WhatsApp Business API pricing in India (2026)

WhatsApp Business API pricing in India is per message. As of 28 September 2026, Meta's rate card lists ₹0.8631 for each delivered marketing message and ₹0.115 each for utility and authentication messages. From 1 October 2026, service replies beyond 1,000 a month also cost ₹0.115. Budget for 18% GST and your platform's subscription on top.

TL;DR

• Meta bills per delivered message, and has done since 1 July 2025. The category of the template sets the price.
• India list rates (Meta rate card, checked 28 Sep 2026): marketing ₹0.8631, utility ₹0.115, authentication ₹0.115. Utility and authentication get cheaper at very high volumes.
• Service replies stop being free on 1 October 2026. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, and every reply after that costs ₹0.115 in India. Utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window become billable on the same day.
• Meta's rate card does not state a GST basis, so budget for 18% GST on Meta's charges and on platform subscriptions. Always check whether a quoted price includes it.
• Your real monthly cost is messages × rate + GST + platform subscription, plus any markup your platform adds to message rates.

How does WhatsApp Business API pricing work in 2026?#

WhatsApp Business API pricing is a per-message charge that Meta bills for each delivered template message. The price depends on the template's category and on the country code of the person receiving it. Meta moved to this model on 1 July 2025, replacing the old charge per 24-hour conversation. It also bills on delivery, not on send, so a message that never reaches the phone costs nothing.

Meta bills three template categories:

• Marketing. Offers, product launches, cart reminders, festive sale announcements and re-engagement messages. For an Indian business messaging Indian customers, this is the most expensive category.
• Utility. Updates about something the customer already did or asked for, such as order confirmations, delivery updates and appointment reminders.
• Authentication. One-time passwords and login codes.

A service message is a free-form reply (not a template) sent inside an open 24-hour customer service window. Meta's pricing documentation still says "all non-template messages are free", as they have been since 1 November 2024. That changes on 1 October 2026, as the section on service messages below explains.

The business receiving the bill does not get to choose the category. Meta categorises each template when it is approved, following its template category guidelines. A template that mixes content, such as an order update with a promo code, is classed as marketing and billed as marketing.

What is the WhatsApp API cost per message in India?#

These are Meta's India rates in rupees, read from Meta's own rate lookup on its WhatsApp Business Platform pricing page on 28 September 2026. We cross-checked them against Meta's downloadable INR rate cards: the current card, effective 1 July 2026, and the next one, effective 1 October 2026. The two cards give India the same marketing, utility and authentication rates. The only change is that the October card adds a service rate. Neither card says whether GST is included. The last column shows each rate with 18% GST added, which is the safe assumption for budgeting.

Three details in that table matter:

• Utility and authentication have volume tiers; marketing does not. On Meta's India card, authentication stays at ₹0.115 for the first 7,50,000 messages a month, then steps down from ₹0.1081 to ₹0.0805 above 10 crore. Utility uses the same steps, but its first discount starts after 2.5 crore messages. Tiers reset monthly. For almost every Indian SMB, the list rate is the rate you pay.
• Authentication-international is not for domestic OTPs. Meta applies it when an eligible business based outside India sends OTPs to Indian numbers. An Indian business pays ₹0.115.
• Service messages get no volume discount. Meta's non-template pricing page says service rates match utility and authentication "by market" and that "Meta does not offer volume tiers for service messages". Meta's 1 October 2026 INR card lists India's service rate as ₹0.115.

Meta can only change rates on the first day of a quarter. The last India marketing increase was on 1 January 2026.

What changes for WhatsApp service messages on 1 October 2026?#

From 1 October 2026, WhatsApp replies are no longer free without limit. Meta's pricing page for non-template messages, checked on 28 September 2026, says:

• "Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for service messages, which have not been charged since November 2024". In India that is ₹0.115 per delivered reply.
• Meta will also charge for utility templates sent inside an open 24-hour window, which "have not been charged since July 1, 2025".
• "The 72-hour free entry point window is unchanged for message delivery."

Meta's main pricing page adds a cushion. From 1 October 2026, "each business phone number has one shared free tier of 1,000 delivered service messages per month". Unused messages do not roll over, and the allowance covers service messages only, not utility templates. A business that answers 6,000 enquiries a month on one number pays for 5,000 of them: ₹575 before GST. Meta will also stop delivering service messages beyond the free tier for any account with no payment method on file. If you use a platform, ask it whether this is covered.

When is a WhatsApp Business API message free?#

The customer service window is the 24 hours after a customer's most recent message to your business. Inside it you can reply with anything, including text, photos, documents and voice notes. Outside it you can only send an approved template, and templates are billed by category. Each new customer message restarts the 24 hours.

Until 30 September 2026, three kinds of message cost nothing:

1. Free-form replies inside the 24-hour window (service messages).
2. Utility templates delivered inside an open 24-hour window.
3. Every message, templates included, sent inside a 72-hour free entry point window. Meta opens this window when a customer messages you from a Click to WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button.

From 1 October 2026, only the third stays free without limit. Service replies get the 1,000-a-month allowance described above, and utility templates are always billed. For enquiry-heavy businesses such as travel agencies and real estate developers, that makes Click to WhatsApp ads worth a second look: you pay for the ad, but the conversation that follows costs nothing to deliver for 72 hours.

In Relay, each conversation header shows how much of the window is left, and once it expires the composer offers a Templates button instead. See how Relay handles the 24-hour window. Meta's pages remain the authority on what is billed.

Do WhatsApp Business platforms charge on top of Meta's fees?#

Yes. Almost every WhatsApp Business platform, Relay included, charges a subscription for its software: the shared inbox, broadcasts, chatbots and team access. Meta's message fees are billed on top. The part buyers overlook is the message rate itself. A platform can bill messages at Meta's list rate, or at its own rate card, with a markup built in.

A message markup is the difference between what a platform charges you per message and what Meta charges the platform. It is a few paise per message, which adds up over 50,000 messages a month.

This is what three platforms popular in India publish on their own pricing pages, re-checked live on 28 September 2026:

To compare fairly, put everything on the same tax basis. Even with 18% GST added, Meta's marketing rate is ₹1.0185, so AiSensy's ₹1.09 is above Meta's on either basis. If Interakt's ₹0.949 and Meta's ₹0.8631 are both pre-GST figures, Interakt's is about 10% higher. For a more detailed comparison of these vendors, see our guide to the best WhatsApp Business platforms in India and our WATI alternative breakdown.

Where Relay stands. Relay's subscription is the ₹999, ₹2,499 or ₹5,999 a month plan you choose. Those plan prices already include GST. WhatsApp message charges come out of a prepaid wallet that you top up, and top-ups are GST-inclusive too. From 1 October 2026, Relay's wallet rates for messages to Indian numbers are ₹1.05 per marketing message and ₹0.17 per utility, authentication or service message, GST included. Ask every other vendor for its per-message rate card, and whether it includes GST.

How does GST apply to WhatsApp Business API costs?#

Budget for 18% GST on both halves of a WhatsApp bill: the message charges and the platform's subscription. India levies 18% GST on digital services (India Briefing, last updated 29 September 2023). Meta's rate cards and pricing pages, checked on 28 September 2026, do not say whether their rates include GST. This post adds 18% on top of them, which gives the higher figure. Your Meta or platform invoice is the final word.

• Sticker price or real price? A plan advertised at "₹2,799 /mo (+taxes)", which is how Interakt listed its Growth plan on its pricing page on 28 September 2026, actually costs ₹3,302.82 a month once 18% GST is added. When you compare it with a GST-inclusive price, convert one of them first.
• Relay's plan prices are GST-inclusive. ₹2,499 a month is what you pay, and no GST is added at checkout.
• Input tax credit. A GST-registered business can usually claim this GST back as input tax credit. Ask your accountant how it applies to your invoices.

How much will WhatsApp Business API cost my business each month?#

Below are three worked examples. Each one uses Meta's India rates from the first table (checked 28 September 2026) as they apply from 1 October 2026, including the 1,000 free service messages per phone number. It also adds 18% GST to the message charges. The platform line uses Relay's plan prices, which already include GST. The message lines show Meta's own charges and Meta's free tier. A platform that bills messages at its own rate card, as Relay does from its wallet, will show a different message line.

Example 1: a D2C skincare brand sending 10,000 marketing messages#

The brand sends offers and cart reminders to 10,000 opted-in customers a month. Relay lists 5,000 broadcasts a month on Starter and 50,000 on Growth, so this brand is on Growth at ₹2,499.

If the offer also brings in 1,000 customer questions, answering them adds nothing to Meta's charges, because 1,000 replies fit inside Meta's monthly free tier for one number. Each reply after the first 1,000 costs ₹0.115. Marketing messages make up about 80% of this bill, so trimming the send list to customers who actually engage saves more than any other change. Our guide to sending bulk WhatsApp messages without getting blocked covers how.

Example 2: a dental clinic sending reminders and OTPs#

A two-chair clinic sends 1,200 appointment reminders (utility) and 300 patient-portal login codes (authentication) each month. It also replies to 800 patient questions (service). A small team fits on Starter at ₹999.

Here the platform fee is most of the bill, and volume tiers are irrelevant at this scale. The October change hits this clinic in a less obvious place. Until 30 September 2026, a reminder sent while a patient's 24-hour window was open cost ₹0. From 1 October it costs ₹0.115, like any other utility message.

Example 3: a coaching institute during admissions season#

A JEE and NEET coaching institute sends 4,000 admissions broadcasts (marketing) and 1,000 class-schedule reminders (utility). It also answers 6,000 parent and student enquiries (service) in the same month. Four counsellors share the inbox. Relay's Starter plan includes 3 seats and Growth includes 8, so the institute is on Growth at ₹2,499.

The October change adds ₹678.50 to this bill: ₹575 of replies plus ₹103.50 GST. Enquiries that arrive through a Click to WhatsApp ad are free to answer for 72 hours, which can win back part of that. A real estate developer answering site-visit enquiries would see the same pattern.

None of these examples uses Meta Business Agent, Meta's own AI reply product. Meta bills it separately by token usage from 1 August 2026, so it is not part of the maths above. If you are still deciding whether you need the API at all, start with WhatsApp Business App vs API.

What should I ask a WhatsApp platform about pricing before signing up?#

1. What is your per-message rate for Indian numbers, by category? Ask for the rate card itself, not "Meta rates apply".
2. Do those rates, and the plan price, include 18% GST?
3. How will you bill service replies from 1 October 2026?
4. What happens when my message balance runs out? Relay, for example, alerts admins when the wallet drops below a threshold you set. See Wallet and Billing.

Once you know your monthly message mix, the arithmetic above takes about ten minutes. To run it on your own numbers, start a free Relay trial. No credit card is required.