How much does Meta charge for each WhatsApp message from October 2026?
Since October 1, Meta charges for every reply your business sends on WhatsApp, including inside the 24-hour window. See the official rates for Chile and estimate your monthly cost.
- for each reply
- $17.66
- free replies per month
- 1,000
- free when they come from an ad
- 72 h
Meta bills these messages directly to your WhatsApp Business account, using your own payment method. They don’t go through Telbot and aren’t added to your plan.
Smile Dental Clinic
online
Hi, do you have a cleaning appointment this week?
10:02Hi! Yes 😊 I have Thursday at 10:00 or 4:30 pm. Which works for you?
10:02Thursday at 4:30, please
10:03Done, you're booked for Thursday at 4:30 pm. I'll send you a reminder the day before.
10:03Thanks!
10:04You're welcome! See you Thursday 🙌
10:04This conversation: 3 replies
Before October 1
$0
From October 1
$53
What changed
Replying on WhatsApp is no longer free
Meta announced the change on September 1 and it applies from October 1, 2026 to every business on the official WhatsApp API, the one any agent or chatbot uses.
Every reply inside the 24-hour window
Before, when a customer wrote to you a 24-hour window opened where replies were free. Now every message you send in that window is charged as a service message: a conversation with 5 replies means 5 charges.
Utility templates inside the window
Confirmations, reminders and order updates sent while the conversation was open had been free since July 2025. From October they are charged per message, same as outside the window.
1,000 free service messages a month
Each business WhatsApp number gets 1,000 free replies a month. They reset monthly and don't roll over. Note: it's 1,000 messages, not 1,000 conversations.
What is still free
- Messages your customers send you: those are never charged.
- Everything you send for 72 hours to someone who arrives from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or your Facebook Page button.
- Undelivered messages: Meta charges when a message is delivered, not when it's sent.
- Marketing, utility and authentication rates for Chile stay practically the same.
Meta rates for Chile
What each message costs
List rates per message delivered to a Chilean number, before taxes. Switch between Chilean pesos and US dollars.
Service
New$17.66per message
Replies your business or your agent sends when the customer wrote to you in the last 24 hours.
Charged from October 1, 2026. 1,000 free per number each month.
Utility
$17.66per message
Templates about something the customer already did: appointment confirmation, reminder, order or payment status.
Always charged, also inside the 24-hour window.
Marketing
$78.49per message
Templates to promote, make offers or re-engage customers who haven't written to you in the last 24 hours.
Always charged. The most expensive category.
Authentication
$17.66per message
One-time codes to verify identity or log in.
Always charged.
Volume discounts for utility and authentication
If you send many messages a month, Meta lowers the rate in tiers. Each rate only applies to the messages within its tier. Marketing and service have no volume discounts.
Utility
| Messages per month | Rate | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 100,000 | $17.66 | — |
| 100,001 – 1,000,000 | $16.78 | −5 % |
| 1,000,001 – 4,500,000 | $15.89 | −10 % |
| 4,500,001 – 15,000,000 | $15.01 | −15 % |
| 15,000,001 – 30,000,000 | $14.13 | −20 % |
| 30,000,001 + | $13.24 | −25 % |
Authentication
| Messages per month | Rate | Discount |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 120,000 | $17.66 | — |
| 120,001 – 400,000 | $16.78 | −5 % |
| 400,001 – 1,000,000 | $15.89 | −10 % |
| 1,000,001 – 5,000,000 | $15.01 | −15 % |
| 5,000,001 – 10,000,000 | $14.13 | −20 % |
| 10,000,001 + | $13.24 | −25 % |
Calculator
Estimate your monthly WhatsApp cost
Enter how many conversations you handle and how many messages you send. The estimate uses Meta's official rates for Chile.
Customers who write to you
How many times a month customers write to you. Each conversation opens a 24-hour window.
How many messages your business or agent sends in each conversation. Each one is charged.
Those that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad: their messages are free for 72 hours.
Each number adds 1,000 free replies a month.
Messages you start (templates)
Appointment confirmations and reminders.
Promotions and campaigns.
Verification codes.
You would pay Meta per month
$70,634
$847,603 per year
- Service 4,000 billed messages $70,634
- Utility 0 billed messages $0
- Marketing 0 billed messages $0
- Authentication 0 billed messages $0
Your replies (service messages)
- Replies sent
- 5,000
- Free because they came from an ad
- − 0
- Free this month (1,000 per number)
- − 1,000
- Billed replies
- 4,000
$70,634 of this is new: before October 1 those replies were free.
You pay this amount directly to Meta, in your WhatsApp Business account. It isn’t added to your Telbot plan.
Review my case in a meetingEstimate using Meta's list rates for messages to Chilean numbers, before taxes. Meta calculates the final amount based on your account currency and each customer's country.
How to pay less
Four ways to lower what you pay Meta
Reply in fewer messages
You now pay per message, not per conversation. One complete reply costs half as much as two short ones: combine the greeting, the information and the question in a single message.
Use forms inside WhatsApp
If you collect several details step by step, a WhatsApp form (Flows) gathers them in a single send instead of five or six separate questions.
Bring customers in with click-to-WhatsApp ads
Anyone who arrives from an ad opens a 72-hour window where all your messages are free, templates included.
Measure before deciding
Your Meta account shows how many messages you send per month. With that number, this calculator gives you an estimate close to the real bill.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for these messages?
You do, directly to Meta. Charges go to your WhatsApp Business account and are paid with the payment method you have set up there. Telbot doesn’t charge for or resell messages: Meta’s cost is separate from your plan.
What is the 24-hour window?
When a customer writes to you, a 24-hour window opens in which you can reply with any message. Each new customer message restarts it. Outside that window you can only write with an approved template (marketing, utility or authentication).
Do I need to do anything in my Meta account?
Yes: add an active payment method to your WhatsApp Business account, because that’s where Meta bills the messages. Since October there are charges that didn’t exist before, and without a payment method your agent may stop sending messages.
Are the 1,000 free messages per company or per number?
Per WhatsApp number. They reset every month and unused messages don't carry over.
Does it cost the same if the customer is in another country?
No. The rate depends on the country of the number receiving the message. This page shows Chile's rates; if you serve customers in other countries, the cost may differ.
Do the prices include VAT?
No. They are Meta's list rates, before taxes.
What about Meta Business Agent, Meta's own agent?
It charges per token: 2 dollars per million, which in practice is 4 to 5 US cents per message. That's two to two and a half times the cost of a service message on the official API.
How often do these rates change?
Meta can update them up to four times a year: January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. This page was last updated on October 5, 2026.
Sources, checked on October 5, 2026: WhatsApp Business pricing (Meta) · Developer pricing documentation
Want to know what answering with an agent would cost you?
In 30 minutes we review your message volume, calculate what you'd pay Meta and look at how to serve more customers without the bill getting out of hand.