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What WhatsApp will cost you each month, on Meta's October 2026 rates.
Meta charges per delivered message. Your first 1,000 service replies each month are free on every business number, and utility templates are charged even inside the 24-hour window. From 1 October 2026, a service or utility message costs $0.0157 in the UAE and $0.0107 in Saudi Arabia. Marketing costs $0.0576 in both.
$86.35AED 316.80 on Meta's AED card
- Service replies$78.50
- Utility templates$7.85
- Marketing templates$0.00
- Authentication templates$0.00
- Free allowance used: 1,000 of 1,000 service messages. 5,000 are charged.
- Bubble check: if each reply went out as three messages, the bill would rise by $188.40 a month.
- Same replies on Meta Business Agent: about $240.00 to $300.00. It is charged per token on every reply, with no free tier, and it is charged inside the free entry window too.
List rates before volume discounts. Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business account. Provider fees and AI costs are extra.
If WhatsApp runs inside Salesforce, Salesforce bills it in Message Credits on its own rate card, which starts charging in-window utility and service messages on 1 November 2026.
Meta's rates from 1 October 2026
US dollars per delivered message, by the customer's market. Utility, authentication and service share one rate in every Gulf market. Local cards exist only for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
| Market | Marketing | Utility, auth, service | Local card |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | $0.0576 | $0.0157 | AED 0.2115 / AED 0.0576 |
| Saudi Arabia | $0.0576 | $0.0107 | SAR 0.2159 / SAR 0.0401 |
| Kuwait | $0.0792 | $0.044 | None |
| Qatar | $0.0341 | $0.012 | None |
| Oman | $0.0341 | $0.0247 | None |
| Rest of Middle East (incl. Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen) | $0.0392 | $0.0091 | None |
Source: Meta's pricing page, rate cards effective 1 October 2026. Checked on 10 October 2026.
How Meta bills
- Meta charges per delivered message. Messages your customers send are free (Meta).
- Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month. Service messages are the free-form replies you send inside the 24-hour window. The count covers every provider on that number, resets each month, and unused messages do not roll over (Meta).
- From 1 October 2026, utility templates are charged even when you send them inside the 24-hour window (Meta).
- A chat that starts from an ad that opens a chat, or from a Page call to action, opens a free entry window. Meta says it may remain open for up to 7 days, and every message type in it is free (Meta).
- Meta Business Agent is billed differently: $2 per million tokens, which Meta puts at about 4 to 5 US cents a message, delivery included. It has no free tier and is charged inside the free entry window (Meta).
Three ways the bill grows
One answer, several messages
Meta counts messages, not answers. A UAE team with 500 conversations a month and 8 replies each pays $47.10 when each reply is one message. Split every reply into three short messages and the same answers cost $172.70.
Utility inside the window
Until October, a utility template sent while the customer's window was open was free. It is now charged at the utility rate, so order updates and reminders sent mid-chat add to the bill.
Marketing costs a multiple of service
A marketing message costs 3.7 times a service message in the UAE and 5.4 times in Saudi Arabia. A campaign to 1,000 opted-in UAE customers costs $57.60 before any replies.
Where to go next
- WhatsApp Business API pricing in the UAE, worked through
- WhatsApp for your business, set up on your own account
- AI agents that answer on WhatsApp
- Meta Business Agent or a custom agent
- Mindcat Inbox: every lead in one inbox on the company number
Questions
- Who bills me for WhatsApp messages?
- Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business account for every delivered message, at its list rates less any volume discount. A provider that manages your number may pass those charges through and add its own fee. If WhatsApp runs inside Salesforce, Salesforce bills it in Message Credits on its own rate card instead.
- Are customer messages free?
- Yes. Meta charges only for messages your business sends. What your customers send you costs nothing, and the first 1,000 service replies each month on each business number are free too.
- What about Saudi numbers?
- Meta prices each message by the customer's market. For Saudi numbers a service, utility or authentication message costs $0.0107 and a marketing message costs $0.0576. Meta's SAR card lists SAR 0.0401 and SAR 0.2159. The free allowance and the window rules are the same as in the UAE.
- Does this include Mindcat's fees?
- No. Mindcat apps charge per agent. Meta's fees stay on your own account, at cost, and we do not mark them up. Provider fees and AI model costs are not in this estimate either.
- What is the free entry window?
- When a customer starts a chat from an ad that opens a chat, or from a Page call to action, Meta opens a free entry window. Meta says it may remain open for up to 7 days. While it is open, marketing, utility, authentication and service messages to that customer are free. Meta Business Agent messages are still charged.
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