Three separate costs

A WhatsApp chatbot has three kinds of cost, and most confusion about pricing comes from mixing them up.

The build: designing the conversation, writing the bot logic and connecting it to your CRM, sheet or inbox. This is usually a one-time project cost.

Meta's messaging charges: WhatsApp Business Platform fees that Meta charges for certain messages.

Platform or hosting: either a monthly subscription to a WhatsApp provider, or the server that runs a custom bot.

How Meta charges for messages

Since July 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message rather than per 24-hour conversation. Template messages fall into three categories, each with its own rate per country: marketing, utility (such as order updates and reminders) and authentication (such as one-time passwords).

Replies you send while a customer service window is open, which starts when the customer messages you, are not charged. Utility templates sent inside that window are also free.…