Meta has ended the free tier for service messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform, and from today, October 1, businesses using the official API will pay for every customer-service reply they send.
Service messages — free-form replies written by human customer-service staff or third-party AI tools — could previously be sent at no Meta charge whenever a customer had an open 24-hour service window. Under the new pricing, those replies become billable on a per-message basis once a monthly free allowance is used up. Utility messages delivered inside the window, such as order confirmations, delivery updates and payment notifications, also lose their free status and will be charged at the utility rate even while the window is active.
What it will cost in India
Meta's October rate card for India prices service, utility and authentication messages at Rs 0.115 per delivered message before taxes — about 13.6 paise with 18 per cent GST. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month; once that allowance is exhausted, the per-message rate applies, resetting each month. Marketing messages, including promotional offers and sale announcements, are priced higher at about Rs 0.8631 per message before GST. Meta has separately been charging for its own Meta Business Agent AI replies on a token basis since August 1, at $2 per million tokens — about 4-5 US cents for a typical message of 20,000-25,000 tokens, according to Meta's figures.
Payment deadline and who pays
Meta warned businesses using a solution provider or direct integration that they had to add a payment method by September 30. Without one, Meta says it will stop delivering service messages once the new charges take effect. The change affects larger companies, banks, e-commerce platforms and startups that run customer communication through the WhatsApp Business API.
Ordinary users are unaffected. Meta's revised structure means personal chats with friends and family stay free, and customers do not pay for messaging businesses or receiving their messages. The existing free entry-point window for conversations started through ads that click to WhatsApp also remains unchanged.
Sources: The Times of India | India Today NE
Service messages — free-form replies written by human customer-service staff or third-party AI tools — could previously be sent at no Meta charge whenever a customer had an open 24-hour service window. Under the new pricing, those replies become billable on a per-message basis once a monthly free allowance is used up. Utility messages delivered inside the window, such as order confirmations, delivery updates and payment notifications, also lose their free status and will be charged at the utility rate even while the window is active.
What it will cost in India
Meta's October rate card for India prices service, utility and authentication messages at Rs 0.115 per delivered message before taxes — about 13.6 paise with 18 per cent GST. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month; once that allowance is exhausted, the per-message rate applies, resetting each month. Marketing messages, including promotional offers and sale announcements, are priced higher at about Rs 0.8631 per message before GST. Meta has separately been charging for its own Meta Business Agent AI replies on a token basis since August 1, at $2 per million tokens — about 4-5 US cents for a typical message of 20,000-25,000 tokens, according to Meta's figures.
Payment deadline and who pays
Meta warned businesses using a solution provider or direct integration that they had to add a payment method by September 30. Without one, Meta says it will stop delivering service messages once the new charges take effect. The change affects larger companies, banks, e-commerce platforms and startups that run customer communication through the WhatsApp Business API.
Ordinary users are unaffected. Meta's revised structure means personal chats with friends and family stay free, and customers do not pay for messaging businesses or receiving their messages. The existing free entry-point window for conversations started through ads that click to WhatsApp also remains unchanged.
Sources: The Times of India | India Today NE
