WhatsApp marketing offers a powerful way for businesses to engage with customers, but understanding how it’s priced is key to doing it right.
In this blog, we’ll break down how WhatsApp API pricing works. You’ll learn what businesses are charged for sending different types of messages, how costs vary across regions, and what additional platform fees to expect from third-party tools or API providers.
You’ll also find a WhatsApp marketing cost calculator to help you estimate your campaign budget more accurately.
Table of Contents
WhatsApp Business API Pricing Explained: Meta + Tool Charges
When using the WhatsApp API, businesses incur two types of costs: the charges for the tool that facilitates API usage (such as our platform, WANotifier) and the charges for sending messages via the API.
Understanding both is essential to correctly estimating the total cost of WhatsApp marketing.
1. Charges for the Tool
WhatsApp only provides the API, not the actual software tool to use this API for sending messages, managing contacts, scheduling notifications, creating and deploying chatbots, automating replies, and so on.
For these capabilities, you can either build your own tool from scratch, which might take months, or use a ready-made platform like WANotifier and start sending messages using the API from day one.
That’s where the charges for the software tool come in, and they vary from one provider to another.
In our case, we offer four different paid subscription plans and charge a small monthly or yearly fee to give you access to our platform. You can check out the different plans on our Pricing page. We also offer a Free Forever plan to help you get started without upfront costs.
No-code. Minimal setup. Launch your next WhatsApp marketing campaign in minutes!
2. WhatsApp API charges
Understanding how WhatsApp charges businesses for messaging is key to managing your marketing costs.
Until now, WhatsApp followed a per-conversation pricing model, where businesses were charged once for each 24-hour messaging window that opened when a customer interacted with them. All messages sent during that window were included in a single charge.
But from July 1, 2025, this model will be replaced with per-message pricing. Businesses will be charged per message for template messages instead of per conversation. The 24-hour customer service window will continue to exist, and replies sent within that window will remain free in certain cases (as we’ll explain below).
To put it simply, your messaging charges will now depend on:
1. Type of Message
There are four types of messages on the WhatsApp Business API. Each type serves a different purpose and has its own pricing:
- Marketing: Promotional messages that drive awareness, sales, or re-engagement, such as limited-time offers or cart abandonment reminders. Under the new model, businesses will be charged per delivered marketing template message.
- Utility: These are transactional messages triggered by user actions, such as order confirmations, delivery updates, or payment reminders. As per the new pricing model, businesses will be charged per delivered utility template message, except when the message is sent within an open customer service window, in which case it will be free.
- Authentication: These messages are used to verify a user’s identity, typically through one-time passwords (OTPs) during login, sign-up, or account recovery. Under the new model, businesses will be charged per delivered authentication template message.
- Service: These messages are sent in response to customer-initiated conversations. As of November 1, 2024, WhatsApp allows businesses to initiate an unlimited number of service conversations at no cost, provided the 24-hour messaging window with a user is open.
Here’s a quick comparison of how pricing works under the previous and new models:
| Message Type | Current Pricing Model (per-conversation) | New Pricing Model(per-message) |
| Marketing | One charge for all marketing messages sent in a 24-hour window | Charge for each delivered marketing template message |
| Utility | One charge for all utility messages sent in a 24-hour window | Charge for each delivered utility template message, unless sent during an open service window (then it’s free) |
| Authentication | One charge for all authentication messages sent in a 24-hour window | Charge for each delivered authentication template message |
| Service | Free if sent within a 24-hour customer-initiated window | Still free if sent within the open customer service window |
2. Country of Recipient
WhatsApp’s message rates also vary by the recipient’s country. Pricing is based on the country code of the user’s phone number and reflects regional market conditions.
Each message type, marketing, utility, and authentication, is priced differently in each region. For instance, sending a marketing message to someone in India typically costs less than sending the same message to a user in the UK or Germany.
You can view the full list of country-specific rates in various currencies here.
So, essentially, here’s what the total cost looks like:
Total effective cost = Tool charges + WhatsApp API charges
Breaking Down WhatsApp API Platform Fees
The API charges outlined above are set by WhatsApp, and there are two ways businesses can pay them:
- Through a tool provider, or
- Directly to WhatsApp on their own.
Most popular WhatsApp tool providers, such as WATI, Interakt, and AiSensy, require you to pre-pay for WhatsApp API usage through them, and typically add a 12% to 35% markup on top of the official API rates.
While this is a common practice, it effectively increases your WhatsApp marketing costs without offering any additional benefit, especially considering that you’re already paying separately for access to their tool.
With WANotifier, it works differently. We do not bill you for WhatsApp API usage. Instead, you pay Meta (the company that owns WhatsApp) directly through their official billing portal.
This means 0% markup, and the amount you save can go right back into your marketing budget, helping you reach more customers at no additional cost.
The table below compares the official WhatsApp Cloud API pricing with the prices charged by popular tools in the market. It highlights the cost of marketing template messages (in INR) to show what each provider adds on top of the official rates.
| Marketing Messages | Markup | |
|---|---|---|
| Official Pricing | 0.7846 | – |
| WANotifier | 0.7846 | 0% |
| WATI | 0.94152 | 20% |
| QuickReply | 0.963 | 23% |
| DoubleTick | 0.8855 | 13% |
| Interakt | 0.882 | 12% |
| AiSensy | 0.88 | 12% |
Provider markups on WhatsApp marketing messages
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WhatsApp Marketing Cost Calculator
Let’s calculate the exact cost of WhatsApp marketing using our handy cost calculator. Enter details in the form below to calculate the exact monthly cost of marketing on WhatsApp using the WhatsApp API & our tool WANotifier.
Tips to Reduce Your WhatsApp API Costs in 2025
Now that WhatsApp charges per message, reducing costs is less about sending fewer messages and more about sending them at the right time, to the right people. Here are a few smart ways to stay efficient and keep your API costs under control.
- Get customers to message you first: Encourage users to start conversations via Click-to-WhatsApp ads, QR codes (generate one here), or website chat widgets. Since these are user-initiated, you won’t get charged for responding
- Make the most of free service messages: Respond quickly to customer-initiated messages using chatbots or auto-replies. Replies sent within the 24-hour service window are free, so resolving issues during that time helps you avoid unnecessary charges.
- Focus on targeted campaigns: Use a third-party CRM or WANotifier’s built-in CRM to segment your audience and send promotions to the right groups. Targeted campaigns help reduce costs and perform better than sending generic messages to your entire list.
- Choose a platform with transparent pricing: As mentioned earlier, many platforms impose a markup on the official API rates, which can drive up your costs over time.WANotifier charges 0% markup, so your budget goes directly toward customer engagement, not platform fees. Sign up for a free account today!
Wrapping Up
Understanding how WhatsApp API pricing works is key to planning your marketing budget. One way to control costs is by using the API strategically, as outlined in the tips above.
Another is choosing a platform with transparent pricing that gives you full control over your budget. That’s where WANotifier comes in.
WANotifier gives you access to the WhatsApp API with 0% extra markup and a full suite of features that let you:
- Send WhatsApp broadcasts to thousands of opted-in contacts at once
- Trigger transactional messages for order confirmations, form submissions, and callback requests directly from your website
- Capture leads from Facebook and Instagram ads and automatically add them to your contact list (learn more about it here)
- Run drip campaigns to onboard new users, nurture leads, and re-engage inactive contacts
- Use WhatsApp Flows to collect details and guide users through structured in-chat interactions
- Send WhatsApp notifications via integrations with your CRM, e-commerce platform, or other third-party tools using our REST API
- Monitor message delivery, open rates, and engagement metrics in real time
- Set up chatbots and automations to answer FAQs and provide 24/7 customer support
- Manage all conversations from a shared team inbox (assign chats, track history, and respond in real time)
If you’re looking to manage costs without compromising on results, WANotifier is the right fit for your business.
Elevate your WhatsApp marketing with WANotifier. Easy to set up. Built to scale. No hidden costs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is the WhatsApp API free to use?
The WhatsApp Business API is free to access, but you’ll be charged per message when sending template messages. Pricing depends on the type of message (marketing, utility, or authentication) and the recipient’s country.
2. How does the 24-hour conversation window work?
When a customer messages your business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. During this window, you can reply at no cost using free-form (or service) messages or utility templates.
Once the window closes, all template messages, including utility, will be charged based on their category rates.
3. What is the cheapest way to use the WhatsApp API?
The most cost-effective way to use the API is to get customers to message you first. These user-initiated chats qualify as service conversations, and you don’t get charged for responding to them. It also helps to choose a platform like WANotifier that charges 0% markup on WhatsApp’s API rates, so you only pay what Meta charges, with no added costs.
4. Can I use the WhatsApp API without a BSP?
Yes, you can use the WhatsApp Cloud API directly from Meta, but you’ll have to build your own interface or tool to access its features. If you want a simpler option, tools like WANotifier let you use the API through a user-friendly interface without writing a single line of code.
