WhatsApp API pricing calculator

How Meta charges for the WhatsApp API

Since July 2025, Meta has charged for the official WhatsApp API per delivered message rather than per 24-hour conversation. The price depends on two things: the message category and the country of the recipient's number (based on its calling code). Where your business is located does not change the rate.

There are four categories:

• Marketing: promotions, offers, product launches, abandoned cart reminders and invitations. This is the most expensive one.
• Utility: updates about something the customer did or asked for, such as order confirmations, shipping status and appointment reminders.
• Authentication: verification codes and one-time passwords (OTP).
• Service: free-form, non-template replies inside the 24-hour window opened by the customer's message.

The 1,000 free service messages

Starting October 1, 2026, service messages are charged after a free tier: each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages per month. Unused messages do not roll over, and the count resets at midnight in the account's time zone. That is why the calculator asks how many numbers you use: with three numbers, the allowance goes up to 3,000.

There is also the free entry point window: when a customer arrives through a Click to WhatsApp ad and you reply in time, messages are free while the window is open, for up to 7 days. The calculator does not subtract this window because it depends on where each conversation came from.

How to read the result

In the United States and Canada, messages are billed at the North America regional rate in US dollars. For other countries, the calculator shows the local currency when Meta publishes a rate card in it (Brazilian real, Mexican peso, euro, pound, rupee and others) and US dollars everywhere else. Your account's billing currency is chosen when it is set up and cannot be changed later, so use the rate card for the currency you pay in.

The number is a list price estimate. It does not include:

• volume tier discounts, which Meta applies to utility and authentication when monthly volume is high;
• taxes and exchange-rate differences;
• authentication-international rates, which Meta applies in some countries;
• Meta Business Agent messages, which are billed per token;
• the monthly fee of the platform you use to send messages.

If you message customers in several countries, run the numbers once per country and add them up. For a detailed look at how markets differ, read our article on WhatsApp API pricing by country.

How to spend less

The biggest savings usually come from using the right category. An order update classified as utility costs a fraction of a marketing template. Replying inside the 24-hour window also helps: within the free tier, a service reply costs nothing. And segment your marketing campaigns, since every delivered message is billed whether the customer reads it or not.

Rates checked on October 28, 2026 on Meta's official pricing page.

Frequently asked questions