# What is conversation pricing for WhatsApp?

> Conversation pricing was Meta's billing model for the WhatsApp Business API until 1 July 2025: you paid per 24-hour conversation window with a user. Since then Meta bills per delivered template message — Marketing, Utility or Authentication — by category and country. From 1 October 2026 Meta bills replies inside the 24-hour customer service window per message, at the same rate as utility and authentication messages in that market: service replies after a free tier of 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month, utility templates from the first message.

- Canonical URL: https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-conversation-pricing-whatsapp
- Language: en
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-10
- Publisher: BroadNet (https://www.broadnet.me)

## 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.

## Related

- [All answers](https://www.broadnet.me/answers)
- [Glossary](https://www.broadnet.me/answers)
- [What are the WhatsApp message categories?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/whatsapp-message-categories)
- [The WhatsApp 24-hour window explained](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/whatsapp-24-hour-window)
- [What is WhatsApp Business API?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-whatsapp-business-api)
- [SMS pricing per MT — what you're actually paying for](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/sms-pricing-per-mt-explained)
- [WhatsApp Business API](https://www.broadnet.me/products/whatsapp-business-api)
- [WhatsApp pricing](https://www.broadnet.me/pricing/whatsapp)