Since October 1, Meta charges businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform API for service replies, the free-form messages sent while a customer's 24-hour window is open, Marketing4eCommerce México reports. Each business number gets 1,000 free per month; after that, each delivered message in Mexico costs $0.0085, with no volume discount. Utility templates such as order confirmations sent inside the window, free since July 2025, now cost $0.0085 as well. Marketing messages in Mexico rose 30%, from $0.0305 to $0.0397, according to a breakdown by WhatsApp vendor YCloud. Customer-initiated messages and the 72-hour window opened by Click-to-WhatsApp ads stay free.
Rates follow the recipient's country. The outlet lists service rates from $0.0008 in Colombia to $0.0300 in Peru, with Mexico at $0.0085. In its own example for a mid-size online store (200,000 service replies, 100,000 utility templates and 150,000 promotions a month), the bill rises to $8,496.50 from $4,575.00, about 86%. A small team sending 3,000 messages would pay about $17.
Teramont calculated that a bot splitting each answer into five messages costs about $416.50 for 10,000 queries, versus $76.50 for single replies. YCloud says Meta Business Agent is billed by tokens, roughly 4 to 5 cents per message on average, while third-party AI bots pay their provider plus WhatsApp service fees. Meta's documentation says prices change only on the first day of a quarter with at least one month's notice, making January 1, 2027 the next window.