If you’ve asked whether WhatsApp works with HubSpot Starter, you may have been told you need Professional. That’s only true of one route. You can connect WhatsApp to HubSpot on every plan, Free included. What changes from plan to plan is which route you can use and how much of it you can automate.
This guide covers all three routes: HubSpot’s own WhatsApp channel, WhatsApp apps from the HubSpot Marketplace and Flowella. You’ll get the plan-by-plan answer first, then what Meta needs from you before you start, step-by-step setup for each route and a short guide to choosing. We checked every fact against HubSpot’s, Meta’s and each vendor’s own pages on 25 October 2026.
A note on bias: Flowella is our own product, from the team at Discover Digital, a HubSpot Platinum Partner. We’ve aimed to be fair to every option and we say where the others do more.
Short answer: yes, on every HubSpot plan. HubSpot’s own WhatsApp channel needs Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise, and HubSpot’s catalogue lists no WhatsApp integration on Starter, so Free and Starter can’t use it[1][2]. On Free and Starter you can still connect WhatsApp through a Marketplace app or Flowella. On every route covered here, sending WhatsApp messages from HubSpot workflows needs Professional or Enterprise, because that’s where HubSpot workflows start.
| HubSpot plan | HubSpot’s own WhatsApp channel | Marketplace WhatsApp apps | Flowella |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (free tools, up to 2 users[3]) | Not available | Depends on the app. TimelinesAI and HelloSend both list their features as available with HubSpot Free[4][5] | Yes: Forms to Flows, WhatsApp activity on the contact timeline, the Flowella inbox, bulk send, and templates and Flows sent from Flowella[6] |
| Starter (from $20 a month per Core Seat[2]) | Not available | As Free | Yes, as Free. HubSpot’s form automations can also run on WhatsApp Flow submissions[7] |
| Professional | Yes, with Marketing Hub or Service Hub (not Sales Hub alone). 1,000 template messages a month included; 1,000 more for $70 a month[8] | As Free, plus the apps’ workflow actions | Yes, plus five workflow actions and four triggers[9]. The Flowella channel in HubSpot’s inbox needs Sales Hub or Service Hub[10] |
| Enterprise | Yes, as Professional | As Professional | Yes, as Professional |
Prices in this guide are in US dollars, before tax, as published on 25 October 2026. If you’re weighing an upgrade for HubSpot’s own channel, Marketing Hub Professional starts at $800 a month billed annually ($890 paying monthly) with 3 Core Seats, plus a required one-time $3,000 Professional Onboarding[3]. Service Hub Professional starts at $90 a seat a month billed annually ($100 monthly), plus a one-time $1,500 onboarding[11]. HubSpot prices Core Seats at the highest level of subscription you hold, so upgrading one hub can raise the price of every Core Seat. Check your own quote[12].
Apart from apps that link a phone by QR code (covered below), every route connects through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform, and Meta asks for the same things whichever tool you pick. Most of the waiting happens on Meta’s side, so start here[13].
You need admin access to your company’s Meta business portfolio (Business Manager). During setup you choose or create a WhatsApp Business Account, which holds your phone numbers and message templates. HubSpot also asks for your legal company name, WhatsApp display name, website and business email. Each WhatsApp Business Account can hold up to 25 phone numbers in HubSpot, and you can’t connect a personal WhatsApp account to HubSpot’s own channel[1].
Verification is Meta’s check that your business is real and yours. It affects two things:
You can connect WhatsApp while Meta reviews your business. Our guide to getting a verified WhatsApp Business Account covers what Meta asks for.
HubSpot says the number must not be connected to another WhatsApp account, the WhatsApp Business app or another WhatsApp integration. It must also be able to receive voice calls and can’t sit behind an automated phone menu[1]. If the number is on another provider, disconnect or migrate it first. If it’s on the WhatsApp Business app, coexistence lets you keep it there. See whether you can use your existing business number.
Coexistence lets one number work in the WhatsApp Business app and on the WhatsApp Business Platform at the same time. Staff keep chatting one to one in the app, while your HubSpot tool sends messages at volume from the same number[16]. HubSpot’s channel and Flowella both support it, but they handle history differently:
Without coexistence, HubSpot notes that once a number is connected, its messages no longer appear in the WhatsApp mobile or web app[1].
Store contacts’ mobile numbers in international format, such as +447700900123. HubSpot matches an incoming WhatsApp message to a contact by the Phone number or Mobile phone number property[1], and Flowella’s workflow actions read the number from a contact property (see phone number format).
Meta charges per delivered message, by category and country. From 1 October 2026 it also charges for replies inside the 24-hour customer service window once a number has used its 1,000 free service messages for the month[19]. How those fees reach you depends on the route: HubSpot’s own channel includes 1,000 template messages a month and doesn’t charge for free entry point conversations[1], while Flowella’s customers pay Meta directly through a payment method on their WhatsApp Business Account[13]. HubSpot’s pages don’t say how Meta’s fees are handled on its own channel.
The built-in HubSpot WhatsApp integration connects a WhatsApp Business Account as a channel in the conversations inbox or help desk. It comes with Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional and Enterprise[1].
The main gap: HubSpot doesn’t support syncing templates with Flow buttons, so its own channel can’t send WhatsApp Flows[20].
Summarised from HubSpot’s knowledge base[1]:
Using coexistence? Register the number in the WhatsApp Business app first. In HubSpot’s WhatsApp settings, click Connect WhatsApp number, enter the number and choose your business portfolio. Then scan the QR code HubSpot shows with the WhatsApp Business app and confirm[17].
The HubSpot Marketplace has many WhatsApp apps, and some work on every HubSpot plan. They connect WhatsApp in one of two ways, and several offer both. Knowing which connection you’re setting up matters more than the brand.
These work like WhatsApp Web. You open Linked devices on your phone, scan a QR code, and the app mirrors that number’s chats into HubSpot. It takes minutes, works with a personal number or a WhatsApp Business app number, and needs no Meta verification. There are no Meta per-message fees on a QR connection, and it can sync group chats[22].
The trade-off: a QR-linked number can’t send Meta-approved templates[22] or launch WhatsApp Flows[23]. It also isn’t the route Meta built for volume. TimelinesAI, which offers QR connections, says so itself: “If you message at volume, the official WhatsApp Business API is the path Meta built for it”[22]. Its Marketplace listing adds that “you should use the WhatsApp Business app or WABA in a live environment”[4]. Our comparison of personal WhatsApp, the Business app and the API explains the difference.
These connect through Meta’s official sign-up, as HubSpot’s own channel does, so the prerequisites above apply. In return you get approved templates, messaging at volume within Meta’s limits and, depending on the app, WhatsApp Flows. Meta’s fees are separate from the app’s subscription: TimelinesAI, for example, says Meta bills its per-message template fees directly[22].
Two apps that offer both kinds of connection, as their own pages described them on 25 October 2026:
Flowella connects your WhatsApp Business Account to HubSpot through the WhatsApp Business Platform and works on every HubSpot plan, Free and Starter included[6]. It’s built around one idea: turn the HubSpot forms you already have into WhatsApp Flows, so people fill them in inside the chat. Each completed Flow comes back as a native submission of that same form, with the answers on contact properties[25].
Because each Flow arrives as a native submission of your HubSpot form, the form automations HubSpot includes on every plan can run on WhatsApp submissions too. On Marketing Hub Starter, that’s one simple workflow per form with up to 10 actions[7].
Flowella’s setup guide estimates about 76 minutes of hands-on time in all[13]. Its first-Flow tutorial takes about 50 minutes, plus up to 24 hours while Meta reviews your template[25].
Cost: Starter is $79 a month with 1,000 billable messages, then $0.05 each. Pro is $199 a month with 2,500, then $0.04 each, plus priority support. Enterprise is priced with you. Every plan has unlimited WhatsApp Flows, and the 14-day free trial includes up to 5,000 messages with no card. Meta bills its fees directly to your WhatsApp Business Account, and Flowella never marks them up[30].
“Exceptional engagement platform that transformed our student conversion with 160% increase in same-day applications and 90% WhatsApp response rates.”
Peter Hudson, Director of Admissions, Brand & Customer Innovation, Oaklands College. Read the Oaklands College story
For side-by-side detail on other WhatsApp tools for HubSpot, see our comparison pages.
Yes, but not through HubSpot’s own WhatsApp channel, which needs Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise[2]. On Starter you can connect WhatsApp with a Marketplace app or Flowella. What Starter can’t do on any of these routes is send WhatsApp messages from HubSpot workflows, because workflows come with Professional and Enterprise.
It isn’t part of HubSpot’s free tools. It’s included with Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional and Enterprise, with 1,000 template messages a month shared across your connected accounts. More costs $70 a month for each extra 1,000, and HubSpot doesn’t charge for free entry point conversations[1][8].
Yes, with coexistence, which HubSpot’s channel and Flowella both support. Without it, a number connected to HubSpot’s channel stops showing messages in the WhatsApp app[17][18].
Not to HubSpot’s own channel, which needs a WhatsApp Business account[1]. Some Marketplace apps link a personal number by QR code. They’re quick to set up, but they can’t send approved templates, and TimelinesAI recommends the WhatsApp Business app or the official platform for live use[4].
Not with its own channel: HubSpot doesn’t support syncing templates with Flow buttons[20]. Flowella sends Flows from HubSpot workflows on Professional or Enterprise, and from Flowella itself on any plan, with each completed Flow saved as a submission of your HubSpot form[25].
You can connect without it, but until you verify, Meta limits how many people you can message outside a customer service window. Meta’s documentation puts a new business portfolio at 250 people in any rolling 24 hours[14], and HubSpot’s knowledge base says 50 business-initiated conversations a day[1]. Flowella also can’t publish WhatsApp Flows until you’re verified[15].
Every HubSpot plan can work with WhatsApp. With Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise, HubSpot’s own channel gives you a shared inbox and 1,000 template messages a month. On any plan, a Marketplace app can bring WhatsApp chats into HubSpot, and Flowella can turn your HubSpot forms into WhatsApp Flows that land as native submissions. Whichever you choose, start Meta’s business verification first, because it takes the longest.
If WhatsApp Flows fit what you need, start a 14-day Flowella trial with no card, book a demo, or see how Flowella works with HubSpot.