Conversation-Based Pricing

This document explains how conversation-based pricing works on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Charges are applied per conversation, not per individual message sent or received.

Conversations are 24-hour message threads between you and your customers. They are opened and charged when messages you send to customers are delivered. The criteria that determines when a conversation is opened and how it is categorized is explained below.

Businesses are responsible for reviewing the category assigned to their approved templates. Whenever a template is used, a business accepts the charges associated with the category applied to the template at time of use.

Conversation Categories

Conversations are categorized with one of the following categories:

  • Marketing — Enables you to achieve a wide range of goals, from generating awareness to driving sales and retargeting customers. Examples include new product, service, or feature announcements, targeted promotions/offers, and cart abandonment reminders.
  • Utility — Enables you to follow-up on user actions or requests. Examples include opt-in confirmation, order/delivery management (e.g., delivery update); account updates or alerts (for example., payment reminder); or feedback surveys.
  • Authentication — Enables you authenticate users with one-time passcodes, potentially at multiple steps in the login process (e.g., account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges).
  • Service — Enables you to resolve customer inquiries.

Marketing, utility, and authentication conversations can only be opened with template messages. Service conversations can be opened with any type of message other than a template message.

See Message Types to learn more about the various types of messages you can send to customers.

Opening Conversations

Conversations are opened when you send a message to a customer under the following conditions.

Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Conversations

When you send an approved marketing, utility, or authentication template to a customer, we check if an open conversation matching the template's category already exists between you and the customer. If one exists, no new conversation is opened. If one does not exist, a new conversation of that category is opened, lasting 24 hours.

For example:

  • Hour 0: You send a targeted promotion (marketing template message) to a customer. No open marketing conversation exists between you and the customer, so a marketing conversation lasting 24 hours is opened.
  • Hour 4: The customer completes an order on your site, so you send them an order confirmation (utility template message). No open utility conversation exists between you and the customer, so a utility conversation lasting 24 hours is opened.
  • Hour 10: You send a shipment confirmation (utility template message) to the customer. An open utility conversation already exists between you and the customer, so a new utility conversation is not opened.

To learn more about template categories and how to choose an appropriate category when creating templates, see Template Categorization.

For additional examples, see our

pricing explainer PDF

.

Service Conversations

Service conversations are now free. See Pricing Updates. This change does not affect how service conversations are opened.

A service conversation is opened when any message other than a template message is delivered to your customer and no open conversation of any category exists between you and the customer.

Note that a customer service window must exist between you and the customer before you can send them a non-template message.

For example:

  • Hour 0: You send a targeted promotion (marketing template) to a customer. No open marketing conversation exists between you and the customer, so a marketing conversation lasting 24 hours is opened.
  • Hour 4: The customer messages you. This opens a customer service window between you and the customer, allowing you to send them any type of message for the next 24 hours.
  • Hour 5: You send an interactive list message to the customer. An open conversation already exists between you and the customer (a marketing conversation in this case), so a service conversation is not opened.
  • Hour 24: The marketing conversation expires.
  • Hour 25: The 24-hour customer service window is still open, so you send a second text message to the customer. No open conversation exists between you and the customer anymore, so a service conversation is opened, lasting 24 hours.
  • Hour 26: The 24-hour customer service window is still open, so you send a third text message to the customer. An open service conversation already exists between you and the customer, so a new service conversation is not opened.

For additional examples, see our

pricing explainer PDF

.

Customer Service Windows

See Customer Service Windows.

Conversation Duration

Marketing, utility, authentication, and service conversations last 24 hours unless closed by a newly opened free-entry point conversation.

Free-entry point conversations last 72 hours.

Multiple Conversations

It is possible to have multiple open conversations between you and a customer. This can happen in the following situations:

  • An open marketing, utility, or authentication conversation exists between you and a customer and you send them a template message of a different category within 24 hours.
  • An open service conversation exists between you and a customer and you send them a template message within 24 hours.

Free Tier Conversations

As of November 1, 2024, you can open an unlimited number of service conversations at no charge. See Free Service Conversations in our Pricing Updates document.

Free Entry Point Conversations

A free entry point conversation is opened if (1) a customer using a device running Android or iOS messages you via a Click to WhatsApp Ad or Facebook Page Call-to-Action button and (2) you respond within 24 hours. If you do not respond within 24 hours, a free entry point conversation is not opened and you must use a template to message the customer, which opens a marketing, utility, or authentication conversation, per the category of the template.

The free entry point conversation is opened as soon as your message is delivered and lasts 72 hours. When a free entry point conversation is opened, it automatically closes all other open conversations between you and the customer, and no new conversations will be opened until the free entry point conversation expires.

Once the free entry point conversation is opened, you can send any type of message to the customer without incurring additional charges. However, you can only send non-templates messages if there is an open customer service window between you and the customer.

For example, if the customer messages you via a Click to WhatsApp Ad at 10am and you respond via a template message at 10pm the same day:

  • The free entry point conversation starts at 10pm and lasts 72 hours.
  • You can send template messages at no charge in those 72 hours.
  • You can send non-template messages until 10am the next day, at which point the customer service window closes, as it is independent of the free entry point conversation (if the customer messages you again, however, it opens another 24-hour customer service window in which you can send any type of message).

Rates

Rates vary based on conversation category and country/region rate. You can download the rate card below that corresponds to your WhatsApp Business Account's currency to see our rates by country/region for each conversation category.

These rates apply for any conversation opened on or after June 1, 2023 at 12:00 AM, based on WhatsApp Business Account time zone.

Rate Cards

These rate cards represent the current rates on our platform.

Authentication-International Rates

Starting June 1, 2024, we are introducing authentication-international rates. See Authentication-International Rates to learn about these rates and if they apply to you.

Updates to Rate Cards

  • Service conversation rates - Effective November 1, 2024, we made service conversations free to encourage more businesses to be available for their customers on WhatsApp, including via AI-enabled conversational experiences.
  • Marketing conversation rates — Effective October 1, 2024, we updated rates in specific markets as part of more frequent updates to rates to reflect demand and the value marketing messages deliver. Moving forward, we may update rates up-to-quarterly.
  • Utility conversation rates — Effective August 1, 2024, we lowered rates to be competitive with alternative channels and encourage businesses to bring more end-to-end post-purchase customer journeys to WhatsApp.

Country Calling Codes

Charges for conversations are based on the country of the user’s phone number. We rely on your customer's country calling code and network prefix (area code) to determine their country. The table below shows how we map country codes to countries or regions. If a country is not listed below, it maps to Other.

Markets Calling Code
(and network prefix if applicable)

Countries

Argentina

54

Brazil

55

Chile

56

Colombia

57

Egypt

20

France

33

Germany

49

India

91

Indonesia

62

Israel

972

Italy

39

Malaysia

60

Mexico

52

Netherlands

31

Nigeria

234

Pakistan

92

Peru

51

Russia

7

Saudi Arabia

966

South Africa

27

Spain

34

Turkey

90

United Arab Emirates

971

United Kingdom

44

North America

Canada

1

United States

1

Rest of Africa

Algeria

213

Angola

244

Benin

229

Botswana

267

Burkina Faso

226

Burundi

257

Cameroon

237

Chad

235

Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)

242

Eritrea

291

Ethiopia

251

Gabon

241

Gambia

220

Ghana

233

Guinea-Bissau

245

Ivory Coast

225

Kenya

254

Lesotho

266

Liberia

231

Libya

218

Madagascar

261

Malawi

265

Mali

223

Mauritania

222

Morocco

212

Mozambique

258

Namibia

264

Niger

227

Rwanda

250

Senegal

221

Sierra Leone

232

Somalia

252

South Sudan

211

Sudan

249

Swaziland

268

Tanzania

255

Togo

228

Tunisia

216

Uganda

256

Zambia

260

Rest of Asia Pacific

Afghanistan

93

Australia

61

Bangladesh

880

Cambodia

855

China

86

Hong Kong

852

Japan

81

Laos

856

Mongolia

976

Nepal

977

New Zealand

64

Papua New Guinea

675

Philippines

63

Singapore

65

Sri Lanka

94

Taiwan

886

Tajikistan

992

Thailand

66

Turkmenistan

993

Uzbekistan

998

Vietnam

84

Rest of Central & Eastern Europe

Albania

355

Armenia

374

Azerbaijan

994

Belarus

375

Bulgaria

359

Croatia

385

Czech Republic

420

Georgia

995

Greece

30

Hungary

36

Latvia

371

Lithuania

370

Moldova

373

North Macedonia

389

Poland

48

Romania

40

Serbia

381

Slovakia

421

Slovenia

386

Ukraine

380

Rest of Western Europe

Austria

43

Belgium

32

Denmark

45

Finland

358

Ireland

353

Norway

47

Portugal

351

Sweden

46

Switzerland

41

Rest of Latin America

Bolivia

591

Costa Rica

506

Dominican Republic

1 (809, 829, 849)

Ecuador

593

El Salvador

503

Guatemala

502

Haiti

509

Honduras

504

Jamaica

1 (658, 876)

Nicaragua

505

Panama

507

Paraguay

595

Puerto Rico

1 (787, 939)

Uruguay

598

Venezuela

58

Rest of Middle East

Bahrain

973

Iraq

964

Jordan

962

Kuwait

965

Lebanon

961

Oman

968

Qatar

974

Yemen

967

Other

All other countires

Varies by country

The information in the table above is also available in a CSV file:

Webhooks

Pricing information is included in all message webhooks. See:

Billing

Billing and billing-related actions are handled through the Meta Business Suite. See About Billing For Your WhatsApp Business Account for more information.