KakaoTalk Channel and AlimTalk for Businesses

AlimTalk is KakaoTalk's informational business message, used for order confirmations, booking reminders and delivery updates, and it reaches customers by phone number even if they have never added your channel. To send it you need a KakaoTalk Channel, templates approved by Kakao, and an official dealer or messaging platform to send through, and the content must not be advertising.

This guide explains how the pieces fit together for a business building a Korean site or app: the channel, template review, who actually sends the messages, what it costs and how to wire it into your system. Kakao's own documentation is linked in the sources at the end, checked October 2026.

What is the difference between a KakaoTalk Channel, AlimTalk and Brand Message?

They are three different things that people often lump together as "Kakao messaging".

You may also see FriendTalk (친구톡) on messaging platforms' price lists, next to Brand Message. If you plan marketing messages, ask your provider which of these it supports and on what terms.

For most websites the useful pair is a channel, which customers can chat with, plus AlimTalk, so your system can send transactional notices.

How do you create a KakaoTalk Channel as a foreign company?

You start with a Kakao account, convert it to a Kakao Business integrated account, and create the channel in Kakao Business. Business verification is a separate step where you submit business registration documents. Which ones depends on whether you are a sole proprietor, a corporate representative or an employee acting for the company. Files can be JPG, PNG or PDF, up to 10 MB each.

Verification matters for two reasons. An unverified channel shows customers a caution notice saying the business information has not been confirmed, which is not what you want on a checkout notification. AlimTalk also requires a channel, and providers will ask for it when you register your sender profile.

Kakao's sign-up accepts overseas phone numbers, but its documentation does not spell out how a company without Korean business registration gets verified. If you have no Korean entity, ask Kakao Business or your provider before you plan around AlimTalk. We can prepare the channel application and documents with you and handle the communication in Korean; the channel and the business verification stay in your company's name.

How do AlimTalk templates get approved?

Every AlimTalk message is sent from a template that Kakao has reviewed. You write the fixed text and mark the parts that change, such as the customer name, order number or date, as variables. You submit the template through your dealer or platform, and Kakao processes reviews in order within two business days.

Templates are rejected for content and for format. On content, anything that reads as advertising fails, because AlimTalk is limited to informational messages. On format, Kakao lists errors such as malformed variables, more than 40 variables, a template made only of variables, and variables in button names. A rejected template has to be edited and submitted again.

Some practical habits help:

• Write each template for one event. "Your quote is ready" and "Your contract is ready" are two templates, not one with a variable verb.
• Keep the fixed text explicit about why the person is receiving the message.
• Kakao publishes example templates by category (sign-up, orders, bookings, points and coupons, security, finance, legal notices and others), showing wording that passes and wording that does not. Read the examples for your category before you write anything.

Who actually sends the messages?

Kakao provides AlimTalk through official dealers. Its documentation lists them, including NHN Cloud, LG CNS, Daou Technology, Infobank, Humuson and CJ OliveNetworks. Many developers instead send through messaging platforms that wrap AlimTalk, SMS and other channels in one API. Solapi, which we use, is one of them. It is not on Kakao's dealer list, so whichever provider you pick, ask how it reaches Kakao and who handles template review.

When comparing providers, look at:

• API and SDKs. REST with clear error codes, plus SDKs in your language.
• Fallback. Whether a failed AlimTalk can automatically fall back to SMS or LMS, and how that is billed.
• Template management. Whether you can submit and track templates from their console.
• Delivery reporting. Whether you get per-message results, not just "request accepted".
• Billing. Prepaid balance or invoice, and what happens when the balance runs out.

What does AlimTalk cost?

Sending costs are set by the provider. As an example, Solapi's public price list (checked October 2026) shows AlimTalk at 13 KRW per message for up to 9,999 messages a month, SMS at 18 KRW and LMS (long SMS) at 45 KRW, all excluding VAT, with volume discounts above that tier. Other providers price differently, so get a quote that matches your volume.

The development work is a one-off cost. Our public estimator lists a notification module (AlimTalk and SMS) at 300,000 to 800,000 KRW, excluding 10% VAT, with sending costs passed through at cost (pricing catalogue v1.1, 23 September 2026). The range depends mostly on how many events and templates you need.

How do you wire AlimTalk into a website?

Treat AlimTalk as one channel in a notification system, not as an API call scattered through your code.

1. List the events that deserve a message: inquiry received, booking confirmed, payment completed, order shipped. Keep the list short, because each one is a template to write and get approved.
2. Write one template per event and submit them early, since review runs in parallel with development.
3. Normalise phone numbers when you collect them, and decide what a customer with a foreign number receives instead. In our own system, that is email.
4. Queue messages with a record per send attempt, so you can retry, report and avoid duplicates.
5. Decide on fallback: SMS, email or nothing when AlimTalk cannot be delivered.
6. Log the provider's message or group ID for every send. It is the only reliable way to trace a complaint about a missing message.

What we've seen building for Korea

Our own client portal sends its notifications by AlimTalk through Solapi's REST API, and a few decisions from that build are worth copying.

AlimTalk is primary, email is the only fallback. The portal has nine events: six for customers (quote sent, contract sent, milestone approval requested, project stage updated, maintenance updated, deliverable uploaded) and three for us. Each tries AlimTalk first. If that attempt fails outright, the system creates at most one email fallback, and the fallback never falls back again.

SMS fallback is off by default. Solapi can automatically turn a failed AlimTalk into an SMS, but those messages are billed at SMS rates and need a registered sender number. We made it an explicit setting rather than a silent default.

A template that is not approved yet sends email. If the channel ID or the template ID for an event is missing, the system treats AlimTalk as unavailable for that event and the email fallback takes over. The whole flow works before Kakao has approved anything, which matters when templates are still in review on launch day.

HTTP 200 is not success. The send API can accept a request and still reject individual messages, for example because of a bad number. We treat any failed message in the response as a failure. Otherwise the record says "sent" while the customer receives nothing.

Only Korean mobile numbers get AlimTalk. Customers with a foreign number get email. Duplicate sends are suppressed within a 24-hour window per event and record.

Frequently asked questions

Can a foreign company send AlimTalk messages?

AlimTalk needs a KakaoTalk Channel and goes through an official dealer or a messaging platform. Kakao documents business verification with Korean business registration documents, so a company without a Korean entity should confirm eligibility with Kakao Business or the provider before building around AlimTalk.

Do customers have to add my channel to receive AlimTalk?

No. Kakao describes AlimTalk as an informational message that can be sent even to users who have not added your KakaoTalk Channel. Marketing messages are different and go only to channel friends or users who agreed to receive advertising.

How long does AlimTalk template approval take?

Kakao processes template reviews in order within two business days of submission. A rejected template has to be edited and resubmitted, which starts a new review.

Can I send promotions through AlimTalk?

No. AlimTalk is limited to informational messages that fall under the legal exception for non-advertising notices, such as order, payment and delivery updates. Promotions belong in Kakao's marketing message products, which require consent and an "(광고)" label.

What happens if a customer doesn't receive the AlimTalk?

That depends on your setup. Most providers can fall back to SMS or LMS at SMS rates, and your own system can fall back to email. Decide this before launch and record which channel each message actually used.

Planning Korean notifications?

If you want order, booking or project notifications in KakaoTalk, with templates, fallbacks and delivery logs handled properly, send us your requirements. This kind of work usually sits inside a larger build, so see our system and AI services and web development pages. Related reading: Korean payment gateway integration, the Korean website localization checklist and the Korea market entry overview.

Sources

All checked October 2026.

• Kakao Business: AlimTalk (Korean)
• Kakao Business: AlimTalk template review (Korean)
• Kakao Business: AlimTalk sending examples (Korean)
• Kakao Business: Brand Message (Korean)
• Kakao Business: starting a KakaoTalk Channel (Korean)
• Solapi: pricing (Korean)
• Solapi: KakaoTalk messaging guide (Korean)
• Solapi developers: AlimTalk message API (Korean)