WhatsApp has charged per delivered message, rather than per conversation, since 1 July 2025. The rate depends on the message category and the recipient's country code, and messages from customers to businesses are never charged. On 1 October 2026 two more changes took effect, and not every partner site has caught up.
What changed on 1 October 2026
- Service messages, the free-form replies sent inside the 24-hour customer service window, are now charged, at the same rate as utility messages in each market.
- Utility templates sent inside the window, free since July 2025, are charged again.
- Businesses with no payment method on file by 30 September have their service messages stopped.
- UAE and Saudi marketing rates went up, and Kuwait and Oman moved out of the Rest of Middle East rate to their own rates.
The official rates per delivered message
- UAE: marketing $0.0576, utility $0.0157, authentication $0.0157, service $0.0157. In dirhams: marketing AED 0.2115, utility and service AED 0.0576.
- Saudi Arabia: marketing $0.0576, utility $0.0107, authentication $0.0107, service $0.0107. In riyals: marketing SAR 0.2159, utility and service SAR 0.0401.
- Qatar: marketing $0.0341 and utility $0.0120. Kuwait: $0.0792 and $0.0440. Oman: $0.0341 and $0.0247.
These are Meta's rate cards effective 1 October 2026. Some partner sites still quote UAE marketing at $0.0499. Utility and authentication get volume discounts above set monthly volumes, and dirhams and riyals have been billing currencies since April 2026. Meta now changes prices only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
What is still free
- 1,000 service messages a month for each business phone number, resetting monthly.
- Messages inside the free entry point window, which opens when a business replies to someone who arrived from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button. It can stay open for up to seven days, not the 72 hours some guides still quote, and covers marketing, utility, authentication and service messages on the Android and iOS apps.
- Not Meta's Business Agent AI, launched in July 2026, which is charged even inside that window, at a global rate Meta puts at roughly four to five US cents a message.
Marketing limits
WhatsApp caps how many marketing templates one person receives from all businesses combined, adjusting to that person's recent reading. Blocked sends return an error, and Meta advises waiting at least 24 hours before retrying. Marketing messages sent inside a window the customer opened do not count towards the cap. The Marketing Messages API optimises delivery towards people likely to engage and lets businesses set a maximum price per marketing message.
Consent
- WhatsApp's policy requires opt-in permission and honouring opt-outs made on or off WhatsApp, and makes the business responsible for a lawful opt-in.
- In the UAE, Cabinet Resolution 56 of 2024 treats marketing messages through social media apps as telemarketing: approval, opt-in contacts only, no numbers on the Do Not Call Register, and 9am to 6pm.
- In Saudi Arabia, the Personal Data Protection Law requires consent for direct marketing and an easy opt-out.
Also new in 2026
- Business-scoped user IDs now appear in webhooks, and users can adopt usernames, so a customer's phone number may be missing from what your system receives. Check your integrations.
- Ads in the Updates tab, in Status and promoted channels, were announced in 2025. We could not confirm availability in the Gulf.
The UTM builder on this site tags the links in your WhatsApp templates so the clicks show up in analytics.
