India · ₹ INR · Meta’s rates
What WhatsApp Business actually costs
The WhatsApp Business app is free. The Business API — the one that powers automation and scale — is billed by Meta per 24-hour conversation, not per message. These are those rates, passed through at cost.
Rates last updated 28 June 2026
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You get two bills, and only one of them is ours
This is the single thing people get wrong about WhatsApp pricing, so it goes first.
Conversation charges
Meta charges per 24-hour conversation window, at published rates that vary by country and category. Every message inside that window is included — one conversation, one charge, however many messages pass through it.
We pass these through at cost. No markup, ever.
Your platform plan
A flat monthly or yearly fee for the software: the shared inbox, chatbot builder, broadcasts, CRM, payments and analytics. It doesn’t change with how much you send — your plan sets your volume allowance and team size.
See plan pricingThe free WhatsApp Business app costs nothing and never will — but it runs on one phone, has no team inbox, no automation and no API. The moment you need more than one person answering, you need the Business API, and that is where these charges begin.
Meta’s rate card
Four conversation categories, four prices
A conversation opens the moment the first message lands and stays open for 24 hours. Category is decided by what you send, not by how much.
Marketing
Business-initiated promotional messages
₹0.86/ conversation
- Started by
- Business
- Template needed
- Yes
Typical use
- Promotional offers
- Product launches
- Newsletters
- Re-engagement broadcasts
Utility
Business-initiated transactional messages
₹0.12/ conversation
- Started by
- Business
- Template needed
- Yes
Typical use
- Order confirmations
- Shipping updates
- Payment receipts
- Appointment reminders
Authentication
Business-initiated OTP / authentication messages
₹0.12/ conversation
- Started by
- Business
- Template needed
- Yes
Typical use
- One-time passwords (OTP)
- Login verification codes
- Account alerts
- 2FA codes
Service
LowestUser-initiated support conversations
Free/ conversation
- Started by
- Customer
- Template needed
- No
Typical use
- Customer support queries
- Product questions
- Feedback & reviews
- General enquiries
Your first 1,000 service conversations each month are free
Service conversations are the ones your customer starts. For most small businesses that covers all inbound support, so the entire support side costs nothing.
Outside India?Meta prices conversations per country, and the rates above are India’s. Businesses in 40+ countries run on MotherBot — tell us where you send and we’ll give you the exact rate card for your markets. Ask for your rates.
How it’s counted
Per conversation, not per message
The distinction is worth understanding — it is usually the difference between an estimate that is wildly wrong and one that is close.
24 hours, one charge
A conversation opens on the first message and stays open for 24 hours. Everything sent inside that window — one message or fifty — is a single charge.
Who starts it sets the category
If the customer messages you first, it's a Service conversation. If you open it with a template, the category of that template decides the rate.
Billed to you at cost
We don't mark Meta's charges up. Your dashboard tracks the running spend against them so there's no surprise at month end.
Estimate it
Work out your monthly Meta bill
Put in the volumes you expect. The free service tier is applied automatically.
Estimates based on Meta's per-conversation rates. Actual billing depends on your usage mix, free-tier eligibility, and any applicable taxes.
WhatsApp calling
Billed per minute, separately from chat
Customers can call your business number inside WhatsApp, and you can call them back. Inbound is free; outbound is charged per minute. MotherBot’s AI voice agent can answer, resolve and transcribe those calls.
- Inbound calls
- Free
- per minute
- Outbound calls
- ₹0.39
- per minute
At a glance
The whole rate card, one table
| Category | Started by | Template | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Business | Required | ₹0.86 |
| Utility | Business | Required | ₹0.12 |
| Authentication | Business | Required | ₹0.12 |
| Service | Customer | Not required | Free |
| Free tier — first 1,000 service conversations each month | ₹0.00 | ||
Questions
What people ask about WhatsApp costs
These mirror the structured data on this page, so what you read here is what search engines see.
See what it costs on your own numbers
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