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-Based Pricing

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

Conversations

We charge per conversation, not per individual message. 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.

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 (e.g., 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 only be opened with free-form messages. See Opening Conversations below.

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

Opening Conversations

Conversations are opened when you send a template message or free-form message under the following conditions.

Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Conversations

Marketing, utility, and authentication conversations are opened when you send an approved marketing, utility, or authentication template message to a customer and no open conversation with that category exists between you and that customer.

For example, if an open authentication conversation exists between you and a customer and you send them another authentication template message within 24 hours, a new conversation is not opened. If you send them a marketing message, however, a new marketing conversation is opened, resulting in two open conversations.

Service Conversations

Service conversations are opened when you are within a customer service window, you send a free-form message to a customer, and no open conversation of any category exists between you and the customer.

For example, if an open conversation of any category exists between you and a customer and you send them a free-form message within 24 hours, no new conversation is opened. However, if no open conversation exists and the customer messages you (which starts a customer service window) and you reply within 24 hours with a free-form message, a new service conversation is opened.

Customer Service Windows

When a customer messages you, a 24-hour timer called a customer service window starts. If you are within the window, you can send free-form messages or template messages. If you are outside the window, you can only send template messages.

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.

See Conversation Examples below.

Free Tier Conversations

Each WhatsApp Business Account gets 1,000 free service conversations each month across all of its business phone numbers. This number is refreshed at the beginning of each month, based on WhatsApp Business Account time zone.

Marketing, utility and authentication conversations are not part of the free tier.

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 free-form 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 free-form 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 free-form messages).

Conversation Examples

Only one conversation opened with a customer:

  • No open conversation exists between you and a customer and you send multiple utility template messages to the customer within 24 hours.
  • An open conversation of any category exists between you and a customer and you send multiple free-form messages to the customer within 24 hours.

Multiple conversations opened with a customer:

  • An open marketing conversation exists between you and a customer and you send them a utility template message within 24 hours. This results in a marketing conversation and a utility conversation.
  • An open service conversation exists between you and a customer and you send them a utility template message within 24 hours. This results in a service conversation and a utility conversation.

To see some of these dynamics in message threads, download our

pricing explainer PDF

.

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

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.