Meta is changing the pricing structure for the WhatsApp Business Platform in India from October 1, 2026. Under the new system, businesses will have to pay for certain service messages sent to customers after using their monthly free allowance.
The change applies to businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform or API. It does not affect people using regular WhatsApp for personal conversations.
What is changing on WhatsApp Business?
Until now, businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform could respond to customers without a Meta messaging charge during the 24-hour customer service window. This window begins when a customer sends a message to a business.
From October 1, service messages will become chargeable after a monthly free allowance. Each business phone number will receive 1,000 free service messages per calendar month. Once the limit is crossed, additional service messages will be charged at around ₹0.115 per message in India.
The 1,000-message allowance will reset every month, and unused messages will not be carried forward.
How will the new charges work?
For example, if a business sends 2,500 service messages during a month, the first 1,000 messages will be covered by the free allowance. The remaining 1,500 messages will be charged.
At a rate of ₹0.115 per message, those additional 1,500 messages would cost about ₹172.50, before applicable taxes or any separate charges from service providers.
Importantly, the charge is calculated on individual messages. A customer-support conversation involving several messages can therefore result in multiple chargeable messages after the free allowance has been exhausted.
Utility messages will also be affected
Another change involves utility template messages.
Previously, certain utility messages sent during an active 24-hour customer service window could be sent without a Meta charge. From October 1, businesses will also be charged for these messages, even when the 24-hour window is still open.
Utility messages are generally used for transactional communication, such as order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment information and similar notifications.
Does this affect normal WhatsApp users?
No. The change does not mean that regular WhatsApp users will have to pay to send messages.
The new pricing is specifically related to the WhatsApp Business Platform, which is mainly used by businesses handling customer communication at scale.
The standard WhatsApp Business app used by many small businesses is also different from the API-based WhatsApp Business Platform covered by these charges.
Why could businesses be affected?
Businesses that handle a large number of customer conversations could reach the 1,000-message monthly allowance quickly.
Companies using automated customer-support systems, chatbots or AI-based WhatsApp agents may be particularly affected because a single customer interaction can involve several automated messages.
For businesses handling thousands of conversations every day, the change could therefore increase WhatsApp-related communication costs and may lead them to review how their automated customer-support systems send messages.
Meta’s revised structure effectively moves service messaging towards a usage-based model, with businesses paying for additional messages after the monthly free allowance has been exhausted.
