
Zavu is a CPaaS platform providing a unified messaging API across WhatsApp, SMS, email, voice, and Telegram.
Zavu Labs Inc. operates Zavu, a developer-first unified messaging API that consolidates WhatsApp, SMS, Email, Telegram, and Voice behind a single integration. The company markets it as one API for all messages, with a five-minute path from signup to first message.
On top of those channels it layers AI agents that answer inbound SMS, Email, and WhatsApp using retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, and multi-turn flows. A routing engine selects the cheapest deliverable path and automatically falls back when a channel fails.
Zavu positions itself at the convergence of cloud communications and conversational AI, framing the product as the Stripe for AI messaging as agent-driven workloads move onto WhatsApp, SMS, and email. Its bet is that developers building AI agents will prefer one unified messaging API over stitching together separate CPaaS and model vendors.
The broader CPaaS market is shifting from per-channel pricing toward consolidated, usage-based developer platforms, and incumbents such as Twilio are themselves adding AI layers to their messaging suites. Zavu competes by undercutting on price, bundling AI agents into every tier, and targeting developer teams that prioritize time-to-first-message and cost transparency over enterprise breadth.
Zavu headlines on price transparency: SMS and Voice are billed at carrier cost with no markup, and the company publishes a side-by-side comparison claiming up to 79% savings versus Twilio at equivalent US message volume. Every plan tier, including the free one, ships all channels rather than selling them as separate add-ons.
AI agents are bundled into the platform instead of sold as a paid add-on, and an ML-based routing layer selects the cheapest deliverable channel per message with automatic fallback. A free tier offering 2,000 WhatsApp messages and 3,000 emails per month with no credit card lowers the barrier for developers to trial multi-channel messaging.
Zavu runs a freemium-plus-usage model: a perpetual free plan (2,000 WhatsApp messages, 3,000 emails, and $2 of AI credits per month, no credit card) feeds three paid subscription tiers, namely Hobby at $25 per month, Standard at $99, and Growth at $299. Each paid tier adds more included phone numbers, WhatsApp Business Account connections, message volume, and function-call quota.
SMS and Voice sit outside the subscriptions and bill pay-as-you-go from a prepaid credit balance at carrier cost (SMS from $0.004), while WhatsApp templates pass through Meta rates with no markup. Annual billing discounts the headline rate, and dedicated email IPs and extra phone numbers are sold as additive line items, with billing run through Stripe.