Compare
Lanten vs
Respond.io is a serious omnichannel messaging platform: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, SMS and email in one inbox, with a workflow builder and AI agents, sold to sales and support teams in every industry. Lanten is a shared inbox for one industry — UK estate agents — that knows the property behind every message and syncs with the CRM. This page is our honest attempt at the difference.
The short version
A platform you configure, or a product that already knows your job.
You need every messaging channel there is, you send broadcasts, you have someone who’ll build and maintain routing rules and workflows, and email is a side channel rather than where your work lives. It’s a strong platform for that.
You’re an estate or letting agency, most of your day is email with WhatsApp alongside it, and you want the inbox to know the property, draft in your voice and update Street or Acquaint — without building any of it yourself.
Side by side
Based on Respond.io’s published features and pricing as of September 2026. If we’ve got something wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it.
Lanten is the best Respond.io alternative for estate & letting agents
Email and WhatsApp done properly, with the property in the picture.
An agency runs on email — landlords, solicitors, contractors, portals. Lanten treats Outlook and Gmail as the main event and WhatsApp as its equal. Respond.io is a messaging tool that also does email.
No channel setup, no routing rules, no workflow canvas. Lanten already knows that a maintenance request goes to property management, gets tagged by property and logged in the CRM.
£27 a user, or £20 annual. No workspace fee, no per-contact charge, no add-ons for AI. Respond.io’s pricing is built for high-volume support teams, and it shows.
Where it actually matters
Three things a general messaging platform can’t do for an agency, however many channels it has.
Respond.io sees a contact and a conversation. Lanten sees the contact, the property, the tenancy, the landlord and the last three maintenance jobs — from Street or Acquaint, not typed in. That’s what makes the draft right first time.
Respond.io’s workflow builder is excellent, and it’s empty. Getting to “maintenance requests tagged by property, assigned to the PM, job logged in the CRM” is weeks of someone’s time and then theirs to maintain. Lanten ships with it done.
Instagram DMs, Telegram and Messenger broadcasts matter to a retailer in Kuala Lumpur. A letting agent in Leeds needs email and WhatsApp to work perfectly and the CRM to stay up to date. Lanten does less, and all of it is for you.
