What changed and when
Meta has changed WhatsApp Business Platform pricing several times in two years. The timeline below covers the changes that affect most Indian businesses.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 1 Nov 2024 | Service conversations (replies to customer-initiated chats) became free. |
| 1 Jul 2025 | Billing moved from 24-hour conversations to per delivered template message. Utility templates sent inside an open service window became free. Volume tiers introduced for utility and authentication. |
| 1 Jan 2026 | India marketing rate rose to ₹0.8631 per message, as reported by Indian providers. |
| 1 Jul to 1 Aug 2026 | Meta launched its own Business Agent; it became billable per token from 1 August 2026. |
| 1 Oct 2026 | Service messages charged after 1,000 free per number per month. Utility templates inside the service window charged again. |
Dates from Meta developer documentation and provider announcements listed in Sources.
How service message billing works now
A service message is any non-template message you send while a customer service window is open, which happens for 24 hours after the customer last messaged you. Until 30 September 2026 these were free. From 1 October 2026 Meta counts each delivered service message.
- Each business phone number gets 1,000 free delivered service messages per calendar month. The allowance does not roll over.
- From the 1,001st, each delivered service message is billed at the utility rate for the recipient’s country.
- Utility templates sent inside an open service window are no longer free.
- Conversations that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page WhatsApp button keep a 72-hour free entry point window, if you reply within 24 hours. Providers report that service messages remain free inside it.
- Marketing templates are charged on every delivery, as before.
India rates to use for estimates
Meta publishes rates by recipient country and category. For India, provider rate cards based on Meta’s list show marketing at ₹0.8631 per message and utility and authentication at ₹0.1150 per message, before 18% GST. Utility and authentication rates fall at higher monthly volumes.
Some Indian providers quote service messages at about ₹0.145 each. That figure may include the provider’s own margin, so check what your provider charges on top of Meta’s fee. Rates change, so confirm against Meta’s current rate card before you budget.
| Category (India) | Rate per delivered message | When charged |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 | Every delivery |
| Utility | ₹0.1150 (lower at volume) | Every delivery from 1 Oct 2026, inside or outside the window |
| Authentication | ₹0.1150 (lower at volume) | Every delivery |
| Service | Utility rate | After 1,000 free per number per month, from 1 Oct 2026 |
List rates as published by Indian providers in 2026, before GST and provider markup. Check Meta’s rate card for current figures.
What it means for AI agents
An AI agent on WhatsApp replies inside the service window, so before October 2026 its replies cost nothing in Meta fees. Now every AI reply past the first 1,000 a month per number has a price. A chatty agent that sends three short messages where one would do triples that cost.
At India utility rates the cost per reply is small, about 11.5 paise before GST. For most sales conversations it is far below the value of a qualified lead. It does reward agents that answer in one complete message, and it makes it worth tracking messages per conversation as a metric.
Meta’s own Business Agent is billed separately by tokens. If you use a third-party AI agent such as WebinarRun’s, you pay the normal per-message Meta fees above, plus your platform’s AI usage.
How to estimate your monthly cost
List your monthly volumes by category, subtract the free service allowance per number, multiply by the rate and add GST. Here is a worked example for a business running webinars with 1,000 registrants a month, at the India list rates above.
| Messages | Count | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmation and 3 reminders (utility templates) | 4,000 | ₹0.1150 | ₹460 |
| Two marketing follow-ups to no-shows and attendees | 2,000 | ₹0.8631 | ₹1,726 |
| AI and agent replies (service), 3,000 sent | 2,000 billable | ₹0.1150 | ₹230 |
| Total before GST | ₹2,416 | ||
| Total with 18% GST | about ₹2,851 |
Illustrative only. Reminders count as utility only if Meta approves the template in that category.
Ways to keep costs in check
Most of the bill usually comes from marketing templates, not service replies. Start there.
- Get reminder and confirmation templates approved as utility by keeping them free of promotion.
- Send marketing templates to segments that show intent, such as hot and warm leads, instead of your whole list.
- Have your AI agent answer in one complete message instead of several short ones.
- Reply within 24 hours to leads from click-to-WhatsApp ads to keep the 72-hour free window.
- Spread conversations across numbers only where it makes sense operationally; each number has its own 1,000 free service messages.
- Review Meta cost by category and country each month.
How WebinarRun shows these costs
WebinarRun uses the official WhatsApp Business Platform, so Meta’s fees apply to messages you send through it and are billed by Meta separately from your WebinarRun plan. WhatsApp analytics in WebinarRun show Meta cost by category and country and template performance, so you can see where the money goes. Use our WhatsApp cost calculator to model your own volumes, including AI agent replies.