Exhibit A
Price the messages around a month of calls
- Utility₹0.19per message4,000 × ₹0.19 · max 20,000= ₹760.00
- Service₹0.145per message3,600 × ₹0.145 · max 20,000= ₹522.00
- Marketing₹0.94per message2,800 × ₹0.94 · max 20,000= ₹2,632.00
Estimated total
₹3,914.00
for 10,400 messages · blended ₹0.3763 per message
Share of spend
- Call-permission requests (template)38% of messages · 19% of spend
- Replies after inbound calls35% of messages · 13% of spend
- Renewal offers to customers who did not answer27% of messages · 67% of spend
Renewal offers to customers who did not answer drives 67% of the bill — at ₹0.94 a message, its volume matters most.
Calls themselves are billed per 6-second pulse at the called country's rate and are not shown here; calls customers place carry no call charge. Replies after a call are service messages, charged since 1 October 2026.
Rates for India, ex-GST.
Total ₹3,914.00 for 10,400 messages.
What is WhatsApp Calling API pricing?
Calling API pricing is how Meta charges for voice calls made through the WhatsApp Business Calling API on the Cloud API. The split is by who dials. Calls a customer places to the business — from the chat header, a call button or a call link — carry no call charge. Calls the business places to a customer are charged per 6-second pulse, at a per-country rate set by the pricing market of the number being called: its country code.
Pulses round up: Meta's own example is a 56-second call billed as 10 pulses. Rates fall under volume tier pricing, with tiers based on the minutes a business calls in a calendar month and the same accrual as messaging, and a call that crosses into a cheaper tier is priced at the lower rate. Meta publishes separate call rate cards in several currencies, INR and USD among them, and a valid payment method is required to place calls.
Two neighbouring costs sit outside the call charge. A business may call only customers who have granted call permission, and the call permission request is a message, billed under per-message pricing — a template by its category, or a free-form request inside an open window as a service message. And a call the customer places opens or refreshes the 24-hour customer service window whether or not the business answers, so the replies that follow are service messages. How calling works as a feature is covered under the WhatsApp Business Calling API; this page is only about the bill.
Key takeaways
- Calling API pricing splits by who dials: calls customers place to the business are free; calls the business places are charged.
- Business-initiated calls are billed per 6-second pulse, rounded up, at the rate for the called number's country.
- Monthly volume tiers based on minutes called lower the rate, and a call that crosses a tier is priced at the lower rate.
- Call permission requests and replies after a call are billed as messages, separately from call pulses.
How does WhatsApp Calling API pricing work?
Who dialled decides
A user-initiated call carries no call charge; a business-initiated call is charged. The direction is recorded per call, and Meta's call analytics can be filtered by it.
Permission comes first
Business-initiated calls need the user's call permission, a Cloud API number (not the Business app) and a messaging limit of at least 2,000. They are not available for business numbers in the US, Canada, Egypt, Vietnam or Nigeria.
Call time becomes pulses
Meta counts the call in 6-second pulses and rounds any part pulse up, so a 2-minute-30-second call is 25 pulses and a 56-second call is 10.
Pulses are priced by the called country
The rate comes from the country code of the number called and is charged in the account's currency from Meta's call rate card.
Monthly minutes lower the rate
Volume tiers count the minutes a business calls in a calendar month. A call that crosses a tier boundary is priced at the cheaper, higher-volume rate.
Check costs in call analytics
The
call_analyticsfield on the WhatsApp Business Account returns call count, cost and average duration, filterable by direction, phone number and country.
Example: Renewal calls at a Lucknow insurance broker
A Lucknow insurance broker adds a WhatsApp call button for policy questions and runs outbound renewal calls. The 1,800 inbound calls in October carry no Meta call charge, and each opens a service window for sending documents afterwards. For renewals it first sends a call-permission request template to 4,000 policyholders; about 1,200 accept and get a business-initiated call averaging 2 minutes 30 seconds — 25 pulses each, 30,000 pulses in all, priced at the India call rate for its tier. The calculator below covers the messages around those calls; the pulses are billed on top from Meta's call rate card.
WhatsApp Calling API pricing in code
# Business-initiated call count, cost and average duration for October 2026curl -G "https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/{WABA_ID}" \-H "Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}" \--data-urlencode "fields=call_analytics.start(1790793000).end(1793471400).granularity(DAILY).directions(BUSINESS_INITIATED).metric_types(COUNT,COST,AVERAGE_DURATION)"
Cost is reported in the account's currency; filter by direction to separate charged calls from free inbound ones.
Common mistakes with WhatsApp Calling API pricing
Assuming every call is free
Only calls the customer places carry no call charge. Callbacks, renewal calls and sales calls the business dials are billed per pulse.
Forgetting the permission message
A call permission request is a billed message. A campaign that asks 10,000 people for permission pays for 10,000 delivered requests even if only a fraction accept.
Forecasting in whole minutes
Billing is in 6-second pulses with part pulses rounded up. Many short calls cost more than their total seconds suggest, so model pulses per call, not minutes.
Using the business's country rate
The rate follows the number called. An Indian business calling customers in the UAE pays the UAE call rate, not the India rate.
Planning calls from an ineligible number
Business-initiated calls need a Cloud API number with at least a 2,000 messaging limit; WhatsApp Business app and coexistence numbers cannot place platform calls.
Best practices for WhatsApp Calling API pricing
- Offer a call button where a call helps — calls customers place carry no Meta call charge.
- Keep outbound scripts tight; every started 6-second pulse is billed.
- When a customer is already chatting, ask for call permission inside the open window instead of with a separate template.
- Pull
call_analyticsweekly and watch average duration as well as cost.
Why does WhatsApp Calling API pricing matter?
Voice changes the economics of WhatsApp support and sales. Inbound calls carry no Meta call charge, which makes a call button an inexpensive alternative to a toll-free line, while outbound calls are metered by the pulse like ordinary telephony. Knowing which side pays, how pulses round and how tiers work lets a team decide when to ask customers to call in, how long outbound scripts should run, and whether a callback campaign costs more or less than a well-timed template.