A conversation is a 24-hour window between you and one customer. Send one message or forty inside it and the charge is the same. The category of the message that opens the window determines the price for the whole window.
What WhatsApp actuallycosts you in India
Meta's current rates, what each category means, and the three things that actually move your bill.
Rates verified against Meta's published rate card · Last reviewed September 2026
WhatsApp charges businesses per 24-hour conversation rather than per message. In India, marketing conversations cost around ₹0.8631 each, while utility, authentication and service conversations cost about ₹0.115 each. Service conversations — those a customer starts — include a free allowance of 1,000 per phone number per month. GST at 18% applies on top. Every message inside a single 24-hour conversation is covered by one charge.
Rate card
India rate card
| Category | Rate per conversation (INR) | What it covers | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 | Promotions, offers, product announcements, win-back, cart recovery | Any message whose purpose is to sell or promote |
| Utility | ₹0.115 | Order confirmations, shipping updates, payment reminders, appointment reminders | Follow-ups on a transaction the customer already started |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 | One-time passwords and verification codes | Login and verification flows |
| Service | ₹0.115 | Replies to customer-initiated conversations | Any conversation the customer started — first 1,000 per number per month are free |
All rates exclude GST at 18%. Rates are set by Meta and are the same for every provider — what differs is whether your provider adds a margin on top.
How it worksHow conversations
How conversations
are counted
Four rules decide almost everything on your bill. None of them are obvious from the rate card alone.
If the customer messages you first, that is a service conversation — the cheapest category, with a free monthly allowance. If you message them first, the category depends on your content, and marketing is roughly 7.5 times the price of utility.
"Your order has shipped" is utility. "Your order has shipped — and here's 10% off your next one" is marketing, and costs about 7.5 times as much. Meta categorises on content, not on your intent. Keeping transactional messages clean of promotional content is one of the largest levers on your bill.
1,000 free service conversations per phone number per month. For many small businesses whose customers always message first, this covers most of their volume.
Worked examples
What it costs in practice
Two businesses, one month each, with the arithmetic written out. Rates as in the table above.
Example 1
A small D2C brand
- 2,000 marketing conversations (campaigns and cart recovery) × ₹0.8631 = ₹1,726
- 3,000 utility conversations (order and shipping updates) × ₹0.115 = ₹345
- 1,500 service conversations, first 1,000 free, 500 × ₹0.115 = ₹58
Subtotal ₹2,129. With 18% GST: ₹2,512 per month to Meta.
Example 2
A B2B distributor
- 500 marketing conversations (win-back and reorder prompts) × ₹0.8631 = ₹432
- 4,000 utility conversations (quotations, payment reminders, order updates) × ₹0.115 = ₹460
- 2,500 service conversations, first 1,000 free, 1,500 × ₹0.115 = ₹173
Subtotal ₹1,065. With 18% GST: ₹1,257 per month to Meta.
The B2B business sends more conversations and pays less, because most of its volume is utility rather than marketing. Category mix matters more than volume.
Each line is rounded to the nearest rupee, and the subtotal adds the rounded lines.
Reducing your bill
Four ways to cut what you pay Meta
Keep utility messages clean
Do not attach an offer to an order update. Adding one promotional line converts a ₹0.115 conversation into a ₹0.86 one. Across thousands of order updates that is a meaningful sum.
Get customers to message you first
Click-to-WhatsApp ads, website chat buttons and QR codes all produce customer-initiated conversations, which are the cheapest category and come with a free allowance.
Send to segments, not to everyone
A broadcast to 10,000 contacts costs 10,000 marketing conversations. A targeted send to the 800 who show buying intent costs 800 — and usually produces more orders.
Bundle within the 24-hour window
Everything sent inside one 24-hour window is one charge. A conversation that resolves fully in one window costs the same as one message.
Questions
Questions about WhatsApp rates
Meta charges per 24-hour conversation: roughly ₹0.8631 for marketing and about ₹0.115 for utility, authentication and service conversations, plus 18% GST. Service conversations include 1,000 free per phone number per month. On top of Meta's charges you pay your provider a platform fee, and some providers also mark up Meta's rates.
The API itself has no licence fee, but conversations are charged and you need a provider to access it. The only genuinely free option is the WhatsApp Business App, which supports one phone, has no automation and cannot be used by a team.
Utility conversations follow up on something the customer already did — an order confirmation, a shipping update, a payment reminder. Marketing conversations promote something. Meta categorises on the content of the message, not your intent, so attaching an offer to an order update makes the whole conversation marketing, at roughly 7.5 times the price.
Not separately. When a customer messages you it opens a service conversation, and the first 1,000 of those per number per month are free. Beyond that they cost about ₹0.115 each, and every message either side sends within that 24-hour window is included.
Many do — commonly 15 to 40% — and it is not always disclosed. Ask any provider directly whether they pass Meta's charges through at cost, and ask to see them as a separate line on the invoice. At volume this is usually a larger number than the platform fee.
Yes. Meta revises its rate card periodically and rates differ by country. This page was last verified in September 2026 against Meta's published rate card. Always check Meta's own documentation before making a large commitment.
Book a demoSee your own bill
See your own bill
line by line
Bring last month's conversation volumes to a demo. We will show you what Meta would charge by category, next to our platform fee, and where the category mix could bring it down.Thirty minutes. No obligation.
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- Before the call
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- On the call · 30 min
You ask it the questions your customers actually ask. We show you the segments and follow-ups it would run.
- After
A written summary of what it would do for you, and what it would cost.
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