The same kind of inbox. Not the same project.
Respond.io covers many channels and builds contact-center flows. Conext covers Meta’s three and is set up like a shop: catalog, hours, agents.
Both put chats in one place. The difference is who the product is built for, and how much you have to set up before the first message is answered.
Respond.io is a contact center. Conext is the counter.
Respond.io enters the conversation when the team already has several channels (WhatsApp, email, Telegram, SMS, webchat) and needs routing, SLAs, and a platform onboarding. That makes sense in a company with someone dedicated to support operations. In a small business that person does not exist: the owner answers between one order and the next.
Conext comes from that counter. WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger —the three the customer already uses— land in one inbox. AI agents answer prices, stock, and shipping from the catalog you loaded, or leave the text ready. You do not draw a flow for every recurring question.
Conext’s AI looks at the business, not a tree.
In Conext each agent has a role written in plain language and the catalog in view. One model call picks who handles it, whether it can go out on its own, and how to reply. The auto-send switch is per agent: sales can wait for your OK and shipping can go out alone.
Respond.io has automations and assistants, built as pieces of a wider platform. If you need ten channels and a workflow builder with nested conditions, that is their field. If you want “do you have size M?” not to wake you at eleven, Conext already handles it with the stock you loaded.
The path is the official API. The number is yours.
Conext comes in through Meta’s Cloud API. The number and the Page belong to the business: if you leave one day, you take them with you. There is no cloning a WhatsApp Web session or leaving a phone plugged in. Meta bills conversations to your account at their rate; here you pay for the software.
Setup lives in the CRM: Channels, an agent, the catalog. There is no implementation project and no specialist to assemble the workspaces. That is why the plan starts with a one-week trial, not an enterprise quote.
How to decide
- 1
Count the channels you actually use
If they are WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger, Conext covers them. If you also need email, SMS, and a website bot, Respond.io was built for that.
- 2
Look at who will configure it
If it is the owner between orders, a catalog-and-agents CRM fits. A contact center asks for someone to run it.
- 3
Try them with your questions
A week with the real catalog says more than a feature table. The two tools look different when they answer yours.
Respond.io is the right tool for a support team with many channels. Conext is the right one for the small business that already attends on Meta and does not want a second job of configuring a platform.
Want to see it with your own threads?
Essential includes one channel, 500 AI conversations per month, and one active agent.