WhatsApp Business PlatformPricing
WhatsApp replies stop being free on 1 October 2026
What changes, what a reply costs in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and what to check before the date.
What changed, and when
Meta has changed how it charges for WhatsApp messages twice in fifteen months. The second change is the one that reaches every business that replies to its customers.
Step through the changes
Until June 2025
Meta charged per conversation. One fee covered every message in a 24-hour conversation.
1 July 2025
Pricing moved to per message. Replies inside the 24-hour window stayed free, and so did utility templates sent inside it.
1 October 2026
Replies inside the window are charged at the utility rate for the customer’s market. Utility templates sent inside the window are charged too.
Still free: messages customers send you, and replies inside the 72 hours after a click-to-WhatsApp ad.
What a reply costs in your market
The rate depends on the country code of the customer you reply to, not on where your business is. Pick a market to see the rate and what a month of replies adds up to.
Choose a market
Egypt (+20)
| From 1 October 2026 | Cost |
|---|---|
| One reply | $0.0036 |
| 5,000 replies a month | $18.00 |
| 20,000 replies a month | $72.00 |
Saudi Arabia (+966)
| From 1 October 2026 | Cost |
|---|---|
| One reply | $0.0107 |
| 5,000 replies a month | $53.50 |
| 20,000 replies a month | $214.00 |
UAE (+971)
| From 1 October 2026 | Cost |
|---|---|
| One reply | $0.0157 |
| 5,000 replies a month | $78.50 |
| 20,000 replies a month | $314.00 |
Meta’s published rates for 1 October 2026, in US dollars, before any free allowance. Rates change: check Meta’s rate card before you set a budget. Model your own volume →
Where the cost comes from in a real conversation
A reply is anything your business sends back. A short support conversation is often four or five of them. Tap through one to see where they add up.
Try it · tap a reply
Every message the business sends in this thread is a reply. From 1 October 2026, each one is charged at the customer’s market rate.
What a tap saves is the other cost: an AI model working out what the customer meant. A tap already says it, so the turn goes straight to the right step.
Two costs, one reply
What to check before 1 October
None of this needs a new vendor or a new number. It needs an hour with your account and a week of your own conversations.
- Your payment method. Replies become billable, so your WhatsApp Business account needs a working way to pay Meta. Open its billing settings in Meta Business Suite and confirm one is on file.
- How many replies a conversation takes. Count the messages your business sends in a typical week. That count, times your market’s rate, is the new line on your bill. The cost guide does the arithmetic →
- The utility templates you send inside the window. Order and booking updates sent as utility templates inside the 24-hour window were free. From 1 October they are charged too.
- Your click-to-WhatsApp ads. A conversation that starts from an ad keeps its 72-hour free window. It is now the cheapest place your business can reply.
What Octwin does today, and what it does not
Octwin cannot change what Meta charges for a reply. What it controls is the cost on top of it.
Works today
- Button and list taps are answered with no AI model call, so a tap costs Meta’s charge and nothing more.
- Replies inside the 24-hour window, including photos, voice notes and documents.
- Handover to a person, with the full history attached.
Not yet — don’t plan on it
- Lowering Meta’s own charge for a reply. No platform can.
- Messaging a customer outside the 24-hour window. That needs an approved template, and that path is still coming.
- Broadcast campaigns on WhatsApp.
Questions people ask
Open a question
No. Messages your customers send you are free. The charge is on what your business sends back.
A tap is a message from the customer, so it is free. The reply your business sends after it is charged like any other reply.
No. Replies inside the 72 hours that open after a customer clicks a click-to-WhatsApp ad stay free.
Yes. From 1 October 2026, a utility template sent inside the 24-hour window is charged too.
See what your AI agent will cost
Put in your market and your monthly conversations, and compare the cost of a reply with and without an AI model on every turn.
Sources
- Meta — Pricing for non-template messages ·
- Meta — Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform ·
- Octwin — Octwin vs Meta Business Agent, for the per-market rates, each cross-checked against two published tables
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