WhatsApp Business is set to introduce a major change in its pricing model starting July 1, 2025, moving from a session-based fee structure to a more granular per-message charge. Under the old system, businesses could send unlimited marketing messages within a 24-hour conversation window for a flat rate of ₹0.78. However, the new model will charge ₹0.78 for every marketing message sent individually, while utility and authentication messages—such as one-time passwords, account alerts, or transaction updates—will be billed at ₹0.11 each. To make the pricing more flexible and attractive for high-volume users, WhatsApp will also roll out volume-based discounts. For example, businesses sending up to 25 million utility or authentication messages per month will pay ₹0.115 per message, while those with extremely high volumes exceeding 300 million messages can bring that cost down to ₹0.08 per message.
Despite the new charges, WhatsApp is retaining certain free messaging windows to support customer engagement. Service conversations and user-initiated utility messages that fall within the 24-hour customer support window will continue to be free of cost. Additionally, any chat that starts from a click-to-WhatsApp advertisement will open a 72-hour free messaging window, allowing businesses to build meaningful conversations without immediately incurring additional costs.
Meta, which owns WhatsApp, says the new per-message billing model is designed to align costs more closely with actual usage, giving businesses better predictability and control over their spending. Industry experts believe this shift will encourage companies to send more relevant and targeted communications, rather than relying on bulk or spam-like promotional blasts. For businesses that heavily depend on WhatsApp for outreach and customer interaction, this change means rethinking messaging strategies to balance engagement and cost-effectiveness. Companies will likely need to pay closer attention to how they segment audiences, craft campaigns, and leverage the free messaging windows to get the most value under this updated pricing system. Overall, this new structure signals WhatsApp’s intention to evolve its platform as a more measured and strategic business tool, rather than just a bulk messaging channel.
