Is the WhatsApp Business API free?

No. Meta charges per message delivered: as of November 2026, a marketing message to a Singapore number costs SGD 0.0937, and each business number gets 1,000 service messages a month at no charge. Vendors usually add a fee of their own on top.

Can I use my existing WhatsApp number for the Business API?

Yes, in one of two ways. You can delete it from WhatsApp and register it on the API, or a vendor can connect your Business app number through coexistence, which keeps the app working beside the API.

How long does it take to get on the WhatsApp Business API?

Meta doesn't publish a set-up time. Its get-started guide runs to four steps, template review takes up to 24 hours per template, and a new portfolio starts at a messaging limit of 250 people a day outside the customer service window.

Do I need a developer for the WhatsApp Business API?

Not if you go through a partner. Meta says partners handle the technical set-up with "little or no code required". Connecting directly needs developers who can call the API and run webhooks.

What's the difference between the WhatsApp Business API and the Cloud API?

The Cloud API is the main part of the Business API, the piece Meta hosts that sends and receives messages. The rest of the Business API manages your accounts and templates, sends marketing messages and runs the webhooks.

Can I send any message I like on the WhatsApp Business API?

Inside 24 hours of the customer's last message, yes. Outside that window, Meta only allows approved templates, and the policy needs opt-in before you write to anyone.

WhatsApp Business API: setup, limits and if you need it

What the WhatsApp Business API is

Meta's name for it is the WhatsApp Business Platform. Developers call it the WhatsApp Business API, and so does nearly everyone selling it. It's the part of WhatsApp for business that software talks to.

Meta's developer documentation describes it as a set of APIs:

The Cloud API, which sends and receives messages, and which Meta's overview says now handles calls and WhatsApp groups too.
The Business Management API, which manages your accounts, phone numbers and message templates, and reports on what you sent.
The Marketing Messages API, which sends marketing messages with extra delivery features.
Webhooks, which tell your software when a customer writes in or a message is delivered.
Meta Business Agent, Meta's own AI agent, which answers customers from knowledge you give it.

Meta hosts the Cloud API, so there's no server for you to run. Want an on-premises version instead? Meta's business FAQ says it isn't offering direct access to one, and points you to its partners.

There's no app. That's the big difference from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. A person answering customers on the Business Platform uses a vendor's inbox, or software your developers build.

How the API differs from the WhatsApp Business app

The two share a name and very little else. Here's how they compare, from Meta's own pages:

	WhatsApp Business app	WhatsApp Business API
How you use it	An app on one phone, plus linked devices	Through software: a vendor's inbox or your own
Cost	Free to download and to send from	Per message delivered, by category and country
Messages you start	Free-form, to people who saved your number or opted in	Only approved message templates, outside a 24-hour window
Replies	Free-form, any time	Free-form within 24 hours of the customer's last message
People answering	The phone and up to four linked devices	As many as your software allows
Badge	Meta Verified, a subscription	Official Business Account, a blue checkmark

One number can't normally sit on both. Meta's phone number documentation says a number already in use with WhatsApp can't be registered until it's deleted from WhatsApp, with one exception, coexistence, which is covered further down.

What you need before you start

Meta's documentation lists the pieces. None of them is hard, but each takes a little time.

A business portfolio in Meta Business Suite. Meta's overview says you can't use the Business Platform without one.
A WhatsApp account, which holds your phone number and display name.
A Messaging account, where your message templates and payment details live. Older guides talk about one "WhatsApp Business Account"; Meta's documentation now splits it into these two.
A phone number you own, with a country and area code, that can receive an SMS or a voice call (short codes aren't supported).
A display name that follows Meta's display name guidelines. Meta reviews it automatically when your number reaches a higher messaging limit.
A payment method. Meta's pricing page says that without one, service messages stop once the monthly free allowance runs out.

Business verification is optional at the start. It's worth doing early, because Meta ties it to higher limits, more templates and the Official Business Account badge.

Two ways in: through a partner or direct

Meta's Business Platform page offers two set-ups.

Partner integration means you pick a vendor and go through their embedded signup. Meta says partners "handle the technical setup, little or no code required". It suits you if you don't want to manage the API yourself and want to be running quickly.

Direct integration means you connect to the Cloud API yourself. Meta says it suits businesses that "have developers who can integrate" the Business Platform. Meta's get-started guide runs through it in four steps:

Create a Meta app with the "Connect with customers through WhatsApp" use case, attached to your business portfolio.
Open API Setup and connect a Messaging account, or create one.
Generate an access token, pick a test number and send your first message.
Set up a webhook so your software hears replies and delivery updates.

Meta creates a test number and test accounts for you along the way. Moving to your real number means adding it under API Setup and registering it.

Most small businesses go through a partner. Meta's business FAQ says there's no extra fee to access the Business Platform directly, and that partners "may charge additional fees" for their own tools. Ask any vendor for their monthly fee and for Meta's per-message charges, separately.

Setting up the WhatsApp Business API walks through the partner route screen by screen.

The rules of the road: the 24-hour window and templates

Two rules shape everything you send on the API.

The first is the customer service window. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens, and inside it you can reply with any kind of message. Each new message from the customer resets the clock.

The second is templates. Outside that window, Meta's documentation says template messages are "the only type of message that can be sent to WhatsApp users". You write a template in advance and submit it to Meta, and Meta's template review page says an approval decision "can take up to 24 hours".

Each template gets a category, and the category sets the price. Marketing covers offers, launches, invitations and anything persuasive. Utility covers updates on something the customer did or asked for, like an order or a booking. Authentication is for one-time passcodes.

Meta treats a template that mixes utility and marketing as marketing. An order update with a discount code added is a marketing message. The template approval guide covers how to write ones that pass.

WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy adds two rules that matter for automation. You may only message people who gave you their number and opted in. And if you automate replies, the policy says you "must also have available prompt, clear, and direct escalation paths", such as a hand-over to a person.

The limits a new number starts with

A new account doesn't get to message everyone on day one. Meta's messaging limits page sets the starting point.

A new business portfolio can deliver to 250 unique people outside a customer service window in any moving 24 hours.
The limit rises to 2,000 once you verify your business, or once you deliver 2,000 template messages to unique people in 30 days with high-quality templates.
After that it climbs by itself, to 10,000, then 100,000, then unlimited, as long as your messages stay high quality and you've used at least half your current limit in the last 7 days.
Every number in your business portfolio draws on the same limit, so one busy number can use it all up.

Other numbers to know, from Meta's documentation:

Meta's documentation sets a default of up to 80 messages a second per number.
An unverified portfolio can hold 250 templates per Messaging account, while a verified one with an approved display name can hold up to 6,000.
You start with 2 registered numbers per WhatsApp account hierarchy, which can rise to 20.
You can create up to 100 templates an hour in one Messaging account.

Templates have quality ratings too. If customers block or ignore one, Meta can pause it for 3 hours, then 6, then disable it. Our post on WhatsApp messaging limits goes deeper on raising them.

What the API costs

Meta charges per message delivered. The rate depends on the template category and the country code of the person receiving it. As of November 2026, Meta's rate card for Singapore numbers lists SGD 0.0937 for a marketing message and SGD 0.0205 for a utility, authentication or service message.

Service messages are your replies inside the 24-hour window. Since 1 October 2026, Meta gives each business number 1,000 of those a month at no charge, then bills per message. On top of Meta's charge sits whatever your vendor charges. The WhatsApp API pricing guide works through a month's bill.

Do you need the WhatsApp Business API?

Many small businesses don't. You probably need it if:

Several people must answer the same number at once, with a shared inbox and assignment.
You send hundreds of order updates, reminders or passcodes a day.
You want WhatsApp joined to your booking system, shop or customer records.
You want an Official Business Account, which only Business API numbers can get.

You probably don't, if one or two people answer, most chats start with the customer, and your promotions go to a short list. The free Business app covers that, and our WhatsApp Business guide shows how to set it up.

Made-up example: a tuition centre gets about 30 parent enquiries a week.

Two coordinators answer from one phone running the Business app, plus a laptop on WhatsApp Web.

They want term reminders sent to 400 families, so they look at the Business API.

The reminders are utility templates. As of November 2026, Meta's rate is SGD 0.0205 each, so 400 of them cost about SGD 8.20 a term in Meta's charges, before any vendor fee.

What actually loses them students, though, is the enquiry nobody answers until the next day.

The API fixes the reminders. It doesn't answer anyone by itself unless they also pay for an inbox, a bot or an agent on top.

Other ways to put software on WhatsApp

The API isn't the only road. There are three others, and they suit different businesses.

Coexistence lets a vendor connect your existing Business app number to the Cloud API. Meta says you keep answering from the app and the history stays in sync, while the messages you send from the app stay free. Numbers used this way are capped at 20 messages a second.

Meta Business Agent works inside the Business app itself, learning from your past chats and website and handing chats to you when you want, according to Meta, which offers it to "eligible businesses in select markets".

Then there are tools that link to the WhatsApp you already use, the way WhatsApp Web does. Palby AI Agent, which we make, works this way. It doesn't use the Business API, and it isn't one of Meta's partners: your number links by QR code through a third-party service called Green API. You don't apply for anything or buy a new number. An AI agent answers enquiries in your words and hands the hot ones to a person in a team inbox.

That route has real limits, and you should weigh them. It can't send Meta's message templates, buttons or lists, and it can't get you an Official Business Account badge. WhatsApp's help centre also warns that "linking your device through unofficial apps or websites may put your account at risk". The tool has to pace what it sends. Read how our numbers link and send before you choose it.

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