Are you interested to know what the cost of WhatsApp Business API is? This is where you can learn everything about it and more.
It’s not easy to calculate the pricing of WhatsApp API. However, it is crucial for businesses to be well versed with the subject so that they can minimise overspending.
In this post, you’ll get an overview as well as detailed breakdown of the WhatsApp Business API pricing model, additional costs you will incur. We will also dive into the specific WhatsApp API pricing in 3 countries - Singapore, Indonesia and UAE.
While WhatsApp Business App comes at zero cost, WhatsApp API does not exactly function in the same way. Learn more about the differences between WhatsApp Business and API.
To get a good grasp of the WhatsApp Business API pricing model for managing customer support and doing WhatsApp marketing, you must know what are the associated costs that can crop up while using WhatsApp API.
How to get WhatsApp Business API
For starters, did you know that WhatsApp does not give you, the end-user direct access to their API? That’s right, you will have to go through a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider to get a WhatsApp API account.
These Business Solution Providers are charged by WhatsApp Business and they, in turn, charge you for the service, inclusive of an additional fee of their own.
It is not unlikely that solution providers charge a fee for setting up, along with some additional cost per message. This is a pretty common practice among many solution providers. Some providers like DelightChat helps you get access to WhatsApp API at no additional cost.
To sum it up, both WhatsApp and your Business Solution Provider will charge you for using WhatsApp API. Keep reading to know how exactly this works.
Breakdown of WhatsApp Business API Pricing
The pricing of the WhatsApp Business platform has been evolving over time. Till the beginning of the year, WhatsApp Business API charged for each notification. But since February 2022 WhatsApp Business API price has been based on conversations. So now, you are no longer charged for individual notifications but entire conversations.
Let's delve deeper into how this model of pricing works. So, you are charged once for a 24-hour conversation with your customer. This means you can exchange several messages with your users within the 24-hour window.
Update: WhatsApp now charges per conversation, and there are 4 types of concersations.
Conversations are 24-hour message threads between you and your customers, initiated when your messages are successfully delivered.
Depending on the kind of conversation, WhatsApp will charge you differently.
Here's a quick overview of the conversation categories:
- Marketing: Promotional messages, informational updates, or invitations for customer response or action.
- Utility: Facilitating specific requests or transactions, providing updates on ongoing transactions.
- Authentication: Verifying users with one-time passcodes during the login process.
- Service: Resolving customer inquiries.
To start a conversations, consider the following:
- Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Conversations: Use approved template messages for these categories.
- Service Conversations: Use free-form messages specifically for customer service.
A conversation is opened when you send an approved template message or a free-form message under specific conditions:
- Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Conversations: A new conversation is opened only if no open conversation of that category exists between you and the customer.
- Service Conversations: A new conversation is opened when there is no existing open conversation between you and the customer.
Conversation Window
Conversations have a duration of 24 hours, except for free-entry point conversations, which last 72 hours. Multiple conversations can occur in certain situations, such as sending a template message of a different category within 24 hours.
1000 Free Service Conversations Per Month
For your convenience, each WhatsApp Business Account receives 1,000 free service conversations per month across all business phone numbers. Please note that marketing, utility, and authentication conversations are not included in the free tier.
We hope this overview clarifies our pricing structure. If you have any further questions or need assistance, our dedicated support team is always here to help.
You can read more about WhatsApp's pricing structure by visiting the official Facebook documentation page.
Conversation-based Pricing for Sales Teams
Sales are all about getting in touch and following up with clients. So, conversations begin at the moment when the sales teams have a lead. As a result, most sales conversations are business initiated. That said, support executives can avoid engaging in irrelevant conversations and avoid additional charges by WhatsApp.
A conversation-based pricing model is best suited for businesses with low sales volume but high-profit margin per sale. This is because these companies have conversations with fewer clients on a monthly basis.
However, we recommend the monthly plan for high sales volume, low margin businesses that engage in many conversations per month.
Conversation-based Pricing for Support Teams
Support teams have to give quick responses to customer queries. In this case, they don’t need to start a conversation. So they can make the most of WhatsApp API Pricing based on 24-hour messaging sessions. They can easily ensure that customer queries and issues are resolved during the 24-hour window.
WhatsApp charges for only one user-initiated message within 24 hours when they reply.
However, sometimes resolving an issue may exceed the 24-hour window. In this case, there will be an additional charge for business-initiated conversations.
Certain software like DelightChat, which is a shared team inbox for WhatsApp, makes it easy to reach out to customers even after the 24-hour period by using an approved WhatsApp message template.
Conversation-based Pricing for Marketing Teams
Marketing teams do not focus on sending replies to their contacts. They aim to send compelling promotional messages to their customers. This means every message sent by the marketing team is in fact a business-initiated conversation.
Needless to say, this might turn out to be an expensive affair. That said there is no additional cost for the messages that follow the first business-initiated message.
However, it is important to note that WhatsApp can block business profiles who resort to spamming.
Region-based WhatsApp API Pricing
WhatsApp Business API pricing varies from region to region. Here are the latest pricing details as per major business nations.
WhatsApp Business API Pricing in Singapore
WhatsApp Business API is widely used in the island nation for business propagation.
It's important to note that WhatsApp has made the first 1000 service conversations per WhatsApp Business Account free every month. Conversations that start from Facebook ads such that click to WhatsApp are also free of cost.
WhatsApp has now moved to a new model of pricing which includes 4 types of conversations - Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service.
You can find the latest pricing for Singapore for each category on Facebook's pricing page.
WhatsApp Business API Pricing in UAE
Businesses based out of UAE have been increasingly using WhatsApp Business API to grow and better communicate with their customers.
Just like in Singapore, WhatsApp has made the first 1000 service conversations per WhatsApp Business Account free every month in UAE too. The same goes for conversations that start from Facebook ads that click to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has now moved to a new model of pricing which includes 4 types of conversations - Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service.
You can find the latest pricing for the UAE for each category on Facebook's pricing page.
WhatsApp Business API Pricing in Indonesia
Indonesia’s rising economy is powered by its thriving businesses. And many of them use WhatsApp Business API for better reach and effective customer service.
The first 1000 service conversations per WhatsApp Business Account is free every month in Indonesia too. When it comes to conversations that start from Facebook ads that click to WhatsApp, here too it is free.
WhatsApp has now moved to a new model of pricing which includes 4 types of conversations - Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service.
You can find the latest pricing for Singapore for each category on Facebook's pricing page.
Looking for WhatsApp Business API pricing in India? We've written a separate guide for Indian brands looking to tap into the power of the API.
Get WhatsApp API and power your business growth with DelightChat
Get started with WhatsApp Business API on DelightChat to engage with your customers in a whole new way. Here’s what you get by signing up:
- WhatsApp API access for your business
- Shared Inbox for providing Customer Support via WhatsApp
- WhatsApp Marketing features such as sending bulk WhatsApp messages using Official API, abandoned cart recovery, delivery notifications and more
- Free Green Tick application to Meta
From giving you easy access to conversational commerce, enabling you to recover abandoned carts with automated notifications, to helping you offer exceptional customer support — DelightChat lets you up your customer engagement game via WhatsApp.
Not only that our Shared Inbox also connects with Instagram, Facebook, Email & Live Chat to become your one dashboard for managing all customer queries.
Offer your customers delightful experiences with DelightChat's top-notch features. Sign up today!
