WhatsApp API charges in India after 1 October 2026

What changed on 1 October 2026

Two kinds of message that had been free started to cost money. Replies inside the 24-hour customer service window — which opens each time a customer writes to you — had been free since November 2024. Utility templates sent inside that window, such as an order confirmation right after a customer asks, had been free since July 2025.

Both are now charged at the utility rate, ₹0.115 a message in India. Every business phone number gets 1,000 free replies a month. They do not roll over; the count starts again on the first of each month.

One trap: if your WhatsApp account has no payment method, Meta delivers replies until the free 1,000 are used and then stops delivering them. Nothing tells the customer why you went quiet. Check Meta's Billing Hub today.

What WhatsApp charges per message in India

Meta charges per message it delivers, never for one it fails to deliver, and the rate depends on two things: the category of the message and the country of the number it goes to. These are the rates for Indian numbers, in rupees. For costs per message and per conversation, see how much it costs to send a WhatsApp message through the API.

Source: Meta's WhatsApp pricing page (updated 30 September 2026) and Meta's INR rate card effective 1 October 2026, both checked 13 October 2026. Meta lowers utility and authentication rates at high monthly volumes, and a higher authentication-international rate (₹2.4971) applies in some cases. Rates for other countries differ.

What is still free

• Every message a customer sends you.
• The first 1,000 replies a month on each business phone number.
• Everything you send while a free entry point window is open — marketing, utility and service alike. The window opens when you reply to someone who wrote to you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad on Android or iPhone, and Meta says it can stay open for up to 7 days from your reply. Only Meta Business Agent messages are still charged in it.

Meta's own business website still described the old rules — free replies and a 72-hour window — when we checked on 13 October 2026. The developer pricing page, updated 30 September 2026, is the one that matches what Meta bills. If you advertise, the free window is worth planning around: see how click-to-WhatsApp ads work in Endelir.

What a month costs: three examples

These examples use the rates above and include only Meta's charges. Your provider's fee and any tax on Meta's invoice are extra.

What providers add on top

Every WhatsApp Business API provider charges for its software, and they differ in how they pass on Meta's charges. Some have Meta bill your business directly, at Meta's rate. Others bill messages through their own rate card, which can be higher than Meta's. Before you compare plan prices, ask each provider two questions: who bills me for messages, and at what rate per message?

With Endelir, Meta bills your business directly, and we add nothing to Meta's charges. Our plans cost ₹1,499, ₹2,799 or ₹5,999 a month plus GST, per workspace — one price for your whole team, not per person. The AI teammate is included from the Growth plan onwards. See Endelir's pricing, or how we compare with Wati, AiSensy and Interakt.

How to keep the bill down

1. 1 Answer in one message, not three Each delivered reply now counts. A full answer in one message costs a third of the same answer split across three.
2. 2 Reply fast to click-to-WhatsApp ads Your reply opens the free entry point window, and for up to 7 days what you send that person is free — offers included.
3. 3 Keep the updates customers rely on Order, booking and payment updates cost ₹0.115 each, inside the window or out of it. Keep the ones customers use and drop the rest.
4. 4 Keep marketing for the people likely to buy At ₹0.8631 a message, a promotion to 10,000 people costs ₹8,631. Send it to the customers who have shown interest, not to the whole list.
5. 5 Track the free replies on each number The 1,000 free replies are per business phone number, so plan your volume number by number.

Questions

About the author

Hardik Datanwala is the founder of Endelir, a shared WhatsApp inbox with an AI teammate for businesses in India, built by Mosorb India LLP in Goa. Endelir is a verified Meta Tech Provider: it connects businesses to the WhatsApp Business API through Meta's own signup.

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