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Pricing & Conversation Rules

WhatsApp Cloud API follows a conversation-based pricing model. This means that Meta charges businesses per conversation, depending on its type. Users pay directly through their Meta Business Manager account.

Conversation categories:

Business-initiated conversations
Marketing
Utility
Authentication
high-priority
Currently only Marketing and Utility converastions are supported in Kommo (as only Marketing and Utilitty WA templates can be created)
Customer-initiated conversations
Service
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Key Pricing Features

Prices vary by country and conversation type.
All service conversations are free: no charges apply when replying to customer messages within 24 hours.
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Since 1st April, 2025 utility templates can be sent free within the 24-hour customer service window.
Since 1st May, 2025 WhatsApp follows a conversation-based pricing model, where charges apply per 24-hour session, rather than per individual message.
Key Aspects of the Pricing Model:
Businesses do not pay per message; instead, they pay a fixed cost per conversation.
A single conversation includes all messages exchanged within a 24-hour window, categorized into Marketing, Utility, or Authentication.
Costs vary by country and category, and businesses can refer to
Meta’s official pricing page
⁠
for up-to-date rates.
This approach simplifies cost tracking and ensures businesses can engage with customers without incurring additional fees per message.

How Conversations Are Charged

What is a conversation?

A conversation is a 24-hour messaging session between a business and a customer.
There are two types of conversations:

1. Business-Initiated Conversations (BIC)

Start when a business sends a pre-approved template (Marketing, Authentication, Utility).
Charged immediately.
Lasts 24 hours from the moment the message is sent.
If different template categories are used within 24 hours, each category is billed separately.

2. User-Initiated Conversations (UIC)

Start when a customer messages the business, and the business responds.
Now completely free.
Lasts 24 hours from the customer’s last message.

Pricing & Examples

Business-Initiated Conversations (BICs)

When a business sends the first message using an approved template, the conversation starts and is charged immediately.
Charges apply even if the user does not respond.
Different categories (Marketing, Authentication, Utility) are billed separately if sent within 24 hours.
Example
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A business sends a marketing template at 10 AM Monday → This starts a 24-hour paid conversation.
The customer replies at 10:30 AM Monday → The business can now respond without additional charges until 10 AM Tuesday.
At 11 AM Tuesday, the business sends another marketing message → This starts a new paid conversation.

User-Initiated Conversations (UICs)

Completely free. Businesses can reply at no cost within 24 hours of the last customer message.
Example
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A customer sends a message at 5 AM Monday.
The business responds at 3 PM Monday.
The conversation remains free until 5 AM Tuesday.
If the customer messages again at 6 AM Tuesday, a new free conversation starts.

Per-User Marketing Template Message Limits

WhatsApp imposes limits on the number of marketing template messages a user can receive from businesses within a certain time frame. These restrictions aim to enhance user experience by ensuring that marketing messages remain relevant and engaging.

Why Meta Implements These Limits

Meta implemented these restrictions to:
Improve user experience by reducing message overload.
Ensure marketing messages are relevant and engaging.
Prevent excessive marketing messages from businesses that users are less likely to interact with.

How These Limits Apply to Businesses

Currently, WhatsApp applies limits in two ways:
User-Based Limits: Each WhatsApp user can receive only a limited number of marketing messages within a specific period. The exact number and time frame are not disclosed by Meta and may vary by region.
Marketing Conversation Restriction: If a marketing conversation is already open between a business and a user, only one additional marketing template message can be sent unless the user responds. If the user replies, the business may continue sending marketing templates within the conversation.

Upcoming Changes (Under Development)

WhatsApp is introducing updates to align marketing message limits with upcoming per-message pricing changes. These changes include:
Unlimited Marketing Message Sending: Businesses will be able to send an unlimited number of marketing messages.
Per-User Marketing Limit Stays: Each WhatsApp user will still have a limit on how many marketing messages they can receive from businesses within a certain period.
Changes to Marketing Conversations:
The rule limiting businesses to one additional marketing template in an open conversation will be removed.
Marketing messages will now count towards a user’s marketing message limit unless the user responds.
If a user responds, a 24-hour customer service window will open, allowing businesses to send marketing messages without affecting the user’s marketing message limit.

Free Entry Point Conversations

A Free Entry Point Conversation is a 72-hour free messaging window that opens when a customer messages a business through a Click-to-WhatsApp Ad (CTWA) on Facebook or Instagram or a Facebook Page Call-to-Action (CTA) button and the business replies within 24 hours. This feature allows businesses to engage with customers without incurring additional messaging costs.
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Key Benefits

Cost Savings: Businesses can communicate with customers for free for 72 hours after responding to an ad-initiated message.
Seamless Engagement: The ability to send unlimited template messages without additional costs during the free period.
Extended Communication Window: The standard 24-hour customer service window extends to 72 hours, allowing more flexibility in responding to customers.

How the 72-hour free window works:

A customer clicks on a CTWA Ad (on Facebook or Instagram) or a Facebook Page CTA button and sends a message to the business.
The business must reply within 24 hours to activate the Free Entry Point Conversation.
If the business fails to reply within 24 hours, a free conversation will not open, and the business will need to send a paid template message to start a conversation.
Once the business responds within 24 hours, a 72-hour Free Entry Point Conversation begins. During this period, businesses can send any type of message (marketing, utility, or service) without additional charges. Non-template messages (freeform messages) can only be sent if a customer service window is open (i.e., the customer has recently interacted with the business).
When a Free Entry Point Conversation opens, it automatically closes all other active conversations with that customer. No new conversations will start until the 72-hour free window expires.
Once the Free Entry Point Conversation ends, the business can only send messages using pre-approved template messages to continue the interaction.

Prices (can be changed by Meta)

Country
Currency
Marketing
Utility
Authentication
Argentina
$US
0.0618
0.0340
0.0367
Brazil
$US
0.0625
0.0080
0.0315
Chile
$US
0.0889
0.0200
0.0527
Colombia
$US
0.0125
0.0002
0.0077
Egypt
$US
0.1073
0.0052
0.0052
France
$US
0.1432
0.0300
0.0691
Germany
$US
0.1365
0.0550
0.0768
India
$US
0.0107
0.0014
0.0014
Indonesia
$US
0.0411
0.0200
0.0300
Israel
$US
0.0353
0.0053
0.0169
Italy
$US
0.0691
0.0300
0.0378
Malaysia
$US
0.0860
0.0140
0.0140
Mexico
$US
0.0436
0.0100
0.0239
Netherlands
$US
0.1597
0.0500
0.0720
Nigeria
$US
0.0516
0.0067
0.0067
Pakistan
$US
0.0473
0.0054
0.0054
Peru
$US
0.0703
0.0200
0.0377
Russia
$US
0.0802
0.0400
0.0429
Saudi Arabia
$US
0.0455
0.0115
0.0115
South Africa
$US
0.0379
0.0076
0.0076
Spain
$US
0.0615
0.0200
0.0342
Turkey
$US
0.0109
0.0053
0.0083
United Arab Emirates
$US
0.0384
0.0157
0.0157
United Kingdom
$US
0.0529
0.0220
0.0358
North America
$US
0.0250
0.0040
0.0135
Rest of Africa
$US
0.0225
0.0040
0.0144
Rest of Asia Pacific
$US
0.0732
0.0157
0.0425
Rest of Central & Eastern Europe
$US
0.0860
0.0353
0.0557
Rest of Latin America
$US
0.0740
0.0113
0.0445
Rest of Middle East
$US
0.0341
0.0157
0.0178
Rest of Western Europe
$US
0.0592
0.0300
0.0378
Other
$US
0.0604
0.0077
0.0304
There are no rows in this table
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