Conversational commerce · WhatsApp Business messaging
WABA Index: a bilingual index of WhatsApp Business platforms for Brazil, with real monthly costs
A bilingual English and Brazilian Portuguese index of WhatsApp Business platforms for companies selling in Brazil, with plan-level scores that show their sources and the real monthly cost in reais.
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- WABA Index
- Industry
- Conversational commerce · WhatsApp Business messaging
- Year
- 2026
- 23 WhatsApp Business platforms rated
- 74 scoring components across 8 weighted criteria
- 22 article pages in two languages
- 6 read-only MCP tools
Challenge
WhatsApp platforms in Brazil price in very different ways: seats, message packages, Meta fees passed through with a markup, setup fees. Portuguese-language support and local payment options such as Pix, boleto and nota fiscal vary widely, and Meta's own rates change on dated announcements. A buyer comparing list prices cannot see what a platform will cost per month.
Solution
We built WABA Index as a bilingual application with its methodology stored as data: 8 weighted criteria, 40 sub-criteria and 74 scoring components over a registry of 71 facts. Each platform is scored on the plan a buyer would actually use, with an evidence ladder and an upper bound that shows how much is still unverified. A cost engine prices a standard small-business scenario in BRL from the plan, seats, dated Meta rates and markup. Pros, cons and “Not a fit if…” lines come only from trigger rules over the data.
What we delivered
- Bilingual app: English at the root, Brazilian Portuguese under /pt-br/, reciprocal hreflang pairs and localized 404 pages
- Methodology as data: 8 weighted criteria, 40 sub-criteria and 74 fact components
- Scoring, total-cost-of-ownership and reputation engines writing to one committed ratings store
- REST API with 7 endpoint groups and an OpenAPI document
- Read-only MCP server with 6 tools
- MDX articles in EN and PT-BR pairs, with numbers inserted only through data components
- Animated home-page hero: a WhatsApp conversation in which an AI agent takes a Pix payment, with a reduced-motion fallback
- Build gates, about 73 unit-test cases and 13 end-to-end scenarios on desktop and mobile profiles
Functionality
- Plan-level scores with visible sources, an upper bound and the share still unverified
- Monthly cost in reais for a standard small-business scenario on every platform card
- Cited strengths, weaknesses and “Not a fit if…” lines generated by trigger rules
- Publishing blocked unless each language has at least 3 cons and 1 “Not a fit if…” line
- Coverage of the official WhatsApp API path, AI chatbots, CRM, Pix payments and local support
- Rankings, platform comparisons and recommendations
- Language switch that leads to the paired page in the other language
- MCP tools for search, platform cards, comparisons, pricing scenarios, integration guides and score explanations
Integrations
- Model Context Protocol server over HTTP, read-only
- REST API (/api/v1) with an OpenAPI document
- Dated Meta WhatsApp Business rates feeding the cost engine
- Review-platform snapshots feeding the reputation score
- llms.txt and JSON-LD structured data
- Vercel Web Analytics
Technologies
Result
WABA Index is live and indexed on wabaindex.com. It lists 23 WhatsApp Business platforms with rated cards and 11 article pairs in English and Brazilian Portuguese, out of 25 planned per language. Pages, API, MCP server and articles read the same ratings store, so a new Meta rate or a corrected price reaches all of them in one build.
One ratings store, four readers
WABA Index keeps its facts in git and compiles them to JSON at build time; there is no database. Scores, costs and reputation go into a single committed ratings store that the pages, the REST API, the MCP server and the articles all read. Articles receive numbers only through data components (score, price-from, setup fee, TCO tables, Meta rates), so an article cannot quote a different figure from the platform card it links to.
Two languages, one site
English sits at the root and Brazilian Portuguese under /pt-br/. Every page has a reciprocal hreflang partner, the language switch lands on the paired page, and tests keep the two UI dictionaries key-identical. A Portuguese spell-check runs with the other build gates: data sync, score verification, link audit, content gates, publish check, ranking preview and a confidentiality scan.
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