What it costs in rupees
For one number, before 18% GST, at October 2026 rates. Messages customers send you are free. You pay only for messages you send that get delivered.
| Replies a month | Charged after the free allowance | Meta’s charge |
|---|---|---|
| 800 | 0 | Free |
| 1,500 | 500 | ₹57.5 |
| 3,000 | 2,000 | ₹230 |
| 10,000 | 9,000 | ₹1,035 |
The allowance resets every month, doesn’t roll over, and is counted per number. Try the cost calculator with your own numbers.
Six ways to spend less
1. Say it in one message
Every delivered message counts. “Hi!”, “Let me check” and “It’s ₹800” is three charges, and a single message saying “Hi, it’s ₹800 and takes 30 minutes” is one. Ask staff to send complete replies. It’s also easier for the customer.
2. Ask for everything at once
“Please send your name, preferred day and time” saves a back-and-forth of three separate questions. Saved quick replies make this easy for staff.
3. Trim automatic messages
A welcome, a menu and an “agent will be with you shortly” are all charged messages on the API once the allowance runs out. Keep the ones that help and remove the ones that only fill the chat.
4. Inside the 24-hour window, reply normally
Normal replies draw on your 1,000 free messages. Utility templates sent inside the window are charged at the utility rate, and the allowance doesn’t cover them. If the window is open, a normal reply is the better choice until you’ve used up the allowance.
5. Spend your attention on marketing messages
A marketing message costs about ₹0.8631, roughly seven times a reply. An offer to 500 people costs ₹431.55; one to 5,000 costs ₹4,315.5. Sending to a tagged segment instead of your whole list usually saves more than any change to your replies. It also protects your quality rating.
6. Use the free window if you run ads
Chats that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action open a free entry-point window, in which Meta doesn’t charge for your messages. It isn’t worth buying ads just for this, but make use of it if you already run them.
What isn’t worth doing
- Adding numbers for the free allowance. 1,000 service messages are worth about ₹115 a month. Customers messaging the wrong number will cost you more than that.
- Replying less. One lost booking can cost more than thousands of replies. The aim is to remove wasted messages, not to keep customers waiting.
- Sending templates to “save” a reply. A template sent outside the window is charged too, and it’s usually less useful than a normal answer sent while the window is open.
Keep your account able to send
Since replies can now be charged, billing problems can stop them too. Add a payment method to your WhatsApp Business Account in Meta Business Settings, and move to INR billing before 31 December 2026. Without valid billing, Meta stops delivering your messages and you’ll see error 131042.
Where WapTalk’s price fits in
WapTalk adds nothing to any of the figures above. Meta bills your account directly at its own rates, with 0% markup. Your WapTalk plan, from ₹2,499/month + GST, counts AI conversations rather than messages, so a 15-message chat counts once. Meta still charges for each delivered message in that chat, and that’s why short answers help on any platform. See WapTalk pricing.