WhatsApp Pricing Calculator (Per Message, October 2026 Rates) | ChatMaxima
Rates effective October 1, 2026

WhatsApp Pricing Calculator

Estimate your monthly WhatsApp Business API bill from Meta's per-message rate cards. Covers marketing, utility and authentication templates, and service messages with the 1,000 free per phone number each month.

ChatMaxima WhatsApp pricing calculator
Instant estimate

Calculate your WhatsApp Business API cost

Meta bills per delivered message, by category and by the country of the person you message. Enter what you send in a month to see the estimate. Rates are Meta's list rates, excluding taxes.

How per-message pricing works

Since July 1, 2025, Meta charges per delivered message instead of per 24-hour conversation. The rate depends on the message category and the recipient's country.

  • Marketing templates: charged on every delivery.
  • Utility templates: free inside an open 24-hour customer service window, charged outside it.
  • Authentication templates: charged on delivery. Some countries have a higher authentication-international rate for senders based abroad.
  • Service messages: free-form replies inside the 24-hour window. From October 1, 2026, each phone number gets 1,000 free a month, then they are charged at the utility rate.
  • Free entry point: after a customer messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button, all messages are free for 72 hours.

Utility and authentication rates drop with monthly volume (volume tiers). Service messages are not tiered.

WhatsApp template categories

Templates are pre-approved messages. They are the only messages you can send outside the 24-hour customer service window.

FAQs Answered

WhatsApp pricing calculator: FAQs

Meta charges per delivered message. The rate depends on the message category (marketing, utility, authentication or service) and on the country of the person you message. Messages your customers send to you are free.

Meta stops delivering service messages for that WhatsApp Business Account until a payment method is added in Meta Billing Hub. Your bot and agent replies stop reaching customers, so add a payment method before you reach the free tier.

No. You pay Meta's per-message rates directly to Meta. ChatMaxima charges for the platform only, with no per-message markup. Inside ChatMaxima, the WhatsApp usage page shows each number's service messages against the free 1,000 and the estimated cost.

From October 1, 2026, each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, shared by one-to-one and group replies. After that, service messages are charged at the same rate as utility messages for that country. The free tier resets every month and does not roll over.

Yes. According to Meta's pricing page, utility templates delivered inside an open 24-hour customer service window are free. Outside the window they are charged at the utility rate, so enter only those in the calculator.

It uses Meta's published list rates effective October 1, 2026. Your invoice can be lower if you reach utility or authentication volume tiers, and it excludes taxes such as VAT or GST. Meta's invoice is final. For per-country detail, see the WhatsApp API pricing guide.