New Delhi : WhatsApp Business messages will become paid from October 1. Meta is ending free service messages and introducing per-message charges for businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform. The change will affect businesses in India and other markets, with Meta saying service messages will be charged at the same rates as utility and authentication messages in each market. The social media giant has also warned businesses without a payment method on file by September 30 that it will stop delivering service messages once the charges take effect.
The company said: “For any Solution Provider or directly-integrated businesses that does not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026.” The change means businesses will have to pay even for certain responses sent within WhatsApp’s 24-hour customer service window.
Meta currently charges businesses for marketing, utility and authentication template messages, while non-template service messages have been free since November 1, 2024. Utility messages sent in response to users within an open 24-hour customer service window have also been free since July 1, 2025. From October 1, Meta will charge for both service messages and utility messages sent in response to users.
Service messages are non-template responses powered by a human customer service representative or a third-party AI solution. They can only be sent when a 24-hour customer service window is open, meaning businesses cannot use them to initiate conversations with customers.
How much will WhatsApp Business messages cost in India
Meta says service message rates will vary by market and match its utility and authentication message rates. The company published the rates for October 1 on September 1. For India, Meta Business Agent accounts use INR as the billing currency. The global Business Agent rate is converted to INR using the daily exchange rate in effect when the message is delivered.
Meta Business Agent messages are already paid. From August 1, Meta began charging for these messages on a token basis, with one charge covering both AI processing and message delivery. Meta says the global rate is $2 per 1 million tokens. A typical message uses around 20,000 to 25,000 tokens, which translates to about 4-5 cents per message. More complex interactions can consume more tokens and therefore cost more.
What changes for businesses from October 1
Meta’s new pricing means that every non-template message sent by a business will fall into either the Service or Meta Business Agent category. If a person or third-party AI system powers the response, it will be classified as a service message and charged per message. If the response is powered by Meta Business Agent, it will carry the separate token-based Business Agent charge. Meta has assured that businesses will not be charged twice for the same message.
The company also provided an example of a customer conversation. Under the pricing structure effective from October 1, a conversation involving one marketing message, two Meta Business Agent responses, one service response and one utility message would result in five charges. Under the previous structure, only the marketing message was charged.(The Times Of India)
