What changed on 1 October 2026
Meta charges per delivered message on the WhatsApp Business Platform. The price depends on the message category and the recipient's country code, so any message to a +27 number is charged the South Africa rate. Messages customers send to you are never charged.
Three things changed for South African businesses on 1 October 2026:
- Service messages are charged again. These are the free-form replies you send while a customer's 24-hour window is open. They had been free since 1 November 2024. Now each business phone number gets 1,000 free a month, and Meta charges from the 1,001st.
- Utility messages sent inside the window are charged. A utility template, such as an order or booking confirmation, sent in reply to a customer had been free since 1 July 2025. It is now charged at the normal utility rate.
- SA utility and authentication rates went up. Meta's change log lists "South Africa, Utility, Authentication, Increase" for 1 October 2026. Both are now US$0.0095.
Source: Meta, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, "Effective October 1, 2026" (page updated 30 September 2026; checked 26 October 2026).
What South African businesses pay now
| Category | Before | From 1 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Promotions, offers, campaigns | $0.0379 | $0.0379 |
| Utility, outside the window Reminders, delivery updates, statements | $0.0076* | $0.0095 |
| Utility, inside the window Confirmations sent in reply to a customer | Free | $0.0095 |
| Authentication One-time passwords | Lower* | $0.0095 |
| Service Free-form replies inside the 24-hour window | Free | First 1,000 per number a month free, then $0.0095 |
| Meta Business Agent Replies written by Meta's own AI agent | Introduced 1 Jul 2026 | $2.00 per 1M tokens (Meta's estimate: about 4 to 5 US cents a message) |
* Meta's page records the increase for both utility and authentication but does not restate the previous South African rates. US$0.0076 for utility is the figure quoted by third-party rate pages before the change, not a Meta figure. We could not confirm the previous authentication rate. Current rates: Meta's USD rate card and volume tiers, effective 1 October 2026, and the interactive rate table.
If your Messaging account has no payment method, Meta delivers service messages within the free tier and then stops delivering them for the rest of the month. Check your card in Meta's Billing Hub.
How the 1,000 free service messages work
- Per phone number. Each business phone number has its own allowance of 1,000 delivered service messages a month.
- No roll-over. Unused messages expire. The count resets at midnight, in your Messaging account's time zone, on the first of each month.
- Service only. The allowance covers free-form replies. It doesn't cover utility, authentication or marketing templates, even when they are sent inside the window.
- You can see which is which. In Meta's status webhooks, a service message inside the free tier shows
pricing.typeasfree_customer_service. Once you pass 1,000, it showsregular.
Because SA service and utility now cost the same (US$0.0095), switching a reply from a template to free-form text saves nothing after the free tier is used up. Within the first 1,000, though, a free-form reply is free and a utility template is not.
Source: Meta, Free tier of monthly service messages. The 24-hour window is explained in Meta's customer service window docs.
Worked example: before and after
Example A business with one WhatsApp number sends the following in a month. The volumes are made up to show the maths, not taken from a real client.
| Messages a month | Count | Up to 30 Sep 2026 | From 1 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service replies from staff | 3,000 | $0.00 (free) | $19.00 (2,000 × $0.0095) |
| Booking confirmations sent in the chat (utility, inside the window) | 1,200 | $0.00 (free) | $11.40 (1,200 × $0.0095) |
| Next-day reminders (utility, outside the window) | 800 | $6.08 (800 × $0.0076*) | $7.60 (800 × $0.0095) |
| Monthly offer to opted-in customers (marketing) | 1,000 | $37.90 | $37.90 |
| Total Meta bill | 6,000 | $43.98 | $75.90 |
This business pays about US$32 more a month, an increase of roughly 73%. Most of the increase comes from the two allowances that ended, not from the higher utility rate. At an example exchange rate of R18 to the dollar, the bill goes from about R792 to about R1,366. Meta bills in dollars, so the rand amount moves with the exchange rate.
Three quick cases
- Small support line, 800 replies a month on one number: still US$0. All 800 fall inside the free tier.
- Busy support desk, 12,000 replies a month on one number: was US$0, now US$104.50 (11,000 × $0.0095).
- Campaign-only sender, marketing templates only: no change, because SA marketing stayed at US$0.0379.
Volume tiers for utility and authentication
At high volumes, Meta lowers the utility and authentication rate for the messages in each higher tier. Marketing and service have no volume tiers. The South African tiers from 1 October 2026:
| Utility messages a month | Rate (US$) |
|---|---|
| 0 to 100,000 | $0.0095 |
| 100,001 to 1,000,000 | $0.0090 |
| 1,000,001 to 4,500,000 | $0.0086 |
| 4,500,001 to 40,000,000 | $0.0081 |
| 40,000,001 to 80,000,000 | $0.0076 |
| 80,000,001 and up | $0.0071 |
| Authentication messages a month | Rate (US$) |
|---|---|
| 0 to 300,000 | $0.0095 |
| 300,001 to 2,000,000 | $0.0090 |
| 2,000,001 to 10,000,000 | $0.0086 |
| 10,000,001 to 20,000,000 | $0.0081 |
| 20,000,001 to 40,000,000 | $0.0076 |
| 40,000,001 and up | $0.0071 |
Example A retailer sends 250,000 utility messages to SA numbers in a month. The first 100,000 cost $950 and the next 150,000 cost $1,350, so the month costs $2,300 instead of $2,375 at the flat list rate.
Three rules decide which tier you reach:
- Meta counts messages across your whole business portfolio, including every Messaging account and every partner sending for you.
- Only charged messages count. Free messages sent in a Click-to-WhatsApp ad window don't move you up a tier.
- The count resets every month.
Source: Meta, Volume tiers for utility and authentication messages, and the USD volume tiers file linked from Meta's rate cards.
What is still free
- Everything customers send you. Meta only charges for messages from businesses to users.
- The first 1,000 service replies per business phone number each month.
- Messages after a Click-to-WhatsApp ad. When a customer messages you from an ad on Android or iOS and you reply within the window, Meta doesn't charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages for a free window of at least 72 hours. Meta's developer docs currently say up to 7 days, and its business site still says 72 hours. Read more in the free ad window explained.
- Service replies from eligible government bodies and non-profits, beyond the free tier, until 31 December 2027. Meta decides who is eligible (Meta's policy).
Messages written by Meta's own AI agent (Meta Business Agent) are charged even inside the free ad window. An AI reply from a third-party model, such as one we build with Claude, goes out as a normal service message: free within the 1,000, then US$0.0095, plus the model provider's own charge. See what a WhatsApp AI agent costs.
What to do now
- Check your payment method. Without one, service replies stop once the 1,000 free messages are used up.
- Count your service replies per number. Meta's pricing analytics break your delivered messages down by category. If you send more than 1,000 replies a month on a number, work out the cost using the example above.
- Look at confirmations sent in the chat. They are now charged as utility. Some can be sent as plain replies instead, which is free within the 1,000. After that, both cost the same.
- Check whether your provider adds a margin. Some providers re-bill Meta's fees with a markup. Since 1 October, a markup like that can also apply to replies that used to be free, so ask for an itemised bill.
- Plan for 1 January 2027. Meta may change prices on the first day of each quarter, with at least a month's notice for a rate change (Meta's pricing calendar).
Who bills you, and in what currency
Meta bills in 16 currencies, and the South African rand isn't one of them, so SA businesses pay in US dollars or another supported currency. With Euphony, you connect your own WhatsApp account through Meta's Embedded Signup and add your own card. Meta then bills you directly at Meta's rates. Codeswop is a Meta Tech Provider, and Euphony adds nothing to message costs. We charge for the event storming session, the build and a monthly plan from R4,950 ex VAT. See pricing.
If you are with a provider now and want to change, you no longer have to move your number. Since 23 September 2026, you share your WhatsApp account with the new provider instead. Your templates have to be recreated. See switching providers.