Meta has started charging for service messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform. These are the free-form replies a business sends inside the 24-hour customer service window, whether typed by an agent or sent by a chatbot. Since November 2024 they had been free.
The change took effect on 1 October 2026. Meta's developer documentation lists it alongside two related changes: utility templates (order updates, appointment reminders and similar) sent inside an open 24-hour window are charged again from the same date, and replies from Meta's own Business Agent AI have been billed per token since 1 August 2026.
Meta says service messages are now charged per message, "consistent with how Meta charges for template messages". In practice, every reply in a support conversation can now carry a small cost, not only the template that opened the conversation.
One thing has not changed. Meta's documentation states that the 72-hour free entry point window stays as it is. Conversations that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a call-to-action button on a Facebook Page still get free message delivery for that window.
Meta also told businesses and solution providers to have a payment method on file by 30 September, warning that service messages could stop being delivered without one (as reported by Social Samosa).
This is a change to the WhatsApp Business Platform, the API that BSPs, CRMs, chatbots and shared inbox tools connect to. If your team answers customers through one of those tools, your costs now depend on how many replies you send, not just how many conversations you open.
The businesses most exposed are those with long support chats: D2C brands handling order queries, clinics and salons confirming bookings, coaching institutes answering admissions questions, and anyone running a chatbot that sends several short messages where one would do. Rates vary by the customer's country, so check the current rate card for India in your provider dashboard or Meta's pricing page.
We would not panic about this, but we would not ignore it either. For most small businesses the per-message cost is small; the real risk is a chatbot that sends four messages where one would do, multiplied across thousands of chats.
This week we would do three things for a client: confirm billing is active, export last month's message counts to estimate the new monthly cost, and rewrite the five most-used bot replies to be shorter. If you run Click-to-WhatsApp ads, measure whether those conversations now convert more cheaply than organic ones.
If you want a hand reviewing your WhatsApp setup and bot flows, see how we automate lead capture and customer replies, or start a conversation with us.