WhatsApp API pricing: what Meta charges, explained
The WhatsApp Business API has two costs: Meta's message fees, and the price of the provider that connects you. Meta bills per delivered message, at a rate that depends on the message category and on the recipient's country. Messages your customers send you are always free.
The four categories
| Category | What it is | How it is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Offers, announcements, reminders to buy | A template |
| Utility | An order, a delivery, an appointment the customer asked for | A template |
| Authentication | A one-time code | A template |
| Service | A free-text reply inside the 24-hour window | Not a template |
What Meta's documentation says today
- Meta charges per message delivered, since 1 July 2025. The former per-conversation pricing no longer exists.
- Messages from customers to a business are not charged.
- Each business number receives 1,000 free service messages a month. Unused ones do not roll over.
- Since 1 October 2026, service messages beyond that allowance are charged, and so are utility templates sent inside an open window.
- Rates depend on the country calling code of the recipient's number, not on where the business is.
- Meta updates its rates on fixed dates only: 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
This page copies no rate: they change four times a year. Meta publishes them, country by country, on its pricing page, linked below.
Who receives Meta's invoice
With Nodium, the owner of each number: Meta bills the WhatsApp Business account the number belongs to, on the payment method added there. Nodium never pays Meta, never bills Meta's fees and adds no markup. See Tech Provider or Solution Partner.
Without a payment method at Meta
The number still receives messages. A paid send is refused by Meta (error 131042): Nodium flags the number paymentMissing and message.failed says why, with a hint you can pass on to your customer.
What Nodium charges
A monthly plan priced on the numbers connected and the messages carried: free, then €19 or €249 a month. See pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is the WhatsApp Business API free?
No. Receiving is free, and each number has a monthly allowance of free service messages, but templates are charged by Meta per message, and so are service messages beyond the allowance.
Does Nodium add a markup on Meta's fees?
No. Meta bills the number's own WhatsApp Business account. Nodium's price is its monthly plan, nothing else.
How much does one WhatsApp message cost?
It depends on its category and on the recipient's country. Meta publishes the rate for each on its pricing page.