Free tool
Know what every WhatsApp message really costs
WhatsApp bills per delivered message, and marketing, utility and authentication messages are priced at very different rates. Enter your volumes, edit the rates and see your blended cost — plus how much a smarter category mix would save.
Marketing: Charged when you send a promotional template — anything that nudges a purchase or re-engagement.
*Default rates are indicative — check your provider's rate card. On InfiQ, the live rate card in your dashboard shows your exact per-country price before you send.
Your monthly volumes and rates
Enter how many business-initiated messages you expect to send per category. Every rate is editable — replace the indicative defaults with the numbers from your rate card.
Include 18% GST
Matches how invoices are raised for businesses in India.
Since 1 July 2025 WhatsApp bills per delivered message, by template category. Utility messages are free inside the open 24-hour customer-service window, as are free-form service replies — which are ₹0 today and become chargeable from 1 October 2026. Rates are set by Meta and revised periodically — check your dashboard rate card for exact figures.
Your estimate
Monthly total incl. 18% GST
₹6,160
- Marketing (5,000 × ₹0.94)
- ₹4,700.00
- Utility (2,000 × ₹0.19)
- ₹380.00
- Authentication (1,000 × ₹0.14)
- ₹140.00
- GST (18%)
- ₹939.60
- Blended cost / message
- ₹0.65
At this volume, a 20% shift from marketing to utility — 1,000 messages reclassified — saves about ₹885/month at your current rates (incl. GST).
Planning estimate only. Per-message rates depend on the destination country and template category, are set by Meta and revised periodically — your exact figures are in the live rate card in your dashboard.
How it works
Three steps, no signup
Pick a category to understand it
Tap marketing, utility or authentication to see exactly what each template category is charged for and which templates fall into it.
Enter volumes and your rates
Add your expected monthly messages per category. The default rates are indicative — swap in the figures from your provider's rate card.
Read the blended picture
See per-category subtotals, your blended cost per message, the monthly total with GST, and what shifting volume to utility would save.
Why categories matter
Template category is the biggest cost lever you control
WhatsApp Business API pricing is not one rate — it is three. Since 1 July 2025 each delivered message is billed by the category of the template it uses, and the gap between categories is large: marketing messages typically cost several times what utility or authentication messages do. That makes template classification a genuine cost lever, not an accounting detail. Two businesses sending the same number of messages can see very different bills purely because of how their templates are categorised.
The most common leak is transactional flows misfiled as marketing. An order confirmation, a delivery update or a payment reminder belongs in utility — but if the template copy drifts promotional (a discount code tacked onto a shipping update, an upsell inside an appointment reminder), Meta's review will classify it as marketing and every send is billed at the marketing rate. A business pushing tens of thousands of order updates a month at the marketing rate is overpaying several times over for messages that could legitimately run as utility. The fix is unglamorous: audit your approved templates, keep transactional copy strictly transactional, and resubmit anything that landed in the wrong category.
The case for utility templates is not only financial. Because they arrive in response to something the customer did — an order placed, a booking made — they carry built-in relevance. Industry reports suggest transactional messages typically see stronger read and response behaviour than promotional broadcasts, and they accumulate trust rather than fatigue. A customer who reliably gets useful updates on WhatsApp is more receptive when a genuine offer does arrive.
- Keep transactional templates free of promotional language so they qualify — and stay — in the utility category.
- Answer inbound messages inside the 24-hour service window, where free-form service replies are free — and utility messages are free inside that open window too.
- Track your blended cost per message monthly; a rising number usually means the category mix is drifting toward marketing.
- Check the destination-country rate card before scaling — rates are set by Meta, differ by country and are revised periodically.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What decides whether a message is billed as marketing, utility or authentication?
The category of the template you send decides it. Meta reviews and classifies every template before approval: promotional content is marketing, transactional updates tied to an existing customer action are utility, and one-time passcodes are authentication. The category is fixed at the template level, so what you write and how you frame it determines what you pay.
Why is marketing so much more expensive than utility?
Marketing messages are priced highest because they are business-initiated promotion rather than service. Utility and authentication rates are typically a fraction of the marketing rate — which is why a transactional flow accidentally filed under marketing can cost several times what it should. Reviewing your template categories is usually the fastest cost fix available.
Are the default rates in this estimator official prices?
No. WhatsApp bills per delivered message, and the pre-filled ₹0.94 / ₹0.19 / ₹0.14 figures (marketing / utility / authentication, effective 1 July 2026) are indicative placeholders so the tool produces a number immediately. Real per-message rates are set by Meta by template category and depend on your provider, the customer's destination country and periodic revisions — replace the defaults with the figures from your provider's rate card. On InfiQ, the live rate card in your dashboard shows your exact price before you send.
Do replies to customers count as new billable messages?
Not within the service window. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer-service window opens, and free-form service replies you send inside it are free — as are utility messages sent inside that open window. Only template messages outside the window (and marketing templates, which are always charged) are billed, which is why responsive support tends to cost far less than outbound campaigns.
What is a blended cost per message and why does it matter?
It is your total messaging spend divided by total messages across all categories — the single number that tells you what an average message actually costs your business. Tracking it month over month reveals whether your category mix is drifting expensive (more marketing) or efficient (more utility), independent of volume growth.
Still have questions?
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InfiQ shows a live, per-country rate card in your dashboard — plus broadcasts, chatbots and a shared inbox on the official WhatsApp Business API. 7-day free trial, no card required.