MAKIN 
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost in India?
Meta charges for each message it delivers, and the price depends on the message’s category and on the country of the person receiving it. Messages your customers send you are not charged. These are Meta’s list rates for recipients in India:
| Category | Rate per message |
|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 |
| Utility | ₹0.115 |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 |
| Service | ₹0.115 |
What are the four message categories?
Every template you send is approved by Meta with a category, and the category sets its price. Decide the category when you write a template, not when you send it.
- Marketing: offers, announcements, product launches and messages that bring people back. The most expensive category.
- Utility: updates about something the customer has already started, such as an order confirmation, a delivery update or an appointment reminder.
- Authentication: one-time passwords and login codes.
- Service: free-form replies you send inside the 24-hour window that opens each time a customer messages you.
What changed on 1 October 2026?
Until 30 September 2026, service replies were not charged at all. From 1 October 2026 each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, and each one after that costs ₹0.1150, the same as a utility message. Utility templates sent inside an open customer-service window are charged at the utility rate as well. Marketing, utility and authentication rates for India stayed the same.
Meta’s documentation also says a payment method needs to be on file for service messages to keep being delivered once the free allowance is used, so check that your WhatsApp Business account has one. Meta changes its rate cards on the first day of a quarter, which is why this page carries the date its rates were checked.
Which WhatsApp messages are free?
A few kinds of message cost nothing, and a sensible setup leans on them.
- Incoming messages: whatever your customers send you.
- The service allowance: the first 1,000 service messages each month on each business number.
- Free entry points: messages in the free window that opens when a customer reaches you through a click-to-WhatsApp ad.
What does WhatsApp cost a month? Worked examples
Your monthly bill from Meta is your volumes times the rates above, with the free service allowance taken off first. Five common shapes, worked through:
| Category | Rate per message |
|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 |
| Utility | ₹0.115 |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 |
| Service | ₹0.115 |
What does WhatsApp API setup cost?
Meta’s charges cover messages only. Getting the API set up, writing templates and getting them approved, routing replies and capturing leads into your CRM is setup work, and it is priced separately. Our packages for it, from a single lead source to full support automation:
- Meta Lead Ads → WhatsApp — from ₹5,000
- IndiaMART Lead Autopilot — from ₹10,000
- WhatsApp & Support Automation — from ₹12,000
What do WhatsApp API providers add?
You can reach the WhatsApp Business Platform through Meta directly or through a provider that gives you an inbox, broadcasts and chatbot tools. Providers set their own prices, in different shapes: a monthly platform fee, a charge added to each message, or both.
To compare them fairly, turn each provider’s pricing into a monthly total at your own volumes: its platform fee, plus its per-message price times your messages in each category. Set that total against Meta’s list rates above, and ask three questions. Do the prices include GST? Does the provider’s charge apply to service messages too? Can you take your number and templates with you if you leave?
How do you keep WhatsApp costs down?
Most of a WhatsApp bill is decided by how conversations are designed, long before the first message is sent.
- Reply while the window is open. A service reply costs the same as a utility template, and the first 1,000 a month on each number are free.
- Keep updates free of offers. An order or delivery update approved as utility costs ₹0.1150; a marketing message costs ₹0.8631.
- Broadcast to people who asked for it. Every delivered marketing message is billed, so send offers to the segments that want them rather than your whole list.
- Start conversations from click-to-WhatsApp ads. Messages in the free entry-point window are not charged.
- Count your numbers. Each business number has its own free service allowance.
How we worked out these figures
Meta’s rates are read from the rate file our WhatsApp API cost calculator uses, which records the rate card’s effective date and the day it was last checked against Meta’s own pricing page; both appear in the source list below. The worked examples are arithmetic on those rates.
We do not quote individual providers’ fees: they change often and depend on plan and volume, so check each provider’s own pricing page and compare totals as described above. Every MakinForU price on this page is read from our live price list when the page is built.