Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, will begin charging businesses for certain messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform from October 1, 2026.
Meta disclosed the pricing change in a WhatsApp Business Platform pricing update in July 2026, stating that charges for service messages would resume from October 1, 2026.
The new charges will affect companies using the official WhatsApp Business Platform, formerly known as the WhatsApp Business API, to manage customer conversations at scale.
Banks, fintechs, e-commerce companies, telecoms operators, logistics firms and large retailers that rely on the platform for customer service and transactional communication are among those that could be affected.
However, the development will not affect ordinary WhatsApp users or most small businesses using the standard WhatsApp Business app on their phones.
Under the current system, when a customer sends a message to a business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. During that period, businesses can respond with free-form service messages and certain utility messages without paying Meta.
However, from October 1, Meta will begin charging businesses on a per-message basis for service messages sent during the customer service window.
Meta, in its developer documentation, said, “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for all service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages. These messages have not been charged since November 1, 2024.”
The company added, “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users (within an open 24-hour customer service window). These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025.”
Utility messages include communications such as payment confirmations, order updates and delivery notifications.
Meta also warned businesses and Solution Providers about the need to add a payment method ahead of the new charges.
It said, “For any Solution Provider or directly-integrated businesses that does not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026.”
For Nigerian businesses, a chargeable utility or service message is expected to cost about $0.0101 per message, equivalent to roughly ₦14 based on an exchange rate of about ₦1,340 to the dollar.
Marketing messages are considerably more expensive, at about $0.062 per message, or approximately ₦84 at the same exchange rate.
The charges are Meta’s fees and do not necessarily represent the total amount a business will pay. Companies using Business Solution Providers or third-party platforms to access the WhatsApp Business Platform may incur additional provider charges.
For example, a Nigerian fintech sending 500,000 chargeable utility or service messages at $0.0101 per message would incur about $5,050 in Meta messaging fees alone.
At an exchange rate of about ₦1,340 to the dollar, that amounts to approximately ₦6.8m, before any additional provider charges.
Although the cost of an individual message appears relatively small, the financial impact could become significant for businesses sending hundreds of thousands or millions of messages each month.
WhatsApp has become an important communication channel for Nigerian businesses, with banks and fintechs using the platform for customer support and transaction-related communication, while e-commerce, logistics and retail companies use it for order updates, delivery notifications and other customer interactions.
Meta has been gradually changing its WhatsApp Business pricing structure, with the company moving business messaging towards a per-message pricing model.
From October 1, 2026, previously free service messages and qualifying utility messages sent within an open 24-hour customer service window will become chargeable on the WhatsApp Business Platform.
The development means Nigerian companies that depend heavily on WhatsApp for customer service and transactional communication will have to factor the new per-message charges into their operating costs from October.
(Punch)
