Effective October 1, 2026, Chat App Message Service applies new WhatsApp message rates in certain countries and regions and introduces new billing rules for service conversation messages. These changes follow the official Meta (WhatsApp) policy. When they take effect for you depends on whether you are an upfront or a postpaid user.
Policy background
According to the Meta notification, the following four changes take effect on October 1, 2026:
Updated rates for marketing messages, utility messages, and identity verification messages in certain countries and regions.
Standalone rates for nine countries and regions that are removed from their continental pricing groupings, plus new international identity verification message rates.
Billing for service conversation messages, with 1,000 free messages per month for each business phone number.
Billing for utility messages sent within the 24-hour customer service window.
Effective time
The new rates take effect at different times depending on your billing method:
Postpaid users — Messages sent to the affected countries and regions are billed at the new rates from 00:00 on October 1, 2026.
Upfront users — Messages sent after Chat App Message Service pricing is updated are billed at the new rates.
Rate adjustment overview
The following WhatsApp message rates change on October 1, 2026. For the before and after rate of each message type, see Rate adjustment details.
Marketing message and Marketing Messages Lite (MML) rate increases — Kuwait, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Other Middle East, and Other Asia Pacific.
Utility message and identity verification message rate increases — Kazakhstan*, Kuwait*, Morocco*, Oman*, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, and Ukraine*.
Utility message and identity verification message rate decreases — Bangladesh*, Iraq*, Nepal*, and Sri Lanka*.
* These countries and regions also move to standalone pricing on October 1, 2026. See Standalone pricing for nine countries and regions.
Standalone pricing for nine countries and regions
On October 1, 2026, the following nine countries and regions are removed from their continental pricing groupings and receive standalone rates: Bangladesh, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. International identity verification message rates are added for these countries and regions at the same time.
Before October 1, 2026, messages sent to these countries and regions are billed at the rate of the continental grouping they belong to. From October 1, 2026, they are billed at the new standalone rates.
Service conversation message billing
From October 1, 2026, service conversation messages are billed per message:
Free quota — Each business phone number is entitled to 1,000 free service conversation messages per month. From the 1,001st message onward, messages are billed at the rate for the receiving country or region.
Monthly reset — The free quota resets every month and does not roll over to the next month.
Fees — Messages within the free quota incur no WhatsApp message fees and no Chat App Message Service platform service fees. Messages above the free quota incur standard WhatsApp message fees and Chat App Message Service platform service fees.
Sending window — Service conversation messages can be sent only within the 24-hour customer service window. This rule does not change.
Rate basis — Chat App Message Service charges 1.1 times the official Meta service conversation message rate.
Receiving country or region | Service conversation message (USD/message) |
Argentina | 0.0286 |
Bangladesh | 0.0041 |
Brazil | 0.0075 |
Chile | 0.022 |
Colombia | 0.0009 |
Egypt | 0.004 |
France | 0.033 |
Germany | 0.0605 |
China (Hong Kong) | 0.0286 |
Hungary | 0.0385 |
India | 0.0016 |
Indonesia | 0.0275 |
Iraq | 0.0087 |
Israel | 0.0059 |
Italy | 0.033 |
Kazakhstan | 0.0198 |
Kuwait | 0.0484 |
Malaysia | 0.0154 |
Mexico | 0.0094 |
Morocco | 0.0253 |
Netherlands | 0.055 |
Nepal | 0.0038 |
Nigeria | 0.0074 |
Oman | 0.0272 |
Pakistan | 0.0165 |
Peru | 0.033 |
Poland | 0.0135 |
Qatar | 0.0132 |
Romania | 0.0319 |
Russia | 0.044 |
Saudi Arabia | 0.0118 |
Singapore | 0.0176 |
South Africa | 0.0105 |
Spain | 0.022 |
Sri Lanka | 0.0022 |
Türkiye | 0.001 |
Ukraine | 0.0328 |
United Arab Emirates | 0.0173 |
United Kingdom | 0.0242 |
North America | 0.0038 |
Other Africa | 0.0044 |
Other Asia Pacific | 0.0125 |
Other Central and Eastern Europe | 0.0234 |
Other Latin America | 0.0125 |
Other Middle East | 0.0101 |
Other Western Europe | 0.0189 |
Other | 0.0085 |
Utility message billing
From October 1, 2026, utility messages sent within the 24-hour customer service window are no longer free. They are billed based on the receiving country or region. For the before and after rates, see Rate adjustment details.
Rate adjustment details
The following tables list the rate before and after the October 1, 2026 adjustment for each message type and receiving country or region. A hyphen (-) indicates that no rate is listed for that message type and country or region combination.
Receiving country or region | Marketing message (USD/message) | Marketing Messages Lite (MML) (USD/message) | Utility message (USD/message) | Identity verification message (USD/message) | International identity verification message (USD/message) | |||||
Before adjustment | After adjustment | Before adjustment | After adjustment | Before adjustment | After adjustment | Before adjustment | After adjustment | Before adjustment | After adjustment | |
Bangladesh | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0113 | 0.0037 | 0.0113 | 0.0037 | - | 0.096 |
Iraq | 0.0341 | 0.0341 | 0.0341 | 0.0341 | 0.0091 | 0.0079 | 0.0091 | 0.0079 | - | 0.128 |
Kazakhstan | - | - | - | - | 0.0077 | 0.018 | 0.0077 | 0.018 | - | 0.16 |
Kuwait | 0.0341 | 0.0792 | 0.0341 | 0.0792 | 0.0091 | 0.044 | 0.0091 | 0.044 | - | 0.12 |
Mexico | 0.0305 | 0.0397 | 0.0305 | 0.0397 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Morocco | 0.0225 | 0.0414 | 0.0225 | 0.0414 | 0.004 | 0.023 | 0.004 | 0.023 | - | 0.0811 |
Nepal | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0113 | 0.0034 | 0.0113 | 0.0034 | - | 0.112 |
Oman | - | - | - | - | 0.0091 | 0.0247 | 0.0091 | 0.0247 | - | 0.06 |
Pakistan | - | - | - | - | 0.01 | 0.015 | 0.01 | 0.015 | - | - |
Peru | - | - | - | - | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.03 | - | - |
Saudi Arabia | 0.0501 | 0.0576 | 0.0501 | 0.0576 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
South Africa | - | - | - | - | 0.0076 | 0.0095 | 0.0076 | 0.0095 | - | - |
Sri Lanka | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0732 | 0.0113 | 0.002 | 0.0113 | 0.002 | - | 0.144 |
Ukraine | 0.086 | 0.086 | 0.086 | 0.086 | 0.0212 | 0.0298 | 0.0212 | 0.0298 | - | 0.0746 |
United Arab Emirates | 0.0499 | 0.0576 | 0.0499 | 0.0576 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Other Asia Pacific | 0.0732 | 0.0842 | 0.0732 | 0.0842 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Other Middle East | 0.0341 | 0.0392 | 0.0341 | 0.0392 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Impact assessment checklist
Use the following checklist to assess how these changes affect your business:
Confirm your billing method — Determine whether you are an upfront or a postpaid user. The new rates take effect at different times for each. See Effective time.
Check your coverage — Confirm whether you send messages to the countries and regions with rate changes, and to the nine countries and regions that move to standalone pricing.
Assess service conversation message volume — Confirm the monthly service conversation message volume for each business phone number. Messages above the 1,000-message free quota are billed at the rates in Service conversation message billing.
Assess utility message volume — Confirm how many utility messages you send within the 24-hour customer service window. These messages become billable on October 1, 2026.
Estimate the cost impact — Combine your message volume and message types with the rates in Rate adjustment details.
Adjust your sending strategy — Update your message sending strategy based on your assessment results.