Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, will begin charging businesses for certain messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform from October 1, 2026.
This was disclosed in a WhatsApp Business Platform pricing update in July 2026.
The new charges will be applied to companies using the official WhatsApp Business Platform, formerly known as the WhatsApp Business API, to manage customer conversations at scale.
However, the development will not affect ordinary WhatsApp users or most small businesses using the standard WhatsApp Business app on their phones.
Under the current system, when a customer sends a message to a business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. During that period, businesses can respond with free-form service messages and certain utility messages without paying Meta.
However, from October 1, Meta will begin charging businesses on a per-message basis for service messages sent during the customer service window.
Meta, in its developer documentation, said, “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for all service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages. These messages have not been charged since November 1, 2024.”
The company added, “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users (within an open 24-hour customer service window). These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025.”
Utility messages include communications such as payment confirmations, order updates and delivery notifications.
Meta also warned businesses and solution providers about the need to add a payment method ahead of the new charges.
It said, “For any solution provider or directly integrated businesses that does not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026.”
For Nigerian businesses, a chargeable utility or service message is expected to cost about $0.0101 per message, equivalent to roughly ₦14 based on an exchange rate of about ₦1,340 to the dollar.
