What changed in July 2025
Meta replaced conversation-based pricing with per-message pricing. Before July 2025 a business paid once per 24-hour conversation window regardless of how many messages of that category it sent. Since 1 July 2025, each delivered template message is charged individually, based on its category and the recipient’s country calling code.
The change makes large campaign costs easier to forecast and removes the old advantage of bundling many messages into one conversation charge.
Meta limits pricing changes to the first day of each quarter — 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October — and gives minimum advance notice that varies by the kind of change. A rate card update carries at least one month’s notice; a change to the pricing model itself carries at least six months.
What you are charged for, and what is free
You are charged when a template message is delivered. Everything else is free: any non-template message sent inside an open customer service window, service replies, and utility templates delivered while that window is open.
| Message | Charged? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing template | Always charged | Promotional by definition — no free window applies |
| Authentication template | Always charged | Sent to verify identity; never rides a service window |
| Utility template, inside an open service window | Free | Utility templates delivered within the customer service window are free |
| Utility template, outside the window | Charged | No open window exists, so the utility rate applies |
| Any non-template message (text, image, document) | Free | Only permitted inside an open service window — and not charged |
| Any message in an open free entry point window | Free | All message types are free for 72 hours in a free entry point window |
The 24-hour customer service window, in practice
The customer service window opens when a customer messages your business and lasts 24 hours, restarting with each new message from them. Inside it you can send any message type for free. Outside it, only approved templates can be sent, and those are charged by category.
- 1
A customer messages you
This opens the 24-hour customer service window. Messages from a customer to a business are never charged.
- 2
You reply inside the window
Any non-template message you send in that period is free, and so is a utility template. This is where most support cost disappears.
- 3
The window closes
Twenty-four hours after the customer’s last message, you can no longer send free-form messages. Contact now requires an approved template.
- 4
You send a template
A marketing template is always charged. A utility template sent outside the window is charged the utility rate.
Designing flows so routine confirmations land while the window is open is the single biggest lever on WhatsApp messaging cost.
Free entry point windows: 72 hours of free messaging
When a customer starts a conversation from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a click-to-chat button on your website or Facebook Page, the conversation is a free entry point. If you respond, a 72-hour window opens in which every message type — including templates — is free.
- The customer must initiate via an approved free entry point surface.
- Responding opens a 72-hour window where all message types are free.
- After 24 hours from the customer’s first message, you can only send templates unless they message again.
- This is the cheapest route to a genuinely free marketing conversation.
Volume tiers and why they only cover two categories
Utility and authentication messages unlock lower rates as monthly volume grows. Marketing messages are excluded from volume tiers entirely, so campaign costs scale linearly with audience size.
- Volume is aggregated at the business portfolio level across all your WhatsApp Business Accounts.
- Only messages that are actually charged count towards a tier.
- Free messages — utility inside a service window, free entry point messages — do not count.
- Tiers apply per market and category, for example India–utility separately from Brazil–authentication.
Five legitimate ways to reduce the bill
- Reply inside the window. Free-form replies and utility templates inside an open service window cost nothing.
- Prefer utility over marketing when the message genuinely is utility. If it confirms something the customer did, it is not a promotion.
- Use free entry points. A click-to-WhatsApp journey buys 72 free hours including templates.
- Tighten opt-in. Marketing templates are always charged; sending them to people who never wanted them is pure waste.
- Watch category drift. A utility template reclassified as marketing changes the rate on every send.
Be sceptical of any claim that a provider can make WhatsApp messages free. The platform rates are Meta’s, and a provider absorbing them indefinitely is not a business model — check what is actually being charged on top.
Common questions
Platform rules and pricing on this page are Meta’s and can change. Meta updates WhatsApp pricing only on the first day of a quarter and gives advance notice, but always confirm current rates against Meta’s own documentation before committing a budget. This page was reviewed on 26 September 2026.
Related reading
Template approval
WhatsApp message templates are reviewed against the category you submit them in — the most common rejection is a marketing-flavoured template submitted as utility, and the fix is to describe a specific action the customer already took rather than a reason to buy.
API vs Business App
The WhatsApp Business App is a free phone-based app for a single operator with no API, while the WhatsApp Business Platform (often called the WhatsApp Business API) is a paid, multi-agent, programmable service built for teams, automation and broadcast at scale.