WhatsApp Business API pricing in 2026 — what you actually pay

WhatsApp API pricing has two layers: what Meta charges for the messages themselves, and what your provider charges for their software. Most confusion comes from mixing the two up.

Layer 1: Meta's charges

Since July 1, 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message (it used to charge per 24-hour "conversation"). The price depends on two things:

1. The template's category
   • Marketing — promotions, offers, newsletters. The most expensive.
   • Utility — updates about something the customer did: order, delivery, appointment, account. Cheaper.
   • Authentication — one-time passcodes. Cheapest, with volume tiers in some countries.
2. The recipient's country. Rates vary a lot — the same marketing message costs very different amounts in, say, India, the UK and Brazil. Meta publishes a rate card per country on its pricing page.

What's free

• The first 1,000 replies a month, per business phone number, inside the 24-hour customer service window — free-form "service" messages after a customer messages you. Meta charges from the 1,001st; the limit applies from 1 Oct 2026 and there is no rollover (Meta pricing page, checked 23 Oct 2026). (The window, explained.)
• Utility templates sent inside an open customer service window.
• Receiving messages — incoming messages never cost anything.

Meta bills these charges to the payment method on your WhatsApp Business account, directly — whichever software you use.

Layer 2: your provider's fee

Providers charge in a few different ways:

Model	Example	How it works
Per-message markup	Twilio	About $0.005 added to each message, on top of Meta's charge
Flat fee per number	360dialog	From about €49/month per number, no markup — but a raw API with no inbox or automations
Seat-based subscription	Wati, Interakt	Monthly plans (Wati from about $29/month) with extra costs per team member
Flat subscription, all features	SendFromChat	From $19/month, every feature on every plan, no per-seat fees

Competitor prices are their lowest listed plans at the time of writing and change often — check their pricing pages.

Working out your real cost

Total = Meta's per-message charges + your provider's fee.

Example: a shop sends 3,000 utility order updates and 1,000 marketing messages a month, and answers customer questions inside the window.

• Meta: 3,000 × (utility rate for your customers' country) + 1,000 × (marketing rate) — plus any window replies past the 1,000 free per number (see above).
• Provider: your plan price (plus per-message markup if the provider has one).

Two things reduce the Meta side more than anything:

1. Use utility templates for genuinely transactional messages — but don't mislabel promotions; Meta re-categorises them.
2. Reply inside the window instead of sending a new template later. A customer who messages you "is my order shipped?" can be answered with a free-form reply, which is free up to the monthly limit above.

Don't pay twice

Some platforms quote "all-in" message prices that already include Meta's charge (they're paying Meta for you, as a Solution Partner). Others, like SendFromChat, have you pay Meta directly at cost. Both are fine — just make sure you're not paying Meta directly and a provider's all-in rate for the same messages.

SendFromChat pricing

A flat monthly plan — Starter $19, Pro $49, Scale $149 — by number of WhatsApp numbers and messages per month, with every feature included and a 30-day free trial. Meta's charges go on your own Meta bill at cost; we never mark them up. See plans.