Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform pricing model, effective 1 July 2025, which charges for each template message delivered. The rate depends on the template category and the country code of the recipient's number.
Formula
Campaign cost = template messages delivered × per-message rate for that category and country
Example
Meera sends a marketing template to 2,000 opted-in customers and a reminder to the same people: 4,000 messages. At a rate she enters from the current rate card, say ₹1.00 for illustration, the cost is 4,000 × ₹1.00 = ₹4,000.
How you'll hear it
“Utility updates inside the service window are free now, so don't stuff offers into them; that turns them into paid marketing.”
What it helps you decide
How many reminders to send, whether to target a segment rather than everyone, and which messages should be utility (free inside the service window) versus marketing.
Where people misread it
Copying a rate from an old blog post. Meta's rates change, vary by category and volume tier, and your provider may add its own fee. People also forget that a follow-up to everyone doubles the bill while adding few extra orders.
The story
Meera plans a Diwali WhatsApp campaign to 2,000 customers who opted in to offers. She looks up the current India marketing rate from Meta's rate card; for this example we use ₹1.00 per message, a placeholder, not Meta's price.
| Messages (2,000 × 2) | 4,000 |
| Cost at ₹1.00 each | ₹4,000 |
| Orders | 25 |
| Sales at ₹2,000 per order | ₹50,000 |
| Cost per order | ₹160 |
|---|
The number looks right. ₹4,000 for ₹50,000 in sales seems cheap.
What it hides. The reminder sent 2,000 more messages but brought only 3 of the 25 orders, all from people who had tapped the first message. In plan 2 she sends the reminder only to the 300 people who tapped the link.
| Messages (2,000 + 300) | 2,300 |
| Cost at ₹1.00 each | ₹2,300 |
| Orders | 25 |
| Cost per order | ₹92 |
|---|
Same orders, ₹1,700 less. Order confirmations and shipping updates go as utility templates, which are free when sent inside an open 24-hour service window.
All figures are fictional and illustrative, and ₹1.00 is a placeholder rate. Check Meta's current rate card and your provider's fees.
Estimate the cost of a WhatsApp campaign
The example's numbers are filled in. Replace them with yours.
Each extra message per recipient adds the full cost again. Consider sending follow-ups only to people who responded.
Don't confuse it with
- Conversation-based pricing: Meta's older model, which charged per 24-hour conversation; it was replaced.
- CPM (ads): cost per thousand ad impressions; here you pay per message delivered.
In India: India has its own rate category in Meta's pricing, so rates for Indian numbers differ from other markets. Charges are based on the recipient's country calling code, not where the business is.
Related terms
Sources
- Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta for Developers
- Template categorization, Meta for Developers