# What are the WhatsApp message categories?

> WhatsApp Business Platform messages fall into four categories that Meta uses for its rules and its pricing: Marketing, Utility and Authentication, which are pre-approved templates, and Service, the free-form replies a business sends inside the 24-hour customer service window. Each delivered message is billed by category and market, and from 1 October 2026 service replies are billed after a free tier of 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month. BroadNet, an official Meta Business Solution Provider, helps customers choose and submit the right category for each template.

- Canonical URL: https://www.broadnet.me/answers/whatsapp-message-categories
- Language: en
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-20
- Publisher: BroadNet (https://www.broadnet.me)

## What is a WhatsApp Marketing message?

A template with a promotional goal: offers, product launches, abandoned-cart reminders, re-engagement and newsletters. A message that mixes promotion into transactional content is also Marketing. Marketing templates need the customer's opt-in to marketing and are billed per delivered message at the Marketing rate Meta sets for each market, which is above the Utility rate on Meta's published rate card.

## What is the difference between Utility and Authentication messages?

Utility templates confirm or update something the customer has already started — an order, a payment, a booking, a delivery or an account change — and must not contain promotional content. Authentication templates carry one-time passcodes for login, sign-up or account recovery, in a fixed format with an optional copy-code or one-tap button. Both are billed per delivered message; from 1 October 2026 utility templates are billed from the first message, including inside the customer service window.

## What is a WhatsApp Service message?

Any free-form, non-template message a business sends while the 24-hour customer service window is open: answers to questions, support conversations, media and interactive messages. Service messages need no approval, but they can only be sent inside the window, which opens or restarts when the customer messages you. From 1 October 2026 Meta bills replies inside the window per message, at the same rate as utility and authentication messages in that market, after a free tier of 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month.

## Who decides a WhatsApp template's category?

You choose the category when you submit the template, and Meta checks it during review, which can take up to 24 hours. Meta also re-checks approved templates: one whose content does not match its category — most often a Utility template that includes an offer — is moved to Marketing and from then on billed as Marketing. BroadNet reviews templates before submission and helps fix rejections and recategorisations.

## Related

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- [What is conversation pricing for WhatsApp?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-conversation-pricing-whatsapp)
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- [What is WhatsApp Business API?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-whatsapp-business-api)
- [How do you register a WhatsApp Business API number?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/how-to-register-whatsapp-business-number)
- [WhatsApp Business API](https://www.broadnet.me/products/whatsapp-business-api)
- [WhatsApp pricing](https://www.broadnet.me/pricing/whatsapp)