Conversation types and how they apply to your pricing

Businesses can initiate a conversation using a template message. The category of the template message used will define the conversation type.

Utility – Business-initiated conversations relating to a transaction, including post-purchase notifications and recurring billing statements to customers who have opted in.

Authentication – Business-initiated conversations that enable businesses to authenticate users with one-time passwords at multiple steps during the login process, such as account registration, account recovery, and integrity challenges.

Marketing – Business-initiated conversations to market a product or service to customers, such as relevant offers to customers who have opted in. Any business-initiated conversation that does not qualify as an authentication or utility conversation would also fall under this category.

Service – User-initiated conversation, such as to resolve a customer query.

Rates for WhatsApp Conversations

Rates vary based on conversation category and country/region rate. You can download the rate card below that corresponds to your WhatsApp Business Account’s currency to rates by country/region for each conversation category.

Rate cards

Free entry point conversations extended to 72-hour session

From 1st March 2023 conversations that start from a free entry point (Click to WhatsApp ads) will be free for 72 hours instead of 24 hours. This means if a customer starts a conversation from a Facebook ad a business can respond with any type of WhatsApp message (including marketing templates) for free for 72 hours.

1,000 Free conversations for service Conversations only

Service conversations will qualify for the 1,000 free monthly conversations. Marketing, utility and authentication conversations are not part of the free tier.

To learn more about how conversation charges work, see examples below.