WhatsApp now charges per message, not per conversation

If you planned your WhatsApp costs around 24-hour conversation windows, that model no longer applies. Meta replaced conversation-based pricing with per-message pricing on 1 July 2025.

The change matters because the old model rewarded packing more messages into one window. The new one does not. Each template message you send is priced on its own.

This is a short guide to what you pay for now, and what is still free.

What you are charged for

You are charged for each message that is delivered, and most of what you pay is for template messages. A template is a message you write in advance and Meta approves before you can send it. You need one whenever you start a conversation, or reply after the 24-hour window has closed.

The rate depends on three things:

• The category of the template. There are three: marketing, utility and authentication.
• The country of the person receiving it. Rates differ a lot between countries.
• How much you send. Higher volumes reach better rates through volume tiers.

Marketing templates are the expensive ones. Utility and authentication templates cost much less. This is deliberate on Meta’s part: it prices promotion higher than service.

Since 1 October 2026, replies count too. Meta now charges for service messages — the ordinary, non-template replies your team sends inside the 24-hour window — once a business phone number has sent 1,000 of them in a month. The rate is the same as a utility message in that country, so it is small, but it is no longer zero. Utility templates sent inside an open window, free since July 2025, are charged at the utility rate from the same date.

What is free

Three things cost you nothing.

Messages from customers to you. Meta never charges for a message a WhatsApp user sends to a business.

The first 1,000 replies a month, per number. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages every month. They do not roll over, and the count resets on the first of the month. A small support team can stay inside this allowance; a busy one will go past it and pay the utility rate for each reply after the thousandth.

The free entry point window. It opens when someone reaches you through a Click-to-WhatsApp advert and you reply inside the 24-hour window. Meta says the window may stay open for up to 7 days, and while it is open nothing you send to that person is charged — marketing, utility, authentication or service.

The 24-hour customer service window still exists — it simply no longer decides what you pay. It decides whether you can reply with an ordinary message or need a template.

What this means in practice

Three habits follow from the pricing, and all three also make for a better experience.

Answer quickly. A fast reply happens inside the window, where an ordinary message is free or costs the service rate. A slow reply happens after it closes, and then it needs a template, which costs more. This is one of the quieter arguments for automating your routine answers — a bot always replies inside the window.

Categorise honestly. A utility template costs less than a marketing one, which is exactly why Meta checks. Sending promotional content under a utility category gets the template rejected, and repeated attempts put your account at risk. Write genuine order updates as utility, and genuine promotions as marketing.

Send fewer, better broadcasts. Under the old model, an extra message inside an open window was free. Now every marketing template is priced. Segmenting your audience and sending to the people who will care is no longer only good manners — it is directly cheaper.

About the rates themselves

We publish example rates for India so you can budget, and we date them, because they move. The India-specific picture — all three bills, GST, and every 2026 change Meta has scheduled — is in our India pricing guide. Meta may change pricing on the first day of any quarter. India’s marketing rate rose on 1 January 2026, and on 1 October 2026 Meta started charging for service messages and for utility templates inside the window, while leaving India’s list rates unchanged.

For that reason, treat any rate table — ours included — as an illustration, and treat Meta’s own pricing page as the authority.

Where to go next

• Understanding campaign analytics — what each delivery metric counts, so you can see what your sends actually achieved
• Managing message templates — creating and submitting templates inside Baat
• Our pricing — what Baat itself costs, separately from Meta’s message fees