Meta's 1 October pricing change

Meta now charges for replies sent inside the 24-hour window. Here's what changes and how to keep costs under control.

On 1 October 2026, Meta changes how it charges for certain WhatsApp messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform. This article explains what changes, what does not, and how to estimate and reduce the impact for your account.

What changes

Two message types that until now were included at no cost become billable, per message:

1. Service messages. Any non-template reply your team sends inside the 24-hour customer service window (the window that opens each time a customer messages you). From 1 October, Meta charges each of these messages at the service rate of the recipient's country.

2. Utility templates sent inside an open window. Confirmations, updates, and similar utility templates sent while a customer service window is open were previously not charged. From 1 October they are billed at the country's utility rate.

The first 1,000 service messages each month are included at no cost, on every business phone number. Meta starts charging from the 1,001st service message in a calendar month. The allowance resets every month, does not roll over, and applies per phone number: an account with three WhatsApp numbers gets 1,000 on each. It covers service messages only, not utility templates sent inside the window.

For many of you, this 1,000 free messages allowance (per phone number) 👆absorbs most or all of the cost related to the new pricing.

Some context: service conversations were billed until November 2024, when Meta made them available at no cost. This update returns them to billing, now priced per individual message rather than per conversation and with the monthly allowance to absorb the shock.

What does not change

• Your Polser subscription. This is a Meta charge, billed by Meta directly to your WhatsApp Business account, exactly as template messages are today. Nothing changes in what you pay Polser.

• Template messages outside the window. Marketing, utility, and authentication templates sent outside an open service window were already billed and are not affected by this update.

• Conversations that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad. When a customer reaches you through an ad on Facebook or Instagram, the 72-hour entry point window still applies: messages you send inside it carry no delivery charge.

• Messages your customers send you. Inbound messages are never charged.

Key dates

• 1 September 2026: Meta published the rates that apply from 1 October.

• 1 October 2026: the new billing takes effect.

• The 1st of every month: your 1,000-message allowance per phone number resets.

How billing works

• Per message, not per conversation. Each individual message delivered is charged. A reply split across four messages is charged four times.

• No volume tiers for service messages. The service rate is flat regardless of how many messages you send. Utility and authentication templates keep their existing volume tiers.

• The rate depends on the recipient's country, not your business location. In every market, the service rate is the same as the utility rate.

• Billed by Meta, to your Meta account. Charges appear in your WhatsApp Manager billing, alongside your existing template message charges. They do not pass through Polser.

Rates for common markets (EUR per message, Meta's rate card effective 1 October 2026):

Recipient country	Service and utility rate
Spain	€0.0166
United Kingdom	€0.0182
France	€0.0248
Italy	€0.0248
Germany	€0.0456
Portugal (Rest of Western Europe)	€0.0142
Mexico	€0.0071

For every other country, see Meta's pricing page: business.whatsapp.com/products/platform-pricing. Meta can update rates on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October each year.

To put the numbers in perspective: once the monthly allowance is used, a support conversation with four replies to a customer in Spain costs around €0.07.

How to estimate your impact

Start with a quick read in your Polser dashboard. The Message composition card shows how your volume splits between templates and free-form messages. Free-form messages are the ones that become billable on 1 October, so their share tells you at a glance how exposed you are. If most of your volume in the last 30 days is templates sent through broadcasts, this change barely touches you. If a large share is free-form conversation and you go well beyond the 1,000 allowance (per phone number), it is worth taking a closer look.

In this example, free-form messages are a small share of the volume and stay below the 1,000 monthly allowance, so service replies remain at no cost.

For real numbers, use your Meta data. Your WhatsApp Manager holds the most accurate figures, from the same account Meta will bill. Open Insights > Message pricing, set the period to the last 30 days, and note two figures:

1. Free customer service messages: the volume that becomes billable from 1 October.

2. Approximate total charges: what you pay Meta today, to compare against.

To estimate your added monthly cost, subtract 1,000 for each phone number you use, then multiply what is left by the rate of the country where most of your customers are (see the table above). If your customers are spread across several countries, use a rate somewhere between theirs.

Example: 3,400 messages on one phone number, customers mostly in Spain: (3,400 − 1,000) × €0.0166 = about €40 per month.

We are also preparing a pricing calculator that does this for you, taking your full mix of countries into account. It will be available here in the coming days.

If this topic is critical for your operation, talk to us. We can go deeper into your specific numbers with you: which conversations drive the cost, what a realistic reduction target looks like, and the strategy to follow. Contact us at [e-mail] or send us a WhatsApp to [phone].

Official sources

• WhatsApp Business Platform pricing: Meta's pricing page, with the rates for every country.

• Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform: Meta's full documentation on how messages are charged, including volume tiers and the pricing calendar.

• Pricing for non-template messages: Meta's announcement of the 1 October 2026 change, including the 1,000-message monthly allowance.

• Template categorization guidelines: how Meta decides whether a template is marketing, utility or authentication, which sets the rate you pay. Includes a downloadable guide with examples.

Meta can update rates on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. If a rate in this article differs from Meta's pricing page, Meta's page is the reference.

Frequently asked questions

Is Polser charging more? No. Our pricing has not changed. This is a Meta rate change, billed directly to your Meta account, and it does not pass through Polser's invoice.

Would this cost be lower on another platform? No. The rate is Meta's and it is identical across every WhatsApp Business Platform provider. What differs between platforms is whether they help you see where the cost comes from and reduce it.

Do I get 1,000 messages per account or per number? Per business phone number. If your team works with several WhatsApp numbers, each one has its own 1,000-message monthly allowance for service messages.

Are rates changing in other countries on 1 October? Not in Spain, the UK, France, Italy, Germany or the rest of Western Europe. Meta raised the utility, authentication and service rate in Pakistan, Peru and South Africa, and nine countries now have their own rate instead of a regional one: Bangladesh, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. If you message customers in Kuwait, Oman, Morocco or Ukraine, expect higher rates there; in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Kazakhstan they go down.

Does this have anything to do with Meta's AI agent? They are related in timing. On 1 August 2026, Meta introduced separate, token-based pricing for its own Meta Business Agent. Messages sent through Polser are always human-approved service messages, so they are billed at the per-message service rate and never touch token pricing. One detail worth knowing: the 72-hour entry point window waives message delivery charges, but it does not waive Meta Business Agent token charges.

Where do I see these charges? In WhatsApp Manager, under your WhatsApp Business account's billing section, together with your existing template message charges. You also see them in the Insights > Message pricing panel (see example above)

What should I do before 1 October? Estimate your impact with the steps above, and review the five reduction levers. If the numbers look significant for your operation, talk to us and we will work through them with you.