Should I hire an agency to build me a bot, or buy one ready-made?
It depends on what you need it to connect to. An agency integrates with whatever your company has, however odd; a ready-made one starts today and doesn't depend on the agency getting back to you. The big difference isn't the price: it's who maintains it in month 7.
Prices and spec sheets consulted on
Side by side
| OnePeak | An agency that builds it for you | |
|---|---|---|
| When it starts answering | the same day | when the project is finished |
| Who maintains it afterward | we do, for as long as you're a customer | depends on the contract — sometimes nobody |
| If you want to change an answer tomorrow | you change it yourself in the portal | you request it and wait |
| Integrating with an old or custom-built system | no, unless it has a standard way to connect | yes, and it's their best argument |
| What happens if you stop paying | the agent shuts down; your data stays yours and can be exported | depends on whose name the accounts are in |
| What Meta charges for delivered template messages | the same: Meta sets the rate | the same[1] |
Where we don't win
An agency does things we don't do
If you need the agent to read the inventory in a system that was custom-built fifteen years ago, that is integration work and someone has to do it. We connect to anything that has a standard way to connect; the rest we don't cover, and it isn't worth pretending we do.
We don't publish what an agency costs, either
There is no list price for “an agency”: the work ranges from a one-off job to a long project. A made-up number to make the table favor us would be exactly the kind of figure this site doesn't publish.
The question that decides it is the one about month 7
Almost everything that breaks in these systems breaks after delivery: a price changes, a rule changes, the model gets updated. Before you choose, ask who is going to fix it in November and what that costs.
Frequently asked questions
What does an agency do that OnePeak doesn't?
Custom integrations. If your company runs on an in-house or older system, someone has to write the bridge to it, and that is project work. We connect to the tools that offer a standard way to connect; beyond that, no.
Who maintains the agent after it's delivered?
It's the question worth asking before signing, in both cases. Here, maintenance is included for as long as you're a customer. In a custom project it depends on the contract, and sometimes no contract covers it.
Whose name do the accounts end up in?
It matters more than it seems. The WhatsApp number, the Meta platform account and access to the model should end up in your company's name. If they end up in the name of whoever built it for you, changing providers stops being your decision.
Can I change what it answers without calling anyone?
Yes: you ask your employee for it in your portal chat and the change goes live right away. In a custom build that is usually a request to the provider — and then you wait.
When does an agency make sense?
When what needs solving is the connection to your systems, not the conversation. If the agent has to check an in-house inventory, write to an old system or follow an internal process that only exists at your company, that's project work.
Where the numbers come from
- Meta — WhatsApp Business Platform pricingSince 1 July 2025 Meta charges per delivered template message, with rates by country and by category. It announces that on 1 October 2026 it starts charging for service messages (the reply within the 24-hour window), at the same rates as utility and authentication per market, and that it introduces a free tier of 1,000 service messages a month per business number. On the same date it starts charging for utility messages sent in reply to the user within that window, which had not been charged since 1 July 2025. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing
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Updated: 2026-10-17