WhatsApp Pricing Model (June 2025 Update)

Meta has introduced a new per-message pricing model for WhatsApp Business Platform and APIs. This marks a significant shift from the previous per-conversation billing model.

Key Changes (Effective July 1, 2025)

• Billing & Pricing

  • Conversations → Messages
  • Business-initiated → Paid messages
  • User-initiated → Free messages
  • Referral-initiated → Deprecated

  Learn more about WhatsApp pricing policy.

• Analytics & Reporting

  • conversation_analytics field deprecated in Graph API v25.0 (late 2025)
  • All new metrics will be message-based
  • Historical conversation data must be exported before cutoff

• Template Management

  • Utility templates must meet a stricter, non-promotional definition
  • Expect possible re-categorization notices from WhatsApp

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Changes required from Service Provider

1. Billing and Cost Management

• Update all pricing calculations from conversation-based to per-message billing.
• Review and update contracts and SLAs to reflect per-message pricing.
• Adapt billing systems to account for free service/utility messages.

2. Template Management

• Audit and re-categorize templates.
• Ensure utility templates remain non-promotional and user-specific.
• Prepare for re-categorization enforcement by WhatsApp.

3. Reporting & Analytics

• Shift dashboards from conversation-based IDs → message-based IDs.
• Educate finance and analytics teams about the new KPIs.
• Maintain parallel logic for transition until old data is phased out.

Pricing Model Comparison

Feature/Aspect	Before July 1, 2025	After July 1, 2025
Pricing Model	Per-conversation (24h session)	Per-message
Utility Template Messages (CSW)	Charged if outside free tier	Free if sent within customer service window
Service Conversations	Free up to 1,000/month, then charged	Unlimited free
Volume Tiers	Not available	Available for utility & authentication
Template Category Definition	Broader definition	Stricter (non-promotional, user-specific)
Webhook/Analytics Fields	Conversation-based IDs (CBP)	Message-based IDs (PMP)
Authentication Rates	Per conversation, limited markets	Per message, expanded to more markets
Marketing Messages Lite API	Conversation-based rates	Cloud API marketing rates apply

📌 Glossary

• CBP = Conversation-Based Pricing
• PMP = Per-Message Pricing
• CSW = Customer Service Window

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Transition Guidance

• Export all conversation analytics data you may need before Graph API v25.0 is released.
• Expect non-comparability between pre-July 1 (CBP) and post-July 1 (PMP) data.
• During migration, maintain dual tracking of CBP and PMP to ensure continuity in dashboards and billing reports.

Benefits of Per-Message Pricing

• Simpler billing – charges directly tied to message volume.
• Unlimited free service messaging within CSW.
• Expanded global coverage for authentication messages.
• Volume discounts available for high-utility use cases.

Action Checklist ✅

• Update billing logic to per-message model.
• Export historical conversation analytics.
• Re-categorize existing templates.
• Update reporting dashboards and train teams.
• Review customer contracts for new billing rules.

note

⚠️ Important: After July 1, 2025, WhatsApp will no longer support conversation-based pricing, analytics, or referral categories.

Old vs. New WhatsApp Pricing Model

Scenario	Old Model (Conversation-based)	New Model (Per-message)
Two messages, same category (e.g., 2 utility)	1 Utility conversation	2 Utility messages
Two messages, different categories (e.g., marketing + utility)	1 Marketing conversation + 1 Utility conversation	1 Marketing message + 1 Utility message
Single mixed message (utility + marketing content)	1 Marketing conversation	1 Marketing message

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What this means for businesses

• More transparency: Costs now scale directly with the volume and type of messages sent.
• Granular control: Marketing and utility spends can be tracked and optimized separately.
• Budget predictability: Teams can forecast spend with higher accuracy, especially for large-scale campaigns.
• Operational shift: Businesses may need to rethink engagement strategies to avoid unnecessary message sends that could increase costs.