Conversation-Based Pricing
Conversation-based pricing was Meta's pricing model for the WhatsApp Business API until June 30, 2025: charges applied per 24-hour window, not per individual message. Since July 1, 2025, Meta charges per message. The 24-hour window still exists, but only as the rule for when free-form messages are allowed.
What is conversation-based pricing?
Conversation-based pricing was the billing model of the WhatsApp Business API until June 30, 2025. The unit charged was not the individual message but a 24-hour window. Once it was open, every message inside it was included, in both directions.
That model no longer applies as of July 1, 2025. Meta has billed the WhatsApp Business Platform per message since then. You will still meet the term regularly: in older guides, in quotes from other vendors and in contracts signed before the switch. Anyone budgeting today should be able to place it and know what replaced it.
What changed on July 1, 2025
The switch sounds technical, but it moves the cost calculation noticeably:
- The billing unit. The open window used to be what counted; now every message sent is counted.
- The free allowance. The 1,000 free service conversations per month belonged to the old model and no longer exist.
- Several messages in one window. The old rule of thumb, that you may as well send five messages inside an open window because only one fee applies, no longer holds.
- Inbound messages. What your customers write still costs nothing. That was true before and has stayed true.
The four message categories
What did stay is the classification: Meta assigns every message to one of four categories, and the price depends on that category and on the country of the recipient's number.
- Marketing: promotional messages, offers, product launches, newsletters. The most expensive category, because it is proactive outreach.
- Utility: service messages following a customer action, such as order confirmations, shipping status, appointment reminders or payment confirmations.
- Authentication: one-time passwords, two-factor codes, security codes.
- Service: your team's free-form reply inside the 24-hour window. Free of charge until 30 September 2026.
What it costs
Meta sets the rates. They differ by category and country and may be adjusted up to four times a year, each time at the start of a quarter. For Germany, Meta's own price list gives (as of April 1, 2026):
- Marketing: around 11 cents per message
- Utility and Authentication: around 4.6 cents per message
- Service: currently 0 cents
Germany is one of the most expensive markets on the list. Austria and Switzerland sit at around 5 cents for marketing, less than half.
This changes again on October 1, 2026. Meta will start charging for two message types that are free today: the free-form reply inside the 24-hour service window, and utility messages that fall inside that window. Both will be billed at the market's utility rate. If you answer a lot through the service channel, put this line item into your Q4 planning. The binding rates are in Meta's official pricing overview; a full worked example is in WhatsApp Business API Pricing 2026.
The 24-hour window still exists
A common misreading: the 24-hour window did not disappear along with the billing unit. It simply stopped being a price unit and remained a rule. You may send free-form messages only within 24 hours of your customer's last message. After that you need an approved message template again. So the window governs what you may send, no longer how much it costs.
How SendSeven bills
With SendSeven you pay a monthly plan fee with an included message allowance, no per-user charge, and unlimited team members and contacts. Meta's per-message fees are billed by Meta directly and do not run through us. Plans are on the pricing page.