What you’ll learn
- What Meta charges in Singapore
- What changes on 1 October 2026
- What is still free
- A worked monthly bill for a small business
- What a provider adds on top
- An AI agent’s replies
If you use the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, WhatsApp costs you nothing. This guide is for businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the API that chatbots, AI agents, CRMs and broadcast tools connect to. There, Meta charges per message, and on 1 October 2026 it starts charging for replies too.
Every rate below comes from Meta’s own rate card for Singapore, which we downloaded on 27 September 2026, and the links are at the end.
What Meta charges in Singapore
Meta charges for each template message it delivers. A template is a message you get approved in advance, and it is the only kind you can send to someone who hasn’t messaged you in the last 24 hours. Each template has a category, and the category sets the price.
| Message type | What it is for | Price per message in Singapore |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotions, offers, newsletters, “we miss you” messages | S$0.0937 (US$0.0732) |
| Utility | Updates about something the customer did: an order, a booking, a payment | S$0.0205 (US$0.016) |
| Authentication | One-time passwords and login codes | S$0.0205 (US$0.016) |
| Service | Your replies inside the 24 hours after a customer messages you | Free until 30 September. From 1 October, the first 1,000 a month per number are free, then S$0.0205 each |
Singapore has had its own line on Meta’s rate card since 1 July 2026. Before that it was billed at the “Rest of Asia Pacific” rate, and several guides still quote that older, lower utility price.
Utility and authentication get cheaper at high volume, up to 25% off, but the discounts only start at 150,000 utility or 100,000 authentication messages a month. Marketing messages have no volume discount.
What changes on 1 October 2026
Two things that are free today start costing money.
Your replies. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens and every normal reply you send inside it is free today. From 1 October, each business phone number gets 1,000 free replies a month. After that, each reply costs S$0.0205. Unused free replies don’t carry over to the next month.
Utility templates inside the window. Today an order or booking confirmation sent while the 24-hour window is open costs nothing. From 1 October it is charged at the utility rate.
The prices for marketing, utility and authentication templates don’t change.
There is one deadline in this. Meta’s pricing page says that if your WhatsApp Business account has no payment method, it will still deliver replies within the 1,000 free ones and stop delivering them after that. If a provider handles your billing, ask them whether this covers you. If you’re billed by Meta directly, add a card in Billing Hub before your 1,001st reply of the month.
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Free strategy call ›What is still free
Messages customers send you are always free.
Chats that start from a Click to WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button open a 72-hour window in which everything you send is free, templates included, as long as you reply within 24 hours. This only applies when the customer taps from the WhatsApp phone app. Chats that start from a QR code, a website chat button or an Instagram bio link are charged normally, even though some guides say otherwise.
The WhatsApp Business app on your own phone stays free. It has no per-message charges, but it also can’t connect to an AI agent or a CRM.
A worked monthly bill for a small business
Take a renovation company with one WhatsApp number. In a typical month it has these costs:
- 300 new enquiries, with about six replies each: 1,800 replies
- 200 appointment reminders sent the day before a site visit, outside the 24-hour window: utility templates
- 100 booking confirmations sent while the customer is still chatting: utility templates inside the window
- One promotion sent to 500 past customers: marketing templates
| Today | From 1 October | |
|---|---|---|
| 1,800 replies | Free | 800 charged after the free 1,000: S$16.40 |
| 200 reminders | S$4.10 | S$4.10 |
| 100 confirmations inside the window | Free | S$2.05 |
| Promotion to 500 people | S$46.85 | S$46.85 |
| Meta’s bill for the month | S$50.95 | S$69.40 |
For most small businesses, the change adds a few dollars to tens of dollars a month. The promotion is still the biggest line. The same promotion sent to 2,000 people would cost S$187.40 on its own.
This assumes none of the enquiries came from a Click to WhatsApp ad. Replies inside a free 72-hour ad window cost nothing, and Meta’s documents don’t say whether those replies also use up the 1,000 free ones, so we left them out of the example.
What a provider adds on top
Meta’s rates are only part of the bill. Most businesses reach the API through a provider, and Meta leaves the pricing between you and that provider entirely to the two of you. In Meta’s words: “Pricing between an end-customer (”business“) and a Solution Partner is determined solely between such business and the Solution Partner.”
That means three things to ask any provider before you sign:
- Do you pass Meta’s message fees through at cost, or add a margin per message?
- Is your platform fee per phone number, per user seat or per contact?
- Who holds the billing relationship with Meta if I leave?
An AI agent’s replies
An AI agent that answers WhatsApp for your business sends ordinary replies, and Meta charges them like any other reply: free inside the first 1,000 a month per number from 1 October, then S$0.0205 each. Meta has a separate pricing policy for “AI Providers”, but it covers companies offering general AI assistants on WhatsApp. It doesn’t apply to a business using an agent to answer its own customers.
The other cost is the AI model that writes each reply. That depends on the model and the length of the conversation. Ask for it itemised, separately from Meta’s fees.
The costs that aren’t on the rate card
Send limits. A new business account can send templates to 250 different people a day. It moves to 2,000 once the business is verified, then 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited as it sends more with good quality. A 2,000-person promotion from a new account has to wait.
Caps on marketing. Meta limits how many marketing messages each person receives from all businesses, and it doesn’t publish the number. Some of a promotion may not be delivered, and undelivered messages aren’t charged.
Quality. If people block or report your messages, Meta lowers your quality rating and can pause a template or hold your send limit back. A cheap broadcast to people who didn’t ask for it can cost you the ability to message the ones who did.
Frequently asked questions
Is WhatsApp Business free in Singapore?
The WhatsApp Business app is free. The WhatsApp Business Platform, the API, charges per template message, and from 1 October 2026 it charges for replies after the first 1,000 a month per number.
How much does a WhatsApp marketing message cost in Singapore?
S$0.0937 per delivered message (US$0.0732), on Meta’s rate card in force since 1 July 2026.
Are replies to customers still free?
Until 30 September 2026, yes. From 1 October, each business number gets 1,000 free replies a month, and each one after that costs S$0.0205.
Does Meta still charge per conversation?
No. Meta moved from charging per 24-hour conversation to charging per message on 1 July 2025. Guides that still quote conversation prices are out of date.
Do I need a payment method on file?
If Meta bills you directly, yes. Without one, Meta stops delivering replies once the free 1,000 for the month are used.
Want WhatsApp to answer for you?
Our WhatsApp AI agent replies to new enquiries, asks your questions and books the call, then hands the chat to your team. We pass Meta’s message fees through at cost, listed on your invoice. See how it works and what it costs on our WhatsApp AI agent page.
Sources, read on 27 September 2026
- Meta, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform: developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing
- Meta, rate cards in SGD and USD, effective 1 July 2026 and 1 October 2026 (downloaded from the pricing page)
- Meta, messaging limits: developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messaging-limits
- Meta, pricing policy for AI Providers: developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing/ai-providers
