What the WhatsApp Business API is
The WhatsApp Business API lets software, rather than a person holding a phone, send and receive WhatsApp messages for your business. Meta describes the WhatsApp Business Platform as a way for businesses "to communicate with customers at scale". The Cloud API is the part of that platform your software connects to.
In practice that means:
- Messages arrive in your systems. Every incoming message and every delivery or read receipt is sent to a server as a webhook, so it can land in an inbox, a CRM or an order system.
- Your systems can send messages. An order system can send "your order has shipped", a booking system can send a reminder, a payment system can send a receipt.
- Many people, one number. A whole team can work from one WhatsApp number through a shared inbox, with automation handling the routine questions.
- Templates for messages you start. To message someone who hasn't written to you in the last 24 hours, you use a message template that Meta has reviewed.
Source: Meta, About the platform and Templates overview.
Cloud API is the only version now
Older articles mention an "On-Premises API" that businesses hosted themselves. Meta stopped registering new numbers on it in July 2024, and its final version expired on 23 October 2025. Messages to or from numbers still registered there are not delivered. If you get the WhatsApp Business API in 2026, you are getting the Cloud API, which Meta runs.
Source: Meta, On-Premises API sunset.
WhatsApp Business app vs API
The short version: the app is a phone app that one business runs by hand. The API is a connection that software uses, so it can serve a team, run automation and talk to your other systems. You pay Meta per message on the API.
One catch: a number that is already active on WhatsApp (the normal app or the Business app) can't be registered on the API until it is deleted from the app. Meta documents a feature for running the app and the API on one number, called coexistence, but our platform does not support it, and we haven't confirmed that Meta offers it in South Africa. With us, use a separate number for the API, or move your main number over once you're ready (deleting it from the app first loses the app's chat history).
Source: Meta, Business phone numbers ("Numbers already in use with WhatsApp cannot be registered unless they are deleted first") and Customer service windows.
How to get the WhatsApp Business API in South Africa
You don't apply to Meta and wait. You connect your business through Meta's own sign-up flow, called Embedded Signup, which a provider puts on their site or in their dashboard. It takes you through the steps below, and the WhatsApp account and number it sets up belong to your business, not to the provider.
- A Meta business portfolioLog in with Facebook and choose your business portfolio (formerly Business Manager), or create one. Use your registered company name.
- A WhatsApp accountEmbedded Signup creates or selects the WhatsApp account that holds your number and display name. Since 23 September 2026, Meta also creates a separate Messaging account for each provider you work with, which holds your templates and billing.
- A phone numberThe number must be yours, must be able to receive an SMS or voice call for the verification code, and needs a country and area code (short codes don't work). Landlines can work with voice verification. New portfolios can register two numbers, rising to 20 once you are verified or reach the 2,000 messaging limit.
- A display nameThis is the business name customers see. Meta checks it against its display name guidelines, including when you reach a higher messaging limit, and you can change it up to 10 times in 30 days. Pick a name that clearly matches your business, website and signage.
- A payment methodAdd a card to your Messaging account so Meta can bill you for messages. When a Tech Provider connects you, Meta requires this before you can start messaging, and without a card Meta stops delivering service replies once the free 1,000 a month are used.
- Business verification (recommended)Verify your business with Meta. You can start messaging without it, but it is one of the ways to lift your daily limit from 250 to 2,000 customers, and Meta requires it for higher number caps and Official Business Account status.
When you connect through Euphony, Meta's screens name the app you are giving access to. We'll show you what to expect on each screen before you start.
We can't verify your business for you
Under Meta's rules, only Select and Premier Solution Partners can submit verification on a client's behalf. As a Tech Provider, Codeswop coaches you through doing it yourself: which CIPC documents to use, matching your website and domain email, and what to fix if Meta rejects it. See our guide to Meta business verification in South Africa.
Sources: Meta, Embedded Signup overview, Business phone numbers, Display names, Updates to WhatsApp Business accounts, Messaging limits, How to verify your business on Meta, Partner-led business verification.
Messaging limits: 250 to start
A messaging limit is the number of different customers you can message per rolling 24 hours outside an open service window. New business portfolios start at 250. Verifying your business, or sending 2,000 high-quality template messages to different people within 30 days, can raise it to 2,000. After that Meta raises it automatically (10,000, 100,000, then unlimited) when your quality is high and you use at least half your current limit over 7 days. Replies to customers who messaged you first don't count toward the limit. More in our messaging limits guide.
Source: Meta, Messaging limits.
Who can connect you: provider types
You can build on the Cloud API yourself if you have developers. Most businesses use a provider. Meta recognises three kinds of partner, and many software platforms sit on top of them.
Codeswop is a Meta Tech Provider. So with Euphony you keep your own WhatsApp account and number, Meta bills you directly at Meta's rates, and our invoice covers only our own work: the event storming session, the build and a monthly plan. By comparison, Twilio publishes a fee of US$0.005 per WhatsApp message, inbound or outbound, on top of Meta's rate (Twilio pricing, "current as of September 2026", opened 26 October 2026; more on our Twilio switching page). We go through who bills what in BSP vs Tech Provider vs Solution Partner, and compare named providers fairly in the best WhatsApp Business API providers in South Africa.
Source: Meta, Partners overview (partner comparison table).
Already with a provider?
Since 23 September 2026 you don't migrate your number to change provider. You share your WhatsApp account with the new provider, and the number, display name, quality rating and messaging limits stay as they are. Templates don't carry over and are recreated (or copied) in the new provider's Messaging account. See switching providers without moving your number.
Source: Meta, Updates to WhatsApp Business accounts.
What it costs in South Africa
Meta charges per delivered message. The price depends on the message category and the country code of the person receiving it, so every +27 number is charged the South African rate. Messages customers send you are free.
- No rand billing. Meta supports 16 billing currencies and the rand isn't one of them, so most SA businesses pay in US dollars on a card.
- Ads that click to WhatsApp open a free messaging window of at least 72 hours when a customer messages you from the ad in the WhatsApp phone app and you reply within 24 hours. See the free window after an ad tap.
- Meta can change rates only on the first day of a quarter. The next possible date is 1 January 2027.
Euphony charges R5,000 ex VAT for an event storming session, which ends with a fixed quote for the build, from R15,000 ex VAT, plus R7,500 per integration, and from R4,950 ex VAT a month for running it. Our plans are on Euphony pricing; WhatsApp API pricing in South Africa has Meta's rate card, a rand calculator and worked examples; and what changed on 1 October 2026 explains why older articles say service replies are free.
Source: Meta, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (updated 30 September 2026; opened 26 October 2026).