WhatsApp Business Platform gets costlier from today: What Indian businesses need to know about new messaging charges

Meta has changed how businesses are charged for customer conversations on the WhatsApp Business Platform from 1 October. The new pricing applies to businesses on the platform through solution providers or direct integration. Under the revised system, each business phone number will receive 1,000 service messages per month, after which Meta will charge per message, according to the company's WhatsApp Business Platform pricing documentation.

The change applies globally, with rates varying by market. In India, businesses will pay ₹0.115 per delivered service message after the monthly free quota is exhausted. Meta's published pricing also specifies that there will be no volume pricing tiers for service messages.

In addition, certain "utility" messages, such as order confirmation and delivery updates, will become chargeable even when sent within a 24-hour customer support window that begins when a customer messages the business.

What is changing for WhatsApp Business?

After a user initiates a conversation, businesses can send non-template replies, known as service messages. These can be handled by human agents or third-party AI systems and are allowed during a 24-hour customer service window.

Until 30 September, these service messages were not subject to Meta messaging charges.

Are utility messages also chargeable?

Usually, utility messages are transactional or account-related updates, such as a shipping notification. Meta has now announced a new price for each delivered utility message in India at ₹0.115, even while it is open for customer service.

Authentication messages will also cost ₹0.115 per delivered message. In India, meanwhile, the marketing message rate is at ₹0.8631 per delivered message. These rates are Meta's published prices and may not include applicable taxes and fees charged by third-party providers.

Will businesses have payment deadline?

Meta has issued a warning for businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform, via a solution provider or direct integration, to add a payment method.

In a blog, the company wrote, 'Businesses that don't have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, may be prohibited from sending service messages on October 1st as the new charges come into effect.'

The switch doesn't affect regular WhatsApp users sending personal messages, said Meta.

What about Meta Business Agent?

Meta Business Agent has its own pricing model. Meta is rolling out an AI-powered service for businesses to manage customer conversations, recommendations and more in 2026.

Meta states that responses from business agents are priced at $2 per 1 million tokens, a measure of the volume of text the AI processes.

It is possible to maintain free messages even when a customer starts a WhatsApp chat from an ad. However, even if the user uses Meta Business Agent in such a discussion, a separate charge for AI tokens will be incurred.