WhatsApp Business Platform charges businesses using the API for service messages starting October 1

Starting October 1, Meta charges for service messages on the WhatsApp Business API, the version for businesses that connect WhatsApp to their own systems or chatbots.

Service messages are the free-form replies a business sends within the 24-hour window, the period that opens every time the customer writes in. They had been free since November 2024 and are now charged per message. That said, Meta still keeps the first 1,000 service messages per month free for each business number.

Utility messages (notification templates) that the business sends in reply to the customer within that same 24-hour window also start being charged. They had not been charged since July 2025.

According to Meta, the price of a service message in each country is the same as for utility and authentication messages, and there will be no volume discounts.

What does not change: messages sent in the 72-hour free window opened by Click to WhatsApp ads still have no sending cost.

We see something here that any small business serving customers on WhatsApp with a chatbot or a tool connected to the API should review now. We think it is a good time to look at how many replies are sent each month and how much they will cost from now on.