A LINE Official Account is the business account you register with LINE, controlling your profile, broadcast quota and billing plan. The LINE Messaging API is the developer channel you link to that account to build custom bot logic. You need the account first and the API second; neither one alone produces a working LINE chatbot.
What Is a LINE Official Account?
A LINE Official Account (OA) is the verified business profile you set up directly with LINE, no code required. It controls your brand presence: profile photo, greeting message, rich menu layout, monthly plan tier, broadcast quota and billing. Anyone in a marketing or operations role can create one through the LINE Official Account Manager in an afternoon, and out of the box it can already run basic keyword auto-replies and scheduled broadcasts with no developer involved.
What Is the LINE Messaging API, and How Is It Different?
The LINE Messaging API is the developer layer that plugs into an existing Official Account and lets a team write server-side code that receives events (a message, a rich menu tap, a new friend) and decides how to respond. Per LINE’s own Messaging API overview, the flow is fixed: a user messages the Official Account, LINE’s platform sends a webhook event to the bot server, and the bot server replies through the LINE Platform. Once that channel exists, your webhook, not LINE’s default auto-reply, decides what gets said back. This is where flex messages, quick replies, CRM lookups and handoff to a human all live.
| Aspect | LINE Official Account | LINE Messaging API |
|---|---|---|
| What it is? | The business account and its plan tier | The developer channel linked to that account |
| Who sets it up? | Marketing or ops staff, no code | A developer, requires a webhook server |
| Branding, profile, rich menu design | Source of truth | Reads and updates what the OA holds |
| Custom conversation logic | Simple built-in keyword replies only | Full custom logic, NLP, database lookups |
| Messaging quota and plan tier | Sets the plan | Consumes whatever quota the linked OA has |
| Broadcasts and LINE VOOM posts | Yes | No |
| Required to build a chatbot | Yes, must exist first | Yes, this is where the logic lives |
How Much Does a LINE Official Account Cost in 2026?
LINE runs three tiers in Japan, per the official pricing page: the Communication Plan is free with up to 200 messages a month, the Light Plan costs ¥5,000/month for up to 5,000 messages, and the Standard Plan costs ¥15,000/month for up to 30,000 messages, with additional messages beyond that billed up to ¥3 each. One detail that changes the math for most SMEs: reply messages, meaning anything sent in response to a customer who messaged first, never count against the quota on any plan. A LINE chatbot that only answers inbound questions can, in principle, run on the free Communication Plan indefinitely, and the monthly fee only becomes relevant once broadcast marketing enters the picture.
Pricing here does shift periodically. Businesses currently on a graduated volume-discount structure should watch for LY Corporation’s announced move to a simplified two-tier rate effective October 1, 2026 (reported by OneBot, June 2026), and confirm current figures on LINE’s official Japan pricing page before budgeting.
How Do You Actually Build a Chatbot on LINE?
- Register a LINE Official Account with the correct business name and category, via Business ID.
- Create a Messaging API channel in the LINE Developers Console and link it to that account.
- Turn off LINE’s default auto-reply and greeting message so it stops competing with your webhook.
- Stand up a webhook endpoint that receives events and replies within LINE’s response window.
- Build the logic: rich menus, flex message cards, quick replies and a clean handoff to a human when the bot hits its limits.
- Test in a private chat before publishing the rich menu to real customers.
Step three is the one most teams skip, and it’s the direct cause of the most common complaint we hear from clients: a customer gets the bot’s real answer and LINE’s canned greeting back to back, because nobody disabled the default responder before launch.
What Mistakes Do Businesses Make With LINE Official Account and Messaging API?
- Upgrading to a paid plan before scoping the bot, then discovering the free Communication Plan already covered the message volume needed, since replies don’t count against quota.
- Never disabling LINE’s built-in auto-reply, producing duplicate or contradictory messages.
- Assuming LINE prices like the WhatsApp Business Platform, which bills per conversation. LINE bills through the Official Account’s monthly plan tier instead, not per API call.
- Letting a single employee hold the only login to the LINE Developers Console, so the business loses access to its own bot when that person leaves.
LINE Official Account vs Messaging API: Which One Does Your Business Actually Need?
Both, always, since one doesn’t work without the other. The real question is what you build on top: a bot that only answers FAQs with keyword matching, or one that reasons about intent, checks a calendar or CRM, and completes a booking end to end. That second category is closer to what we cover in AI agent vs chatbot: a LINE bot that replies is still just replying, even inside the app your customers already use.
Ongito builds the bot logic on the LINE Messaging API and connects it to a client’s existing or newly created Official Account, the standard architecture LINE itself documents for business chatbots. If you’re not sure which layer your business is missing, or whether an existing LINE setup is even wired correctly, a free 30-minute audit maps it in one call. See the full build on the LINE AI Chatbot service page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Do I need both a LINE Official Account and the Messaging API to build a chatbot?
Answer: Yes. The Official Account exists on LINE’s network; the Messaging API is the channel linked to it that runs your custom logic. Neither alone produces a working bot.
Question: Is the LINE Messaging API free to use?
Answer: There’s no separate fee for the API connection itself, but your messaging volume runs against the Official Account’s plan tier (Communication, Light or Standard). Most of the real cost comes from developing and hosting the webhook, not from LINE directly.
Question: Can I keep LINE’s built-in auto-reply after connecting the Messaging API?
Answer: You can, but it’s rarely a good idea. It tends to fire alongside your custom bot and send customers two different answers. Most teams disable the default greeting and keyword auto-reply once the webhook goes live.
Question: What is a LINE rich menu, and which layer controls it?
Answer: The tappable image menu at the bottom of a LINE chat. Its visual design and default state live on the Official Account side, but the Messaging API can update or personalize it dynamically based on bot logic.
Question: Does a LINE chatbot answering FAQs cost anything if it never sends broadcasts?
Answer: Not necessarily. Reply messages don’t count against any plan’s quota, so an account used purely for reactive customer service can stay on the free Communication Plan regardless of volume.