Cost

On this page, you'll learn about the three main costs you must bear to use the WhatsApp Business Platform for customer communications.

At the very least, there are three main costs for businesses using the WhatsApp Business API and two costs for those using the WhatsApp Cloud API.

If you want to access the WhatsApp Business API, you must pay for the following:

  • An inbox/CRM that lets you send and receive messages
  • Business Solution Provider (BSP) fee
  • WhatsApp’s conversation-based fee

If you want to use the WhatsApp Cloud API, you must pay for the following:

  • An inbox/CRM that lets you send and receive messages
  • WhatsApp’s conversation-based fee

You can access the WhatsApp Cloud API for free. However, to make use of it for messaging, you need someone with programming knowledge. If you don’t have a technical person on your team, you must consider the cost of that too. Some BSPs provide technical assistance in using WhatsApp Cloud API at a cost they decide.

Business Solution Provider Fee

Business Solution Providers (BSPs) charge businesses for giving them access to the WhatsApp Business API. Their fee varies; some charge a fixed monthly rate regardless of your messaging volume and the number of users on your team, while others charge based on your messaging volume. See How to Choose a Business Solution Provider (BSP) to learn about their pricing models.

There are three main pricing models that BSPs have:

  • Fixed monthly rate
  • Per-message fee
  • Per message bundle fee

Fixed Monthly Rate

Some BSPs charge you a fixed monthly rate regardless of the number of agents/seats and your messaging volume. If you have a high messaging volume, such BSPs could be a cost-effective option for your business.

One such BSP is 360dialog. They have three public pricing plans:

API only (starting €49)

A suitable starting point for most businesses.

Professional €99

Same as the API-only package, with premium customer support.

Enterprise (starting €200)

Best for large companies with ultra-high bandwidth.

Rasayel’s partner price (US$15)

If you choose 360dialog as your BSP and Rasayel as your WhatsApp inbox, the cost of 360dialog is reduced to $15 per month. This is regardless of the number of messages you send and receive or the number of team members you have. Please WhatsApp us at +13024070488 or email us at support@rasayel.io for more information on this.

Per-message Fee

You are charged for every message you send and receive from customers. This pricing model is suitable for businesses with low or unpredictable messaging volumes. MessageBird and Twilio are two BSPs that charge 0.005 USD for each message your send and receive.

Per Message Bundle

They charge you a fee for a specific number of messages you send and receive. For example, they charge 5 USD for 500 messages.

Inbox and/or CRM Fee

You must pay for a CRM or an inbox to send and receive WhatsApp messages since neither WhatsApp Business API nor WhatsApp Cloud API has a chat interface. One such inbox is Rasayel; It lets you talk to customers as a team, create chatbots, connect it to your Shopify or Medusa store, run marketing campaigns, and many more.

When selecting an inbox, you need to ensure that it’s compatible with the BSP you choose or it integrates with WhatsApp Cloud API if that’s your choice of API. Rasayel inbox, integrates with WhatsApp Cloud API, Twilio, 360dialog and MessageBird’s WhatsApp Business API. To learn more about the pricing of WhatsApp inboxes, you need to contact the inbox providers. See Rasayel’s Introduction to learn more about Rasayel’s pricing.

WhatsApp’s Conversation-Based Fee

WhatsApp charges businesses per conversation. A conversation is all the messages exchanged between a business and a customer, starting when a business’s first message is delivered until 24 hours later. All the messages exchanged in this period are associated with one conversation and incur one charge.

There are two main categories of conversations:

  • Business-initiated conversation - Your business messages a customer. From when your message is delivered until 24 hours later, all messages between you and the customer are associated with one business-initiated conversation. To start a business-initiated conversation, a business can send a message template only. Once the customer replies, you can send messages with any content and format, free-form messages and templates.

Business-initiated conversation

  • User-initiated conversation - A customer messages you, and you reply to them. From when your first reply is delivered until 24 hours later, all the messages you send to and receive from them are associated with one user-initiated conversation. You can exchange messages with any content and format (free-form messages) and message templates in a user-initiated conversation.

User-initiated conversation

Conversation-based Pricing Before June 1, 2023

Up until June 1, 2023, businesses are charged based on the country code of the customer’ number and whether the conversation is business-initiated or user-initiated. Businesses and customers can exchange any number of messages within a conversation without incurring additional charges.

For example, if the customer’s phone number is from the UAE, you are charged 0.0316 USD for each business-initiated conversation and 0.019 USD for each user-initiated conversation. If their country code is Brazil, you are charged 0.05 USD for each business-initiated conversation and 0.03 USD for a user-initiated conversation.

You can find a full list of conversation prices based on country, region, and conversation categories on Meta’s Conversation-Based Pricing page under Rate Cards.

Free Tier Conversations Before June 1, 2023

For every WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), the first 1,000 conversations per month, are free. This is independent of them being user-initiated or business-initiated conversations. If you have more than one phone number connected to your WABA, the number of free conversations for all phone numbers in total is 1,000 per month.

The free tier is refreshed monthly based on the time zone associated with the WABA.

Free Entry Points Conversations Before June 1, 2023

When a customer sends a message using call-to-action buttons on Ads that Click to WhatsApp or a Facebook Page call-to-action buttons, you’re not charged for a user-initiated conversation by replying to them. However, you are charged for every other conversation after that.

Sending Message Templates in Open Conversations Before June 1, 2023

If you wish to use message templates within open conversations, you can do so. This will not incur any charge for you.

Conversation-based Pricing Effective June 1, 2023

Effective June 1st, user-initiated conversations will be called service conversations. Their pricing continues to be the same as before, based on your customer’s country code.

Business-initiated conversations will be broken down into three categories, depending on the three categories of the message templates you start the conversation with. Each of the three categories will have its own pricing based on the customer’s country code:

  • Utility conversations - This category is for when your message template belongs to the transactional category. Templates that are about facilitating a specific, agreed-upon request or transaction or update to a customer about an ongoing transaction, including post-purchase notifications and recurring billing statements, fall into this category.\

Utility conversation

  • Authentication conversations - If your message template belongs to a one-time password category, you have started an authentication conversation. Such templates enable businesses to authenticate users with one-time passcodes, potentially at multiple steps in the login process (e.g., account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges).\

Authentication conversation

  • Marketing conversations - If you send a marketing message that includes promotions or offers, informational updates, or invitations for customers to respond/take action, you have started a marketing conversation. Any conversation that does not qualify as utility or authentication is a marketing conversation.\

Marketing conversation

Each of these conversation categories has its own pricing based on the country code of your customer’s phone number. For example, If your customer’s country code is the UAE, here is how you’ll be charged:

  • 0.0157 EUR for a service conversation
  • 0.0164 EUR for a utility and authentication conversation
  • 0.0282 EUR for a marketing conversation

You can find a full list of conversation prices based on country, region and conversation category on Meta’s Conversation-Based Pricing page under Rate Cards.

Free Tier Conversations Effective June 1, 2023

{% hint style=“info” %} This will come to effect starting March 1, 2023 for businesses relying on a Business Solution Provider (BSP) for accessing Meta’s APIs. For every other business, it will come to effect starting June 1, 2023. {% endhint %}

Each WABA, regardless of the number of phone numbers connected to it, will receive 1,000 free user-initiated (service) conversations per month. Business-initiated conversations will not be included in the monthly free tier conversations anymore. The free tier is refreshed monthly based on the time zone associated with the WABA.

Free Entry Points Conversations Effective March 1, 2023

Similar to before, you aren’t charged for user-initiated conversations that start from call-to-actions buttons on Ads that Click to WhatsApp or Facebook Page call-to-action buttons. Starting March 1, the free conversation window from these free entry points is extended from 24 to 72 hours.

When a customer sends a message from a free entry point and you reply to them, a free user-initiated conversation has started. You can send any free-form message during the 72 hours but you cannot send message templates.

While the conversations that initiate from these ads are free, the ads are not free.

Sending Message Templates in Open Conversations Effective June 1, 2023

If you send a message template of one type (for example, marketing) in an open conversation of another type (for example, service conversation), you are charged for both categories of conversations; the marketing conversation and the service conversation. If you send a template of one type in an open conversation of the same type, you will not be charged extra.

In the example below, the business sends a transactional message template. It starts a utility conversation which ends 24 hours later. Within the open conversation, it send a marketing template too. If the customer’s country code is Brazil, the business is charged:

  • 0.035 USD for a utility conversation
  • 0.0625 USD for a marketing conversation

Each of the two conversations ends 24 hours after their starting template was sent.

A transactional message thT starts a utility conversation which ends 24 hours later.

Here, the business sends a transactional message template. This starts a utility conversation. Then, the business sends another transactional message template. This does not count as a new conversation, as they are of the same type. The business is charged for one utility conversation only (0.035 USD for Brazil):

a transactional message that starts a utility conversation.