Everything worth knowing, nothing that isn't.
The three template categories
Meta prices each delivered template by category. Marketing (promotions, sales, awareness — most expensive). Utility (transaction updates, post-purchase notifications — mid-priced). Authentication (OTPs, login verification — its own price band). Free-form Service replies are not templates: they can only be sent inside the 24-hour customer service window. The category is set per-template; mis-categorisation gets the template rejected or auto-rebucketed by Meta.
What changed on 1 July 2025
Under the old model, one outbound template opened a 24-hour conversation and further messages in that window were covered by the single charge. Under per-message pricing every delivered template is billed on its own, so three templates to the same user in a day are three charges. The 24-hour window still matters: it is the only time you can send free-form replies. Utility templates sent inside it are billed per message from 1 October 2026 (free of charge up to 30 September 2026).
Regional price variation
Meta's rate card varies by country and by category: each market has its own Marketing, Utility and Authentication list rate, set by Meta and revised from time to time. BroadNet quotes the current Meta rate for each market you send to and passes it through with zero markup, plus a transparent service fee. See /pricing/whatsapp.
How to keep WhatsApp cost down
Three patterns. Use Utility templates when the content is actually utility (transaction confirmations, shipping updates) — they are priced below Marketing on the published rate card. Answer inside the 24-hour customer service window with free-form replies instead of templates — from 1 October 2026 Meta bills these service replies per message, at the same rate as utility and authentication messages, after a free tier of 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month. Batch user notifications into a single template rather than firing two separate templates, because each delivered template is billed.