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Meta has revised the pricing structure for the WhatsApp Business Platform in India from October 1, introducing charges for certain service and utility messages that were previously
free.
Under the new pricing model, businesses in India will receive 1,000 free service messages per business phone number each month. After the free quota is exhausted, additional service messages will cost Rs 0.115 per delivered message, according to Meta's published rates.
Service messages are non-template replies sent by businesses through customer service representatives or third-party AI systems. These messages can be sent when a 24-hour customer service window is open after a customer contacts the business.
Meta is also introducing charges for utility messages sent during an active 24-hour customer service window. These include transactional communications such as order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. In India, the utility messaging rate is Rs 0.115 per delivered message.
The marketing message rate remains unchanged at Rs 0.8631 per delivered message in India, while authentication messages are charged at Rs 0.115 per delivered message. The rates are before applicable taxes and any additional fees charged by third-party providers.
The revised pricing applies to businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform and does not mean that customers will be charged for sending messages to businesses or receiving replies. It also does not apply as a blanket per-message charge to the regular WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app.
Meta Business Agent, which uses AI to handle customer interactions, has separate pricing. Meta charges $2 per 1 million tokens processed by the AI system. Conversations that begin when customers click on a WhatsApp business advertisement will continue to have free messaging, although AI-generated responses may incur the separate Business Agent charge.
Meta had also required businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform through direct integrations or solution providers to add a payment method by September 30. Businesses without a payment method on file could have their service messages stopped once the new charges came into effect.
The pricing changes increase the cost of certain customer-support and transactional communications for businesses that use the WhatsApp Business Platform extensively.
Under the new pricing model, businesses in India will receive 1,000 free service messages per business phone number each month. After the free quota is exhausted, additional service messages will cost Rs 0.115 per delivered message, according to Meta's published rates.
Service messages are non-template replies sent by businesses through customer service representatives or third-party AI systems. These messages can be sent when a 24-hour customer service window is open after a customer contacts the business.
Meta is also introducing charges for utility messages sent during an active 24-hour customer service window. These include transactional communications such as order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. In India, the utility messaging rate is Rs 0.115 per delivered message.
The marketing message rate remains unchanged at Rs 0.8631 per delivered message in India, while authentication messages are charged at Rs 0.115 per delivered message. The rates are before applicable taxes and any additional fees charged by third-party providers.
The revised pricing applies to businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform and does not mean that customers will be charged for sending messages to businesses or receiving replies. It also does not apply as a blanket per-message charge to the regular WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app.
Meta Business Agent, which uses AI to handle customer interactions, has separate pricing. Meta charges $2 per 1 million tokens processed by the AI system. Conversations that begin when customers click on a WhatsApp business advertisement will continue to have free messaging, although AI-generated responses may incur the separate Business Agent charge.
Meta had also required businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform through direct integrations or solution providers to add a payment method by September 30. Businesses without a payment method on file could have their service messages stopped once the new charges came into effect.
The pricing changes increase the cost of certain customer-support and transactional communications for businesses that use the WhatsApp Business Platform extensively.
