--- title: WhatsApp Service Message Billing Starts in October 2026 description: The 1,000 free service messages per number, Meta's charges from October 1, and how to control replies in Frame Conexa. date: 2026-10-01 time: 08:39 category: precos tags: service messages, whatsapp api pricing, october 2026, free message allowance, meta author: gabriel-miranda cover: /blog-assets/covers/cobranca-mensagens-servico-whatsapp-outubro-2026.jpg coverAlt: Work desk with charts and financial analysis tools coverSource: https://www.pexels.com/photo/20801620/ ptSlug: cobranca-mensagens-servico-whatsapp-outubro-2026 --- On **October 1, 2026**, Meta changes how it charges for replies sent through the official WhatsApp API. Each number gets **1,000 delivered service messages free per month**. After that, Meta charges per delivered message, according to the recipient's country. Utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window also become billable, from the first delivery and without using that allowance. The change applies to the WhatsApp Business Platform, including when the number stays connected to the phone app. ## What is a service message? It is a free-form reply, without a template, sent through the Cloud API during the [24-hour customer service window](/en/blog/whatsapp-24-hour-window). It can be text, image, audio, document, or an interactive message. In Frame Conexa, that includes a reply written in Conversations, sending done by automation through the API, and the free-form steps of a sequence. The WhatsApp Business app on the phone is not part of this API charge. Meta charges **deliveries**, not attempts. The allowance is per number and renews every month, with no carryover of unused balance to the next month. Receiving messages stays free. The [free 72-hour window opened by an ad](/en/blog/click-to-whatsapp-ads) remains valid. ## What changes for Frame Conexa users? If you reply from the dashboard or through an automation, those free-form replies start using the number's monthly allowance. After the 1,000 free deliveries, each delivered service message is charged by Meta. For recipients in Brazil, the reference rate published by Meta is **US$ 0.0068 per message**, subject to the current table and the account's currency. Check the current figure on [Meta's rate card](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing) before estimating your invoice. If you use sequences, the text and audio steps sent inside the window follow the same rule as free-form replies. If you use a **utility** template, there is another change: sending inside the window, previously free, becomes billable from the first delivery. A utility template does not consume the 1,000 free service messages. The marketing category was already charged; that part does not change. The charge comes **from Meta**, directly to the payment method registered on your WhatsApp Business account. Your Frame Conexa subscription stays separate. See the explanation of the two bills in the article [how much the WhatsApp Business API costs](/en/blog/whatsapp-business-api-pricing). ## Three common situations after October 1 **Human support in the dashboard.** A person receives a question and replies from the Conversations screen. If the reply is free-form and goes out through the Cloud API, it is a service message. The number's first 1,000 deliveries in the month fall under the allowance. From the next delivery on, Meta applies the service rate. The payment method is on the WhatsApp Business account linked to the number. The fact that a person typed the reply does not change the category. The rule applies to the channel used to send, not to who wrote the text. **Support automation.** A system integrated with Conexa's API replies to incoming messages without an operator opening the dashboard. Those replies are also service messages when they are free-form and sent inside the window. Using an AI agent, a support flow, or your own integration does not create a separate allowance. All service sends from the same number share Meta's 1,000 free deliveries per month. If Conexa's default limit is active and the counter reaches the cap, the integration receives a local refusal for new sends of this type. It needs to handle the refusal, not automatically repeat the same message. **Template confirmation.** A company sends the customer an approved utility template to confirm an appointment. Even if the customer wrote just a few minutes earlier, this send stops being free in October. It does not use the service allowance, because it is a template. Meta charges according to the category and the recipient's country. To know whether a template is utility or marketing, check the category approved by Meta: the name your team gave the text does not decide the rate. See also [how approved templates work](/en/blog/approved-whatsapp-template). A single conversation can bring all three cases together. For example, the system sends a confirmation as a template, the customer replies with a question, and the agent sends a free-form message. The template and the reply are classified separately. The 24-hour window allows the free-form reply, but it does not turn the two sends into a single charge. That is why the estimate should consider the type of each message, not simply the number of conversations started in the month. ## How to estimate the impact on your number Start with the monthly volume of free-form replies sent through the API, per number. Compare it with 1,000 and consider the likely excess. If the number usually sends 800 free-form replies a month, it tends to stay within the allowance, as long as the usage pattern does not grow. If it usually sends 1,500, about 500 service deliveries may be charged by Meta. This is an illustrative calculation: Meta charges deliveries, Conexa's preventive counter counts accepted sends, and the free ad window can change the real billing. Use the calculator to run this math with your number's volume: [[calculadora-servico]] For an estimate in money, multiply the excess deliveries by the rate for the country of whoever received the message. The Brazilian reference in dollars does not apply to every contact and does not guarantee the final amount in reais (R$, the Brazilian currency). A list with recipients in several countries requires separating volumes by market. Check Meta's official table and your WABA's currency before approving a budget. If you also send utility templates during the window, add that charge separately, from the first delivery; it does not wait for the free replies to be used up. Also look at the operational effect. If your team depends on automatic replies, stopping at the free ones can interrupt an ongoing conversation when the number hits Conexa's cap. In that case, deliberately choose an overall cap you are willing to pay, or release the excess, then check that there is a valid payment method on the WhatsApp Business account. If you prefer to avoid any service excess through the API, keep the default limit and prepare the team to reply through the app, when the number is in coexistence. The choice can be different for each number on the account. ## How to avoid an unexpected charge Frame Conexa shows, on each number's page, how many API replies were sent in the month. By default, when the 1,000 free ones are reached, **our limit stops new free-form sends through the API**. You can keep that choice, allow paid replies, or set an overall monthly cap for the number. This limit is a Frame Conexa option, not a restriction imposed by Meta. Our counter adds up messages **accepted for sending**; Meta charges only **delivered** ones. As a precaution, the counter also includes sends in situations that may be free at Meta, such as the ad window. So the number shown in the dashboard may be higher than the total billed. Utility templates are charged separately and do not enter this counter. If the number uses coexistence, you can keep replying through the WhatsApp Business app on the phone without consuming the Cloud API allowance. The limit you choose in Conexa affects sends through the API, not the app. ## Where to check the official rule Meta describes the change for free-form replies and utility templates in the [non-template messages documentation](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing/non-template-messages) and states the monthly allowance of 1,000 messages per number on the [WhatsApp Business Platform pricing page](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing). Check those pages for changes in rates or dates. In the Conexa dashboard, open **Numbers → your number → Replies this month** to choose how to handle the excess. ## Frequently asked questions ### Are the 1,000 free messages per account or per number? Per connected number, every month. An account with two numbers has a separate allowance for each one. ### Does Meta charge for a reply that failed? No. Meta's charge considers the delivered message. Conexa's preventive counter considers messages accepted for sending and can be higher than the invoice. ### Will replying from the phone app start costing money? No. The price change described here is for messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform, through the API.