Facebook has announced that on February 1st, 2022, WhatsApp will switch from a notification-based pricing model to a conversation-based pricing model. Instead of being charged for notifications sent, businesses will be charged per conversation, which includes all messages delivered within a 24-hour period.
Effective February 1, 2022, for all businesses on the WhatsApp Business API
What’s the difference between the old and new pricing? Let’s read on.
In WhatsApp Biz API, there are 2 Types of WhatsApp Messages.
- User-Initiated messages, known as the Session Message
- Business-Initiated messages, known as the Template Message
WhatsApp Business Pricing Model before Feb 2022
Session Messages are 2-way customer care messages and do not have to adhere to any template. As long as customers send you a message/initiate the conversation, you are able to reply to the customer within a 24-hour window of the last received message from the customer.
Messages sent outside the response window are considered notifications which is the Template Message. If the business contacts a user before the user sends a message or after the 24-hour response window, the business can only send a message template.
Currently, WhatsApp only charges for Business-Initiated messages (Template Message) sent. WhatsApp determines the price of each delivered Templated Message based upon the country code of the message recipient. 
Note: KeyReply’s Session Message Fees apply and are chargeable at a fixed rate per message for Enterprise Clients.
NEW WhatsApp Business Pricing Model From 1st Feb 2022
WhatsApp Business API conversations fall into two categories that are priced differently:
- User-initiated: a 24-hour window that starts when the business responds to a customer message.
- Business-initiated: a 24-hour window that starts when the business sends a message to the customer.
All conversations are measured in 24-hour increments, or “sessions”, that start whenever the first message from a business is delivered.
Free Tier Conversations
The first 1,000 conversations each month will be free. Each WABA gets 1,000 free tier conversations. Free tier conversations can be business-initiated or user-initiated.
Charges for conversations are based on the user’s phone number. Rates for business-initiated conversations and user-initiated conversations vary by market (country or region).
To get a better understanding of how WhatsApp charges for these conversations, let’s take a look at some real-world examples of both user-initiated and business-initiated conversations.
In a nutshell, the new conversation-based pricing model
- In these 24 hours, costs are incurred only once and WhatsApp Business costs vary depending on the country code of the recipient’s phone number.
- The charge will vary, depending on who initiated the conversation (the business or the end-user).
- During the session, there are no additional charges for any additional messages from the business or the end user.
- The first 1,000 conversations are free for businesses per month and per WhatsApp business API account.
Note: Reach out to our Business Team for detailed Pricing Rates.
How Does It Impact Your Business?
Explaining some possible use cases:
Broadcasting: You will now only incur the first message fee from WhatsApp for starting the conversation. You will be able to send unlimited messages within a 24-hour period.
Customer support: Responding to incoming user-initiated messages, you will only incur user-initiated conversation-based charges when a user started a conversation with the business.
Looking to Work with Solution Providers?
As an official partner of Facebook business solution provider (BSP), KeyReply has expertise in the WhatsApp Business API. Get in touch with us to find out more about the Partnership for WhatsApp Business API.
