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Rules & billing

How the WhatsApp API actually works.

The message window, the template rules, the messaging limits and the exact billing mechanics for messaging and for voice — explained once, without the marketing.

Model your own volumesKnowledge base
Message path and billing pointlive
Channels in
WhatsApp
WhatsApp Voice
SMS
API / SDK
Meta bills here
on delivery, per message
template approveddelivered · chargedwindow opens
Where it lands
Queues
Agents
AI agents
CRM / ERP
You are charged on delivery, not on send.24h service window
How it worksThe 24-hour windowMessage categoriesVoice billingRules & regulationsLimits & quality
How it works

The API is a bridge between your systems and WhatsApp.

Your CRM, ERP, storefront or contact center triggers a message. We deliver it through our authorised provider connection, Meta delivers it to the customer, and their reply routes back into your queues. Five steps, and only one of them costs money.

01no charge
Your system triggers
An event in your CRM, ERP, storefront or contact center asks for a message to be sent.
02no charge
Template check
Business-initiated messages must use a template Meta has already approved, in a set category.
03charged
Meta delivers
The message is delivered end-to-end encrypted. This is the moment you are billed — failed deliveries are not charged.
04no charge
The window opens
If the customer replies, a 24-hour service window opens and your agents can answer freely.
05no charge
Reply routes back
The reply enters your queue with the customer record attached, and writes back to your system.
The 24-hour window

Who spoke last decides what you may send.

When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it your agents can reply freely. Outside it, you may only send an approved template — and templates are what Meta charges for.

Every reply from the customer restarts the clock. This single rule explains most of what looks arbitrary about WhatsApp billing.

Inside 24 hoursfree today
The customer wrote first. Your agents reply with free-form messages — no template, no approval. Free today; Meta has announced these become chargeable from 1 October 2026, with 1,000 free per number per month.
Outside the windowtemplate required
You may only send an approved template, and you are charged for it at the rate for its category and the recipient’s country.
Opened from an adfree for 72 hours
Conversations started from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action carry a free window of 72 hours.
Message categories

The category sets the price, and Meta decides the category.

Submit a template and Meta classifies it. A promotional sentence inside an order update makes the whole message marketing, at the marketing rate.

Category
What it covers
How it bills
Marketing
Promotions, offers, re-engagement, product news — anything with promotional intent, including a discount code inside an otherwise transactional message.
Per delivered message. No volume discount at any scale.
Utility
Updates tied to a specific customer action or transaction: order confirmations, shipping notices, receipts, appointment reminders.
Per delivered message, with volume tiers that lower the rate.
Authentication
One-time passcodes and login verification. Some markets carry a separate authentication-international rate.
Per delivered message, with volume tiers.
Service
Your agents’ free-form replies inside the 24-hour customer service window.
Free today. Chargeable at utility rates from 1 October 2026, after 1,000 free per number.
WhatsApp Voice billing

Voice bills differently from messaging, and mostly in your favour.

Messaging is per delivered message. Voice is per six-second pulse, only on calls your business places, and only when someone answers.

Inbound calls are free
Every call a customer places to you costs nothing on Meta’s side, at any volume. This is what makes a WhatsApp-first support line viable.
Outbound bills per minute
Charged per minute by destination country, like any telephony — and only on calls your business initiates.
Six-second pulses
Billing rounds up to the next six seconds, so a call lasting 3:01 is charged as 3:06.
Only if answered
Ringing, busy and unanswered outbound attempts are not charged.
Permission first
Before you may call, the customer must approve a call permission request — a template, billed at per-message rates.
Permission lasts 7 days
One approval covers a seven-day window, so repeat calls inside it need no new template.
Worked example
The call
3 min 01 s
An outbound call your agent placed, answered by the customer.
Pulses billed
31
Rounded up to the next six-second pulse — 3:06 of billable time.
Voice charge
3.1 minutes
Multiplied by your per-minute rate for that destination.
Plus
1 template
The call permission request, at the utility rate for that market.
Rules and regulations

What you must do, and what will get you blocked.

Two sets of rules apply at once: Meta’s platform and commerce policies, and the data-protection law of the market you are messaging into.

Required
Get opt-in before you message
Consent must be collected outside WhatsApp, state that the customer will receive messages from you there, and name your business.
Use approved templates
Anything business-initiated needs a template Meta has approved, categorised honestly.
Honour opt-outs immediately
A stop request must apply across every channel you hold — WhatsApp, SMS and dialling alike.
Keep a display name that matches
The display name must represent your actual business. Mismatches are the most common activation delay.
Respect local data law
GDPR in Europe, TCPA and state law in the USA, Law 09-08 in Morocco, and national law elsewhere.
Prohibited or restricted
No messaging without consent
Purchased lists, scraped numbers and untracked consent are the fastest route to a blocked number.
No prohibited industries
Meta’s commerce policy restricts categories including tobacco, weapons, adult products, gambling and some supplements and financial products.
No misleading categorisation
Dressing a promotion as a utility template gets it reclassified, and repeated attempts risk the account.
No calling without permission
Outbound WhatsApp calls require an approved permission request first. There is no workaround.
No bridging calls onto the phone network
WhatsApp calling and the public telephone network are distinct. Use your own SIP or VoIP connectivity for PSTN legs.

Summarised from Meta’s published WhatsApp Business and commerce policies and from general data-protection practice. Meta changes these terms; restricted categories and consent requirements also vary by country. Treat this as orientation, confirm the current policy for your sector and market, and we will go through it with your compliance team during activation.

Limits and quality rating

How fast you can scale is earned, not bought.

A new number can message a limited number of customers in a rolling 24 hours. Send well and Meta raises the tier; get blocked and reported and it falls. Quality rating is per number, and it is the single thing most campaigns damage.

See the tiers and rates
Messaging limit
A cap on how many unique customers you may message in a rolling 24 hours, per business number. It rises with good sending.
Quality rating
Derived from blocks and reports from recipients. High, medium or low, visible per number.
What lowers it
Irrelevant offers, too-frequent sends, no easy opt-out, and messaging people who never opted in.
What we do about it
Campaigns are paced against your current tier, and we alert you on block-rate movement before the tier drops.
The rules, applied

How the 24-hour window looks in practice.

Session replies, template sends and window state, visible to the agent as they work.

app.whtapis.com/inbox/support
whtapis
Inbox
Voice
Campaigns
Wallboard
Reports
Numbers
Team
Settings
JMJulie M.
Team inbox — Supportlive
WhatsApp chat9
WhatsApp voice4
SMS3
VoIP / DID2
Telephony1
Conversations14 open
SW Sarah Whitfield Order 41-2298 still not delivered live
ÉT Émile Tremblay Called back about the refund answered
AK Anna Kowalski +33 1 •• •• 09 — on hold over SLA
KT Karim Touhami Asked for a new delivery slot in SLA
LM Leïla Mansouri Handed off by AI agent AI agent
Sarah Whitfield · WhatsApp
Hi, my order 41-2298 was due Tuesday and it has still not arrived. 09:41
I can see it — the carrier scanned it into the Casablanca hub this morning. I can book a new delivery window for you. 09:42 · Julie
Thursday afternoon would work. Can I call you about it? 09:43
Customer context
Customer sinceMarch 2024
Open order41-2298
CRM recordSalesforce · synced

One inbox for WhatsApp messages, WhatsApp voice, SMS and your DID lines. The agent sees the thread, the order and the CRM record without switching tools.

Activate an accountTour the platform
The people behind it

Software runs the channels. People run the operation.

Every deployment is led by named people on our side and yours — not a ticket queue.

whtapis — person specialist
Onboarding specialist Assigned on day one, through to go-live.
whtapis — person agent
Agent Handling a WhatsApp call in the console.
whtapis — person supervisor
Supervisor Watching the floor on the live wallboard.
whtapis — person engineer
Integration engineer Connecting your CRM, trunk and gateway.
Your accounts or ours

Bring your own, or we provide it.

Every connection can come from you or from us — and you can mix per country. Switch later without changing platforms.

Service
Bring your own
We provide it
WhatsApp Business Account
Connect your existing WABA and numbers
We create it under your Meta portfolio
SIP trunk
Point your carrier trunk at us, keep your rates
Our trunk, billed per minute
DID numbers
Keep your ranges, or port them in
Local numbers in most countries
SMS gateway
Plug in your gateway, sender IDs and rates
Our gateway, billed per message
PBX / telephony
Your PBX stays in place behind us
Cloud telephony, no hardware
CRM / ERP
Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, SAP and more
Built-in customer record

Most customers mix: their own trunk in one country, our numbers in another.

We will walk your team through the rules that apply to you.

Send us your sector and your markets. We will confirm the categories, the consent requirements and the rate card that applies before you commit to anything.

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