Viber business: account types, messages and setup (2026)

What is Viber business, and why does it matter?

Viber business is a pair of messaging products that lets companies reach customers inside Viber. Viber Business Messages sends alerts and offers through an API, and Viber Chatbots hold two-way conversations with customers who follow your brand. Use one or both, depending on who starts the conversation.

If some of your markets use Viber, a plan built only on WhatsApp or SMS leaves those customers out. A personal account isn't a fix, because it belongs to one person and leaves with the employee who owns it.

How do Viber Business Messages and Viber Chatbots differ?

Viber offers two API-based business products. Business Messages suits alerts and notifications that your business sends first, with SMS fallback, according to Viber. Chatbots suit conversations that customers start, billed through a monthly fee per bot plus a charge for each chatbot-initiated message delivered.

What message types does Viber offer?

Viber Business Messages covers four jobs: promotional offers, transactional alerts, one-time passwords and replies to customer-initiated chats. Viber Chatbots work on sessions instead, a 24-hour window that opens when a customer messages your bot or replies to it. The type you send shapes how you collect consent and what you pay.

• Promotional: new arrivals, seasonal deals, bundles and limited-time offers. We suggest getting consent before you send these.
• Transactional: delivery updates, appointment reminders and flight changes. These need an approved template.
• Authentication: one-time passwords for sign-up, account recovery, password reset and two-factor authentication.
• Session (Chatbots): any back-and-forth inside the 24-hour window.

Send one-time passwords as authentication messages, never as promotional ones.

On Chatbots, timing is what counts. Inside an active session, Viber doesn't bill messages separately, and its commercial model page says unlimited session messages come with the monthly fee.

Outside a session, a message your chatbot sends is chatbot-initiated and billed per delivered message.

What are the compliance and opt-in basics?

Viber's 2026 policy summary says its Fair Usage Policy now covers Business Accounts and lists unsolicited messaging among its prohibited practices. Consent rules differ by country, so ask local counsel before you send marketing messages in a new market.

We suggest opt-in flows like a website form with plain-language consent text, an unticked checkbox at checkout, and a QR code at the point of sale that opens your Viber chat. Keep a record of each contact's opt-in status, and exclude anyone who has opted out.

Viber also restricts some industries. The same summary says the Prohibited Products and Services List is now a standalone document, and the Business Accounts Terms now include an obligation to comply with it.

Viber's template announcement, published 20 May 2026, says all transactional Business Messages must use approved templates from 1 July 2026. Templates are text only, Viber reviews each one, and promotional content inside a template can get it rejected.

Viber lists one-time codes, delivery updates and booking confirmations as transactional. Ask your messaging provider whether their integration supports templates yet.

You'll also handle customers' phone numbers and message content, so ask local counsel how data protection rules apply in each market.

How do you set up a Viber business account and profile?

Setup depends on the product. Business Messages start with Viber's contact form or one of its messaging partners. A Viber Chatbot starts with an application to Viber or a verified partner, and Viber reviews direct applications manually before a bot token is issued. Neither route has a published timeline, so build in a buffer.

For Chatbots, you request one from Viber, because new bots can no longer be created instantly in the Admin Panel. The path looks like this:

1. Submit company details, the bot's purpose and contact information.
2. Wait for Viber's review. Viber's chatbot FAQ says a verified partner is the fastest route.
3. Agree the commercial terms. Tokens are issued only after approval and a commercial agreement.
4. Connect the bot to a platform like SleekFlow to start chatting.

Viber says it may enable verified, searchable and discoverable status for a chatbot only after the contract is signed, the commercial terms are accepted and the license fee is paid. It is not guaranteed.

How can marketing, sales and support use Viber?

Marketing, sales and support can all use Viber, as long as each flow matches the right message type and billing model. Promotions and reminders fit Business Messages or chatbot-initiated messages, while questions and follow-ups fit sessions.

What should your first messages and formats look like?

A Viber Chatbot can send one welcome message per user as soon as they open the conversation, and Viber doesn't bill it. If the user already subscribed, the message counts as chatbot-initiated and is billed.

Viber's Business Messages page says formats include carousels, CTA buttons, files and list options.

Through SleekFlow, chatbot text can run to 7,000 characters, images to 1 MB, MP4 video to 26 MB and files to 50 MB. Rich media and carousels, contact cards, location messages and stickers are unsupported.

How does SleekFlow work with Viber?

A Viber Chatbot has no built-in inbox, so you need a platform to run it. SleekFlow connects an approved Viber Chatbot with its bot token and shows Viber chats in the shared inbox next to your other channels. Your team can reply, send broadcasts and share a QR code or link from one place.

According to the Help Center overview, you can connect multiple Viber Chatbots to one account. You can send and receive messages, manage broadcast campaigns, and share a QR code or account link.

The connection guide adds that you can automate replies with Flow Builder.

Details sit on the Viber integration page. The Help Center says a feature it doesn't list isn't supported for Viber, so check it before you plan around anything else.

How do you get started with Viber business on SleekFlow?

Getting live takes four steps once Viber approves your chatbot:

1. Create or log in to your SleekFlow account.
2. Request a Chatbot from Viber and wait for approval.
3. Open Channels, then Viber, then Connect, and enter an account name, a channel name and your bot token.
4. Share your Viber link or QR code, then answer from the inbox.

Start with a pilot. Pick one market and one goal, run it for a few weeks, and scale what works.

Where should you start with Viber business?

Start with the job. If customers mostly message you first, apply for a Viber Chatbot and connect it to a shared inbox. If you mainly send alerts at scale, contact Viber or a messaging partner about Business Messages. Either way, ask about approval and rates early, and book a demo to see how SleekFlow connects Viber.