Pricing Explained
How WhatsApp Business API pricing works: what Meta charges you for, when messages are free, and how to find rates for your country.
Updated 20 July 2026
Coming 1 October 2026: Meta is updating how they charge for messages inside the 24-hour customer service window. This article describes today's pricing. See What is changing with WhatsApp pricing on 1 October 2026 for details on the upcoming change.
If you are new to WhatsApp for business, "per-message pricing" can sound scary. Most of your everyday messaging is actually free. This article explains what Meta charges you for, what it does not, and roughly what a small business ends up spending on the Meta side each month.
The WhatsApp on your phone is not the same as WhatsApp Business API
The WhatsApp you use on your phone is free. It works well for personal chats and for very small businesses replying to a few customers by hand.
WhatsApp Business API is a different product Meta built specifically for businesses that want to automate replies, run chatbots, send order confirmations, broadcast to many customers, or have a whole team share one inbox. You never download the API. It lives on Meta's servers, and WhatChimp is the software you use to actually work with it.
Because the API is a Meta service, Meta bills you directly for some of the messages you send through it. That is what this article covers.
Incoming messages are always free
Every message a customer sends to your business number costs you nothing. Not one cent. Meta only bills you for messages that go out from you.
The 24-hour customer service window
The moment a customer sends you a message, a 24-hour timer starts. That window is called the customer service window.
During those 24 hours you can reply to that customer as often as you want, with any type of message (text, image, video, PDF, price list, catalog), and none of your replies are charged. Every new message the customer sends resets the 24-hour timer.
For most small businesses, this covers the majority of daily conversations. Customer writes in, you reply back and forth. Free.
When Meta actually charges you
Meta charges only for outgoing messages you send outside the 24-hour window. For example, reminding a customer who has not written to you in three days, or broadcasting a promotion to your customer list.
Because you cannot send free-form text outside the window, these outgoing messages must use a pre-approved template. Meta groups templates into three billed categories:
Marketing. Promotions, offers, sales, product announcements.
Utility. Order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders, account alerts.
Authentication. One-time passwords and verification codes.
Each category has its own rate, and the rate also depends on the country of the person you are messaging.
Free Entry Point Conversations
If a customer starts the conversation by tapping a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button, the first conversation is free for 72 hours instead of 24. During that window, even Marketing or Utility templates you send are not charged. This is why many small businesses drive first contact through ads and QR codes.
Where to check your country's rates
Meta publishes a live rate card. Open it, select your country and currency at the top, and you see the exact per-message price for Marketing, Utility, and Authentication in your currency.
What a small business actually pays
To take away the fear of the unknown, here is a real example.
Say you run a small clothing store in Peru with about 100 customer conversations per month.
Incoming messages from those 100 customers: free.
Every reply you send inside the 24-hour service window: free.
200 template messages a month (order confirmations, delivery updates, occasional promotions to old customers): roughly 10 to 15 US dollars in Meta charges depending on category mix.
Your total Meta bill for the month: about 10 to 15 US dollars.
For a business handling that many customer conversations, that is a fraction of what a single part-time employee would cost to do the same work by hand.
Zero markup on Meta charges
Meta bills you directly for the outgoing message charges. WhatChimp does not add any commission, markup, or hidden fee on top of Meta's rates. You pay exactly what the rate card says.
Most other WhatsApp platforms add 20 to 25 percent on top of Meta's rates. At scale, that difference alone can save you hundreds of dollars a month.
For WhatChimp subscription plans (the software side you pay us for), see the WhatChimp pricing page.
Related Articles
Understanding Conversations and Their Types. How Meta groups conversations and how mixing categories affects your bill.
WhatChimp Pricing Benefits. The zero-markup story in more detail.
Guidelines for Utility and Marketing Templates. How to categorize templates correctly so you do not pay more than needed.