Ralfi

If you sell on Instagram and WhatsApp, the default answer has long been ManyChat: cheap to start, built for flows, and good at catching DMs. The catch is that flow builders don't really sell. They route. Ralfi, a Portuguese startup at ralfi.ai, pitches itself as the step beyond that: an AI sales assistant that answers questions on your site, Instagram and WhatsApp, checks real stock, builds a cart and drops a payment link right into the conversation. Its own comparison table puts it against ManyChat, Tidio and Gorgias on four points: replying on Instagram and WhatsApp, charging inside the chat, booking into a calendar, and having AI included in the plan rather than bolted on.

The price comparison is where you'll want to look closely. Ralfi starts at 49 € a month before VAT. By its own figures, that's more than ManyChat Pro at $29 (billed annually) and Gorgias at $40, but less than Tidio at $68. So you're not choosing Ralfi to save money on day one. You're choosing it because the cheapest plan already includes AI replies, stock sync and in-chat checkout, which on the other tools usually means extra add-ons or a higher tier. Its tagline, "Nunca inventa nada" (it never makes anything up), is aimed squarely at the fear of a generic chatbot inventing prices, stock or return policies.

Setup is four steps: connect Shopify, WooCommerce or a spreadsheet, teach it your shipping, returns, FAQs and brand tone, let it sell in chat, and track conversations, orders and revenue in one dashboard. It also hooks into Google Calendar and Outlook for bookings, showing only free slots. The honest caveats: the main call to action is still "join the waitlist", the site is written primarily in Portuguese with prices in euros, and Ralfi takes 2% plus Stripe fees on sales that go through its own checkout. If you're a small European shop drowning in the same 23:00 DMs about sizes and shipping, it's worth a serious look.