# Circles vs Green-API: a developer gateway, or your chats for your agent > Green-API is a long-running hosted WhatsApp gateway for developers, and it now runs a hosted MCP. Circles is for a person who wants Claude, ChatGPT or Instinct to read their own chats, with nothing to build. **Choose Green-API** if you are a developer building bots or integrations, possibly across several numbers, and want a mature gateway API with a free developer plan. **Choose Circles** if you want your agent to read your own chats, connected with one address and an approval, with per-chat permissions, voice notes as text and an OAuth sign-in with no instance tokens to handle, on Free, Starter $9.90 or Pro $29 a month (as of October 2026). Source: https://usecircles.app/en/compare/green-api · Updated 2026-10-27 ## Green-API and Circles at a glance As of October 2026. Facts about Green-API come from the sources listed at the end of this page. | | Green-API | Circles | | --- | --- | --- | | Setup | About 5 steps: create an account, create an instance, scan a QR, add the connector, enter the instance ID and token | Link your number from your phone (a code or a QR), then connect your agent with a tap, an address or a token | | Your personal number | Yes, any number as a linked device | Yes, your existing number as a linked device. No WhatsApp Business, no second number. | | Hosted | Yes | Yes, always on. Nothing to install, no computer that must stay awake. | | MCP and sign-in | Hosted at `mcp.green-api.com/mcp` (SSE too). In Claude you add it as a custom connector and authorise in the browser with your instance ID and token. | Remote MCP at `https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp`: OAuth 2.1 (paste one address and approve) or a token | | Per-chat permissions | Allow or block API methods (Advanced Restriction Settings). No per-chat scoping. | Per chat: hidden, read, or read and send. Hidden chats do not exist for agents. | | Voice notes | No transcription | Transcribed automatically, Hebrew and English, inline as text and searchable | | Photos and files | Through API methods | Photos, PDFs, documents and video handed over on request, up to 50 MB each. The agent reads them itself. | | Sending controls | Sending methods can be allowed or blocked | On Pro. Off until you open a chat for it. Daily cap across all agents (default 5), never retried automatically, every request logged. | | Price (October 2026) | Developer plan free: 1 instance, 3 chats, monthly caps such as 300 history calls. Business is priced per instance; we could not verify the figure on 27 October 2026. | Free; Starter $9.90 a month; Pro $29 a month (₪99 in Israel), 14 days of Pro free | ## Where Green-API is the better choice - **Building a product.** A broad, mature API for bots and integrations, with an MCP as well. - **Many numbers.** Instances are the unit, so running several numbers is the normal case. - **A free developer plan** to try things on three chats. - **Likely cheaper per instance** at scale, though we could not verify the Business price. - **Transparency on risk.** Green-API published its own article on WhatsApp's unofficial-client warning (3 September 2026). ## Where Circles is the better choice - **Made for a person.** Link from your phone, then connect Claude, ChatGPT or Codex by pasting one address and approving. No instance ID or token to copy. - **Per-chat permissions.** Circles restricts access chat by chat, and a hidden chat does not exist for agents at all. Green-API restricts API methods. - **Voice notes as text**, Hebrew and English, inside each message. Green-API does not transcribe. - **Agent-shaped tools.** `activity`, `catch_up`, `search`, `people` and `documents` answer "what did I miss?" directly, with senders by name. - **Sending off by default**, capped per day, never retried, logged. Same terms for both. Circles, like every tool that reads a personal number, connects as an unofficial linked device, which is outside WhatsApp's terms. No one can promise WhatsApp will never disconnect a device. What Circles offers is careful defaults: reading by default, sending off until you allow it, a daily cap, no broadcast, and a dedicated IP address shared with no other customer. It makes no claim to a safer protocol. [How Circles handles your chats](https://usecircles.app/en/security). ## Using both A developer can keep building on Green-API for a product or a client, and still use Circles on their own personal number so their agent can read it. If you need an HTTP API for your own agent, Circles has one too: [a WhatsApp API for your personal number](https://usecircles.app/en/whatsapp-api-personal-number). ## Questions and answers ### Does Green-API have an MCP server? Yes. As of October 2026 it runs a hosted MCP at mcp.green-api.com/mcp, added in Claude as a custom connector with your instance ID and token. Circles' MCP is at `https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp`, with OAuth and no instance token. ### Does Green-API transcribe voice notes? No, per its pages on 27 October 2026. Circles transcribes voice notes automatically, in Hebrew and English. ### Can I limit which chats the agent sees in Green-API? Green-API restricts API methods, with no per-chat setting. In Circles, each chat is hidden, read, or read and send. ### Which is cheaper? Green-API has a free developer plan for three chats; its Business price per instance was not verifiable on 27 October 2026. Circles is free for 2 chats, $9.90 a month on Starter for up to 5, and $29 a month on Pro for every chat. Each plan covers one number and every agent. ### Are both unofficial? Yes. Both link a number as an unofficial linked device, which is outside WhatsApp's terms. Circles reads by default, caps sends and never broadcasts. ## Sources Competitor facts as seen on 27 October 2026 unless another date is given. Prices change often in this category: check the vendor's own page before you buy. - [green-api.com/en/docs/integration/mcp/integration-setup/](https://green-api.com/en/docs/integration/mcp/integration-setup/) - [green-api.com/en/docs/about-tariffs/](https://green-api.com/en/docs/about-tariffs/) - [green-api.com/articles/en/whatsapp-says-no-more-unofficial-clients/](https://green-api.com/articles/en/whatsapp-says-no-more-unofficial-clients/) ## Keep reading - [WhatsApp API for your personal number](https://usecircles.app/en/whatsapp-api-personal-number): Circles' HTTP API, for your own agent or n8n. - [Circles vs Wassenger](https://usecircles.app/en/compare/wassenger): Another hosted gateway with an MCP. - [All comparisons](https://usecircles.app/en/compare): Every alternative in one table. --- 14 days free. Link your number, pick the chats, then connect Instinct with one tap or Claude, ChatGPT and Codex with one address. Start: https://usecircles.app/start?lang=en