Who charges what
- Meta bills WhatsApp messages directly to the payment method on your own Meta Business account.
- Scale360x Engage charges a plan for the software (campaigns, inbox, chatbots, AI). We do not charge for WhatsApp messages, we do not collect Meta’s fees and we do not mark them up. We do not cap how many you send.
- Users who message your business are never charged.
What Meta charges for
Since 1 July 2025 Meta bills per delivered message, not per conversation. A message that is not delivered is not charged. The price depends on the message type and on the country of the person you send to.
- Marketing templates: promotions, offers, announcements.
- Utility templates: order, booking and account updates.
- Authentication templates: one-time codes. Some countries have a separate international rate.
- Service messages: free-form replies you send inside the 24-hour window after a customer writes to you (see the free tier below).
- Meta Business Agent (Meta’s own AI agent) is billed by Meta per token, not per message, at one global rate of $2.00 per million tokens (about 4 to 5 US cents a message). It needs a payment method in Meta Billing Hub. Scale360x Engage’s own AI uses AI credits and is separate.
The free tier for service messages: 1,000 a month per number
- Each WhatsApp business number gets 1,000 free service messages every month. It resets at 12 midnight in your Messaging account’s timezone, on the 1st, and does not roll over.
- From 1 October 2026, service messages above the free tier are billed per message, at the market’s utility rate. Before that date they were free.
- If your Meta account has no payment method, Meta delivers service messages inside the free tier but stops delivering them after it is used. Add one in Meta Billing Hub .
- Utility templates you send inside an open 24-hour window are billed again too since 1 October 2026. They do not use the free tier.
- Some government and non-profit organisations are exempt for a period. Check Meta’s page for the conditions.
Free entry point (Click-to-WhatsApp ads)
When someone messages you by tapping a Click-to-WhatsApp ad, a free entry point window opens for up to 7 days. While it is open Meta does not charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages to that person. Those messages do not count towards volume tiers.
Rates by country
Meta publishes one rate card for each category and country (47 markets, 16 currencies). Your Messaging account’s currency is fixed when the account is created. Utility and authentication have volume tiers that lower the rate as you send more; service messages do not. We do not copy the prices here because they change: always use Meta’s rate card (CSV and PDF are on Meta’s pricing page ).
When Meta changes its prices
Meta changes the rate card only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, with one month’s notice (the next possible date is 1 January 2027). New pricing models or changes to how messages are billed come with three to six months’ notice. We check Meta’s documentation every month and update this page.
See what you sent inside the app
In Engage, open Channels and then Message usage to see, for each WhatsApp number and month, how many messages were sent in each group Meta bills, how much of the free service tier is used, and an estimate of the charges. The estimate comes from Meta’s rate card and is only a guide: Meta’s invoice is always the source of truth.
This page explains Meta’s pricing as we understand it and is not a quote. Meta can change its prices and rules, and they may differ by country and account. Last checked on 1 November 2026. Our refund and cancellation terms are in the refund policy. Start your free trial