WhatsApp Pricing Update July 2025: From Conversation-Based to Per-Message Billing

Meta has announced a major WhatsApp Business API pricing update effective July 1, 2025. This update shifts WhatsApp’s billing from a conversation-based model to a per-message (per-template) pricing model. In simple terms, instead of paying one fee for a 24-hour conversation session, businesses will now pay for each template message they send. This change comes alongside other important adjustments to WhatsApp’s messaging categories and policies, all aimed at making pricing more transparent and user-friendly .

If you’re a D2C brand founder, customer experience designer, CMO, customer support lead, or anyone crafting WhatsApp interactions, it’s crucial to understand these changes. In this blog, we’ll break down how WhatsApp pricing works in 2025, explain concepts like the 24-hour conversation window (also known as the customer service window, learn more about whatsapp terminologies), clarify the different message categories (Marketing, Utility, Authentication), and highlight what’s changing from July 1, 2025. We’ll do this in plain, simple language with examples, so even if you’re not technical, you’ll grasp what’s happening and how it impacts your business.

Key Changes in WhatsApp Business API Pricing (Effective July 2025)

To start, here’s an overview of the key changes rolling out on July 1, 2025:

• Pay-Per-Message Billing: WhatsApp is moving from charging per 24-hour conversation to charging per template message delivered . Every template message you send will incur a fee, replacing the single conversation fee that previously covered unlimited messages in a 24hr session .

• Free Utility Replies Within 24h: Utility template messages (e.g. transaction updates, order alerts) sent in response to a user’s message within 24 hours will now be free of charge. In other words, if a customer initiates a chat and you reply with a utility template (like an order confirmation), you pay nothing for that message under the new rules.

• No Change in Base Rates: The price per message remains the same as the old per-conversation price for each category. For example, if a Marketing conversation used to cost $0.02, now each Marketing template message will cost $0.02. There is no increase in the underlying tariff, only a change in how billing is counted (per message rather than per session) .

• Volume Discounts (Tiered Pricing): WhatsApp is introducing volume-based pricing tiers for high-volume messaging, particularly for Utility (and Authentication) messages. This means the more messages you send in a month, the lower the per-message rate can become (tiers vary by country and reset monthly).

• Refined Message Categories: The definition of what counts as a “Utility” message is stricter starting July 2025. Templates must be non-promotional and either user-requested or essential to qualify as Utility. Some messages previously considered Utility (e.g. generic feedback requests like “Rate us” or informational updates like “Your report is ready”) will be reclassified as Marketing and charged at Marketing rates. This ensures Utility category is reserved for truly essential or requested notifications.

• Marketing Message Limits Per User: WhatsApp is adjusting its marketing message sending limits to align with the per-message model. Previously, a business could send only one marketing message outside an open conversation unless the user responded. Now, businesses can send multiple marketing templates to a user (no fixed one-per-day cap), but each message counts toward a per-user limit. If a user never engages, there’s effectively a safeguard that will stop you from endlessly messaging them (to curb spam). However, if the user replies at any point, it opens a 24-hour window during which additional messages won’t count toward that limit .

Those are the broad strokes. Next, let’s dive deeper into each aspect: how the pricing model is changing, what the 24-hour window means, the types of message templates and how they’re charged, and why Meta is making these changes.

From Conversation-Based to Per-Message Pricing

Under the old pricing model (pre-July 2025), WhatsApp charged businesses per 24-hour conversation. A conversation was a messaging session that lasted 24 hours from the first message sent by the business to a user (or vice versa, depending on category). If you initiated a conversation by sending a template message, you paid one fixed fee and could send any number of messages in the next 24 hours under that single conversation charge. This was called conversation-based pricing (CBP). For example, if you sent a marketing template to a customer and then exchanged 10 messages back and forth within the next day, you would pay for 1 marketing conversation, not 10 messages.

As of July 1, 2025, this is changing. WhatsApp is switching to per-message pricing for templates . Now, every template message delivered will incur its own charge, no matter when it’s sent. There is no concept of a “bundle” of messages within 24 hours from a pricing perspective for templates, each template is billed individually. In other words, if you send three separate template messages (say a reminder, a follow-up, and a promotion) to the same user over a day, you’ll pay for three messages now (instead of possibly just one conversation fee before).

Important: The amount you pay per message is not higher than before. WhatsApp has kept the rate per template message equal to the previous conversation rate for that category. It’s a one-to-one switch. For instance, if a Marketing conversation in India cost ₹0.88 before, now a Marketing template message will cost ₹0.88 . If a Utility conversation was ₹0.125, a Utility message is ₹0.125, etc. There’s no extra surcharge on a per-message basis, they’ve simply broken the 24-hour package into individual billable units. So, no base price increase, just a more granular way of billing.

Why does this matter? For businesses, this offers greater transparency and control. You can now see exactly what each message costs and pay for only the messages you actually send. Under the old system, if you triggered a conversation and then perhaps didn’t use the full 24h window, you still paid the full conversation fee. Now costs are directly tied to each message’s value. It also means every message counts, encouraging businesses to be more thoughtful with each template they send. This aligns WhatsApp’s model more closely with channels like SMS or email where you pay per message sent .

For example, if previously you might have sent multiple broadcast templates within a 24h period thinking they were all covered by one conversation fee, with the new model you’ll pay for each of those broadcasts. On the flip side, you won’t pay for unused conversation time; if you send just one message, you pay just for one message, not a whole session.

It’s also worth noting that free entry-point conversations (like those initiated via click-to-WhatsApp ads or QR codes) remain free, just measured differently. In the past, the first conversation via a Facebook ad click was free. Now, Meta has indicated there’s no change in those free entry-point allowances, except they might be counted in “messages” instead of “conversations” internally. The principle remains that certain entry scenarios don’t incur charges for the initial message.

In summary, the big takeaway is that WhatsApp’s billing is now “per template message sent” rather than “per 24-hour chat session.” Businesses will need to keep an eye on how many template messages they send, since each one has a cost attached (especially for Marketing use cases).

The 24-Hour Customer Service Window Explained (User-Initiated Conversations)

One aspect of WhatsApp messaging that remains key is the 24-hour customer service window (also called the user-initiated conversation window or session). Let’s demystify this:

When a user (customer) sends your business a message on WhatsApp, for example, they ask a question or reply to one of your messages, this action opens a 24-hour service window. During this window, you have an open session in which you can freely communicate with that user without incurring template messaging charges, as long as you stick to service-type messages (any free-form chat) or utility templates. Essentially, WhatsApp gives you a 24-hour free pass to respond to the user’s inquiry or message .

• If you respond with a normal text message (non-template), it’s free and doesn’t require a template approval because you’re within the service window.

• If you need to send a utility template (like a payment confirmation, order detail, or any standardized message), that template will not be charged either, as long as it’s within the 24h window from the user’s last message .

• Every time the user sends another message in reply, the 24-hour timer resets, giving you another fresh 24 hours from that point .

• During an open window, you cannot be charged for Utility messages, but Marketing templates are not free, marketing messages are considered business-initiated promotional content, so those will incur charges even if the window is open (more on this nuance in a moment) .

This “customer service window” is essentially WhatsApp’s way of facilitating customer support and service conversations without nickel-and-diming businesses for every reply. It encourages prompt responses and conversational engagement. As long as the user keeps the conversation going, you can continue helping them or sending relevant info at no cost (except for any marketing/promotional content, which is treated differently).

Example Scenario (24h Window in action):

To clarify how this works, let’s walk through a hypothetical interaction between a customer (User) and a business, with timestamps and charges noted:

• 10:00 AM, Monday – User → Business: The customer sends a message: “Hi, I need an update on my order status.”

  (This user message opens a 24-hour customer service window until 10:00 AM Tuesday.)

• 10:05 AM – Business → User: The support agent replies with a normal text: “Sure, let me check that for you…”.

  Cost: Free ✅ (Reply sent within the 24h window is a free service message).

• 10:30 AM – User → Business: The customer sends another message: “Any update on the order?”

  (This new user message refreshes the 24-hour window, now extending it until 10:30 AM Tuesday.)

• 11:15 AM – Business → User: The business sends an order status update using a Utility template (a standardized message with the tracking info).

  Cost: Free ✅ (Utility template sent within the active 24h window in direct response to the user’s query – no charge) .

• 4:00 PM – Business → User: The business decides to send a promotional offer message (a Marketing template) saying “Hey, we have a 20% off coupon for your next purchase.”

  Cost: Charged ⚠️ (This is a Marketing template, which is charged per message even though the window is open. The charge will be according to the marketing rate for the user’s country, e.g. ₹0.88 in India for that message .)

• 5:00 PM – Business → User: The business sends another utility message (perhaps a shipping reminder or an invoice PDF) as a template.

  Cost: Free ✅ (Still within the 24h window which is open until next day 10:30 AM, so utility template is not charged).

• (No further messages that day.)

• Next day, 10:30 AM, Tuesday: The 24-hour window from the user’s last message (which was at 10:30 AM Monday) expires now. After 10:30 AM Tuesday, the window is closed because the user hasn’t sent another message to refresh it.

• 11:40 AM, Tuesday – Business → User: The business sends a follow-up utility template (perhaps “We noticed you haven’t picked up your order, need help?” or some update) after the 24h window has lapsed.

  Cost: Charged ⚠️ (Since the customer did not reply and the 24h service window closed, this utility template is now being sent outside of an active window, so it will incur the standard utility message fee for the recipient’s country) .

To visualize this timeline, here’s a sequence diagram illustrating the above scenario with which messages are free vs. charged:

In the above example, you can see how user-initiated conversations allow multiple free responses (especially for utility messages), whereas business-initiated messages like marketing templates incur charges regardless of the window.

A few key points to remember about the 24-hour window:

• The window opens only when the user sends a message or clicks a CTA that sends a message to you. You cannot open it on your own; if you, as a business, message a user who hasn’t chatted recently, that’s by definition outside any window and must be a template message (charged).

• Within the window, you can send unlimited free-form messages (think of these as normal chat replies by a human agent) and free Utility templates. This is great for customer support interactions – you won’t pay for each back-and-forth.

• Marketing templates are never free, even if the customer’s message opened a window. Marketing content is always considered a paid outreach. (WhatsApp treats promotional messages differently to prevent abuse of the service window for spam.)

• If the user responds at any point, the clock resets for another 24 hours of free service messaging. If they go quiet, after 24 hours you’ll have to use a template (and pay) to reach out again.

Understanding this customer service window is critical because it lets you maximize free messaging opportunities. Encouraging users to message you first or respond to your messages can significantly reduce your messaging costs (since their reply unlocks free utility messages from your side). We’ll talk more about strategy later on.

Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Templates – What’s the Difference?

When using WhatsApp Business API, all business-initiated messages (messages you send to a user outside of an active service window) must use a pre-approved template. These templates are categorized by purpose. As of 2025, there are three main template categories (since WhatsApp made service conversations free and no longer a paid category ):

1. Marketing Templates (Promotional Messages): These are messages that promote or market something to the user. They include offers, deals, coupons, product announcements, invitations to events, or any content that is aimed at selling, upselling, or engaging the customer in a marketing context. For example: “Hi! We’re running a 20% off sale this week, don’t miss out!” would be a marketing template. By design, Marketing messages are business-initiated, and under the new model each Marketing template sent will incur a charge per message. Marketing templates generally have the highest rate among the categories (since they are promotional). Even if you’re within a user-initiated 24h window, if you send a marketing template, it will be billed. This category also includes things like newsletters or broadcast promotions via WhatsApp. The new update allows you to send more than one marketing message to a user (previously you were limited unless the user responded), but remember that every message will count toward the user’s limit and costs money. Marketing templates are powerful for re-engagement, but because of the cost, businesses should use them judiciously and ensure they provide value to avoid annoying users.

2. Utility Templates (Transactional Messages): Utility templates are essentially transactional or informational messages that a user expects to receive as part of a transaction or interaction. They are non-promotional. Typical examples include order confirmations, shipping updates, delivery notifications, appointment reminders, payment receipts, or account status updates (like bank transaction alerts). Utility messages are meant to provide helpful info that’s directly relevant to a specific transaction or request by the user. Under the new July 2025 rules, Utility templates have special treatment: if a utility message is sent in direct response to a user’s message within the 24h service window, it’s completely free (WhatsApp will not charge for it). If it’s sent outside of an open window (meaning it’s essentially a business-initiated notification), then it will incur a per-message charge at the utility rate (which is usually much lower than the marketing rate). Utility rates in many regions are relatively low, in some cases just fractions of a cent, because WhatsApp wants to encourage businesses to use WhatsApp for things like notifications and customer service updates.

3. Authentication Templates (One-Time Passwords): Authentication templates are a special category used for account verification or user identity confirmation. The classic example is sending a one-time password (OTP) or verification code via WhatsApp to let a user log in or confirm an action. For instance, “Your verification code is 123456” is an authentication message. These messages are typically triggered by a user action (like trying to log in or reset a password) but they are not exactly user-initiated in the messaging sense (the user didn’t send a WhatsApp message; they took an action in your app or site that caused you to send the code). Authentication templates are charged per message, at their own rate which is often similar to or slightly different from utility rates. In some countries, WhatsApp has a distinct rate for “authentication-international”, meaning OTPs sent to users who have phone numbers from a different region than your business, often at a different price. The July 2025 update does not dramatically change how authentication messages are billed, except that they too will fall under per-message billing (which is effectively the same as before, since you likely sent one OTP per conversation anyway). One benefit: authentication messages may also enjoy the new volume tier discounts if you send a high volume of them (more on that below). And as noted, some markets are seeing a decrease in authentication pricing to make WhatsApp more competitive for OTP delivery (for example, many regions have reduced auth rates except a few like India, Malaysia, UAE where they stayed the same or increased slightly ).

Service Messages (Customer Service Conversations): Lastly, although not a “template” category, it’s worth clarifying service conversations, these are the messages during that 24-hour customer service window discussed earlier. They are basically free-form chats or replies by your agents. As of November 1, 2024, WhatsApp made all service conversations free for all businesses . So if a user pings you, you can converse without worrying about fees (again, excluding if you slip in a template that’s marketing). Service conversations aren’t charged and aren’t counted as templates, so you don’t need pre-approval to send a normal text in reply to a customer. This policy continues unchanged in July 2025, WhatsApp wants to encourage businesses to use the platform for customer support without fear of cost. Just remember, once that window closes, you’ll need to use templates again.

To summarize the categories in simple terms:

• Marketing = Promotional content (always paid per message, higher cost).

• Utility = Transactional content (free if replying to user within 24h; otherwise paid per message at a lower cost).

• Authentication = Verification codes (paid per message, typically low cost, often used in high volume).

• Service = 1:1 chat replies (free within 24h window; cannot be sent outside that window).

Understanding these categories helps you anticipate which messages will incur costs and which won’t, under what conditions. It also helps in designing your messaging strategy: e.g., use Utility messages for post-purchase updates and try to get the user to initiate when possible, and use Marketing messages sparingly and tactically for promotions.

Why Did WhatsApp Change Its Pricing Model?

If you’re wondering “Why is WhatsApp (Meta) making these changes?”, you’re not alone. This pricing overhaul is a significant shift. According to Meta, the move to per-message pricing is intended to offer greater transparency and simplify pricing management for businesses. In the conversation model, some businesses found it tricky to manage costs, you had to track 24-hour windows and you might pay the same fee whether you sent 1 message or 10 in that window. By charging per message, businesses know exactly what each message will cost, and there’s no ambiguity or waste if you only needed to send one notification .

Here are a few likely reasons behind the change:

• Clarity and Fairness: Per-message billing is straightforward. As a business, you can now tie the cost directly to each customer interaction. No more calculating how many conversations were opened or worrying about when a window closes to avoid extra charges. It’s pay-as-you-send, which many find easier to understand. In Meta’s view, this granularity is more fair, especially to smaller businesses that may not send many messages, they won’t be paying for unused 24hr blocks .

• Alignment with Industry Norms: Other channels like SMS, email (for bulk services), or even push notifications often use per-message or per-use pricing. WhatsApp’s conversation model was unique and a bit complex to explain to newcomers. By aligning WhatsApp Business pricing to a familiar per-message model, it likely lowers the entry barrier for businesses who are used to thinking in terms of cost per text or cost per email.

• Encouraging Quality over Quantity: With every message counting (and costing), businesses are nudged to focus on quality messaging. Instead of blasting out numerous templates because they were “covered” by one conversation fee, now you’ll think twice and perhaps consolidate messages. This discourages spammy behavior. In fact, reducing spam and irrelevant messaging is something WhatsApp has been actively working on. Meta has been implementing “per-user marketing message limits” and other guardrails to ensure users aren’t overwhelmed by business messages . The new pricing model complements this by economically disincentivizing excessive messaging, if it costs for each message, you’ll only send what matters.

• User Experience and Engagement: WhatsApp wants users to continue enjoying messages from businesses rather than feeling spammed. By making utility interactions free within 24h, they encourage businesses to move important customer service chats onto WhatsApp (improving user experience with timely responses). By charging marketing messages per instance (and limiting them per user when ignored), they discourage overzealous marketing. In other words, the model rewards businesses for being conversational and user-centric (start a two-way conversation, get free replies) and makes it costly to just spam broadcasts without user interaction. This “stick-and-carrot” approach should lead to better engagement. As one commentary put it, smart businesses will “encourage user-initiated chats to unlock free replies” and “trim and tighten their message templates” so each message delivers value.
  (Lear more about modern ways of CX in 2025)

• Incentivizing Volume Usage in the Right Areas: The introduction of volume discounts for utility/auth messages suggests Meta wants to encourage large-scale use of WhatsApp for things like notifications, alerts, and verifications (areas traditionally dominated by SMS). By offering tiered pricing where the per-message cost drops as you send more, WhatsApp becomes more cost-competitive for high-volume transactional use cases. This could attract businesses to route more of their transactional traffic through WhatsApp (which benefits Meta in the long run with more adoption, even if at discounted rates). Meanwhile, no such discount is explicitly mentioned for Marketing messages, implying that marketing remains a premium use case.

• Meta’s Business Strategy: Let’s not forget, Meta sees WhatsApp Business as a key revenue driver. With over 200 million WhatsApp Business users globally, they are finding ways to monetize business messaging without driving companies away. The conversation model might have been leaving money on the table in some scenarios (businesses sending multiple messages for one fee), whereas per-message ensures a more steady revenue per message sent. However, Meta is balancing this with freebies (service conversations free, utility replies free, etc.) to keep the channel attractive. Essentially, they want businesses to integrate WhatsApp deeply (for support, notifications, etc. hence free/cheaper there) and are willing to charge a bit more clearly for marketing (where businesses are gaining potential sales value).

In summary, Meta’s goal is to make WhatsApp a high-quality, high-value communication channel for businesses and customers alike. The pricing changes push businesses toward better practices: be responsive (use that free window), be relevant (don’t send utility messages that aren’t needed), be strategic with marketing, and scale up your useful messaging (volume discounts await). It’s a mindset shift from “WhatsApp is cheap and unlimited for a day” to “WhatsApp is like any other paid channel, treat each message like it matters”. For businesses that adapt, WhatsApp can still be very cost-effective and now more transparent. For users, ideally this means fewer irrelevant messages and more timely, useful ones.

(Read this blog on WhatsApp Automation with Human-like Conversational AI, to know how you can leverage this pricing by engaging customer using conversational AI.)

How This Pricing Change Impacts Your Business (and Tips to Adapt)

Now the big question: What does this mean for you and your business operations on WhatsApp? Here are some implications and practical tips to consider, especially if you are managing customer conversations, marketing campaigns, or support on WhatsApp:

• Potential Cost Changes: Depending on your messaging patterns, you might see your WhatsApp bills change. If you were sending only one template and nothing more in a day to each user, you’ll pay roughly the same as before (no change in rates). If you often sent multiple template messages in one 24hr period (for example, a series of promotional reminders), those will now each incur a fee, where before they were bundled, so costs for that user could go up. On the flip side, if you rely heavily on user-initiated chats and send mostly utility responses, you might save money, since many of those utility replies are now free.

• Encourage User-Initiated Contact: It’s now more advantageous than ever to design customer journeys that get the customer to message you first. For instance, include a “Message us on WhatsApp” button on your website, order confirmation page, or emails. If a customer reaches out or even responds “Hi”, that opens the window for you to serve them without cost for 24hr. This could cover many post-purchase notifications or support issues free of charge. You can prompt users at key points: “Have a question? Chat with us on WhatsApp.” Once they do, you not only solve their problem but also unlock free follow-ups (like upselling a related product within 24h in a subtle, helpful way).

• Be Strategic with Marketing Messages: Unrestrained blasting of marketing templates is a thing of the past. Now that each promo message costs money and counts toward a limit, you should:

  • Consolidate where possible: Instead of sending two or three separate promo messages in a short span, combine information into one rich message if you can. Make that one message count with clear, compelling content.

  • Target and personalize: Since you pay per message, sending generic broadcasts to people who are unlikely to convert is wasteful. Use segmentation to send marketing templates only to those who might find them relevant, and personalize the content so it resonates. A well-targeted message is more likely to get a response or conversion, justifying its cost.

  • Watch the user’s limit: While WhatsApp hasn’t published a hard number for the “per-user marketing message limit,” the principle is if a user is ignoring you (not responding at all to several messages), you will eventually be restricted from pinging them further. This is an automated quality safeguard. So, don’t spam non-responders. It’s better to try a couple of times, and if they don’t engage, back off or try a different approach (or channel) rather than hammering away. In practice, always prioritize quality of outreach over quantity.

  • Drive Engagement: Include a call-to-action in marketing messages that encourages the user to reply or interact. For example, ask a question (“Are you interested? Reply YES for a coupon”) or use interactive message buttons. If the user replies, you’re golden, it opens that free window where you might continue the conversation without additional charges and even the playing field (subsequent messages in that window won’t count against their limit). Engaged users are less likely to hit any cap and more likely to convert.

• Optimize Utility Messaging: Take advantage of the free utility within 24hr rule. For every transactional update you plan to send, consider if it can be triggered by a user action or wrapped into a user-initiated thread. For example, after a purchase, maybe prompt the user: “Text us ‘Order’ on WhatsApp for your order updates.” If they do, all those updates can flow for free to that user, rather than you pushing them out unprompted for a fee. Also, review your utility templates library now, ensure none of them inadvertently contain promotional content. WhatsApp will re-categorize templates that don’t fit the pure utility definition. It’s better you proactively modify or refile those, so you’re not caught off guard getting charged at marketing rates for something you thought was a cheap utility message.

• Leverage Volume Discounts if Applicable: If your business sends high volumes of utility or authentication messages (say, OTPs or notifications to thousands of users), the new tiered pricing can reduce your costs per message at scale. Find out the tiers for your key countries (Meta’s documentation provides tables for volume breaks). Ensure you track how many messages you send monthly, when you cross certain thresholds, you’ll automatically pay less for the remainder of that month. This could influence strategy like consolidating messages or timing them. Some providers will likely show you which tier you’re in as the month progresses. If you’re nearing a tier threshold, it might make sense to push non-urgent messages into the current month to get into a cheaper tier sooner (or conversely, wait for the reset if you’re just at the end of a month). The specifics depend on your message volume distribution. The key is: high volume transactional messaging is now more cost-efficient on WhatsApp than before, so it might be time to consider moving things like SMS OTPs or email alerts to WhatsApp if the audience is there.

• Monitor Performance and Adjust: With per-message costs, it’s wise to keep an eye on metrics like delivery and read rates, and conversion rates of messages. If you’re paying for each message, you want to ensure they’re being read and prompting the desired action. WhatsApp provides delivery and read receipts, use these to gauge if your messages are effective. If certain templates have low read rates or interaction, reconsider their content or necessity. Remember, Meta has hinted it may even automatically block messages that are unlikely to be read to protect users (which implies some algorithmic detection of spammy content or frequency). So quality is not just an ideal, it will affect deliverability and your ability to send messages in the future.

• Agent Workflows and Customer Support: The good news is your customer support chats remain free (as long as the customer writes in). Ensure your support team knows to invite customers to reach out on WhatsApp for follow-ups, rather than the business always initiating. For example, if a customer calls you, maybe follow up with “We can send you updates on WhatsApp if you message us there.” Many CRMs and WhatsApp Business Solution Providers (BSPs) will incorporate the new rules into their platforms, possibly warning an agent if a window expired and sending a template will incur a charge. Educate your team about the 24hr rule so they’re aware why sometimes they can’t message a customer without using a template. It might sound complex, but with the above explanation and a bit of training, your team will handle it fine.

• Budgeting and ROI: From a budgeting perspective, you’ll want to recalculate your WhatsApp messaging budget based on per-message costs. If previously you budgeted by conversation, shift to by message. On the bright side, it’s easier to attribute cost per customer interaction now. You can compute ROI by looking at, say, 1000 marketing messages sent = $X spent, which resulted in Y conversions. This granularity might help you justify WhatsApp spend more concretely to your finance team.

• Wapikit Pricing Note: It’s important to clarify that these changes are imposed by WhatsApp (Meta) and apply universally, no matter which service provider or API platform you use. If you are using Wapiit (our platform) to send WhatsApp messages, Wapikit’s own platform pricing remains the same, we are not changing our subscription or platform fees due to this update. The difference you will see is in the WhatsApp conversation/message fees passed through from Meta. We charge those at cost as per Meta’s rate card. You can always check out WapiKit’s pricing page for details on how our pricing works. In short, Wapikit users will continue to pay the standard WhatsApp rates (now per message), but no extra fees from our side for this change. We’re here to help you adapt smoothly, our dashboard will reflect message counts and categories so you have full visibility.

• Stay Informed: Meta has indicated that pricing (the rate cards) could be updated more frequently, even quarterly. So while July 2025 is a big change, keep an eye on official communications for any future tweaks to rates or policies. Subscribing to updates from your BSP (Business Service Provider) or Meta’s developer blog can ensure you don’t miss anything.

To wrap this section up, the impact on your business boils down to how you adjust your WhatsApp messaging strategy. Businesses that adapt by focusing on customer engagement, optimizing message content, and leveraging the new free opportunities (utility replies, etc.) will likely find WhatsApp remains an invaluable channel. Those that continue with “business as usual” might find their costs rising and engagement dropping. So use this change as a chance to audit and improve your WhatsApp approach, your customers (and your finance team) will thank you.

Conclusion

The WhatsApp pricing update of July 2025 is more than just a price change, it’s a shift in how businesses are encouraged to communicate on the platform. To recap briefly:

• WhatsApp now charges per template message sent, instead of a 24-hour conversation fee, giving you clearer insight into costs and making every message count .

• Service conversations (customer-initiated chats) and utility replies within 24h remain free, so engaging customers in conversation is now key to cost-effective communication .

• The rates per message haven’t increased your marketing, utility, and auth messages cost what conversations used to cost, just counted individually .

• New features like volume-based discounts for utility/auth messages can reduce costs for high-volume senders, while stricter template categories aim to keep messages relevant (no sneaking promos into utility) .

• Marketing outreach is more controlled, you have more flexibility to send multiple messages, but WhatsApp will monitor user-level message counts and engagement to prevent spam . Focus on quality content that encourages interaction.

Overall, WhatsApp is reinforcing a simple idea: treat WhatsApp like a high-value channel. Make your messages count, provide real value, and nurture two-way conversations( use automations with conversational AI to scale it). If you do that, the new pricing can actually work in your favor (by eliminating unnecessary costs and possibly leveraging free windows and discounts). If you blast out low-quality messages, it will now directly hit your wallet, and potentially your ability to reach customers at all.

For businesses, the takeaway is to adapt and strategize. Update your WhatsApp playbook: refine your template content, adjust your campaign frequency, and train your team on the new rules. The update might require some changes operationally, but it ultimately creates a more transparent and potentially more engaging environment for business messaging.

We hope this breakdown helps demystify the July 2025 WhatsApp pricing changes. Embrace the shift as an opportunity to improve your communications. WhatsApp remains a powerful channel to connect with customers, and with these new rules, those connections can become even more meaningful and well-timed.

FAQs

Q1: What is the new WhatsApp per-message pricing model (July 2025)?

A: Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp Business API switched from a 24-hour conversation-based fee to a per template message fee. This means businesses are charged for each templated message they send, instead of one flat fee covering all messages in a 24h window . For example, if you send three marketing templates to a customer in a day, you’ll pay for all three messages (previously you might have paid once for the whole conversation). The per-message rate is the same as the old per-conversation rate for the message’s category (so no increase in price, just charged per message) .

Q2: How does the 24-hour customer service window work in WhatsApp pricing?

A: The 24-hour customer service window is a period that starts when a user sends your business a message on WhatsApp. During this 24-hour window, you can freely reply to the user without incurring template message charges. You can send normal chat messages (service messages) or even utility template messages in direct response, and those won’t cost anything as long as you’re within the 24h timeframe . Each time the user replies, the 24h window resets. However, if you send marketing/promotional messages, those will be charged even inside the window (marketing templates aren’t free) . The window essentially allows free customer support conversations; once it expires (24 hours of no user reply), you must use paid templates to reach out again.

Q3: Are utility template messages on WhatsApp free now?

A: Yes, but with conditions. Under the new update, utility templates are free when sent within a 24-hour window after a user’s message. That means if a customer contacts you and you respond with a utility template (e.g. an order update or appointment reminder) within 24 hours, WhatsApp will not charge for that message. This encourages businesses to reply promptly to users with the info they need. If a utility message is sent outside of a user-initiated window (for instance, a proactive notification not prompted by a recent user message), then it will be charged at the utility per-message rate, which in many countries is fairly low . Always ensure your utility templates are truly transactional (non-promotional and user-relevant) so they qualify as utility under WhatsApp’s rules .

Q4: What are Marketing, Utility, and Authentication message templates on WhatsApp?

A: These are categories of pre-approved message templates businesses use to reach out to users:

• Marketing Templates – Promotional or marketing messages such as offers, sales announcements, or product updates. These are aimed at marketing and are charged per message at the marketing rate .

• Utility Templates – Transactional messages that provide useful information a customer expects, like order confirmations, shipping updates, reminders, or alerts. They must be non-promotional. Within 24h of a user’s inquiry, these can be sent free; otherwise they’re charged at a lower utility rate per message .

• Authentication Templates – Verification messages like one-time passwords (OTP) or login codes. They’re used for authenticating users. Charged per message (often at a rate similar to utility). These are typically high-volume if your app uses WhatsApp for OTPs.

Each template must be submitted to WhatsApp for approval under one of these categories. The July 2025 update tightened what counts as Utility (it must be user-requested or essential). Messages that don’t meet that criteria (like generic feedback requests) will fall under Marketing going forward .

Q5: How can my business manage costs under WhatsApp’s updated pricing?

A: To optimize costs with the new per-message model:

• Encourage customer-initiated chats: When customers message you first, you unlock a free 24h window to reply (saving money on support and utility messages) . For example, use “Chat with us on WhatsApp” links so users start the conversation.

• Be selective and strategic with marketing messages: Since you pay for each marketing template, send them to targeted audiences and make each message count. Avoid sending multiple promos when one would do quality over quantity. Also include prompts for the user to respond (e.g. questions or interactive buttons), a reply opens a free window and shows interest, keeping you clear of WhatsApp’s spam limits .

• Combine and personalize messages: Rather than 3 separate notifications, can you send 1 combined update? Fewer messages mean lower cost. Personalization can improve engagement, making your paid messages more effective.

• Leverage volume discounts: If you send a lot of utility or auth messages (like OTPs), you may benefit from WhatsApp’s new volume-tiered pricing which lowers the rate per message once you hit certain monthly volumes. Check the thresholds for your region and monitor usage to take advantage of discounts.

• Audit your templates: Make sure your templates are in the correct categories (Utility vs Marketing) to avoid surprise charges. Remove any promotional language from Utility templates to keep them free when used in customer service contexts .

By focusing on engagement and efficient messaging, you can keep your WhatsApp communication impactful while minimizing unnecessary costs under the new pricing model. Remember that under this model every message has a cost, so treat your WhatsApp messages with the same care as you would a paid ad ensure they’re timely, relevant, and valuable to your customers.