There are a few differences, mainly we don't access your personal[0] messages but provide our a sandbox number that the CLI interacts with - this is completely free to use.
With the sandbox number you can: - interactively message from the terminal - read conversations - send messages, including media, buttons etc
You may upgrade to connect and manage dedicated numbers, these are created and managed through the Official WhatsApp Business API - it's all official so no ban risk on these accounts unless you break Meta's rules.
[0] How can I use my existing number? - If you're a WhatsApp Business App number - you can connect this with Wassist, we use a primitive called co-existence to link to an WhatsApp Business API account that you'll create. Again 100% official API - If you're using a WhatsApp consumer number - you need to convert this to WhatsApp business App number (https://faq.whatsapp.com/3059780464322392/?cms_platform=andr...)