Conversation-based pricing
What is Conversation-based pricing?
Conversation-based pricing is WhatsApp's billing model that charges per 24-hour conversation thread — not per individual message — with the rate depending on who opened the conversation (the business, via a template, or the customer, via a free-form session message) and its category (marketing, utility, authentication, or service). A business can exchange any number of messages within one open conversation for a single conversation-level charge, rather than paying per message sent.
More detail
A business-initiated conversation opens when a template message starts it and is priced by the template's category; a user-initiated (service) conversation opens when the customer messages first and is generally the lowest-cost category.
Sending many replies inside one open 24-hour conversation costs the same as sending one, since the charge attaches to the conversation as a whole rather than accumulating per message.
Frequently asked
- Do I pay per message or per conversation on WhatsApp?
- Per conversation. Any number of messages exchanged within one open 24-hour conversation thread are covered by a single charge, whose rate depends on who opened it and the template category involved.
- Which is cheaper — a business-initiated or a customer-initiated conversation?
- A user-initiated (service) conversation, opened when the customer messages first, is typically the lowest-cost category, since business-initiated conversations opened via a marketing or utility template are priced separately and generally higher.
See also
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