Pricing update2 min read
WhatsApp moves to per-message pricing on 1 October
Meta is retiring 24-hour conversation windows as the billing unit. From 1 October you are charged per template message delivered, and service replies inside a customer-opened window become free.
Takes effect
What's changing
- Billing shifts from conversations to individual template messages
- Service conversations opened by the customer are no longer charged
- Utility templates sent inside an open service window are free
- Marketing rates rise in most markets; utility rates fall
- No action needed from you: DLVRD switches your account automatically
From 1 October 2026, Meta stops billing WhatsApp Business Platform traffic in 24-hour conversation windows and starts billing per template message delivered. It is the largest change to WhatsApp economics since conversation-based pricing arrived, and for most senders it lowers the bill rather than raising it.
What actually changes
Today a single conversation window covers every message exchanged in 24 hours, at a rate set by the category that opened it. After 1 October there is no window to open. Each template message you send is priced on its own, by its own category, at the rate for the recipient's country.
- Marketing templates are charged per message, at rates roughly 5-10% above today's per-conversation marketing rate in most markets.
- Utility templates (order updates, delivery notices, payment confirmations) drop sharply, and are free entirely when sent inside an open customer service window.
- Authentication templates keep their own rate card and are unaffected in most regions.
- Service messages, meaning anything you send in reply to a customer within 24 hours of their message, are free.
What it means for your spend
The direction depends on your mix. Teams whose volume is mostly transactional (order confirmations, appointment reminders, shipping updates) will see their bill fall, often noticeably, because those templates get cheaper and the free service window absorbs the follow-up traffic. Teams sending high-frequency marketing campaigns to large lists will pay slightly more per send.
The bigger shift is strategic. Under conversation pricing, sending a second message inside an open window was free, so batching was the obvious tactic. Under per-message pricing every send counts, which puts a real price on a badly targeted campaign and makes segmentation worth doing properly.
What you need to do
Nothing, mechanically. DLVRD applies the new rate card to your account on 1 October with no migration, no downtime and no change to your templates, webhooks or API calls. Your invoices from October onwards show per-message lines instead of per-conversation ones.
What is worth doing is a look at your template categories before then. Templates that were filed as marketing when they are really utility have been costing you money under both models, and the gap widens after 1 October. Our team can audit your template library and re-file anything mis-categorised. Talk to your account manager, or use the cost calculator to model your own traffic against the new rates.