Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp will replace its old 24‑hour conversation billing with a per‑message pricing model. Every business‑initiated template message—whether marketing, utility, or authentication—will now incur a separate charge. WhatsApp hikes business message price reflects a major shift in how brands will budget for customer outreach.
🔍 What Has Changed?
- Per‑Message Billing: All template messages are now billed individually—no more unlimited messaging within a conversation window. This applies to marketing, authentication, and non‑promotional utility templates.
- Free Service Window: Customer‑initiated chats still trigger a 24‑hour free window. Replies and utility templates within this timeframe are free, but marketing templates remain chargeable.
- Volume Discounts: Marketers benefit from tiered pricing on utility and authentication messages. For example, in India:
- Utility/auth messages start at ₹0.11 per message.
- Rate drops to ₹0.08 for high volumes (300M+ messages/month).
🧾 Category & Pricing Overview
| Category | Description | Charging Model |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotional messages | ₹0.78 per message in India |
| Utility | Transactional (e.g., OTPs, order updates) | ₹0.11 per message, drops to ₹0.08 in volume tiers |
| Authentication | OTPs, security codes | Priced similar to utility; may vary by country |
Note: Utility messages sent within a 24-hour service window are free.
✅ Why This Matters
- Budget Clarity: Businesses now see granular costs per message—ideal for precise ROI tracking.
- Tighter Controls: Brands must fine-tune message frequency, separate promotional vs transactional content, and ensure templates meet stricter category criteria. clevertap.com
- Cost Optimization: The free service window and volume discounts reward strategic messaging behavior.
💡 Tips for Businesses
- Encourage customer messages to activate free service windows.
- Limit redundant marketing messages per user to control costs.
- Keep utility templates purely transactional to avoid reclassification and higher charges.
- Leverage volume tiers, especially for OTP-heavy applications.
- Explore alternative channels like RCS or push notifications for marketing-heavy use cases.
🔭 Outlook
Businesses relying on WhatsApp for high-frequency communication—especially marketing—should expect higher messaging bills and revamp their strategies. The shift to per-message billing encourages more thoughtful, user-friendly engagement. WhatsApp may continue evolving pricing quarterly, so monitoring updates is essential.
