What WhatsApp costs from 1 October 2026

In 30 seconds

• What your customers send you is free. Meta never charges for the messages you receive.
• What you send from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone is free, also when the number is connected to BlueMarlin (coexistence).
• Replying from BlueMarlin, or from any tool on the official API, within 24 hours: 1,000 free replies a month per number. After that, the service rate: €0.0166 in Spain.
• Writing first to someone who has not written to you in 24 hours takes a template approved by Meta, and templates are paid. In Spain, €0.0166 for utility and €0.0585 for marketing.
• BlueMarlin charges nothing per message. Meta bills you directly, in your own account, at its official price.

What changes on 1 October

Spanish rates, per delivered message, before VAT.

Worth being clear about:

• The 24-hour rule is not new. On the official API you have always been able to reply with free text only in the 24 hours after the customer's last message; after that, a template is needed. What is new on 1 October is the price of those replies, not the rule.
• The 1,000 free replies are per phone number and per month, and they do not roll over: what you do not use in October does not carry into November. A message to a group uses one for each person who receives it.
• Without a payment method, Meta stops. If your Meta account has no card, Meta delivers the 1,000 free ones and stops delivering the rest. Add one before you get there.
• Reactions (an emoji put on a message) stay free and do not count.

How Meta charges each message

Meta charges per delivered message, by its category and by the country of the number that receives it, not yours. There are four categories:

The first three are templates: messages Meta approves before you can use them, and the only ones that can be sent outside the 24 hours. If a utility template's text sells something, Meta can move it to marketing.

The 24-hour window. Every message from your customer opens, or restarts, a 24-hour window. Inside it you can reply with free text, photos or documents; outside it, only with a template.

Ads that lead to WhatsApp. If the customer writes to you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad on Facebook or Instagram (on their phone) and you reply within 24 hours, everything you send them while the free window lasts is free, templates included. That window can last up to 7 days (until 28 September 2026 it was 72 hours).

Volume discounts. Utility and authentication templates get cheaper past certain monthly volumes in each country. The rates in this guide are the starting ones.

The app, BlueMarlin and coexistence

There are three ways to run a business WhatsApp number, and each one pays differently:

What changes on the phone with coexistence. When you connect, the app turns off broadcast lists (the ones you had become read-only), disappearing messages, view once and live location, and unlinks WhatsApp Web, which you can link again. Groups and calls stay on the phone but do not reach BlueMarlin. If the app goes about 14 days without being opened, Meta disconnects the number.

In short: what you send from the phone costs nothing, and BlueMarlin adds the team, the customer records, the AI and the automatic notices. You only pay Meta for what goes out from BlueMarlin.

Examples of a month

Spanish rates, before VAT. Only what Meta charges; the BlueMarlin plan is separate.

A clinic with one number

Without the campaign, €3.32 a month.

A support team that replies a lot

4,000 replies a month.

• One dedicated number: 3,000 paid × €0.0166 = €49.80. Until 30 September, €0.
• Coexistence, with half answered from the phone: 2,000 through BlueMarlin, 1,000 of them paid = €16.60.
• Two numbers, with 2,000 replies each: each number has its own 1,000 free, so 2 × 1,000 paid = €33.20.

An AI agent that replies for you

1,500 replies a month written by BlueMarlin's AI.

• Meta: 500 paid × €0.0166 = €8.30.
• BlueMarlin's AI: 1 cent a reply = €15.00. On the Business plan it comes out of the €40 of AI included each month (BlueMarlin's prices as of 30 September 2026).
• Total: €23.30, which is 1.55 cents a reply.

For reference, Meta's own AI agent (Meta Business Agent) is charged by tokens: 4 to 5 US cents a reply by Meta's own estimate, about $60–75 for the same 1,500.

Work out your month

Rates by country

Price per delivered message, in euros and before VAT, from 1 October 2026. The country of the number that receives the message decides: if you write from Spain to a customer in Mexico, you pay Mexico's rate.

In Latin America, for example (euros per delivered message):

Meta publishes the same rate card in US dollars and 15 other currencies, including the Mexican, Colombian, Argentine and Chilean pesos, the sol and the real.

Frequently asked questions

How much does WhatsApp Business cost per month?

The WhatsApp Business app is free and has no monthly fee. What you pay for is the official API, per delivered message, by category and by the customer's country: in Spain, €0.0166 per reply past the month's 1,000 free ones, €0.0166 per utility template and €0.0585 per marketing template. Meta also offers optional subscriptions for the app (Meta One), in testing and not in every country.

Who charges me, and how?

Meta, directly, in your WhatsApp Business account, on the card you keep in its Billing Hub. BlueMarlin does not charge per message or add a margin.

Does having a number cost anything?

Meta does not charge per number. Each number has its own 1,000 free replies a month.

Does a reply written by an AI cost more?

No. Meta charges it like any other service reply. The separate rate Meta applies to "AI Providers" concerns companies offering a general-purpose AI assistant, not a business using AI to serve its own customers.

Can the price change?

Meta only changes rates on the first day of a quarter (1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October), and announces it beforehand. This guide covers the rates in force from 1 October 2026. We review it before each of those dates: if they change, we update it and note the change in the history at the end.

If I use coexistence, is the phone still free?

Yes, with no 24-hour window and no templates. In Meta's words, messages sent from the app "do not create, extend, or affect" the 24-hour window or API pricing.

Sources

Everything above was checked on 30 September 2026 against Meta's official documentation:

• Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, page updated on 28 September 2026: categories, the 1 October changes, the free service tier, the pricing calendar and the countries in each region.
• Rate cards effective 1 October 2026: the euro sheet this guide's rates come from.
• Upcoming pricing updates for Meta Business Agent, service and utility messages: service messages and the price of Meta Business Agent.
• Onboard WhatsApp Business app users: coexistence, what stays free and what changes in the app.
• Customer service windows: the 24-hour window.
• Pricing for AI Providers: who the AI Provider rate applies to.

Change history

• 30 September 2026: first version, with the rates in force from 1 October 2026.