Since July 2025, Meta charges per message actually delivered, not per open conversation the way it used to. What actually determines your bill is which of four categories a message falls into. Marketing messages are always charged. Utility and Authentication messages are only charged outside an active customer conversation. Service messages are free, full stop. A review request usually lands in Utility, the cheaper of the paid categories, because it is tied to a real, completed visit rather than a cold promotion.
A lot of what gets written about WhatsApp API pricing online quotes a single flat per-message rate, as if every message costs the same. That is not how Meta actually built it, and the difference matters more to your bill than almost anything else you could optimise.
The four categories, and why they exist
Every template message you send through the API gets classified into one of four categories when Meta approves it, and the category is what sets the price, not the word count or how "important" the message feels.
- Marketing. Promotions, offers, anything trying to sell something. Always charged, and priced the highest of the four, because this is the category Meta expects businesses to use the most and monetises accordingly.
- Utility. Transactional messages tied to something that already happened: an order update, an appointment confirmation, a review request after a visit. Charged, but at a lower rate than Marketing, and free when sent inside an open customer conversation.
- Authentication. One-time passwords and login codes. Priced similarly to Utility.
- Service. Free-form replies to a customer who messaged you within the last 24 hours. This category is free for every business, with no exceptions.
What "outside a conversation" actually means
If a customer messaged you in the last 24 hours, anything you send back in that window is a free Service message, template or not. The moment that window closes, sending them anything requires a pre-approved template, and that template gets billed according to its category. A review request sent the next morning, after the 24-hour window has closed, is exactly the situation Utility pricing exists for.
Get your template classified as Utility rather than Marketing and every single review request you send afterward costs noticeably less, for the life of your account. This is decided once, during template approval, based on the wording and intent of the message, not something you negotiate per message later.
The free windows almost nobody uses on purpose
Two situations give you free messaging even outside an open conversation, and both are worth knowing exist.
- Service conversations are entirely free, for every business, with no monthly cap mentioned in Meta's own documentation.
- "Free entry point" windows, roughly 72 hours long, apply when a customer starts a chat with you through a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Page call-to-action button. Anything you send them in that window is free, template or not.
Neither of these is something a review-request workflow leans on directly, but they explain why your bill for customer-service replies and your bill for outbound review requests can look completely different, even at similar volumes.
A lot of pricing pages and calculators online quote one rupee figure as if it applies to every message. In practice the category matters more than the country you are billing from, and Meta has restructured this pricing model more than once in the past two years. Treat any specific rate you read, including anywhere else on this site, as directional rather than something to budget against exactly, and check Meta's own current documentation before making a large commitment.
What this means if you are pricing this out yourself
- Confirm your review-request template is actually being submitted as Utility, not Marketing, since this is the single biggest lever on cost.
- Reply to customers inside the 24-hour window whenever you can. It is not just good service, it is free messaging.
- Volume discounts exist for Utility and Authentication messages based on your monthly usage, so cost per message tends to fall as you grow, not rise.
We handle the Meta billing so you see one flat number
FiveNudge's own review-request templates are already submitted correctly, and the messaging cost is folded straight into your monthly plan. No separate Meta invoice to reconcile.
Start free · 2-min setup14 days free · ₹499/month after · Cancel anytime