For millions of businesses, WhatsApp acts as the go-to platform to communicate with the customers for order confirmations, promotional deals, sharing offer deals, and sending any message related to the business. But it sometimes spams customers. Now, Meta is changing how businesses connect with customers on WhatsApp. The social media giant has said that companies using the WhatsApp Business Platform in India will have a new pricing structure for sending messages from October 1. The aim is to adjust rates based on the specific type and quality of the interaction.
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Here is a breakdown of what the new guidelines mean for businesses
Payment method required by Sept 30
Meta has said that solution providers and directly integrated businesses must add a payment method to their messaging accounts by September 30, 2026. Meta will halt the delivery of service messages as soon as charges take effect on October 1 if they fail to do so.
"For any Solution Provider or directly-integrated businesses that does not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026," the company said. "To avoid disruptions to your service messages, please add a payment method for your Messaging account(s) by September 30, 2026."
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Charges applied on delivery
Meta only charges for messages sent from businesses to WhatsApp users, and billing occurs only upon successful message delivery. Businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform could reply to customers for free within 24 hours of receiving a message. But it is changing now.
When a user messages or calls a business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Each subsequent message or call from the customer resets this timer.
Inside the 24-hour window, businesses can send non-template messages, such as free-form service replies or AI responses, as well as utility messages. Non-template messages can only be used to respond to customer inquiries, not to initiate contact.
But once the timer expires, businesses won't be able to send pre-approved template messages, such as marketing, authentication, or transactional templates.
Explanation using an example
Suppose you own a business and you send a marketing template message to a WhatsApp user, promoting your new product. As per Meta, all marketing template messages are charged.
The user messages you about the product. This opens a 24-hour customer service window (CSW). The messages sent from a WhatsApp user to a business are not charged.
You send a text message to the user, describing the product in more detail. All non-template messages are free within an open customer service window.
The user immediately purchases the product, and you send them a utility template confirming their order. The CSW is still open, and utility templates sent within an open CSW are free.
Suppose the CSW is closed now, as 24 hours have passed since the user last messaged you. This means you can no longer send non-template messages.
And you want to send a utility template message to the user, updating them on their order. As updated by Meta, utility template messages sent outside of a CSW are charged, and no open CSW exists between you and the user.
Updated message categories and billing breakdown
Meta said that the charges are on a per-message basis for both template and non-template communications, aligned with industry standards.
1. Template Messages (Marketing, Utility, Authentication): Charged on a per-message basis upon delivery. In addition, utility messages sent within an open 24-hour window, which had been free since July 1, 2025, will now be charged per message starting October 1, 2026.
2. Service Messages (Non-Template): These are standard, non-template responses sent to customers within the open 24-hour window. Having been uncharged since November 1, 2024, service messages will now carry a per-message delivery charge starting October 1, 2026.
3. Meta Business Agent Messages (AI-Powered Responses): Introduced in July 2026, this category covers non-template AI agent interactions within the customer service window.
It uses a combined token-based meter that covers both AI processing and message delivery. It is charged at a single global rate of $2.00 USD per 1 million tokens, with Meta saying that the billing applies to input and output tokens only; cached tokens are free.
A typical AI message consumes between 20,000 and 25,000 tokens, working out to approximately 4 to 5 cents (USD) per delivered message.
