WhatsApp Business pricing changes from today: What Indian firms should know

Meta is changing the pricing structure for its WhatsApp Business Platform starting Thursday (October 1), ending free service messaging beyond a specified monthly quota and introducing charges for utility messages sent within an open 24-hour customer service window.

Meta is rolling out the pricing change globally across the WhatsApp Business Platform, with varied rates based on the recipient's market.

Under the new pricing, businesses in India will get 1,000 free service messages per phone number each month. Once that quota is exhausted, additional service messages will be charged at ₹0.115 per message, according to Meta's pricing information.

Service messages are non-template replies sent by a human customer service representative or a third-party AI system. They can be sent only when a 24-hour customer service window is open, which starts when a customer messages a business.

Utility messages, which are business-initiated transactional or account-related messages, usually sent using a pre-approved WhatsApp template within the 24-hour customer service window, like “Your order #1234 has been shipped”, will also no longer be free. In India, Meta's utility rate is ₹0.115 per delivered message. The same rate applies to authentication messages.

Meta had earlier charged businesses for marketing, utility and authentication template messages, while non-template service messages were free. Utility messages sent within an open 24-hour customer service window were also free from July 1, 2025.

For Indian businesses, the marketing message rate remains ₹0.8631 per delivered message.

These are Meta's published rates before any applicable taxes or fees charged by third-party providers. 

Responses generated by Meta Business Agent are charged separately at a global rate of $2 per 1 million tokens, which are units used to measure the amount of text processed by the AI.

According to the company, messages will continue to be free when a customer starts a WhatsApp conversation by clicking on a business's ad on WhatsApp. However, if Meta Business Agent handles the conversation, the business may still have to pay the separate AI token-based charge.

Meta has also set a deadline for businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform through a solution provider or direct integration. Meta said it will stop delivering service messages to businesses without a payment method once the new charges take effect on October 1.