.
What are Whatsable plans Bulk Message, Pro, and Agency?
Whatsable Bulk Message, Pro, Agency: unlimited messaging within your unique-contact tier, $13/100 overage, plan gates for inbox, AI, integrations, Agency.
How do I create, reveal, and roll a WhatsAble API key?
WhatsAble API keys on Pro and Agency. Owners and Admins create a key for Zapier, Make, n8n, or their own code, reveal and copy it again at any time, roll it to replace the secret, or revoke it.