Nigerian messaging platform ChatPaddi is positioning itself as an alternative to WhatsApp for businesses by combining chat with online stores, payments and other commerce features.
Developed by Adewebs Technologies and founded by Adebo Adegboye David, ChatPaddi offers messaging, voice and video calls, channels and other communication tools. Its broader product offering, as described by the founder in an interview with Technext, is intended to bring commerce into the same platform.
Under the proposed commerce model, merchants can create stores, upload product catalogues, manage inventory and accept payments. Customers are expected to be able to access store links through a web browser and complete purchases without relying entirely on the manual payment arrangements commonly used in chat-based selling.
ChatPaddi also includes livestreaming and virtual gifts as part of the product described by the founder. Viewers can purchase gifts for creators during livestreams, with the platform taking a share of those transactions, according to Technext.
The commerce features are not all independently verifiable from ChatPaddi’s current public product pages. Its official website currently places more emphasis on messaging, calls, channels, status updates, push-to-talk and support for languages including Yoruba and Hausa. Its current Google Play listing likewise describes the application primarily as a communication service.
ChatPaddi’s positioning comes as Meta changes how businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform are charged. From October 1, 2026, Meta began charging for some service messages that previously received free treatment, while businesses using the platform are subject to message-based pricing once applicable free allowances are exhausted.
The change applies to the WhatsApp Business Platform, which is designed for businesses communicating with customers at scale. It does not mean that every company using the free WhatsApp Business mobile application must now pay for ordinary business messaging.
Meta’s rules distinguish between the free WhatsApp Business app used by smaller businesses and the Business Platform used for larger-scale customer communication. This distinction is relevant to ChatPaddi’s pitch because its target is not simply messaging; it is the combination of customer communication and transactions in one service.
