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Ledger entryNo. 515637

Authentication-International Rate

Also called: Auth-international rate · International authentication rate · Authentication-international pricing

Definition
A higher rate Meta charges for OTP templates delivered to users in certain markets, India included, by eligible businesses based in another country.

Pricing & billing

Mode · decision tree

Work it out

Which rate will this OTP be charged?

Question 1 · up to 4

Is the message an authentication template?

Your answers

None yet — pick an answer to start down the tree.

Path map

Depth 0 of up to 4. Circles are questions, squares are outcomes.

All possible outcomes (6)

  • Charged by its own category

    The authentication-international rate only ever applies to authentication templates. Other messages use their own category's rate for the recipient's market.

    Path: “No — marketing, utility or a service reply”

  • That market's authentication rate

    The market has no international rate, so a delivered OTP is charged its standard authentication rate whoever sends it.

    Path: “Yes, an OTP template” → “No”

  • Domestic authentication rate

    You are always charged the domestic rate for your primary business location — for India-based senders to +91 numbers, the standard India authentication rate.

    Path: “Yes, an OTP template” → “Yes, e.g. +91 India or +62 Indonesia” → “Yes — we are based there”

  • Standard rate for now — prepare

    The eligibility webhook gave a start time 30 days out. Until then OTPs bill at the standard rate; use the time to cut resends and reprice fallbacks.

    Path: “Yes, an OTP template” → “Yes, e.g. +91 India or +62 Indonesia” → “No — we are based elsewhere” → “Yes, but we are inside the 30-day notice”

  • Standard rate, but watch the count

    A business based elsewhere still pays the standard authentication rate until it passes the moving 30-day threshold.

    Path: “Yes, an OTP template” → “Yes, e.g. +91 India or +62 Indonesia” → “No — we are based elsewhere” → “No, we are below the threshold”

  • Authentication-international rate

    Each delivered OTP to that market is charged the higher authentication-international rate, and status webhooks report it in pricing.category.

    Path: “Yes, an OTP template” → “Yes, e.g. +91 India or +62 Indonesia” → “No — we are based elsewhere” → “Yes, and the start time has passed”

Answer up to four questions about one OTP — its category, the recipient's market and where your business is based — to see whether Meta charges the standard or the authentication-international rate.

Question 1: Is the message an authentication template? 2 options.

What is the authentication-international rate?

The authentication-international rate is a separate, higher price on Meta's rate card for messages sent with an authentication template, the one-time passcode (OTP) category. Only some markets have one: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa, joined on 1 October 2026 by Bangladesh, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Sri Lanka and Ukraine — 18 markets in all. When it applies, a delivered OTP is charged this rate instead of that market's standard authentication rate.

Two conditions must both hold. The recipient's number must belong to a market that has the rate, because Meta prices every message by the country calling code of the number it is delivered to. And the sending business must be eligible: based outside that market, judged by its primary business location, and past Meta's volume threshold of more than 750,000 authentication messages to users in these markets, sent outside customer service windows, in a moving 30-day period across all of its WhatsApp Business Accounts. Since 1 September 2026 Meta counts that volume across all 18 markets rather than the original nine.

Meta sets the start time 30 days after a business becomes eligible — that is the notice — and eligibility is permanent once reached. A business is always charged the domestic rate for its own primary business location, so an India-based company sending OTPs to +91 numbers pays the standard India authentication rate (₹0.14 per OTP on InfiQ's card), while an eligible company based abroad pays the higher authentication-international rate for the same OTPs. That location test is what separates it from the plain authentication rate, which depends on the recipient alone.

Key takeaways

  • The authentication-international rate is a higher price for OTP templates delivered in certain markets, India included, by eligible businesses based elsewhere.
  • Eligibility needs more than 750,000 authentication messages to those markets, outside service windows, in a moving 30-day period.
  • Meta sets start times 30 days after eligibility, announces them in an account_update webhook, and eligibility is permanent.
  • A business is always charged the domestic authentication rate for its own primary business location.
  • Nine markets had the rate by early 2025, India among them since July 2024; nine more gained one on 1 October 2026, making 18.

How does the authentication-international rate work?

  1. Meta reads the recipient's market

    Every message is priced by the recipient's country calling code, its pricing market. Only markets listed with an authentication-international rate on Meta's rate card can trigger it; elsewhere an OTP is charged the normal authentication rate.

  2. Meta settles your primary business location

    Meta works out where the business is based from public information, such as where it is publicly traded or where its parent company is based, when it becomes eligible or when an admin edits the location in Business Manager. The check can take up to 3 business days, ends as Verified, Need more information or Rejected, and is reported in an account_update webhook with the event BUSINESS_PRIMARY_LOCATION_COUNTRY_UPDATE.

  3. Volume crosses the threshold

    A business becomes eligible after more than 750,000 authentication messages to users in these markets, outside customer service windows, in a moving 30-day period — counted across every WhatsApp Business Account it owns.

  4. Meta gives 30 days' notice

    An account update webhook (account_update) with the event AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE carries the start times and any exception countries. Until a market's start time, OTPs there are still billed at the standard rate.

  5. Each qualifying OTP is billed at the higher rate

    After the start time, every delivered authentication message to that market is charged the authentication-international rate. The webhook pricing object reports it in pricing.category, and pricing analytics shows it as AUTHENTICATION_INTERNATIONAL.

The figures

The authentication-international rate: key facts and limits

Applies to
Authentication templates only
Trigger
Recipient in a listed market + eligible sender based elsewhere
Markets with the rate
18 since 1 October 2026 (9 before)
Eligibility threshold
750,000+ auth messages in a moving 30 days
Notice and permanence
Start 30 days after eligibility; eligibility is permanent
Webhook signal
account_update · AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE
India
Has had the rate since July 2024
Domestic India OTP (InfiQ)
₹0.14 per delivered message

Example: A foreign payments app with Indian users

A payments app headquartered in Singapore verifies new users in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad with WhatsApp copy-code OTPs. During a sign-up drive it sends more than 750,000 authentication messages to Indian and Indonesian users in 30 days, and an account_update webhook announces start times 30 days out. The team uses the month: it adds a one-tap autofill button to cut resends, lengthens the gap before the "resend code" link appears, and reprices its SMS fallback for India, because OTPs to +91 numbers will move from the standard India authentication rate to the higher authentication-international rate. Its finance team also tags the new category in the monthly cost report so the change is visible from the first day.

Costly mistakes

Common mistakes with the authentication-international rate

  • Assuming the recipient alone decides the rate

    The same OTP to the same +91 number can be domestic or international depending on who sends it. Forecast authentication spend per sending business, not per destination only.

  • Expecting a local entity to make traffic domestic

    Meta judges the primary business location from public information such as where the business is listed or where its parent company is based. Check the BUSINESS_PRIMARY_LOCATION_COUNTRY_UPDATE result rather than assuming a local subsidiary or a local partner changes it.

  • Missing the only warning

    The eligibility webhook is the 30-day notice. An app that is not subscribed to account_update, or that ignores unknown events, finds out on the invoice. Subscribe and route the event to finance.

  • Matching one spelling of the category

    Meta's status webhook reference lists authentication-international while its pricing pages also write authentication_international. Normalise before comparing, or reconciliation silently drops these lines.

  • Letting resends multiply the higher rate

    Every delivered OTP is charged, so an impatient "resend code" button doubles the cost per verified user. Use autofill and a sensible resend delay.

Why does the authentication-international rate matter?

For an app headquartered outside India with millions of Indian users — a payments wallet, a game, a marketplace — WhatsApp OTPs are often the largest messaging line, and the move from the standard authentication rate to the international one can tip the WhatsApp vs SMS OTP cost comparison. Knowing the rule lets finance forecast the jump inside Meta's 30-day notice, and lets engineers recognise it in webhooks and pricing analytics instead of discovering it on an invoice.

In code

The authentication-international rate in code

// Watch for the eligibility notice and tag international OTP charges.
export function handleChange(change) {
  const value = change.value ?? {};
 
  // 1. 30 days' notice: Meta announces eligibility and start times.
  if (change.field === "account_update" &&
      value.event === "AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE") {
    notifyFinance("Authentication-international rate starts in 30 days", value);
  }
 
  // 2. Per message: which rate was applied?
  for (const status of value.statuses ?? []) {
    const category = (status.pricing?.category ?? "").replace("_", "-");
    if (category === "authentication-international") {
      ledger.tag(status.id, "auth_intl"); // book it apart from standard OTPs
    }
  }
}

Meta's pages spell the category both authentication-international and authentication_international, so normalise it before comparing.

Authentication-International Rate FAQs

Does the authentication-international rate apply to an Indian business sending OTPs to Indian users?
No. A business is always charged the domestic rate for its primary business location, so an India-based business pays the standard India authentication rate for +91 recipients.
How much higher is it than the standard authentication rate?
It varies by market, and like every Meta rate it can change only at the start of a quarter. InfiQ publishes its India figure for authentication-international on its pricing page.
Can a business lose eligibility once its volume falls?
No. Meta says eligibility is permanent once a business has reached it.
How do I know my business has become eligible?
Meta tells you. All admins of the affected accounts get a 30-day notice, and an account_update webhook with the event AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE carries the start time for each market.

Best practices for the authentication-international rate

  • Track authentication volume to listed markets outside service windows on a moving 30-day basis so you see the 750,000 threshold coming.
  • Route AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE to finance as an alert, not just a log line.
  • Use the 30-day notice to set and verify your primary business location in Business Manager.
  • Use one-tap or zero-tap autofill to cut resends in every affected market.
  • Compare WhatsApp OTP cost per verified user with SMS for each market before the start time.

See InfiQ pricing

* Per-message rates for India, ex-GST: marketing, utility and authentication effective 1 July 2026; service messages ₹0.145 since 1 October 2026 (they were ₹0 until 30 September 2026). Volume commitments earn discounts — final rate is confirmed on your account; applicable GST extra. Rates for other countries differ (see the international rate table on /pricing).

Put Authentication-International Rate to work

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