Messaging Limits
Messaging limits determine the maximum number of business-initiated conversations each phone number can start in a rolling 24-hour period. These limits do not apply to user-initiated conversations. A business-initiated conversation starts when the first message is delivered to a customer and ends 24 hours later.
There are four messaging limit levels:
- 1K business-initiated conversations with unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period.
- 10K business-initiated conversations with unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period.
- 100K business-initiated conversations with unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period.
- An unlimited number of business-initiated conversations in a rolling 24-hour period.
Messaging limits are increased or decreased automatically based on your phone number status, phone number quality rating, and how often you initate converstations with unique customers.
All businesses and phone numbers start with 1K business-initiated conversations with unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period. If you reach your messaging limit, you can start more conversations as soon as one or more active conversations end. For example:
Checking Your Limit
You can check your current messaging limits in the WhatsApp Manager > Overview Dashboard > Insights tab:
Increasing Your Limit
We are changing the way we automatically increase messaging limits for businesses in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. Please refer to the Changes to Increasing Your Limit section for details.
Each time you initiate a new conversation with a unique customer we will determine if your limit should be increased. This determination is based on the following criteria:
- your phone number status is Connected
- your phone number quality rating is Medium or High
- you have been at your current messaging limit for at least 48 hours
- in the last 7 days you have initiated X or more conversations with unique customers, where X is your current messaging limit multiplied by 2
If you meet all conditions, we will increase your messaging limit immediately.
Examples
Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 3 days:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business-initiated conversations (new) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | ||
Business-initiated conversations in last 7 days | 1,000 | 2,000* | 3,000 | ||
Messaging limit | 1K | 1K | 10K |
Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 5 days:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business-initiated conversations (new) | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
Business-initiated conversations in last 7 days | 500 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 2,000* | 2,500 |
Messaging limit | 1K | 1K | 1K | 1K | 10K |
Decreasing Your Limit
Each time you initiate a new conversation with a unique customer we will check your phone number quality rating. If the rating has been Low for the last 7 days, we will immediately decrease your messaging limit by one level.
Changes to Increasing Your Limit
Starting September 2022, we will be changing the way we automatically adjust messaging limits. These changes are described below and will initially apply only to businesses in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, but will eventually apply to all businesses.
Each time you initiate a new conversation with a unique customer we will determine if your limit should be increased. This determination is based on the following criteria:
- your phone number status is Connected
- your phone number quality rating is Medium or High
- in the last 7 days you have initiated X or more conversations with unique customers, where X is your current messaging limit divided by 2
If you meet all conditions, we will increase your messaging limit by one level in 24 hours.
Examples
Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 2 days:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business-initiated conversations (new) | 500 | 500 | |||
Business-initiated conversations in last 7 days | 500* | 1,000 | |||
Messaging limit | 1K | 10K |
* If the 500th conversation is initated at 3pm (for example), the messaging limit is increased at 3pm the following day (i.e. 24 hours later).
Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 4 days:
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business-initiated conversations (new) | 100 | 200 | 200 | 300 | |
Business-initiated conversations in last 7 days | 100 | 300 | 500* | 800 | |
Messaging limit | 1K | 1K | 1K | 10K |
* If the 500th conversation is initated at 7pm (for example), the messaging limit is increased at 7pm the following day (i.e. 24 hours later).
Quality Rating
Your quality rating is based on how messages have been received by recipients over the past seven days and is weighted by recency. It is determined by a combination of quality signals from conversations between businesses and users. Examples include user feedback signals like blocks, reports and the reasons users provide when they block a business.
The phone number status, quality rating, and messaging limits for your WhatsApp business account are listed in the Phone Numbers tab in WhatsApp Manager.
See About WhatsApp Business Account Message Quality Rating for information.
Maintaining High Quality
- Make sure messages follow the WhatsApp Business Policy and Commerce Policy.
- Only send messages to users who have opted into receiving messages from your business.
- Make the messages highly personalized and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
- Be mindful of messaging frequency; avoid sending customers too many messages a day. Be thoughtful of informational messages, optimizing for content and length.