A 1,000-contact WhatsApp broadcast costs under $94 SGD.
See Meta's rates for your country, including the new charge for replies inside the 24-hour window from 1 October 2026. Estimate your monthly WhatsApp Business API cost in 30 seconds.
Meta's USD rate card effective 1 October 2026, shown in local currency at an indicative exchange rate. Until 30 September 2026, replies and utility templates inside the 24-hour window are still free, and marketing rates in a few markets are slightly lower. What changes on 1 October, explained.
What each message category looks like
Templates you send are billed in three categories, each with its own rate. From 1 October 2026 a fourth is billed too: service messages, the replies your team or AI sends inside the 24-hour window, after 1,000 free per phone number each month.
Transactional updates
Booking confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, payment receipts. Triggered by a customer action.
OTP and login codes
One-time passwords, login verification, two-factor authentication codes. Short-lived, security-critical messages.
Promotions and broadcasts
Flash sales, product launches, seasonal offers, re-engagement campaigns. The highest-cost category per message.
Replies inside the window
Free-form answers from your team or AI employee while a customer's 24-hour window is open. First 1,000 a month per phone number free, then the utility rate.
Enter your numbers,
see your monthly cost
Plug in how many marketing, utility, authentication and service messages you send in a month. Inbound messages and anything inside a 72-hour click-to-WhatsApp window stay free.
6 scenarios: when you pay and when you don't
Meta charges per message delivered. From 1 October 2026, every message your business sends has a price unless a specific exemption covers it. Messages customers send you are never charged.
- Customer sends "Hi, do you have this in stock?"
- A 24-hour service window opens (their message is free)
- You reply with pricing, availability, FAQs
- Each reply is one service message
- Customer messaged earlier today
- Your team or AI employee answers
- Every message you send counts, so one full answer beats three fragments
- Customer taps your Facebook or Instagram ad and messages you
- You reply within 24 hours
- A 72-hour free entry point window opens: replies, confirmations and templates are all free to deliver
- Customer says yes, the window is still open
- As a plain text reply: one service message, free within your 1,000
- As a utility template: charged at the utility rate, no free allowance
- You send a marketing template to your list
- Each recipient is charged the marketing rate
- Your replies to anyone who answers are service messages
- No open conversation in the last 24 hours
- You send an appointment reminder template
- Charged at the utility rate per recipient
6 businesses, their real monthly costs
Tap each example to see the full cost breakdown by scenario. All figures use SGD rates for the selected country.
Free for 3 days
~$4.50
~$113
Free for 3 days
~$6.00
~$188
Free for 3 days
~$3.75
~$85
~$41
~$12
~$470
Free
~$3.00
~$282
Free
~$2.25
~$141
Our vertical pages map every message a business in your industry sends to Meta's categories, with mockups, a worked month and industry-specific sliders. First up: schools and enrichment centres. More verticals on request.
What decision-makers need to know
Replies are free up to 1,000 a month per number
From 1 October 2026 each reply inside the 24-hour window is a service message. Every business phone number gets 1,000 free a month; beyond that, each costs the utility rate for the customer's country, with no volume tiers.
Ad leads stay free for 72 hours
A conversation started from a click-to-WhatsApp ad opens a 72-hour free entry point window. Replies, confirmations and templates inside it are free to deliver, which makes ad-driven conversations the cheapest kind to run.
Broadcasts are the biggest cost driver
Marketing broadcasts to your full contact list account for 80-90% of most businesses' Meta costs. Targeted, segmented sends reduce waste and cost.
Meta bills you directly
WhatsApp conversation fees are billed by Meta, not by your platform provider. Neither Zelix nor respond.io mark up Meta messaging fees.
Who bills what
Three separate costs, three separate invoices. We keep it transparent.
| Cost Type | Billed By | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp message fees | Meta (direct) | Pay-per-message, varies by country |
| Platform subscription | respond.io | From USD $79/mo (Team plan) |
| AI setup, automation, optimisation | Zelix Labs | Project-based or retainer |
Common questions about WhatsApp costs
Meta charges per message delivered. Templates you send are billed by category: Marketing (promotions, broadcasts), Utility (reminders, confirmations, shipping updates) and Authentication (OTP codes, login verification). Rates depend on the customer's phone number country code.
From 1 October 2026, replies inside the 24-hour customer service window are billed too, as service messages. Every business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month; from the 1,001st, each costs the same as a utility message to that country. Utility templates sent inside the window are charged at the utility rate with no free allowance.
Messages customers send you are never charged, and a conversation started from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button opens a 72-hour free entry point window in which every message you send is free to deliver.
Meta sets WhatsApp Business API rates differently for each country or region based on local market conditions, purchasing power, and WhatsApp adoption levels. Countries with higher business messaging demand (like Germany and the UK) tend to have higher rates, while high-volume markets (like India) have lower per-message costs.
Some countries do not have individual pricing and fall under regional rates. Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Japan and Taiwan use the Rest of Asia Pacific rate, and the United States falls under North America. Singapore and Hong Kong moved to their own standalone rates on 1 July 2026.
Rates are set by Meta and apply equally regardless of which platform provider you use (respond.io, WATI, Twilio, etc.).
Until 30 September 2026, yes: every reply inside the 24-hour window, including utility templates, is free. From 1 October 2026, replies are service messages with a free tier of 1,000 per business phone number each month, reset monthly with no rollover. Beyond that, each reply costs the utility rate for the customer's country, with no volume tiers.
A utility template sent inside the window is charged from 1 October with no free allowance, so a plain text confirmation (a service message) is usually the cheaper way to confirm while the window is open. Replies inside a 72-hour free entry point window from a click-to-WhatsApp ad stay free. The full change is covered in our guide to the 1 October pricing update.
The most effective way to reduce costs is to segment your broadcast lists. Instead of blasting your entire contact database, target only contacts who are likely to engage. Sending to 1,000 engaged contacts costs half of sending to 2,000 contacts where half are inactive.
Run click-to-WhatsApp ads instead of traditional lead forms. Leads from these ads get a 72-hour free entry point window in which every message you send is free. Use AI employees to qualify and answer inside that window, so paid templates are rarely needed.
From 1 October 2026, keep the reply count in check: one complete message per turn instead of three fragments, no acknowledgement-only messages, and confirmations as plain text while the window is open rather than a utility template, which is charged with no free allowance.
No. Meta bills WhatsApp conversation fees directly to the business through the WhatsApp Business API account holder. Neither Zelix Labs nor respond.io add any markup to Meta's messaging rates.
respond.io charges a separate platform subscription fee for the software (AI agents, workflows, broadcast tools, CRM features). Zelix Labs charges separately for setup, automation configuration, and ongoing optimisation. All three costs are independent and transparent.
We've set up WhatsApp automation for over 50 businesses. Yours could be next.
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