Free tool, no signup

What will WhatsApp API
actually cost you?

Put in the messages you send a month. This shows the bill on every WA.Expert plan side by side, using Meta's published per-message rates, and models what changes on 1 October 2026.

Meta's rates are printed in full below. We add nothing to them on the Complete and Growth plans.

Changing on 1 October 2026

The free 24-hour service window ends. Service replies and in-window utility templates become billable at ₹0.115 in India, after 1,000 free per phone number a month. What it costs and what to check →

Your monthly volume

Count delivered template messages, not contacts. One template to 5,000 people is 5,000 messages.

Your monthly bill, every plan

15,000 messages a month

Platform fee plus message charges. GST applies to the platform fee, not to Meta's message charges, which are drawn from your prepaid wallet.

Plan Platform Messages GST Total / month

Meta's rates, and ours

India, per delivered message. On Complete and Growth you pay Meta's number with nothing added, which is why two columns are identical.

PlanMarketingUtilityAuthenticationMarkup
Meta's published rate₹0.86₹0.115₹0.115—
Complete & Growth₹0.86₹0.115₹0.115Zero
Starter (free plan)₹0.99₹0.14₹0.14Higher rates
Premium & Pro₹0.99₹0.1323₹0.132315%

Incoming messages from customers are always free, on every plan. Meta republishes its rate card roughly quarterly and bills by the recipient's country, so a customer in Germany costs many times an Indian one. For other markets see the country rate comparison.

The part that catches people out

What is free today, and what stops being free

WhatsApp moved to per-message billing in July 2025. Every delivered template is its own charge, and there is no longer a 24-hour conversation to fill up with free follow-ups.

Free, staying free

Messages customers send you

Incoming messages are never charged, on any plan. Only what you send is billed, and only when it is delivered.

Free until 1 Oct 2026

Replies inside the 24-hour window

When a customer messages you first, your replies are free for 24 hours and every new customer message resets the clock. From 1 October 2026 these are billable per message at the utility rate, after 1,000 free a month per phone number.

Free until 1 Oct 2026

Utility templates inside that window

Since July 2025 a utility template sent while the window is open costs nothing. From 1 October 2026 it is charged at the ordinary utility rate, the same as one sent after the window closes. The 1,000-message free allowance covers service replies, not these.

Free, staying free

The 72-hour ad window

When a customer reaches you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad on Facebook or Instagram, everything you send, templates included, is free for 72 hours.

Marketing templates

Charged every single time, including inside an open service window. Utility and authentication get the free-window breaks; marketing never has.

Failed and undelivered sends

You are billed on delivery, so a message that never reaches the handset is not charged. A message delivered to someone who ignores it is.

Meta announced this change on 1 July 2026 and published the October rate card on 1 September 2026. A service message is charged at the same rate as utility and authentication in the recipient’s market, and every business phone number receives 1,000 free service messages a month. Rates move roughly quarterly, so check Meta’s current card before budgeting.

Questions

About the numbers above

Why is the free Starter plan more expensive than the ₹599 plan?
+
Starter has no platform fee but higher per-message rates: ₹0.99 for marketing against ₹0.86 on Complete, a difference of ₹0.13 a message. Where the crossover falls depends on GST. If you are GST registered and claim the input credit on the platform fee, your real fee is ₹599 and the crossover is about 4,600 marketing messages a month. If you cannot claim it, the fee costs you ₹706.82 and the crossover moves to about 5,400. Above that line Complete is cheaper in total and includes every feature; below it, Starter genuinely costs less. The calculator above works this out for your actual mix, so use it rather than the rule of thumb.
Does GST apply to the message charges?
+
No. 18% GST applies to the platform fee and any add-ons you buy. Meta's per-message charges are drawn from your prepaid wallet separately. For a GST-registered business the platform fee GST is usually claimable as input credit, so the real cost is the base figure.
What does zero markup actually mean?
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Most providers add 10% to 30% on top of Meta's published per-message rates and keep the difference. On the Complete and Growth plans WA.Expert adds nothing: you pay Meta's rate and not a paisa more per message. The Premium and Pro plans carry a stated 15% markup on marketing and utility, and the free Starter plan has higher rates, which is how it funds having no platform fee. All four are printed in the rate table above.
What exactly changes on 1 October 2026?
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Two things that are free today stop being free. First, the 24-hour service window: today, once a customer messages you, your replies cost nothing for 24 hours. Second, utility templates sent inside that window, free since July 2025. From 1 October 2026 both are billed per message. In-window utility is charged at the ordinary utility rate. Meta published the October rate card on 1 September 2026 and confirmed that a service message is charged at the same rate as utility and authentication in the recipient’s market, which for India is ₹0.115. Every business phone number also gets 1,000 free service messages a month, so charging starts at the 1,001st.
Will I be charged if a customer never opens my message?
+
Yes. Billing is on delivery to the handset, not on the message being read or replied to. A message that fails to deliver is not charged, but one that arrives and is ignored is. This is why list quality matters more under per-message pricing than it did under the old conversation model.
Do I pay Indian rates for customers outside India?
+
No. Meta bills by the recipient's country, not yours. An Indian business messaging a German customer pays the German rate, which for marketing is roughly eleven times the Indian one. Registering your number in India changes nothing about this. If you sell abroad, segment your campaigns by country so you can see which markets earn their cost.
Is the minimum wallet balance an extra charge?
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No, it is your own money held as credit. Sending requires a minimum ₹1,000 wallet balance, topped up in ₹1,000 steps, and message charges are drawn from it as you send. Unused balance stays yours.
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