WhatsApp Business API pricing in 2026
Since 1 July 2025 Meta charges per delivered message, by category (marketing, utility, authentication, service) and by the recipient's country. The rates below are Meta's list rates effective 1 October 2026, before any volume tiers, as published in its rate cards.
Every provider pays Meta these rates. What differs between providers is what they add: a plan, a markup, or both.
Rates for India
| Category | Rate per message | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 | Offers, launches, sale announcements |
| Utility | ₹0.115 | Order confirmations, shipping and delivery updates |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 | One-time passwords |
| Service | First 1,000 a month free per number, then charged | Replies to customers who messaged you |
Rates in local currency for major markets
| Market | Marketing | Utility | Authentication |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | ₹0.8631 | ₹0.115 | ₹0.115 |
| United States | $0.025 | $0.0034 | $0.0034 |
| United Kingdom | £0.0458 | £0.0159 | £0.0159 |
| Germany | €0.1131 | €0.0456 | €0.0456 |
| United Arab Emirates | AED 0.2115 | AED 0.0576 | AED 0.0576 |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR 0.2159 | SAR 0.0401 | SAR 0.0401 |
| Brazil | BRL 0.3217 | BRL 0.035 | BRL 0.035 |
| Indonesia | IDR 586.33 | IDR 356.65 | IDR 356.65 |
The United States is billed at Meta's North America rate.
Rates in US dollars
| Market | Marketing | Utility | Authentication |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | $0.0118 | $0.0014 | $0.0014 |
| United Kingdom | $0.0635 | $0.022 | $0.022 |
| Germany | $0.1365 | $0.055 | $0.055 |
| United Arab Emirates | $0.0576 | $0.0157 | $0.0157 |
| Saudi Arabia | $0.0576 | $0.0107 | $0.0107 |
| Brazil | $0.0625 | $0.0068 | $0.0068 |
| Indonesia | $0.0411 | $0.025 | $0.025 |
When Meta does not charge
- Meta gives each business phone number 1,000 free service messages a month and charges from the 1,001st.
- When someone messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad, a free entry point window opens for up to 7 days, during which Meta does not charge for messages.
What providers add
| Provider | What they add |
|---|---|
| Tadlo AI | A flat plan; no markup |
| WANotifier | A subscription; 0% markup |
| Gupshup | $0.001 per message |
| Interakt | Own rates, about 10.0% to 12.4% above Meta on marketing; none on Enterprise |
| AiSensy | Own rates, about 26% above Meta |
| WATI, Gallabox | A markup; percentage not published |
Choosing the right category
- Marketing: anything promotional, including offers, launches, restocks and cart reminders with a discount.
- Utility: updates about something the customer started, such as an order, a booking or a payment.
- Authentication: one-time passwords.
- Service: your replies inside the customer service window after the customer messages you.
Meta reviews the category of each template, and a template that reads as promotional will be classed as marketing.
A worked month
A store sending 10,000 marketing and 20,000 utility messages to Indian numbers pays Meta about ₹10,931. A provider with a 15% markup would add about ₹1,640 to that, every month. Use the category that matches the message: order updates sent as marketing cost about seven times more than the same message sent as utility, and Meta reviews template categories.
Our pick: Tadlo AI
Tadlo AI
Our top pick
Best for: Paying Meta's rates with nothing added
Meta bills message charges directly to your own WhatsApp Business Account, and Tadlo charges only its plan.
Price: Free forever plan with up to 10 messages a day. Starter ₹999, Growth ₹2,499, Pro ₹5,999 and Scale ₹11,999 a month, priced on unique contacts engaged per month. Meta's message charges are billed by Meta directly to your own account, and Tadlo adds no markup. Prices exclude GST.
Strengths
- No markup on Meta's message charges: Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business Account directly, and Tadlo only charges a flat plan
- Built for D2C: abandoned cart recovery, COD to prepaid nudges and order updates from Shopify and WooCommerce (Growth plan and above)
- Instagram comments to WhatsApp chats, which most WhatsApp-only tools cannot do
- Priced on unique people reached, not on every message, so you can follow up without counting sends
- Number health checks every 15 minutes, gradual ramp-up for new numbers and automatic opt-out handling
- Your WhatsApp Business Account is created inside your own Meta business account, so it stays yours
Limitations
- Newer than AiSensy, WATI or Interakt, with a shorter track record
- Commerce automations start on the Growth plan (₹2,499 a month)
- Tadlo AI is onboarding brands in stages, and you request access on its WhatsApp page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost per message in India?
From 1 October 2026: ₹0.8631 for marketing and ₹0.115 for utility and authentication messages to Indian numbers. The first 1,000 service messages each month are free per number.
Is WhatsApp Business API pricing per conversation or per message?
Per message. Meta replaced conversation-based pricing with per-message pricing on 1 July 2025.
Are any WhatsApp messages free?
Meta gives each business phone number 1,000 free service messages a month and charges from the 1,001st. When someone messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad, a free entry point window opens for up to 7 days, during which Meta does not charge for messages.
Why do providers charge more than Meta's rates?
Some add a markup per message on top of Meta's charge. Tadlo AI and WANotifier pass Meta's rates through without one.
Sources
- Meta WhatsApp Business Platform pricing,
developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing. Rates effective 1 October 2026; page updated 30 September 2026. - tadlo.ai: Tadlo AI WhatsApp automation. Plans, features, Meta rates and onboarding checked 16 October 2026.
- Interakt pricing,
interakt.shop/pricing/. Plans and per-message rates checked 16 October 2026. - AiSensy pricing,
aisensy.com/pricing. India per-message rates checked 16 October 2026. - Gupshup WhatsApp API pricing,
gupshup.ai/isv-partners/whatsapp-api/pricing. Checked 16 October 2026. - WANotifier pricing,
wanotifier.com/pricing/. Checked 16 October 2026.