Comparison
respond.io is a capable omnichannel inbox built around WhatsApp Business, with Instagram, Messenger, SMS, email and Telegram alongside it. Its Telegram channel runs on the Bot API. Entergram does one channel and does it completely — connecting the personal Telegram accounts your customers already message, with a shared inbox, ticketing, analytics and MCP on top.
Quick verdict
If WhatsApp is your primary channel and Telegram is one of several you want in the same inbox, respond.io is a reasonable purchase and Entergram is not competing for that job. If Telegram carries your customers, respond.io's bot-based channel will only ever see the fraction of Telegram traffic a bot can reach — and you will be paying omnichannel prices for it.
Comparison
How respond.io and Entergram compare when Telegram is the channel that decides the purchase.
| respond.io | Entergram | |
|---|---|---|
| Core focus | Omnichannel inbox across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS, email and Telegram | Telegram-native CRM, shared inbox and support workspace |
| Telegram connection | A Telegram bot connected via the Bot API | Your real Telegram account, connected over Telegram's user API |
| Personal account support | Not supported — the channel is a bot | Personal and business accounts are the core object of the product |
| Starting a conversation on Telegram | Not possible — Telegram forbids bots from messaging first | Message anyone your account can message, including first contact |
| Existing Telegram history | Starts empty when the bot connects | Full history syncs in, including groups and channels |
| Telegram group chats | Bots see only commands and direct replies unless promoted to admin | Full visibility, with independent tickets raised from individual messages |
| Telegram-specific depth | Bot-level messaging inside a generalised multi-channel model | Folders, reactions, replies, voice notes, forwarded-message attribution, per-account routing |
| Shared inbox | Strong omnichannel shared inbox with routing and assignment | Telegram-focused shared inbox with assignment, internal comments and collision awareness |
| Ticketing | Conversation statuses and workflow automation rather than tickets | Dedicated tickets from any message, with priority, assignee, due date and SLA |
| Automation | Mature visual workflow builder — a genuine strength, from the Growth tier up | Reminders, broadcast, REST API, Make.com and MCP-driven AI workflows |
| Analytics | Cross-channel conversation and agent reporting | Telegram-specific response times, message volume, heatmaps, per-chat breakdowns |
| AI | AI agents across channels, gated to higher tiers | MCP server and REST API included in Pro — Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini |
| Multiple Telegram identities | Additional bots per channel configuration | Five accounts per seat, +€5/month each beyond that, merged into one inbox |
| WhatsApp Business API | Core competency, including provider and template management | Not offered |
| Pricing model | Plan tiers plus monthly active contact scaling; automation and AI from the Growth tier | Per seat — €29 Basic, €39 Pro, unlimited chats and contacts |
| Entry price | Starter $79/month annually ($99 monthly); Growth $159/month annually | Basic €29/seat/month, Pro €39/seat/month, 3-day free trial |
| Self-hosting | Cloud only | Available on the Enterprise plan |
An omnichannel product has to model every channel the same way, which makes the model as shallow as its weakest channel. Telegram has folders, reactions, threaded replies, voice notes, forwarded-message attribution, groups, channels and multi-account identities — none of which survive translation into a generic conversation object.
respond.io reaches Telegram through the Bot API, so a customer has to find and start your bot before a conversation can exist, the bot cannot message anyone first, and it cannot see what a group said before it joined. Entergram connects the account, so the inbox contains what your team actually sees.
respond.io starts at $79 a month for an inbox without automation, $159 for the tier that unlocks it, and scales with monthly active contacts above that. Entergram is €39 per seat on Pro with unlimited chats and contacts, five Telegram accounts per seat and no volume metering.
Entergram's MCP server gives Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini direct access to the workspace — searching years of history, summarising a group before a call, filling CRM fields, creating tickets and sending replies through your own account, with no per-action fee.
The core difference
respond.io and Entergram are good answers to different questions. respond.io answers “how do I put six channels in one place?” Entergram answers “how do I run a business properly on the one channel my customers actually use?”
respond.io's centre of gravity is WhatsApp Business. It handles the provider relationship, template messages, the session window and the compliance machinery that comes with the WhatsApp Business API — genuinely difficult work that it does well. Around that sits an omnichannel inbox with Instagram, Messenger, SMS, email, web chat and Telegram, plus a mature visual workflow builder for routing and automation.
Its 2026 pricing puts Starter at $79 per month billed annually ($99 monthly) for a basic inbox with no automation, no AI agents, no workflows, no broadcast and no developer API. Growth at $159 per month annually unlocks those, and the Advanced tiers scale with monthly active contacts — 5,000 contacts sits around $219 per month.
If your business genuinely spans several messaging channels, that is a coherent product and the price buys real capability.
Telegram in respond.io is a bot channel. You create a bot in BotFather, connect the token, and the bot's conversations appear in the inbox. The consequences are Telegram's own rules rather than respond.io's design choices, and they are identical for every vendor using the Bot API.
A bot cannot send the first message to a user, so there is no Telegram outbound, follow-up or reactivation. A bot cannot see anything a group said before it was added, so history starts at zero. In groups, privacy mode is on by default, so it receives only commands and direct replies unless promoted to administrator in each customer group.
That is workable for a company whose Telegram presence is a public support bot. It is close to useless for a company whose customers message a person — and on Telegram that is the overwhelming majority. The practical result is an omnichannel dashboard reporting Telegram as a small channel, because most of your Telegram traffic never entered it.
Entergram connects the account, so the inbox contains what your team sees on their phone: DMs, groups, channels, folders, full history. On top of that sits the layer a team needs — assignment, internal comments, tickets raised from individual messages, priorities and due dates, SLA targets, and a Kanban board for working the queue.
The Telegram-specific details matter more than they sound. Reactions stay reactions. Replies quote the right message. Voice notes remain playable. Forwarded messages keep their attribution, which is how you know a lead came from a partner. Folders carry over, so the organisation your team already built survives. Multiple accounts merge into one inbox with per-account permissions.
None of this is exotic — it is simply what Telegram is. It only looks like depth next to a generic conversation object that also has to represent an SMS.
respond.io's workflow builder is a real advantage and Entergram has no equivalent visual canvas. If you want drag-and-drop routing rules spanning six channels, buy respond.io.
Entergram's bet is programmability: a REST API, Make.com, reminders, broadcast, and an MCP server that lets any modern AI model read and act on the workspace. In practice a model that reads the actual conversation replaces a lot of branching logic — it triages by meaning rather than by keyword, and it does not need a rule written for every case. AI inbox triage over MCP shows the pattern.
respond.io charges per plan tier and then scales with monthly active contacts. That suits marketing-led businesses with predictable contact volumes and penalises businesses whose contact count grows faster than their team — communities, marketplaces and anyone with a large inbound audience.
Entergram charges per seat — €29 on Basic, €39 on Pro — with unlimited chats and contacts, five connected Telegram accounts per seat and €5 per month for extras. A community team talking to 50,000 people pays the same as one talking to 500. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.
Cost
The tiers are not equivalent: respond.io's entry plan deliberately excludes automation, AI, broadcast and the API, so the realistic comparison starts at its Growth tier.
| respond.io | Entergram | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Starter — $79/month annually ($99 monthly); no automation, AI, workflows, broadcast or API | Basic — €29/seat/month (€290/year) |
| Mid plan | Growth — $159/month annually, unlocks automation, AI and reporting | Pro — €39/seat/month with ticketing, SLAs, analytics, API and MCP |
| Higher tiers | Advanced — scales with monthly active contacts (around $219/month at 5,000) | Enterprise — custom, includes self-hosting |
| Pricing driver | Plan tier plus monthly active contacts | Seats only — unlimited chats and contacts |
| Telegram accounts | A bot per channel configuration | Five per seat, +€5/month each beyond five |
| AI | AI agents from the Growth tier | MCP server and REST API included in Pro, no per-action fee |
| API access | Not included on Starter | Included in Pro |
A five-person team, one year
respond.io Growth is $1,908/year at the plan level before contact scaling, and the Advanced tier at 5,000 contacts is around $2,628/year. Five Entergram Pro seats is €2,340/year with unlimited contacts, up to 25 connected Telegram accounts, and ticketing, SLAs, analytics, API and MCP included.
On raw price these land close together, which makes the real question simple: do you need six channels in one inbox, or do you need the one channel your customers use to work properly? respond.io wins the first question outright; it cannot win the second, because its Telegram channel is a bot.
Competitor pricing reflects publicly listed rates at the time of writing and changes without notice. Entergram's plans are on our pricing page.
Honest recommendation
This decision is usually settled by counting channels. If Telegram is one of many, buy breadth. If Telegram is the business, buy depth.
Switching
If WhatsApp is doing real work in respond.io, keep it. This is usually about moving one channel out — and often dropping a tier as a result.
Scan the QR code from each account carrying customer conversations and confirm the login. History, groups and channels sync automatically; five accounts are included per seat.
Spend the first day just looking. Most teams find the Telegram volume in Entergram is several times what the bot channel reported, because DMs to team accounts and group chats never reached respond.io.
Recreate contact fields, tags and conversation statuses as Entergram custom columns and ticket statuses. Keep the vocabulary identical so reporting stays comparable across the move.
Update the Telegram link everywhere it appears — website, docs, signatures, ads. Keep the bot running for a few weeks as a safety net, then retire it.
Rebuild the Telegram-specific parts of your workflows using Entergram's REST API, Make.com or MCP. Multi-channel workflows that also touch WhatsApp stay where they are.
If Telegram was part of why you were on Growth or Advanced, recalculate after the move — the plan or contact tier may drop, which often covers the cost of the switch.
Connecting an account is a Telegram session, not a data export; disconnecting leaves every chat untouched. See the security page.
FAQ
Claims about respond.io reflect publicly available information at the time of writing. Verify current terms with the vendor.
Connect the accounts your customers already message and see how much Telegram volume the bot was never showing you.
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