WhatsApp now charges for replies: what changed on 1 October
Until last week, replying to a customer on WhatsApp cost a business nothing, as long as the customer had written first. That changed on 1 October 2026. Meta now charges for each reply sent inside the 24-hour customer service window on the WhatsApp Business Platform, so a team that answers leads through a CRM, a shared inbox or a chatbot now pays for every message it sends back.
In this story
What changed
Meta's pricing page for the WhatsApp Business Platform says that from 1 October 2026 it charges "on a per-message basis for service messages". Service messages are the free-form replies a business sends while the customer service window is open: the 24 hours after the customer's last message. Until this month they were free.
A second change landed on the same day. Utility templates, such as order updates, appointment confirmations and payment reminders, are charged again when they are sent to a customer inside an open window. Meta had stopped charging for those on 1 July 2025.
| Message | Until 30 September 2026 | From 1 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| A reply inside the 24-hour window (service message) | Free | Charged per message |
| A utility template inside an open window | Free (since 1 July 2025) | Charged per message |
| Messages in the 72-hour window after a click-to-WhatsApp ad | Free | Still free |
Who it affects
Every business on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the official route that CRMs, shared inboxes and chatbots use to connect to WhatsApp. That includes teams that answer WhatsApp through Socianet.
The free WhatsApp Business app on a phone is a separate product. CrispNG's explainer says it is not affected.
What you pay depends on the country of the customer you are messaging. Meta publishes the rates in its rate cards, so check the current figure for each market you sell into rather than a number quoted second-hand.
About the "1,000 free messages". CrispNG in Nigeria and Techweez in Kenya both report a free allowance of 1,000 service messages per phone number each month. Meta's own pricing page does not mention one, and says Meta does not offer volume tiers for service messages. Check the billing in your WhatsApp Manager before you count on it.
What stays free
Messages sent inside the 72-hour free entry point window stay free. That window opens when a customer starts a chat from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook call-to-action button and the business replies within 24 hours. If you run ads that open WhatsApp, this is now the cheapest time to qualify a lead. Our guide to following up click-to-WhatsApp leads sets out a three-day plan for those 72 hours.
What to do this week
- Check that a payment method is set up. CrispNG and Techweez reported that accounts without one by 30 September risked having replies stopped. If messages are failing, look there first.
- Count your replies. Look at how many messages each number sent last month. That is the figure your new bill will follow.
- Answer once, properly. Now that each message is charged, one complete reply costs less than three short ones. Write your common answers once (prices, delivery times, what happens next) and reuse them.
- Stop double replies. When two people answer the same chat, you pay twice and the customer gets mixed messages. Give every chat one owner.
- Use the ad window. Leads from click-to-WhatsApp ads get 72 free hours. Qualify them in that window, not three days later.
- Move routine notices to email. Confirmations nobody replies to may not need to be WhatsApp templates any more.
Where Socianet fits
We sell a CRM, so here is our angle, kept apart from the news. Socianet connects to WhatsApp through the official Business Platform, so Meta's charges apply to our customers too. What Socianet changes is how many messages it takes to move a deal forward:
- Every WhatsApp chat sits in one shared inbox beside its deal, with one owner, so two people never answer the same customer.
- Saved replies for the questions you get every day, so one message does the work of three.
- Leads from click-to-WhatsApp ads land in the pipeline with a follow-up timetable, so the free 72 hours get used.
The basics of the window itself are in our guide to the WhatsApp 24-hour rule.
See your WhatsApp leads in one pipeline
Send us your spreadsheet and we will show you your pipeline, with every WhatsApp chat beside its deal, within 48 hours. Free, with no obligation.
Sources
- Meta for Developers, Pricing for non-template messages (read 8 October 2026)
- CrispNG, explainer on who the new WhatsApp Business charges affect, 2 October 2026
- Techweez, report on WhatsApp Business pricing from October 2026, 28 September 2026
