This calculator uses Meta’s official prices, effective 1 April 2026 for 32 markets worldwide. The fees go to Meta in full — SAEI applies them at a margin of 0%. You can compare markets and spread your message volume across the four categories to see your expected bill.
Meta chooses the category automatically when it approves the template, and it is what sets the cost. The images are from WhatsApp Business’s own pages.
32 markets worldwide. Meta’s official prices, effective 2026-10-01. Service messages are priced at each market’s utility rate, after the first thousand a month per number.
| Market | Marketing | Utility | Authentication | International authentication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 0.2159 | 0.0401 | 0.0401 | 0.2240 |
| United Arab Emirates | 0.2159 | 0.0588 | 0.0588 | 0.1911 |
| Kuwait | 0.2969 | 0.1649 | 0.1649 | 0.4497 |
| Qatar | 0.1278 | 0.0450 | 0.0450 | — |
| Oman | 0.1278 | 0.0926 | 0.0926 | 0.2248 |
| Iraq | 0.1278 | 0.0296 | 0.0296 | 0.4796 |
| Egypt | 0.2413 | 0.0135 | 0.0135 | 0.2435 |
| Rest of Middle East | 0.1470 | 0.0341 | 0.0341 | — |
| Nigeria | 0.1933 | 0.0251 | 0.0251 | 0.2810 |
| South Africa | 0.1420 | 0.0356 | 0.0356 | 0.0749 |
| Morocco | 0.1551 | 0.0863 | 0.0863 | 0.3041 |
| Rest of Africa | 0.0843 | 0.0150 | 0.0150 | — |
| India | 0.0442 | 0.0052 | 0.0052 | 0.1139 |
| Pakistan | 0.1772 | 0.0563 | 0.0563 | 0.2810 |
| Bangladesh | 0.2742 | 0.0139 | 0.0139 | 0.3594 |
| Sri Lanka | 0.2742 | 0.0075 | 0.0075 | 0.5390 |
| Nepal | 0.2742 | 0.0127 | 0.0127 | 0.4193 |
| Indonesia | 0.1540 | 0.0937 | 0.0937 | 0.5095 |
| Malaysia | 0.3222 | 0.0524 | 0.0524 | 0.1566 |
| Singapore | 0.2742 | 0.0599 | 0.0599 | — |
| Hong Kong | 0.2742 | 0.0973 | 0.0973 | — |
| Kazakhstan | 0.2263 | 0.0673 | 0.0673 | 0.5984 |
| Turkey | 0.0408 | 0.0034 | 0.0034 | — |
| Israel | 0.1322 | 0.0199 | 0.0199 | — |
| Russia | 0.3005 | 0.1499 | 0.1499 | — |
| Rest of Asia Pacific | 0.3153 | 0.0423 | 0.0423 | — |
| United Kingdom | 0.2378 | 0.0824 | 0.0824 | — |
| Germany | 0.5114 | 0.2061 | 0.2061 | — |
| France | 0.3218 | 0.1124 | 0.1124 | — |
| Italy | 0.2977 | 0.1124 | 0.1124 | — |
| Spain | 0.2650 | 0.0749 | 0.0749 | — |
| Netherlands | 0.5983 | 0.1873 | 0.1873 | — |
| Poland | 0.1371 | 0.0457 | 0.0457 | — |
| Hungary | 0.3222 | 0.1311 | 0.1311 | — |
| Romania | 0.3222 | 0.1086 | 0.1086 | — |
| Ukraine | 0.3222 | 0.1116 | 0.1116 | 0.2794 |
| Rest of Western Europe | 0.2218 | 0.0641 | 0.0641 | — |
| Rest of Central & Eastern Europe | 0.3222 | 0.0794 | 0.0794 | — |
| Brazil | 0.2342 | 0.0255 | 0.0255 | — |
| Mexico | 0.1486 | 0.0318 | 0.0318 | — |
| Argentina | 0.2315 | 0.0974 | 0.0974 | — |
| Colombia | 0.0468 | 0.0030 | 0.0030 | — |
| Chile | 0.3331 | 0.0749 | 0.0749 | — |
| Peru | 0.2634 | 0.1124 | 0.1124 | — |
| North America | 0.0937 | 0.0127 | 0.0127 | — |
| Rest of Latin America | 0.2772 | 0.0423 | 0.0423 | — |
| Other markets | 0.2263 | 0.0288 | 0.0288 | — |
After the changes of 1 October 2026, one free allowance and one free window are left. Knowing which of them applies to you is the difference between a bill you expected and a bill you did not.
Every business number gets a thousand free service messages a month. Past that, each message you send inside the 24-hour window is charged at the same rate as a utility message. The count restarts every month, never rolls over, and is never pooled between two numbers.
A customer clicked a CTM ad or the WhatsApp button on Facebook or Instagram? Every message you send them for 72 hours is free — marketing, utility, all of it.
Utility templates sent as a reply inside the 24-hour window had been free since July 2025. From 1 October 2026 they are charged in full, with no free allowance at all.
No. Meta’s fees are charged at their official rate exactly as they are, and the whole amount goes to Meta. SAEI applies a 0% margin to those fees.
Not entirely, any more. Meta removed the charge for service messages on 1 November 2024 and brought it back on 1 October 2026. Every business phone number gets a thousand free service messages per calendar month; past that, each one is charged at the utility rate for the customer’s market — SAR 0.0401 for a Saudi customer. The allowance belongs to each number separately, never rolls over into the next month, is never pooled between two numbers, and earns no volume discount.
Any free-form message — not an approved template — that you send in reply to a customer who messaged you in the last 24 hours, whether an agent typed it in the inbox or your own chatbot or AI agent sent it. An agent’s reply and a bot’s reply count exactly the same, which is what turns high-volume automation into a line on the bill from 1 October 2026.
Utility templates sent as a reply inside the 24-hour window had been free since 1 July 2025. From 1 October 2026 they are charged in full at the market rate, with no free allowance — the thousand-message allowance covers service messages only, not these.
Under Meta’s schedule effective 1 October 2026: SAR 0.2159 per message in the Saudi market. Enter your message volume in the calculator above to see a detailed monthly cost.
Authentication is the ordinary price for verification messages (OTP) in the market the number is resident in. Authentication-International applies in certain markets when an OTP is sent to a number in one of them — the price is higher because Meta passes on an additional operational cost.
Yes. Meta bills you for them through your own WhatsApp Business account. SAEI manages your account and provides the integration, but neither adds to nor deducts from Meta’s bill.
Two things. (1) The first thousand service messages a month, per business phone number. (2) The free entry point window: when a customer starts the conversation from an ad that clicks through to WhatsApp, or from the WhatsApp button on Facebook or Instagram, every message you send them is free for 72 hours, in any category. What is no longer free: utility templates inside the 24-hour window, and service messages past the first thousand.
Meta stops delivering service messages. This is not a late-invoice problem: service messages are your replies in the inbox, so it means your support agents are typing into a channel that does not arrive. Make sure a valid payment method is on your WhatsApp Business account in Meta’s Billing Hub before charging begins.
