The WhatsApp Business API, which Meta now calls the WhatsApp Business Platform, lets a business send and receive WhatsApp messages from software instead of a phone: a helpdesk, a shop system or an AI agent. Access is free. Meta charges per delivered message, by category and by the customer's country. Replies inside the 24-hour customer service window are free up to 1,000 delivered per phone number a month; since 1 October 2026 the rest are charged, as are template messages you send first. SimplyBoost connects your number through Meta's own signup in a few minutes and puts an AI agent on it for a flat €39 a month, with Meta's message fees on top.
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Both are made by Meta for businesses. The app is a phone app; the API is a connection that software uses. Our WhatsApp Business guide covers verification, the blue badge and keeping your number.
| WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Business API (Platform) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who replies | People, from a phone or the desktop app | Software: a helpdesk, a shop system, an AI agent, or people in a shared inbox |
| Devices | One phone plus linked devices | No phone needed; the number lives in Meta's cloud |
| Automation | Greeting, away message, quick replies | Any reply logic you connect, 24 hours a day |
| Messages you start | Free, by hand | Approved template messages, charged per delivery |
| Cost | Free | Access is free; Meta charges per delivered message |
| Best for | A shop or practice with one person replying | Any business that wants automation, several people answering, or integration with its systems |
Meta charges when a message is delivered, not when it is sent, and the rate depends on the category and the customer's country. The amounts are in Meta's rate cards, per currency; they change only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
Your replies inside the 24-hour customer service window, without a template: answers from your team or your AI agent. Since 1 October 2026 the first 1,000 delivered per phone number each month are free and the rest are charged per message. Unused free messages do not roll over.
Templates about something the customer asked for or did: an order confirmation, a delivery update, an appointment reminder. Charged per delivery, inside the window too since 1 October 2026. Volume tiers lower the rate as you send more.
Templates with an offer, a product suggestion, a cart reminder or a launch. The most expensive category, and the one Meta's quality rating watches closely. No volume tiers.
One-time passcode templates for logging in or confirming a transaction. Charged per delivery, with volume tiers.
Four numbers from last month give you a close estimate. Most support use stays inside the free service allowance.
Every one of them opens a free window. If your team or agent sends fewer than 1,000 replies a month from the number, the service messages cost nothing.
Each delivered reply above 1,000 a month per number costs the service rate for the customer's country. Short answers from an AI agent count one each, like a typed reply.
Order updates and reminders are utility templates; promotions and cart reminders are marketing templates. Multiply each by the rate for the country in Meta's rate card.
The API itself is free. You pay the provider that connects you, which for SimplyBoost is a flat €39, €89 or €169 a month with the AI agent included.
A webshop with one WhatsApp number, 700 customers writing in during the month, an AI agent answering, and order updates sent as templates. Rates differ by country, so the table shows what is charged, not the amount; put your country's rate from Meta's rate card in the last column.
| Messages in the month | Count | Category | Charged by Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages customers sent | 2,100 | Inbound | Nothing |
| Replies inside the 24-hour window (agent and team) | 1,600 | Service | The first 1,000 free; 600 at the service rate |
| Order confirmations and shipping updates sent as templates | 450 | Utility | 450 at the utility rate, inside or outside the window |
| Cart reminders sent as templates after the window closed | 120 | Marketing | 120 at the marketing rate |
| Conversations that started from a click-to-WhatsApp ad | 80 | Free entry point | Nothing in those conversations for at least 72 hours |
| SimplyBoost Growth plan (2,000 AI replies) | 1 | Software | €89, billed by us, not Meta |
The same shop a year earlier paid Meta for the 450 utility templates and the 120 marketing templates only; the 600 service replies above the allowance are new since 1 October 2026. An agent that answers in one message instead of three keeps more of a month inside the free 1,000.
There are two routes. Developers create a Meta app and build against the Cloud API. Everyone else uses a provider's embedded signup, which is Meta's own flow inside the provider's product.
Business verification is optional at the start and raises your messaging limits later.
With a developer: a Meta app with the WhatsApp use case, a token and a webhook. Without one: a provider such as SimplyBoost, where you sign in with Facebook and pick or add the number in a pop-up.
A number that can receive a call or SMS for verification, with a two-step verification PIN. A number already on the WhatsApp Business app can stay on the phone with Meta's coexistence; SimplyBoost supports it, and a reply typed on the phone pauses the agent on that chat.
A name that clearly relates to your business, a logo, a description and address. Meta reviews the name as your limits grow.
Order updates, reminders and campaigns need an approved template. Replies inside the window need none.
The API carries the messages; something has to answer them. SimplyBoost puts an AI agent on your number that answers from your own content and hands over to your team when a person is needed. The WhatsApp chatbot page shows it in detail.
Website pages, PDFs, documents and FAQs. The agent replies in the language the customer writes, inside the service window, so most support stays within the free allowance.
Complaints, refunds and requests for a person reach your team by email, in the dashboard, in Slack or as a Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias ticket, with the conversation attached. Your team replies from one inbox.
Order status and tracking after an email code check, address changes, returns, product suggestions with a checkout link, and cart recovery messages inside the 24-hour window.
The agent asks for the details you choose, scores each lead and emails you. Instagram and the website widget run on the same agent and the same knowledge.
A customer who writes STOP gets nothing automated until they write START. You can pause the WhatsApp channel from the dashboard while the website keeps answering.
Conversations are stored in the EU, deleted after 360 days, with a data processing agreement at simplyboost.io/dpa. The connection is Meta's official WhatsApp Business Platform.
One flat price a month, with WhatsApp included on every plan. Meta's per-message fees are billed by Meta, not by us.
€39a month
€31 a month billed yearly
500 AI replies a month
WhatsApp, website widget and Instagram, knowledge base, handover, calendar booking
€89a month
€71 a month billed yearly
2,000 AI replies a month
Everything in Starter, plus Shopify order help and cart recovery
€169a month
€135 a month billed yearly
6,000 AI replies a month
Everything in Growth, with the largest reply allowance
A connection that lets software send and receive messages on a WhatsApp Business number: a helpdesk, a shop system, an AI agent or a shared inbox. Meta now calls it the WhatsApp Business Platform; the hosted version is the Cloud API. The WhatsApp Business app, by contrast, is a phone app for people replying by hand.
Access is free. Meta charges per delivered message: templates you send first, by category and country, and, since 1 October 2026, replies inside the 24-hour customer service window beyond the first 1,000 delivered per phone number each month. On top of that you pay the provider that connects you.
It depends on the category (marketing, utility, authentication or service) and the customer's country. Meta publishes the amounts as rate cards per currency on its developer pricing page and changes them only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. Service replies are free up to 1,000 a month per number.
The first 1,000 replies delivered per phone number each month inside the 24-hour customer service window are free. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges the rest per message, at the service rate for the customer's country. Before that date all service messages were free.
The 24 hours after a customer's last message, in which you may reply without a template. Each new message from the customer resets it. Outside it, only an approved template message can reach the customer, and Meta charges for it by category.
Not for SimplyBoost. You sign in with Facebook inside the dashboard, pick or add the number in Meta's own pop-up, and the agent is live. A developer is only needed if you want to build against the Cloud API yourself.
Yes. A number on the WhatsApp Business app can be moved to the API, and with Meta's coexistence it can stay on the phone as well: SimplyBoost supports that, so a reply typed on the phone pauses the agent on that conversation.
Yes, and Meta allows it. The agent must answer as a business, respect the 24-hour window and templates like any other sender, and let people opt out. SimplyBoost's agent answers from your own content, hands over to your team when a person is needed, and stops for anyone who writes STOP.
A message format Meta approves before you may use it to start a conversation: an order update, a reminder, a campaign. Templates are the only way to message a customer outside the 24-hour window, and each delivery is charged by category and country.
The AI agent on your WhatsApp Business number, in detail.
ReadApp or API, verification, the blue badge, one number on both.
ReadRunning support on WhatsApp, with the tools compared.
ReadThe short definition.
ReadStart a 7-day free trial with 100 AI replies. Add your website, install the widget and see how the agent answers your customers.
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