SUPPORT.TWILIO.COM END OF LIFE NOTICE: This site, support.twilio.com, is scheduled to go End of Life on February 27, 2024. All Twilio Support content has been migrated to help.twilio.com, where you can continue to find helpful Support articles, API docs, and Twilio blog content, and escalate your issues to our Support team. We encourage you to update your bookmarks and begin using the new site today for all your Twilio Support needs.

Notice: Changes to WhatsApp's Pricing (October 2026)

Overview

Meta will change their pricing structure on October 1, 2026. This article reflects those changes so you know what to expect. If you want to see the current pricing structure, see here.

What You Need To Know

Timeline of changes:

  • Effective October 1, 2026 - Meta will charge on a per-message basis for all Service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages. Meta hasn’t been charging for these messages since November 1, 2024.
  • Effective October 1, 2026 - Meta will charge on a per-message basis for Utility template messages sent in response to users (within an open 24-hour customer service window). Meta hasn’t been charging for these messages since July 1, 2025.

What's changing?

Notice: The following information is not applicable to messages sent on Twilio Verify. There are no changes to Verify pricing with this update. See the section “Twilio Verify pricing” for details on Verify pricing over WhatsApp.

Service Message Fees

Since November 2024, Service messages have been free for all businesses. Starting October 1, 2026, Meta will start charging for all Service messages. As a reminder, a Service message is a non-template message sent during a customer service window. A customer service window must be open between you and a WhatsApp user before you can send the user a non-template message. Twilio per-message costs still apply and haven’t changed.

Utility Message Fees

Since July 2025, Utility messages were free during a customer service window. Starting October 1st, 2026, Meta will again charge for all Utility messages.  As a reminder, a Utility message is any template message within the Utility template category - e.g., to confirm or suspend an existing transaction, change or update a transaction, account, billing, or payment notification. Twilio per-message costs still apply and have not changed.

Volume Tiers

Volume tiers are largely staying the same. Note that only Utility and Authentication messages that are charged count towards volume tiers, so Utility messages sent in a customer service window will now count towards volume tiers as well. As a reminder, volume tiers are based on the category of templates being sent plus the country they’re being sent to. For example, you could find yourself on multiple tiers at once:

  • Tier B for Indonesia - Authentication
  • Tier B for Indonesia - Authentication International*
  • Tier C for Brazil - Utility
  • Tier A for Indonesia - Utility

Tier discounts are applied on a monthly basis and will reset each month. Twilio will pass through all discounted fees from Meta through to you.

You can find the tier limits and fees for each country in Meta’s rate card section here.

*WhatsApp charges International Fees in certain countries for eligible businesses sending authentication templates to users. These international authentication messages are aggregated separately from non-international authentication messages for volume tiers. See here for more information on when and where authentication international fees are applicable.

What isn’t changing?

Free Entry Points and Free Conversations

Free entry point messages (messages initiated by an end user through Click to WhatsApp Ad or Facebook Page Call-to-Action buttons) will behave the same. If a WhatsApp user messages you via a free entry point surface, you can respond with any type of message for free within 24 hours; this opens a free entry point customer service window that lasts 72 hours. You can continue to message the user using any type of message while this window is open without any Meta template charges. Twilio per-message costs still apply.

Twilio’s per message charges

Twilio’s pricing model for WhatsApp is not changing. A separate fee is applicable depending on how a customer is using the WhatsApp Business API with Twilio:

Twilio Verify pricing

Twilio Verify uses WhatsApp authentication templates to send OTP messages on your behalf. These message fees are not changing. As a reminder, WhatsApp Verify messages are charged as follows:

  • A standard fee by Twilio upon successful verification only (unchanged).
  • A Meta fee per WhatsApp authentication template message sent based on monthly tier discounts or authentication message fees*.

*WhatsApp charges International Fees in certain countries for eligible businesses sending authentication templates to users. These international authentication messages are aggregated separately from non-international authentication messages for volume tiers. See here for more information on when and where authentication international fees are applicable.

You can find more details on Verify WhatsApp message pricing through Twilio here.

For full details on this pricing change, see Meta’s Developer Documentation here.

How does this impact my business use case?

This pricing change can impact your business use case depending on your messaging patterns. Below are some examples of how this can impact your business (see the next section for Verify specific use cases):

  • Frequent marketing or authentication notifications using template messages: This update won’t impact you.
  • Customer support: If you are responding to incoming user-initiated (i.e., Service conversations) messages with a non-templated or Utility template message, you’ll start to be charged for every message.

     

 

Have more questions? Submit a request
We can’t wait to see what you build.
Powered by Zendesk