WhatsApp API pricing: how Meta charges per message
Meta charges for the WhatsApp Business Platform, also called the WhatsApp Business API, per message it delivers. The rate depends on two things: the message category (marketing, utility, authentication or service) and the country code of the customer's phone number. Messages your customers send you are never charged.
The platform you send those messages through, Yapper included, bills separately. This page explains the rules Meta applies in every country; each country guide adds that market's rates, worked monthly examples and billing details.
Try it from your phone before you pay.
Pick your country
Rates per message in US dollars from Meta's rate card. Each guide also shows the rate in the local currency where Meta publishes one.
Mexico
Marketing US$ 0.0397, utility US$ 0.0085, service US$ 0.0085 per message.
Read the guide →Brazil
Marketing US$ 0.0625, utility US$ 0.0068, service US$ 0.0068 per message.
Read the guide →
Who charges what
Meta bills the business for each message it delivers to a customer on WhatsApp, at the rate for that message's category and the customer's market. A message that is sent but never delivered is not charged, and each delivered message carries one charge at most.
Template messages are messages Meta reviews before you can use them. They are the only way to write to a customer first, or after the customer service window has closed, and they come in three categories. A message that is not a template, such as a typed reply, is a service message and can only be sent while the window is open. Meta's own AI agent, Meta Business Agent, is a fifth category billed per token; replies written by a person or by another company's AI assistant are service messages.
| Category | What it is for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotions, offers, launches and invitations to come back. A template, sent any time. | Hi Ana, this week only: 20% off haircuts on weekdays. Book from this chat. |
| Utility | Updates about something the customer did or asked for, with no promotion. A template, sent any time. | Your appointment is tomorrow at 10:00. Reply YES to confirm. |
| Authentication | One-time codes that verify the customer's identity. A template, sent any time. | Your verification code is 482915. |
| Service | Any reply that is not a template, written by a person or by an AI assistant. Only while the 24-hour window is open. | Yes, we are open on Saturday until 2 pm. Do you want me to book you in? |
The 24-hour customer service window
When a customer messages or calls your business, a 24-hour customer service window opens, and each new message from them resets it to 24 hours. While it is open you can reply with any message, template or not. Once it closes, you can only reach that customer with a template, and only if they opted in to hear from you.
Since October 1, 2026, being inside the window does not make a message free by itself. Service messages are charged once the monthly free tier is used up, and a utility template sent inside the window is charged like any other utility message.
Messages Meta does not charge for
Meta lists two cases where a delivered message carries no charge:
- The free tier: each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, and Meta charges from the 1,001st. Unused messages do not roll over, and the count restarts at midnight on the first of each month in your Messaging account's timezone.
- The free entry point window: when a customer writes to you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad on the WhatsApp app for Android or iOS (desktop and web do not count) and you reply within the customer service window, that reply is free and opens a window of up to 7 days. While it is open, marketing, utility, authentication and service messages to that customer are free. Meta Business Agent messages stay charged.
Volume tiers for utility and authentication
Utility and authentication templates get cheaper as monthly volume grows; marketing and service messages have no tiers. Each market and category has its own tiers, counted across every Messaging account in your business portfolio, and the count restarts each month. A lower tier rate applies only to the messages inside that tier, and only charged messages count, so messages in a free entry point window do not. Each country guide lists its market's tiers.
Payment method and billing currency
Meta bills these charges to the payment method of your WhatsApp Business Account (Meta calls it a Messaging account) in Meta's Billing Hub. Without one, Meta delivers service messages only within the monthly free tier and stops delivering them once it is used up.
Each Messaging account is billed in the currency chosen when it was created, and the currency cannot be changed afterwards. Meta offers a currency migration API that creates a new account in another currency and moves your templates to it. Meta publishes rate cards in 16 currencies, among them US dollars, Mexican pesos and Brazilian reais.
When Meta changes its rates
Meta's pricing calendar allows pricing updates only on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1, with at least one month's notice for a rate change. The rates in these guides are the ones in effect on the date each guide shows, checked against Meta's current rate card.
How it works with Yapper
Your assistant on Yapper replies to customers who wrote to you first, so its replies are service messages: the first 1,000 a month on each number are free, and Meta charges the service rate after that. Templates are billed by Meta per delivered message at their category's rate: announcements to customers outside the 24-hour window, follow-ups after the window closes and reminders you schedule.
Meta bills all of it to your own payment method in Meta's Billing Hub, separately from your Yapper plan. Yapper cannot see whether a payment method is on file, so it reminds you to add one and alerts your admins when Meta rejects a message for payment. Messages you send yourself from the WhatsApp Business app on a connected number stay free.
Help center guides:
Frequently asked questions
How much does the WhatsApp API cost?
Meta charges per delivered message, at a rate set by the message category (marketing, utility, authentication or service) and the country code of the customer's phone number. Each country guide lists the current rates. The platform you send through bills separately.
Are replies to customers free?
Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month. Since October 1, 2026, Meta charges the service rate for each service message after those 1,000. Replies inside a free entry point window, opened by a click-to-WhatsApp ad, are free.
What is the 24-hour window?
It is the customer service window that opens when a customer messages or calls you and resets with each new message from them. Inside it you can send any message; outside it only templates. Being inside it no longer makes a message free on its own.
Do I pay for messages customers send me?
No. Meta charges only for messages businesses deliver to users, never for messages users send to businesses.
What happens without a payment method?
Meta delivers service messages only within the monthly free tier of 1,000 per business phone number and stops delivering them once it is used up. Add a payment method to your Messaging account in Meta's Billing Hub so replies keep going out.
When can Meta change these rates?
Meta's pricing calendar allows updates only on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1, with at least one month's notice for a rate change.
Sources
Checked . Meta's rates and rules on this page come only from Meta's public pages:
Monthly plan
$399 /mo
Unlimited teammates, senders and customers.
Plus applicable tax. Checkout shows the final total for your billing address before payment.Tax included. Checkout shows the final total for your billing address before payment.
Build my assistant free →