Evolution API vs Whapi.cloud
Whapi.cloud if you want a REST API without running a stateful service; Evolution API if data residency or volume makes self-hosting worth the operations. Read Evolution's additional licence terms before a commercial deployment, and note that its pinned Baileys candidate lagged upstream at the time of checking.
Why these two get compared
This is the self-host-or-rent decision in its clearest form. Evolution API gives you a REST server you run yourself on top of Baileys; Whapi.cloud gives you the same shape of API as a hosted service with a dashboard. Teams compare them when they know they want a REST API rather than a library and are deciding who carries the operations.
Side by side
| Dimension | Evolution API | Whapi.cloud |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache-2.0 with additional terms: a visible notice to administrators that Evolution API is in use, and the producer may require a commercial licence.source, checked September 16, 2026 | Proprietary hosted service under its terms of service. |
| Engine and protocol | Self-hosted REST server over Baileys, pinned to 7.0.0-rc.9 (five release candidates behind upstream on 14 September 2026).source, checked September 14, 2026 | Hosted. One linked-device session per channel; the engine is not published. |
| Hosting | Your own Docker deployment with a database and media storage. You run the upgrades and the on-call. | Hosted by the provider. Nothing to run. |
| Groups, Channels and status | Groups (create, participants, invites, settings) and status posts (sendStatus) as REST endpoints.source, checked September 14, 2026 | Groups, communities, Channels (newsletters) and stories as REST endpoints. |
| Pricing | Free to download. The cost is the server, the database, the storage and the hours; read the additional licence terms before commercial use.source, checked September 14, 2026 | Sandbox free with published ceilings. Premium quoted at $29 per number per month with a five-day trial; the annual figure is shown inconsistently on the pricing page.source, checked September 14, 2026 |
| Maintenance cadence | 0 public commits in the 90 days to 14 September 2026. Newest tag 2.4.0-rc2; last stable release 2.3.7 (December 2025).source, checked September 14, 2026 | Managed by the provider. No public source repository to measure. |
| Webhooks | Per-instance webhook URL with a configurable event list. | Multiple URLs per channel, per-event routing, retries, a secret header and custom headers. |
| SDKs and client code | REST only. No first-party SDK packages are listed in its documentation. | No OpenAPI document. Example bots rather than maintained SDKs; documentation on ReadMe with an llms.txt. |
Which one to pick
Pick Evolution API when
Sessions must stay on your own infrastructure, you already run Docker and Postgres in production, and you have someone on call for a service that holds live WhatsApp sessions.
Pick Whapi.cloud when
You want a working REST API this afternoon, a dashboard for the team, and you would rather pay per channel than run and upgrade a server.
Where Wapito fits
Against a self-hosted gateway, Wapito trades the containers, the database and the on-call for a per-channel price. The sessions live with us, which is the right call unless residency rules say otherwise.
Wapito is a third hosted option in the same category: one linked number per channel, billed per channel, with the same ban risk. What differs is a published OpenAPI document and signed webhooks.
Frequently asked questions
Is self-hosting Evolution API cheaper than paying Whapi.cloud per channel?
For a handful of numbers, rarely, once you count the server, the database, the media storage and the hours spent upgrading a stateful service. It becomes genuinely cheaper at volume, or when data residency rules mean the sessions must stay on your own infrastructure. The comparison worth doing is total cost of ownership over a year, not the software licence against the monthly price.
Do both use the same underlying engine?
Evolution API is open about it: a Baileys release candidate, pinned in its dependencies, which on the day we checked was five candidates behind upstream. Whapi.cloud does not publish its engine; what you can verify is that each channel is a linked device paired by QR or pairing code, which means the same class of session and the same class of ban risk as any unofficial API.
What are the additional licence terms on Evolution API?
Its licence is Apache-2.0 plus conditions: a visible notice to system administrators that Evolution API is in use, no removal of the logo or copyright in its frontend components, and the producer may require a commercial licence when those conditions are not met. Read the licence file in the repository before you deploy it inside a commercial product, and confirm the current wording, because it can change.
Related
Read more about each
Feature guides
Other comparisons
Try it on your own number
Create a channel, link a WhatsApp number by QR or pairing code, and call the API in a couple of minutes. The Sandbox plan is free and needs no card.