WhatsApp Business Platform charges for service messages from 1 October, with 1,000 free a month per number

WhatsApp Business Platform charges for service messages from 1 October, with 1,000 free a month per number

28 September 2026: Service messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the replies a business sends inside a conversation a customer has opened, have been free since November 2024. That ends on 1 October 2026. Meta's pricing documentation states that from that date "Meta will charge on a per-message basis for service messages", and that, as announced on 1 July 2026, the rate for a service message will be the same as the utility and authentication rate for the customer's market. Kenyan outlet Techweez reported the change on 28 September for businesses that answer customers on WhatsApp.

What changes on 1 October

• Service messages are billed per message. Every delivered service message beyond the free allowance is charged at the market's utility and authentication rate. Meta has published the new service rates alongside the rate cards that take effect the same day.
• A free monthly tier. Meta is introducing a free tier of 1,000 service messages a month for each business phone number. A business that runs several numbers gets the allowance per number, not per account.
• More markets get their own rates. Meta announced in May that at least nine further markets leave their regional "Rest of" pricing groups on 1 October and become standalone markets with their own rates, and that authentication-international rates start to apply in up to nine more markets. Rates change in both directions by market, so the effect depends on where a business's customers are.

Who is affected

Any business that talks to customers on WhatsApp through the Business Platform (the API), directly or through a messaging provider, customer-service platform, CRM or chatbot vendor: support desks, e-commerce order updates, banks, airlines, logistics firms and clinics. The WhatsApp Business app on a phone is a different product.

What to do before 1 October

• Count last month's delivered service messages per business phone number and compare them with the 1,000 free allowance.
• Look at how many separate messages your agents and chatbots send per reply. A bot that answers in four short messages now costs four times what one message would.
• Check the new rate card for each market you serve, especially if a market is leaving a regional group.
• Ask your messaging provider or CRM vendor how it will pass the charges on, whether it adds a margin, and whether its dashboards separate service messages from utility and marketing templates.
• Check the payment method on the business account before the first billed messages go out.

Related on TrustList:

• Austria now blocks business SMS from unregistered sender names
• Twilio: Content API rate limits now return 429s, WhatsApp Embedded Signup moves to v4, and transcription failover switches on 22 October 2026

Sources

• Meta for Developers: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (read 29 September) - 29 September 2026
• Techweez: WhatsApp Business pricing changes in October 2026 - 28 September 2026