7 best Heymarket alternatives for SMS and WhatsApp support in 2026

TL;DR

The best Heymarket alternative depends on which channel carries your support. If your team mostly texts and lives in a helpdesk, Textline is the closest swap, with its own Zendesk, Freshdesk and HubSpot apps. If you mainly need cheap US and Canadian texting, Quo is $15 to $35 per user a month with unlimited texts under fair use. WhatsApp-first teams should look at Wati or SleekFlow, and teams that want every channel in one inbox should look at respond.io, Front or Trengo.

The number most comparisons skip is the price per text. Heymarket charges a $0.03 message credit for every SMS segment, sent or received, on top of seats. For 5 agents texting 3,000 messages each way, I get about $395 a month on Heymarket Plus against about $118 on Quo Business, with SleekFlow and respond.io in between. The calculator below runs your own numbers.

None of these tools changes what happens after a text becomes a ticket. eesel is the AI helpdesk teammate that works that queue inside Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias. It doesn't send SMS, so you keep a texting tool and add eesel on the tickets. Swiftreg runs it on about 2,100 Zendesk tickets a month and has it tag tickets so the right SMS goes out.

Why do teams look for Heymarket alternatives?

Heymarket is a good texting inbox. It puts SMS, MMS, RCS and email in shared inboxes, handles 10DLC registration and opt-outs, and sells AI agents that answer from your own documents. Users rate it 4.6 out of 5 from 442 reviews on G2, and in my Heymarket review I gave it 4 out of 5.

I work eesel's support queue every day, and texting comes up in a lot of the setups I see: the texts arrive in one tool, then land in the helpdesk as tickets, and someone still has to answer them. Heymarket covers the first half of that well. The reasons people start shopping around are more specific:

• Every text costs a credit, both ways. The Heymarket pricing page bills $20, $41 or $62 per user a month on annual plans, then $0.03 per message credit, with inbound and outbound debited at the same rate. A busy support line pays for every customer reply it receives.
• AI texts cost three times more. An AI agent segment burns 3 credits, about $0.09 at the base tier, according to Heymarket's message bundles article.
• WhatsApp is Enterprise-only, and Heymarket says it's available in the US and Canada only.
• Helpdesk apps start on Plus. Zendesk, Help Scout, Shopify and the AI agents all need the $41 plan, so a Standard team that wants texts in its helpdesk has to move up.

One Capterra reviewer summed up the tiering complaint:

"What I didn't like about Heymarket was that some of the more advanced automation and integration features were included in the higher-tier plans, plus the message sync between platforms sometimes had lag, especially during high-volume times."

Verified reviewer, marketing, Capterra

So start with the job you're hiring for, then pick the tool. A team texting delivery updates in Ohio and a team answering WhatsApp in Singapore need different tools, and Heymarket's limits hit them differently.

How I picked these Heymarket alternatives

I started from the tools ChatGPT shortlists when a support lead asks for Heymarket alternatives (respond.io, SleekFlow, Front, Trengo, Textline and Wati), then added Quo, the renamed OpenPhone, because it's the cheapest way to share a texting number.

For each one I read the vendor's own pricing page, plan comparison and help center on October 27, 2026, and took every price from those pages. Ratings and quotes come from G2, Capterra and Trustpilot. I judged each tool on five things that matter to a support team that texts:

1. Who carries the SMS. Native texting, or bring your own Twilio.
2. WhatsApp. Included, an add-on, or missing.
3. Helpdesk fit. Native apps for Zendesk, Freshdesk or HubSpot, or only Zapier.
4. AI and how it's billed. Per text, per reply, per conversation or per resolution.
5. Total cost for one team. 5 agents, 3,000 texts sent and 3,000 received a month, 800 customers.

I haven't run each tool on a live queue for months, so the hands-on parts are the docs, the product pages and what verified users report.

Heymarket alternatives compared at a glance

Two things jump out. Three of the seven don't carry SMS themselves, and the only two with native helpdesk apps for texting are Heymarket and Textline.

Who actually sends your texts?

This is the question I'd ask first, because it decides who you call when a text doesn't arrive and who sends you the carrier bill.

On the bring-your-own tools, you open a Twilio account, buy a number and register it, and Twilio bills you per segment. Twilio's US pricing lists $0.0083 per SMS segment sent or received on a long code, plus carrier fees of up to half a cent. That's about a quarter of Heymarket's $0.03 credit, but it's a second vendor, a second bill and a second support desk. If your team has never touched Twilio, the native tools are less work, and that's worth something.

What would 5 agents and 3,000 texts cost on each tool?

Here's my worked example for one support team: 5 agents, 3,000 SMS segments sent and 3,000 received a month, 800 different customers texted, annual billing. Prices are list prices from each vendor's site on October 27, 2026.

The Trengo line assumes each customer is one conversation, which Trengo defines as a reply inside a 7-day window. Change the inputs below to see where your own volume lands.

The pattern holds as volume grows: Heymarket's bill tracks your message count, while Quo stays flat and the Twilio-based tools grow at about a quarter of the rate. If most of your texts are customers writing in, that inbound charge is the line to watch.

1. Textline

Best for: SMS-first support teams that want texts to land in Zendesk, Freshdesk or HubSpot.

Textline is the most Heymarket-like tool on this list. It's a shared SMS and MMS inbox built for support, sales and logistics teams, with claiming, transfers, internal "whispers", saved replies, auto responses, surveys and metrics. Healthcare is a big part of its pitch, with a patented "Secondary Consent" flow and a BAA on its HIPAA page.

How it compares to Heymarket

The helpdesk side is where Textline is strongest. Its Zendesk integration creates or updates a ticket for every inbound text, and there are matching apps for Freshdesk and HubSpot. Heymarket's Zendesk app needs its $41 Plus plan. What Textline doesn't have is WhatsApp or voice, and I found no AI features anywhere on its site. Receiving a text costs a credit, the same as on Heymarket.

Pros

• Native apps for Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot and Salesforce (Salesforce on Pro).
• SOC 2 and HIPAA with a BAA, plus sensitive data redaction on every plan.
• Phone numbers in 32 countries, against Heymarket's US and Canada.
• Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 390 reviews on G2.

Cons

• No published base price, so you can't price it without a sales call.
• No WhatsApp and no voice; webchat, Facebook and Instagram are the other channels.
• Inbound and outbound texts both use credits, and international texts cost 4 to 17 credits each.

Credit billing is the recurring complaint:

"I don't like all of the extra charges that happen when credits have been used. I find reporting a bit difficult to discern when trying to decide how many back up credits to use."

Lisa P., G2

Pricing

From Textline's plan comparison and pricing FAQ. Base fees are quote-only.

Verdict: pick Textline if you text from a helpdesk and want the Zendesk or Freshdesk app without paying for a higher tier first. Skip it if you need WhatsApp or want AI in the texting tool itself.

2. Quo (formerly OpenPhone)

Best for: small US and Canadian teams that want shared texting and calling at a flat price.

Quo is what OpenPhone is called now; the old pricing URL redirects to quo.com/pricing. It's a business phone system first: every user gets a number, teams share numbers, and calls and texts sit in one thread per customer. It claims 90,000+ businesses.

How it compares to Heymarket

Quo's pricing is the opposite of Heymarket's. Texts and calls to the US and Canada are unlimited on every plan, subject to fair use, so the bill is just seats. You also get calling, which Heymarket doesn't sell. What you give up is helpdesk depth: there's no Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias integration in its integrations directory, no WhatsApp, and numbers are US and Canada only, the same footprint as Heymarket.

Pros

• Flat seat pricing, with US and Canada texting included.
• Calls, voicemail transcripts and texting in one app on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and web.
• Sona, a voice AI agent, comes with 1,000 free credits a month (about 10 calls).
• 4.7 out of 5 from 3,423 reviews on G2.

Cons

• No native helpdesk integrations; HubSpot and Salesforce need the Business plan.
• Starter caps a shared number at 10 users.
• Automated texts through the API, Zapier or Make cost $0.01 per segment.

Registration was smooth for at least one reviewer, which matters on a texting tool:

"My SMS application and business caller ID were approved within days, and two-way texting has worked reliably since."

Sheri K., CPA, G2

Pricing

From the Quo pricing page and its billing help doc. No free plan; 7-day trial.

Verdict: Quo is the cheapest way off Heymarket for a North American team that texts and calls. Pick it if the bill is the problem. Skip it if texts need to become helpdesk tickets automatically.

3. respond.io

Best for: teams that need WhatsApp, SMS, social and email in one inbox, with AI agents on top.

respond.io is the tool ChatGPT ranked first for this question. It's a WhatsApp-first messaging inbox that also connects Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, LINE, Viber, email and SMS, and it bills by monthly active contacts rather than by seat alone. I covered its plans in detail in my respond.io pricing breakdown.

How it compares to Heymarket

respond.io doesn't carry SMS. According to its SMS integration page, you connect Twilio, Bird, Vonage or Telnyx, and that provider bills you per message. WhatsApp is the reverse: respond.io says it adds no fee on top of Meta's. AI Agents start on the Growth plan and cost 2 to 5 AI credits per reply. Zendesk only connects through Make, n8n or Zapier.

Pros

• Widest channel list here, with WhatsApp at Meta's own rates.
• AI Agents with handoff by role, workload or online status.
• 5 users included even on Starter, 10 on Growth.
• 4.8 out of 5 from 554 reviews on G2.

Cons

• SMS means a second vendor and a second bill.
• ISO 27001 and GDPR only; SOC 2 and HIPAA aren't listed on its trust center.
• AI credit overage of $15 per 1,000 is always on, capped at 200% of the allowance.

"Some advanced features and automation settings can be a little confusing at first, especially for new users. The initial setup takes some time, and I think the onboarding process could be simpler."

Roadway Defense R., G2

Pricing

From the respond.io pricing page at the 1,000-contact tier. Monthly-billed prices are the page's struck-through yearly totals divided by 12.

Verdict: pick respond.io if WhatsApp matters as much as SMS and you're happy running Twilio alongside it. If you're weighing it anyway, my respond.io alternatives list covers the rest of that field.

4. Front

Best for: support teams whose main channel is email and who want SMS and WhatsApp in the same inbox.

Front is a shared inbox that grew into a full support platform, with ticketing, rules, analytics, a knowledge base and 160+ integrations. It's the only tool here that could replace your helpdesk as well as your texting app. My Front review goes deeper on the inbox itself.

How it compares to Heymarket

Texting is a channel in Front, not its core. SMS comes through Twilio or Dialpad, and the Starter plan allows only one channel type, so email plus SMS needs Professional. Native WhatsApp is a Professional add-on billed at Meta's cost plus a 20% admin fee, per Front's WhatsApp help article. In return you get Autopilot, an AI agent that works on SMS and WhatsApp and charges by outcome.

Pros

• Email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat and social in one collaborative inbox.
• Outcome-based AI: $0.05 to triage, $0.39 for a handoff, $0.89 for a resolution.
• SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA listed, with US or EU hosting.
• 4.6 out of 5 from 2,527 reviews on G2.

Cons

• The most expensive per seat for a team that only texts.
• SMS needs a Twilio or Dialpad account, billed separately.
• No SMS broadcast feature is listed on the pricing page.

"What I love about Front is that I don't have to forward an email every time I need help from someone else. I can leave an internal note, share the context, and keep track of who is handling the matter."

Antonio G., G2

Pricing

From the Front pricing page with yearly billing ("Save 24%"). Monthly prices weren't shown. Full detail is in my Front pricing post.

Verdict: pick Front if email is most of your volume and texting is the second channel. If texting is the main channel, you're paying for an email platform you won't use. The Front alternatives list helps if that's you.

5. Trengo

Best for: European support teams that want WhatsApp, email, chat and SMS in one inbox at a bundle price.

Trengo is a European-owned omnichannel inbox and a Meta Business Partner. It sells plans as bundles of users and conversations rather than per seat, which suits a team of 10 or more and costs more for a team of 3. I broke the plans down in my Trengo pricing post.

How it compares to Heymarket

Like respond.io and Front, Trengo connects to your own Twilio account for SMS, per its SMS help article, and Twilio bills you. WhatsApp is included, with the first 1,000 messages per number free each month. Its AI agent, HelpMate, charges for every Autopilot conversation from the first one. There's no Zendesk integration, so Trengo is a replacement for your helpdesk inbox, not an add-on to it.

Pros

• One price covers 10 users, which beats per-seat pricing for larger teams.
• WhatsApp, email, chat, social and voice in one inbox.
• Strong ecommerce and hospitality integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Booking.com).
• 4.3 out of 5 from 246 reviews on G2.

Cons

• Priced in euros, with no fixed USD price list.
• No native mobile app; mobile is a web app added to your home screen.
• I found no SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA claim on its security pages, only GDPR.

"Previously, I had to open and maintain seven different mailboxes daily. Additionally, I kept track of WhatsApp on a separate tab, which sometimes led to me forgetting messages."

Ashley d., G2

Pricing

From the Trengo pricing page, in euros.

Verdict: pick Trengo if you're a team of 10 or more in Europe and WhatsApp matters more than SMS. For a small US texting team, it's more inbox than you need. See Trengo alternatives if the bundle doesn't fit.

6. SleekFlow

Best for: WhatsApp-first teams that also want cheap US SMS in the same inbox.

SleekFlow is a Singapore-based messaging platform built around WhatsApp, with Instagram, Messenger, email, SMS and VoIP in one inbox and AI agents under the AgentFlow name. It bills by monthly active contacts. My SleekFlow pricing post walks through the plans.

How it compares to Heymarket

SleekFlow is the one WhatsApp-first tool that sells SMS itself. Its SMS pricing article lists US local SMS at $0.001955 per segment, sent or received, paid from a prepaid wallet, plus carrier and 10DLC fees. In-app numbers are US-only for now, or you connect your own Twilio. Its WhatsApp template rates sit about 15% above Meta's US list rates by my math. No Zendesk or Freshdesk integration is listed.

Pros

• Cheapest per-text SMS rate here when you buy the number inside SleekFlow.
• AI agents from the Pro plan, with testing before launch and handoff summaries.
• 10 users included on Pro and Premium.
• 4.6 out of 5 from 205 reviews on G2.

Cons

• Most reviewers are in Asia (153 of 205 on G2); only 3 are from North America.
• HubSpot needs Premium and Salesforce needs Enterprise.
• AI agents take tuning before they answer well.

"it takes about a month of gradual training before it becomes mature enough to answer customer questions properly."

Verified user, G2

Pricing

From the SleekFlow pricing page in USD. Monthly-billed prices are the struck-through yearly totals divided by 12.

Verdict: pick SleekFlow if WhatsApp is your main channel and you want SMS without a Twilio account. If you're comparing it head to head with others, see my SleekFlow alternatives.

7. Wati

Best for: WhatsApp-only support and campaigns, with SMS as a fallback at most.

Wati is a WhatsApp Business API provider with a shared team inbox, broadcasts, chatbots and Click-to-WhatsApp ad tools, and it claims 16,000+ businesses in 190+ countries. It's here because ChatGPT recommends it for this question, but it's the furthest from Heymarket. I went through it in depth in my Wati pricing post.

How it compares to Heymarket

SMS is only on Wati's custom Business plan, listed as "SMS fallback" in beta on its plan comparison. Everything else is WhatsApp, plus Instagram, Messenger and TikTok. WhatsApp messages carry a markup over Meta: in the US, Wati charges $0.04 per marketing message against Meta's $0.025. AI agents are a separate product called Astra, priced from $0 to $399 a month on top.

Pros

• Fast to set up for WhatsApp broadcasts and support from one inbox.
• Mobile app inbox on every plan.
• 1,000 free service messages a month for every business.
• 4.6 out of 5 from 517 reviews on G2.

Cons

• Not a texting tool for most buyers; SMS is beta and Business-only.
• No Zendesk integration (Zapier or API only).
• Message rates run 1.2x to 1.8x Meta's in the US.

"One thing I dislike about Wati is that sometimes the template review and approval process can take some time, especially when we are preparing messages for an upcoming event."

Sarvesh G., G2

Pricing

From the Wati pricing page for US visitors (prices change by location).

Verdict: pick Wati only if WhatsApp has replaced SMS for your customers. For a US team leaving Heymarket because of SMS costs, it solves a different problem. My Wati alternatives list covers the WhatsApp field properly.

What does AI cost on each texting tool?

Most of these tools now sell an AI agent, but they meter it so differently that the sticker prices can't be compared directly.

A per-segment price like Heymarket's grows with every back-and-forth in a thread. A per-reply price like respond.io's grows with how chatty the agent is. Front's per-resolution price only charges the full $0.89 when no human follows up within 24 hours on SMS. For a support thread that takes four texts each way, that difference adds up quickly, so price the AI on your real thread length before you compare. My guide to AI handoff rules covers what to set before the AI answers anything.

Where does eesel fit if you keep texting?

Here's the honest scope first: eesel isn't a texting tool. Its channel docs list a website chat bubble, an inline embed, a public chat link, Zendesk Messenger, Freshchat and phone calls. SMS isn't one of them, so if you need to send and receive texts, you still need one of the tools above.

What eesel does is the work on the ticket. eesel is an AI teammate platform, and for support that's the AI helpdesk teammate, which joins your Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias queue. It reads each ticket, tags it, drafts or sends the reply from your macros, help center and past tickets, and leaves a note when a person should take over. If Textline or Heymarket is turning texts into tickets, eesel picks them up from there, which is what AI for Zendesk means in practice.

Swiftreg, a UK number plate seller, shows the split. Two eesel agents run on its Zendesk and handled about 2,100 tickets between August 8 and September 8, 2026, sending about 1,500 public replies and leaving about 1,050 internal notes. When a private seller confirms a plate is still for sale, eesel replies to every waiting buyer and tags the ticket so an SMS goes out. The texting stays in the texting tool, and the thinking happens on the ticket.

Two more setups are worth copying if you're nervous about AI answering customers directly:

• Cactus Club Cafe, a Vancouver restaurant group, runs eesel on its Zendesk tech desk. In a month it handled about 750 tickets and wrote about 790 draft replies for the team, against 51 sent directly.
• SamCart runs one agent on Freshdesk tickets and another on its website chat, answering from 280 help center articles.

I've watched eesel go live on real support queues for years now, and the setup that holds up is the Cactus Club one: start with drafts, compare them with what your team would have sent, then widen what the agent sends on its own. eesel's pricing is a fixed monthly batch where a ticket or a chat is one credit however long it runs, from $299 for 500 credits, with 100 free credits to try it.

How do I switch from Heymarket without losing texts?

Most of the risk in a switch is the phone number and its registration, not the inbox. Before you sign anything:

1. Check your renewal. Heymarket adds credit bundles automatically when you go over, and the bigger bundle stays on your plan at renewal unless you ask to drop it. Reduce it before you leave.
2. Plan the number move. Quo says porting is free, though third-party fees may apply, and Textline can text-enable most existing landlines.
3. Budget for 10DLC again. US texting needs A2P 10DLC registration on the new tool: $19.50 once plus $1.50 to $3 a month on Quo, $15 a month per campaign on Textline, or Twilio's own fees on the bring-your-own tools.
4. Allow time for toll-free numbers. SleekFlow says toll-free verification usually takes 3 to 5 business days before any SMS can go out.
5. Decide where texts land. If texts should become helpdesk tickets, check the Zendesk SMS channel or your new tool's helpdesk app before you move numbers.

If you want a wider look at texting with AI, my AI for SMS support roundup and guide to adding AI to SMS go further, and shared inbox software covers inboxes without the texting focus.

Try eesel on the tickets your texts create

Whichever texting tool you pick, the texts still end up as tickets someone has to answer. eesel works those tickets in Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias: it tags, drafts and hands off the way you set it up, the way Swiftreg runs it on about 2,100 tickets a month. It works beside your texting inbox, and you can try it on your own queue with 100 free credits.

Try eesel on your Zendesk queue for free.