What it means
Meta caps the number of unique people your business can message in a 24-hour window, depending on your tier. New numbers start at Tier 1 (250 unique users per day). When you maintain a Green quality rating and use 50% of your current tier consistently, Meta promotes you automatically to the next tier within 24 hours.
The progression: Tier 1 (250), Tier 2 (1,000), Tier 3 (10,000), Tier 4 (100,000), Tier 5 (Unlimited). Most reach Tier 4 within 6 to 8 weeks of healthy sending.
Replies to customer-initiated messages do NOT count against the tier cap. Only business-initiated conversations do.
Why it matters
If you are planning a big broadcast campaign, your tier is the ceiling. A Tier 1 number cannot blast 5,000 contacts in a single send. It has to be split across days, or the tier needs to grow first.
The good news: Meta is generous with tier promotions when quality is good. Most clients move from Tier 1 to Tier 4 inside two months by sending to engaged segments only and avoiding spam triggers.
Example
A new client launches with a 5,000-contact broadcast list. They start at Tier 1 (250 per day). The first send goes as a 250-contact pilot to the most engaged segment. Quality stays Green. Within a week they are at Tier 2 (1,000). Two more weeks of careful segmentation and they are at Tier 4 (100,000), enough to broadcast the full list in a single day.