WhatsApp Business messages fall into a handful of types, and each type is priced differently. This guide explains the types, when you can send each one, and what a message costs in the UK, with worked examples.
In short: you pay Meta a fee for each delivered message, which depends on the message category and the recipient’s country, plus an everymessage usage fee of £0.004 per message in or out, falling to £0.0025 at high volumes (excluding VAT). In the UK, Meta charges £0.0458 for a marketing template and £0.0159 for a utility, authentication or service message (rates from 1 October 2026).
Two kinds of WhatsApp message
Everything a business sends on WhatsApp is either a template or a free-form message.
Template messages
Pre-approved by WhatsApp. You can send them at any time, including to start a conversation. Each template has a category: marketing, utility or authentication.
Free-form messages
Ordinary text, images, documents, audio and video. You can only send them within 24 hours of the customer’s last message to you. Meta calls these service messages.
The 24 hours are called the customer service window. It opens when a customer messages you and restarts every time they message again. Outside it, you need a template to get back in touch.
The message categories
| Category | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotion and re-engagement: offers, new products, event invitations, abandoned baskets, newsletters | “Winter tyres are 20% off this week. Book a fitting.” |
| Utility | Updates about something the customer has already started or agreed to | “Your order A1042 has shipped and arrives tomorrow.” |
| Authentication | One-time passcodes, with optional copy-code or one-tap buttons | “482913 is your verification code.” |
| Service | Any free-form reply inside the 24-hour window, from an agent, a chatbot or an automation | “Thanks Sam, I’ve moved your appointment to 11:15.” |
Meta checks the category when it approves a template. If a “utility” template contains anything promotional, Meta can re-categorise it as marketing, and you will then pay the marketing rate. Keep utility templates strictly factual.
Meta also has a fifth category, Meta Business Agent, for replies written by Meta’s own AI agent and charged by usage. Replies from your own staff or chatbot through everymessage are service messages.
When to use WhatsApp
WhatsApp works best for short, useful messages your customers expect, especially where it costs less than SMS.
Good uses
One-time passcodes, delivery and appointment reminders, order and booking updates, and customer service chats your customers start. Utility and authentication messages cost less than a standard SMS, and customers can reply in the same chat.
Think twice
Marketing templates cost more, and can cost more than an SMS. Compare WhatsApp with SMS and RCS before choosing a channel for large campaigns.
Avoid
Sensitive personal information, such as medical details, test results, or bank and payment details. Meta runs the WhatsApp Business Platform, so it handles message content and data about who you message.
Let customers start the chat
One of the most cost-effective uses is a chat the customer starts. Add a “Chat on WhatsApp” button to your website, a link in an email, or a link in an SMS. The customer’s first message opens the 24-hour window, so you can reply with free-form messages instead of paid templates, and the first 1,000 replies each month are free of Meta’s fee.
When the conversation turns sensitive
If a chat moves on to something confidential, such as an account balance, a payment or a health question, send a secure web chat link in the conversation. The customer taps it and carries on in a private, branded web chat, so the sensitive part of the conversation never passes through WhatsApp.
How we charge
A WhatsApp message has two parts to its price:
- Meta’s fee for each delivered message. It depends on the category and the country of the number you send to. Meta bills it directly to you, through the payment method on your WhatsApp Business account, at Meta’s published rates. We add nothing to it.
- The everymessage usage fee of £0.004 (excluding VAT) for each WhatsApp message sent or received through the platform. It is the same for every category and every country, it falls as your monthly volume grows (see volume pricing), and it appears on your everymessage invoice.
UK prices per message
| Category | What it is | Meta fee | everymessage fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Template: offers, launches, newsletters, re-engagement | £0.0458 | £0.0040* | £0.0498* |
| Utility | Template: order, delivery, appointment and account updates | £0.0159 | £0.0040* | £0.0199* |
| Authentication | Template: one-time passcodes for sign-in and verification | £0.0159 | £0.0040* | £0.0199* |
| Service | Free-form reply inside the 24-hour window | £0.0159 first 1,000 a month free per number | £0.0040* | £0.0199* |
*Standard everymessage rate, excluding VAT; lower at higher volumes. Meta’s United Kingdom rates in GBP, effective 1 October 2026, for numbers starting +44. Meta can change its rates on the first day of each quarter and gives at least a month’s notice.
When Meta doesn’t charge
- Messages your customers send you. Incoming messages are never charged by Meta.
- Undelivered messages. Meta only charges when a message is delivered.
- The first 1,000 service messages each month, for each business number. From the 1,001st, service replies are charged.
- Conversations that start from a Click to WhatsApp advert. When a customer messages you from one on their phone and you reply within 24 hours, your messages to them are free of Meta’s fee for up to 7 days, templates included.
What changed on 1 October 2026
Meta started charging for two kinds of message that had been free:
- Service messages are charged again, after a free allowance of 1,000 a month per business number. They had been free since November 2024.
- Utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window are charged again at the utility rate. They had been free since July 2025.
If you priced a WhatsApp project before October 2026, check your sums: a busy customer service team can now run up service charges, and order or appointment updates sent during a chat are no longer free.
Volume discounts
Our usage fee falls as your monthly volume grows. The rate is set by your total WhatsApp messages in and out each month (excluding VAT):
| Messages a month | everymessage fee per message |
|---|---|
| Up to 100,000 | £0.0040 |
| 100,001 – 1 million | £0.0035 |
| 1 – 5 million | £0.0030 |
| Over 5 million | £0.0025 |
For very high or seasonal volumes, ask us for a quote.
Meta also lowers its utility and authentication rate as your monthly volume to a country grows. For the UK:
| Utility messages a month | Meta fee | Authentication messages a month | Meta fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 100,000 | £0.0159 | Up to 300,000 | £0.0159 |
| 100,001 – 1 million | £0.0151 | 300,001 – 2 million | £0.0151 |
| 1 – 4.5 million | £0.0143 | 2 – 10 million | £0.0143 |
| 4.5 – 40 million | £0.0135 | 10 – 20 million | £0.0135 |
| 40 – 80 million | £0.0127 | 20 – 40 million | £0.0127 |
| Over 80 million | £0.0119 | Over 40 million | £0.0119 |
The lower rate applies only to messages above each threshold, and the count resets every month. Marketing and service messages have no volume tiers.
Worked examples
These use our standard usage rate of £0.004 (excluding VAT); at higher volumes the everymessage part is lower.
Appointment reminders
10,000 utility templates to UK patients in a month:
£159.00 to Meta + £40.00 to everymessage = £199.00
Seasonal offer
5,000 marketing templates to opted-in UK customers:
£229.00 to Meta + £20.00 to everymessage = £249.00
Customer service
3,000 customer messages and 3,000 agent replies on one number in a month (incoming messages and the first 1,000 replies are free of Meta’s fee):
£31.80 to Meta + £24.00 to everymessage = £55.80
Sign-in codes
20,000 authentication templates to UK users:
£318.00 to Meta + £80.00 to everymessage = £398.00
Sending to other countries
Meta’s fee follows the recipient’s country code. A few examples from the same rate card (marketing / utility, per message): Ireland £0.0427 / £0.0123, France £0.0620 / £0.0216, Germany £0.0985 / £0.0397, United States and Canada £0.0180 / £0.0025. Meta publishes the full list on its WhatsApp pricing page. Our usage fee doesn’t change by country.
Keeping costs down
- Use utility templates for genuine updates, and keep promotional wording out of them.
- Reply while the 24-hour window is open, instead of sending a new template later.
- Send SMS or RCS for messages that don’t need WhatsApp. everymessage runs all three on one platform.
- Ask customers to message you first, with a chat button on your website, a link in an email or SMS, a QR code or a Click to WhatsApp advert, so the conversation opens a window.
Frequently asked questions
Who do I pay for WhatsApp messages?
Two parties. Meta charges its fee per delivered message, billed directly to you through the payment method on your own WhatsApp Business account. everymessage charges a usage fee of £0.004 per message in or out, falling to £0.0025 at high volumes, billed on your everymessage invoice.
Are incoming WhatsApp messages free?
Meta does not charge for messages your customers send to you; the everymessage usage fee applies to messages in both directions. Each incoming message also opens a 24-hour window in which you can reply with free-form messages.
Is the 24-hour customer service window free?
Not any more. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges for service replies after the first 1,000 a month per business number, and for utility templates sent inside the window, which had been free since July 2025.
Why does the template category matter?
Marketing templates cost about three times as much as utility or authentication templates in the UK. Meta checks each template’s category when it approves it and can re-categorise a template it thinks is promotional.
Is WhatsApp cheaper than SMS?
For utility and authentication messages, yes: in the UK they cost £0.0159 from Meta plus our usage fee of £0.004 (less at high volumes), well under the cost of a standard SMS. Marketing templates cost more, so compare channels for campaigns.
Can I send medical or financial information on WhatsApp?
We advise against it. Meta runs the WhatsApp Business Platform and handles message content and data about who you message. When a conversation turns sensitive, send a secure web chat link and continue there, outside WhatsApp.
Do messages to other countries cost the same?
No. Meta’s fee depends on the country code of the number you send to. Our usage fee is the same wherever you send.
Talk to us about WhatsApp
We’ll help you choose the right message types and estimate your monthly cost.