Upcoming pricing updates for Meta Business Agent, service and utility messages

Updated: Jul 1, 2026

This page explains upcoming pricing updates for the Meta Business Platform. To understand how we currently charge, please see Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

You can respond to WhatsApp users with non-template messages. Non-template messages can only be sent in an open 24-hour customer service window, which opens and resets with each user message.

Summary of timeline

The following timeline summarizes the launch and pricing updates covered on this page:

• As of July 1, 2026, Meta launches the Meta Business Agent Platform. Any partner or directly integrated client can integrate with the platform using APIs.
• Effective August 1, 2026, Meta will charge all businesses for Meta Business Agent messages, with monthly invoices issued at the end of the billing period.
• Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for service messages, which have not been charged since November 2024.
• Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for utility messages sent in response to users within an open 24-hour customer service window. These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025.

Message categories for non-template messages

Today, non-template message responses to users are all service messages (category: service). With the introduction of Meta Business Agent, non-template messages can be one of two categories: Service (existing category) or Meta Business Agent (new category).

• Meta Business Agent messages – These are powered by the Meta Business Agent Platform. This will be a new message category on our platform.
• Service messages – As today, these can be powered by a person, like a customer service representative, or by a 3rd-party AI solution. This is an existing message category on our platform. Any non-template message that is not powered by Meta Business Agent is a service message.

Pricing updates

In H2 2026, Meta will charge for non-template messages sent in response to users, based on the category of the message:

• Effective August 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-token basis for Meta Business Agent messages. Charges reflect the token consumption to ingest the user's message (the prompt) and to generate a response.
• Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages.
• Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users within an open 24-hour customer service window. These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025.

Meta applies one charge for Meta Business Agent messages. Businesses that use a third-party AI solution typically incur separate charges for AI usage from the AI provider and message delivery from the messaging solution provider.

The following table summarizes how Meta charges across message types and categories.

Business objective	Message type	Who sends the message	Message category	Charge status	Meter	Charge for AI usage	Charge for message delivery	Free in 72-hour free entry point window	Free in 24-hour customer service window
Reach out to users	Template	Business triggers delivery	Marketing	Live	Per message	N/A	Yes, by Meta	Yes	No
Reach out to users	Template	Business triggers delivery	Utility	Live	Per message	N/A	Yes, by Meta	Yes	Free until October 1, 2026
Reach out to users	Template	Business triggers delivery	Authentication	Live	Per message	N/A	Yes, by Meta	Yes	No
Respond to users	Non-template	Person or third-party AI agent	Service	As of October 1, 2026	Per message	Yes, by the third-party AI provider, if applicable	Yes, by Meta	Yes	Free until October 1, 2026
Respond to users	Non-template	Meta Business Agent Platform	Meta Business Agent	As of August 1, 2026	Per token	Yes, by Meta as one charge		No	No

Rates

Meta Business Agent messages

• Meter: Per token.
• Rate: One global rate of $2.00 USD per 1M tokens. One message typically consumes about 20,000–25,000 tokens, which translates to approximately 4–5 cents (USD) per message.
• Cost per message: Varies with complexity. Simple responses consume fewer tokens and cost less; complex responses consume more tokens and cost more.

The following table shows example interactions and their estimated cost.

Type of interaction	Example user message	Messages to the user	Tokens consumed	Estimated cost
Simple inquiry	"At what time do you open?"	4	~80,000 (~20,000/message)	~16–20 cents
Complex interaction	"I'm stuck on step 3 of this assembly—can you walk me through it?"	10	~250,000 (~25,000/message)	~40–50 cents

Service messages

• Meter: Per message.
• Rate: By market, rates for service messages are the same as the rates for utility and authentication messages. See the current rate cards and volume tiers.
• Volume tiers: None. Meta does not offer volume tiers for service messages. Meta continues to offer volume tiers for utility and authentication messages.
• Frequency of updates: Consistent with the pricing calendar, Meta may update rates up to quarterly. Meta will announce and publish the rates that take effect October 1, 2026, including rates for service messages, by September 1, 2026.

Pricing example

Below is an example of an interaction between a business and a user. It starts with the business reaching out with a marketing template, using Meta Business Agent to respond to user questions, escalating to a customer service rep, and ultimately sending an order confirmation, all within one hour.

• As of July 1, 2026: Meta charges only for 1 marketing template message.
• As of August 1, 2026: Meta charges for 3 messages (1 marketing, 2 Meta Business Agent).
• As of October 1, 2026: Meta will charge for each message the business sends – 5 messages thus 5 charges (1 marketing, 2 Meta Business Agent, 1 service, 1 utility).

Sender	Message content	Message type	Message category	Charge as of August 1, 2026	Charge as of October 1, 2026
Business	Cart abandonment reminder	Template	Marketing	1 marketing charge	1 marketing charge
User	"Do you have this in a Small?"	—	—	Opens 24-hour CSW¹	—
Business	Meta agentic response to user's question	Non-template	Meta Business Agent	1 Meta Business Agent charge	1 Meta Business Agent charge
User	"Do you have this in white?"	—	—	—	—
Business	Meta agentic response to user's question	Non-template	Meta Business Agent	1 Meta Business Agent charge	1 Meta Business Agent charge
User	"I'm ready to check-out, but my card is expired"	—	—	—	—
Meta Business Agent hands off to customer service rep				—	—
Business	Customer service rep responds to user's question	Non-template	Service	No charge	1 service charge
Business	Order confirmation	Template	Utility	No charge	1 utility charge
			Total charges	3 charges	5 charges

Cost comparison: service and Meta Business Agent messages

The following table compares the expected cost to send 10,000 AI-powered messages in response to users in Brazil. Estimates for third-party AI solutions are based on publicly available information and benchmarks. Message delivery costs are based on the current rate for utility and authentication messages to users in Brazil.

	Service (lower complexity)	Service (higher complexity)	Meta Business Agent (higher complexity)
AI agent cost	~2 cents per message	~9 cents per message	~4–5 cents per message ($2.00/1M tokens × ~25,000 tokens) as one Meta Business Agent charge
Message delivery1	0.68 cents per message	0.68 cents per message
Total per message	~2–3 cents	~9–10 cents	~4–5 cents
Total for 10,000 messages	~$268	~$968	~$400–$500

1 The 0.68 cent message delivery rate is based on the current published rate for utility and authentication messages to users in Brazil. See the rate cards and volume tiers and the WhatsApp Business Platform pricing page⁠.

Important notes

• Any non-template message is charged as of October 1, 2026. If the message is powered by Meta Business Agent, it incurs the charge of a Meta Business Agent message. If it is not powered by Meta Business Agent, it incurs the charge of a service message.
• Only one charge applies per message. A message to a user—template or non-template—has only one category and is charged only for that category. A non-template message is charged either as a Meta Business Agent message or as a service message, never both. This one-charge rule also applies to non-template messages with promotional content: Meta does not additionally apply a marketing template charge.
• Not every Meta Business Agent message costs the same. You pay proportionally to the value delivered: quick answers cost less, and rich, multi-turn problem-solving costs more.
• The 72-hour free entry point window is unchanged for message delivery. Messages sent within the 72-hour free entry point window, from Click to WhatsApp Ads or Facebook call-to-action buttons, remain free for message delivery. Meta Business Agent messages are still charged for token usage as of August 1, 2026.

Technical implementation

Service messages and Meta Business Agent messages use different analytics and webhook category values.

Service messages

Service messages are an existing message category on the platform (category: service). You can use the Pricing Analytics API to understand how many service messages you have delivered. The category and charge for service messages are also included in message delivery webhooks.

Analytics

Query the <PRICING_CATEGORY> value of SERVICE to understand the count of service messages for a given timeframe.

{
  "start": <START_TIMESTAMP>,
  "end": <END_TIMESTAMP>,
  "phone_number": "<BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER>",
  "country": "<COUNTRY_CODE>",
  "pricing_type": "REGULAR",
  "pricing_category": "SERVICE",
  "volume": <VOLUME>,
  "cost": <COST>
}

Webhooks

The webhooks reflect the <PRICING_CATEGORY> as service. Billable messages have type set to regular in the pricing object of status messages webhooks.

"pricing": {
  "billable": true,
  "pricing_model": "PMP",
  "type": "regular",
  "category": "service"
}

Meta Business Agent messages

Analytics and webhook details for Meta Business Agent messages are forthcoming and will be published before charging takes effect on August 1, 2026.