Engage brings every client conversation, email, SMS, web chat, and internal team chat, into one shared inbox on the client's record. The inbox is included on every Pabau plan.
Engage Plus is the paid subscription that unlocks the rest: WhatsApp, AI agents, a cloud phone system, and your clinic mailbox. This guide explains what you get at each level and what you pay for.
Table of Contents
Engage Inbox — Included at No Charge
Every Pabau plan includes the shared inbox. Email, SMS, web chat, and internal team chat all arrive in one conversation history on the client's record. There is no charge for this, and nothing to switch on.
Engage Plus — The Subscription
Engage Plus is one subscription that covers the whole location, with unlimited users. There is no per-seat charge, since you already pay per user for the platform. The price depends on where your clinic is billed:
| Region | Per location, per month |
| UK | £99 - billed £118.80 including VAT |
| Euro regions | €119 - no VAT applies today |
| US and other dollar regions | $159 - no sales tax applies today |
The terms are the same everywhere:
- Free trial: The first three months are free, with credits billed from day one.
- Paid annually: 20% off - £79 per month in the UK.
- Second location onwards: 40% off.
- Setup fee: None.
- Minimum term: None.
NOTE: Discounts apply to the subscription only, never to credits. Groups and chains taking Engage across several sites are priced separately - contact the Pabau team.
What Engage Plus Unlocks
| Capability | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp Business API | Message clients on the channel they already use |
| Dedicated number | A number of your own for the location |
| AI agents | Answer calls and web chats, book appointments, send confirmations |
| Cloud phone system | IVR menus, call routing, and voicemail transcription |
| eFax and click-to-call | Send and receive faxes, and dial straight from the chart |
| Gmail and Office 365 | Sync your clinic mailbox into the inbox |
| Routing and assignment | Send conversations to the right person automatically |
| Response-time and SLA analytics | See how quickly your team replies |
How Usage Works — Credits
There are no bundled free credits. The subscription gives you the capability, and you pay for what you actually send.
| What you use | Cost |
|---|---|
| SMS | 1 credit per segment in the UK; other regions are charged at the local credit rate |
| Picture message (MMS) | 3 credits per message, whatever its size |
| Charged in credits, rates per market | |
| Fax | 1 credit per page, sent or received |
| AI calls | 2 credits per minute |
| Standard calls | Metered per minute, at the rate shown for the destination |
| Phone and fax numbers | Passed through at carrier cost, with the monthly price shown before you confirm |
How SMS Is Charged
SMS is charged per segment, not per message. A segment is up to 160 characters of plain text. In the UK a short text is one segment and costs one credit; rates vary by destination, so the composer always shows the cost for the message you're sending.
A longer message is split into several segments and charged for each - a 300-character message is two segments, so two credits. Carriers accept up to 10 segments in a single message.
You do not have to guess the cost. The composer shows the segment count next to Send as you type, so you can see the cost before the message goes out.
A few things push a text past one segment:
- More than 160 plain characters: The message splits into further segments.
- Emoji: These switch the message to a different encoding, which cuts the number of characters per segment.
- Curly quotes, accented letters, or non-Latin alphabets: Same encoding change, same effect.
- An opt-out link: This expands into a full web address when the message sends, so leave room for it.
Credit Bundles
Larger bundles bring the per-credit rate down. The exact price per bundle is shown before you confirm a top-up.
NOTE: If your account is on a contracted rate, that rate applies instead.
Keeping Track of Your Spend
| Where to look | What it shows |
|---|---|
| The composer | A text's credit cost before you send it |
| Settings > Calls > Usage | Call minutes used |
| Settings > Fax > Usage | Pages sent and received |
| Reports > Messages | Your channel mix across SMS, WhatsApp, and the rest |
| Auto top-up | Reloads a bundle when your balance runs low |
| Your Pabau billing area | The invoices themselves |
TIP: If you rely on automated reminders, it is worth setting up Auto top-up so they never stop mid-month because a balance ran out.
With the inbox included and everything else billed only when you use it, Engage Plus lets you add channels like WhatsApp and phone at your own pace, paying for exactly what your clinic sends.
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For more guides, browse the related articles below or use the search bar at the top of the page. You can also watch our video learning series, the Pabau Academy, or visit the Support page for additional help.