Key takeaways ✺
- The first 1,000 service replies per phone number each month stay free. After that each costs ₹0.1150 plus GST.
- Messages from customers and the 24-hour window are unchanged.
- Add a payment method in billing so messages past the free limit aren't blocked.
- Check whether utility templates sent inside the window are now charged on your account.
If you send WhatsApp messages to customers through the API, something changed on 1 October that can show up on your next bill. Meta has started charging for some replies that used to be free. Most small businesses will barely notice. A few will, and the ones who notice late are usually the ones who never looked.
Here's what we've pieced together from Meta's announcements and the rate cards providers are publishing.
Replies are no longer completely free
Until now, if a customer messaged you, you could answer for free for the next 24 hours. That stretch is the customer service window, and plain replies inside it cost nothing.
From 1 October, those replies are billed once you go past 1,000 a month on a business phone number. The first 1,000 stay free. After that, each one costs the same as a utility message, which in India is ₹0.1150 plus 18% GST. Free messages don't carry over to the next month.
Several providers also report that utility templates sent inside an open window, like an order update after the customer wrote to you, are billed again too. Meta's own page still showed them as free when we last looked, so check this one in your billing settings rather than taking our word for it.
What hasn't changed
- Messages your customers send you are still free.
- The 24-hour window works the same way.
- Chats that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad still get 72 hours free.
- India rates: marketing ₹0.8631, utility and authentication ₹0.1150 per message, with GST on top.
What it looks like in rupees
Say a clinic sends 3,000 replies in a month, all inside the window. The first 1,000 are free. The other 2,000 at ₹0.1150 come to ₹230, and with GST that's about ₹271.
A busy support line sending 40,000 replies would pay for 39,000 of them: about ₹4,485, or around ₹5,300 with GST. Not nothing, but not frightening either.
One thing to do this week
Add a payment method in your Meta Business Suite billing. Providers report that without one, messages past the free 1,000 may not be delivered at all. That's the one that bites, because it fails quietly in the middle of a busy day.
Other countries
Meta also changed rates in a few other markets: lower in Bangladesh, Iraq, Nepal and Sri Lanka, higher in Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Ukraine. None of this touches India.
If you're not sure how many replies you send, ask your WhatsApp provider for last month's number and do the sum above. It takes two minutes.
Questions people also ask
Do messages from customers cost anything?
No. Messages your customers send you are still free.
Do unused free messages roll over to the next month?
No. The free 1,000 resets each month and unused messages don't carry over.
What if I have no payment method on my WhatsApp account?
Providers report that messages past the free 1,000 may not be delivered, so add one in your Meta Business Suite billing.
Is GST charged on top of these rates?
Yes. In India, 18% GST is added to the per-message rates.