WhatsApp Business pricing: what to take into account

"WhatsApp is free, right?" I often hear people say. Yes and no. For private use - sending daily messages to friends and family - you pay absolutely nothing. But if you want your clients to be able to reach you through WhatsApp, there may be costs involved. Whether that’s the case - and how much - depends, amongst other things, on the number of conversations you will have per month.

Using WhatsApp Business with the WhatsApp Business API

In this article, I assume you want to use WhatsApp Business with multiple users or make full use of the advanced WhatsApp Business features, such as replying simultaneously from a single team inbox, linking WhatsApp to your own systems or automatically responding to messages using a WhatsApp chatbot. All of this is perfectly possible with the WhatsApp for Business API.

How much does WhatsApp cost?

This depends on the number of conversations you have per month. Each month, WhatsApp gives you the first 1,000 conversations for free. Yay! But if you have more conversations, then - depending on who reached out first - you will pay a fixed amount per conversation.

Here's how it works. WhatsApp's pricing model as of 1 February 2022 distinguishes between ...

... a user-initiated conversation Your customer initiates a conversation via WhatsApp with, for instance, a support question.

...a business-initiated conversation You initiate the conversation with your customer via WhatsApp. For example, updating on an order or getting back to a customer. You do so using a message template.

WhatsApp has a so-called 24 hour customer service window This means that in both cases, you only pay if the first message was answered within 24 hours. You also pay if you get back to he conversation after 24 hours, for example because you were unable to respond in time. So you don't have to pay for unanswered messages, nor for calls initiated from a Facebook or Instagram ad, or via a call-to-action from a Facebook page. You pay a different rate for both conversations.

Costs per 24-hour conversations

Once a conversation has been established, you have 24 hours to send messages back and forth. If the conversation is completed within 24 hours, you pay for one conversation. And if the conversation is still ongoing after 24 hours, you pay again for the next 24 hours. New 24-hour sessions are charged according to the rate of the conversation initiated by the customer.

WhatsApp charges different rates for each type of call, as well as by country.

Free phone number registration with Grasp

A final point: you decide which phone number you will use for WhatsApp. This can either be a mobile or landline number. This number must be registered with WhatsApp through an official verification process. If you start using WhatsApp via Grasp, we’ll take care of this process for you. Easy does it!

If you register your phone number via Grasp, you pay no registration fee for the first WhatsApp number. For each subsequent WhatsApp number, you pay € 25 per month. After this, you’ll have no further costs for using WhatsApp with Grasp.

Verification through official WhatsApp Business Partners

For the verification process of WhatsApp for Business, we work with several official WhatsApp Business Partners. We take care of this verification process so you can enjoy a flying start!

Still have questions about the cost of WhatsApp Business? Or would you like to know how to successfully use WhatsApp Business for your customer service, following just a few steps? Feel free to contact us. We’re standing by!