# 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](https://nodium.io/en/guides/tech-provider-vs-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](https://nodium.io/en/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.

## Sources

- [Meta — WhatsApp Business Platform pricing](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing)

Updated 2026-11-10 · https://nodium.io/en/guides/meta-pricing