Meta to Charge Businesses for WhatsApp Messages from October 1

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, announced on October 1 that businesses will start paying for customer-service and utility messages on its WhatsApp Business Platform. This change means businesses that rely on the platform will face additional costs. Service messages, which are non-template replies to customer-initiated conversations, and utility messages, which include transactional communications like payments and deliveries, will both be charged per message.

Currently, these messages have been free since November 2024 and July 2025, respectively. Businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will need to plan for these new operational expenses. Meta has not disclosed the exact rates but suggests they could be around $0.0101 per message. Companies such as banks and e-commerce platforms will be affected by this change.

Businesses must have a valid payment method on file by September 30, 2026, or they will stop receiving charged service messages starting October 1, 2026.