WhatsApp marketing
WhatsApp is changing its prices on 1 October. Here's what businesses will pay now.
For almost two years, replying to a customer on WhatsApp inside the 24-hour window cost nothing. From 1 October 2026 it does. Here is exactly what changes, what stays free, what it means for your costs, and how to keep them under control.
The Buddy Team · · 6 min read
WhatsApp marketing
New WhatsApp prices, 1 October
On 1 October 2026, Meta changes how it charges businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Two kinds of message that have been free start costing money: replies you send inside the 24-hour customer service window, and utility messages sent inside that same window (Meta for Developers).
If your business mostly sends marketing campaigns, little changes. If you answer customer questions, send order updates or run support on WhatsApp, your bill is about to include messages that used to be free. This guide explains the change in plain language.
First, how WhatsApp pricing works today
Since 1 July 2025, Meta has charged per message, and only when a message is delivered (Meta pricing). The price of each message depends on two things: its category, and the country of the person receiving it. Meta publishes rates in more than a dozen currencies, and you can look up your own on its rate card.
| Category | What it's for | Charged before 1 October? |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotions, launches, offers, re-engagement | Yes, always |
| Utility | Updates about something the customer did: orders, bookings, accounts | Yes outside the 24-hour window, free inside it |
| Authentication | One-time passcodes | Yes |
| Service | Replies to a customer who messaged you, inside the 24-hour window | No, free since November 2024 |
Two windows decide what's free. The customer service window opens for 24 hours whenever a customer messages you. The free entry point window opens for 72 hours when you reply to someone who reached you through a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button. Messages the customer sends to you are never charged.
What changes on 1 October 2026
- 1Replies become chargeable. Every reply you send inside the 24-hour window is now a charged service message. That includes replies written by a person on your team and replies written by a third-party AI tool.
- 2Utility messages inside the window become chargeable. Order confirmations, shipping updates and booking reminders sent while the window is open used to be free. From 1 October they're charged at the utility rate.
- 3Service messages cost the same as utility messages. Meta says that "by market, rates for service messages are the same as the rates for utility and authentication messages." There are no volume discounts for service messages.
- 4Some country rates move too. Bangladesh, Iraq, Nepal and Sri Lanka get their own, lower utility and authentication rates. Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Ukraine get higher ones.
| Message | Until 30 September 2026 | From 1 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Your reply inside the 24-hour window | Free | Charged at the service rate |
| Utility template inside the 24-hour window | Free | Charged at the utility rate |
| Utility template outside the window | Charged | Charged |
| Marketing template | Charged | Charged |
| Authentication template | Charged | Charged |
| Anything in the 72-hour window after a Click-to-WhatsApp ad | Free | Free |
| Messages customers send to you | Free | Free |
The other new cost: Meta's AI agent
A separate change took effect on 1 August 2026. Messages written by Meta Business Agent, Meta's own AI agent for sales and support, are charged by the amount of AI processing they use: $2 per million tokens. Meta says one message typically uses 20,000 to 25,000 tokens, or about 4 to 5 US cents per message (Meta for Developers).
Those token charges apply even inside the free 72-hour ad window, where message delivery itself stays free. If you use Meta Business Agent, budget for it separately from your message fees.
Who will feel it most
Support-heavy businesses
If customers message you with questions all day, every answer now has a price. Long back-and-forth conversations cost more than short, complete ones.
Stores sending order updates
Shipping and delivery updates sent while a customer's window was open used to be free. Now each one is charged at the utility rate.
Teams using AI chatbots
Third-party AI replies count as service messages, and Meta's own agent is charged by token. A chatty bot is now a line item.
Campaign-first senders
If you mostly send marketing campaigns, your costs barely move, because marketing messages were always charged.
A worked example
Take an online store that, each month, sends 2,000 marketing messages, 3,000 order updates inside the customer's window, and 4,000 support replies. The rates below are made up to keep the maths simple. Your real rates depend on your customers' countries and are on Meta's rate card.
| Messages per month | Example rate | Before 1 October | From 1 October |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 marketing | $0.05 | $100 | $100 |
| 3,000 utility, inside the window | $0.01 | $0 | $30 |
| 4,000 support replies | $0.01 | $0 | $40 |
| Total | $100 | $170 |
Same store, same customers, 70% more to Meta, and all of the increase comes from conversations that used to be free. The businesses that come out ahead are the ones that change how they talk to customers, not just how much they send.
How to keep costs down
- 1Check your payment method. Billing runs through Meta Business Suite. Make sure a valid payment method is on your WhatsApp Business account before 1 October, so nothing stops sending.
- 2Answer in fewer, fuller messages. Each outgoing message is charged, so one complete answer costs less than three short ones. Write replies that resolve the question in one go.
- 3Combine updates. Instead of separate messages for confirmed, packed and shipped, send the updates that actually help the customer, and put more in each one.
- 4Use the free ad window. Conversations that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook call-to-action are free for 72 hours. For businesses that advertise, that is the one fully free path left.
- 5Categorise templates honestly. Meta reviews categories and can recategorise a template. A promotion labelled as utility doesn't save money for long, and it can hurt your standing.
- 6Grow into volume tiers. Utility and authentication messages get cheaper as monthly volume grows. Meta adds up volume across every WhatsApp Business account in your business portfolio, so keep your numbers under one portfolio.
- 7Price your AI before you scale it. Compare the cost of Meta Business Agent at about 4 to 5 cents a message with your service rate plus any third-party AI fees, and look at how many messages each conversation takes.
- 8Send to people who want to hear from you. The cheapest message is the one you don't waste. A smaller, opted-in, well-segmented audience costs less and replies more.
What we couldn't confirm
Some providers report that each phone number will get 1,000 free service messages a month, and that Meta will stop delivering service messages for accounts without a payment method by 30 September. As of 30 September 2026, neither appears on Meta's pricing documentation or in Zendesk's announcement of the change. We won't plan around them until Meta publishes them. Check your own invoices in Meta Business Suite after the first billing cycle in October.
How Buddy handles the change
- No mark-up on Meta's fees. As a Meta Tech Provider, Buddy doesn't resell WhatsApp messages. Meta bills you directly at its published rates, and Buddy charges only for Buddy.
- Built to send fewer, better messages. Buddy's audiences, tags and consent tracking make it easy to send each WhatsNew only to people it's relevant to. Now every message is paid for, that matters more.
- Replies with context. Buddy's inbox and Responses view keep every conversation and reply category in one place, so your team can answer completely the first time.
- Templates in the right category. Buddy's template builder has you choose marketing, utility or authentication up front, and syncs Meta's review decision and any recategorisation back into Buddy.
New to Buddy? Our complete guide covers every feature, and the rise of WhatsApp marketing explains why Meta is building a business on messaging in the first place.
Sources
- Meta for Developers: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform
- Meta for Developers: Upcoming pricing updates for Meta Business Agent, service and utility messages
- WhatsApp Business: Business Platform pricing and rate card
- Zendesk: Announcing upcoming changes to WhatsApp Business messaging pricing