Is WhatsApp Business API free? What Meta charges, what a tool charges, and what ₹0 actually buys
Access is free; messages are not. Meta's per-message rates for India, what a provider's subscription and mark-up add, what a free trial and a free plan each mean, and what Linkubit's ₹0 plan includes.
Rates and limits verified against Meta's published pricing on 21 September 2026 · Meta's page
Meta charges nothing for access to the WhatsApp Business API — no licence, no setup fee — and charges per message: ₹0.8631 for a marketing template, ₹0.115 for a utility or authentication template, and from 1 October 2026 ₹0.115 for a free-form reply, in India, before GST. What a tool charges on top is separate: a subscription, and sometimes a mark-up on every message. Linkubit's Free plan is ₹0 a month with 30 AI replies, 150 contacts and one number, and passes Meta's rate through unchanged.
On this page
The short answer
Yes and no, and the split matters. Access is free: Meta does not charge for a WhatsApp Business Account, a phone number on the API, templates, or the API itself. Messages are not: Meta bills per message you send, by category, at rates it publishes per country. And the tool you use to send them charges its own fee — a monthly plan, and at some providers a few paise added to every one of Meta's messages. "Is it free?" has three answers because three parties are involved: Meta, the provider, and you.
What Meta charges
| What | Price in India |
|---|---|
| A WhatsApp Business Account, a number, templates, the API | ₹0 |
| The customer's messages to you | ₹0 |
| Your free-form reply inside the 24-hour window | ₹0 until 1 October 2026, then ₹0.115 |
| A utility template (order update, reminder, receipt) | ₹0.115 |
| An authentication template (OTP) | ₹0.115 |
| A marketing template (offer, launch, anything promotional) | ₹0.8631 |
| Everything for 72 hours after a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or Facebook Page button | ₹0 |
Meta bills the business's own WhatsApp Business Account, in rupees, monthly. A provider cannot waive Meta's rates; a provider that advertises "free messages" is either counting the free entry point, describing a free trial, or paying Meta on your behalf and recovering it in the subscription.
What a tool charges
Every provider — Linkubit included — charges for the software around the API: the inbox, the campaigns, the assistant, the reports. Two shapes to read for on a pricing page:
- A subscription. Monthly, by plan, with a user count. Straightforward.
- A mark-up on messages. The plan page says "additional charges apply for messages" and points to the provider's own rate card rather than Meta's. The provider bills you for Meta's messages at a rate it sets. For a business sending a few thousand template messages a month, this line is often larger than the subscription.
The question to ask a provider is not "is it free?" but "do you bill me Meta's rate, or yours?" The comparison pages record what each provider's pricing page says about this, dated.
What "free trial" and "free plan" mean
- A free trial is the software for a fixed number of days. Meta's per-message charges still apply during it.
- A free plan is the software at ₹0 for as long as you like, with limits. Meta's per-message charges still apply.
- A free API is Meta's, and it is the same for everyone — nobody has cheaper access to WhatsApp than anybody else. What differs is the software and whether a mark-up is added.
- WhatsApp Premium is none of these: it is the paid tier of the WhatsApp Business *app* on a phone (a custom web link, several linked devices), sold by Meta inside the app. It is not the API and does not let software or an AI answer on your number.
Linkubit's Free plan, exactly
₹0 a month. 1 user, 1 WhatsApp number, 150 contacts, and 30 credits a month — one credit is one AI reply. Meta's messages are billed to your own WhatsApp Business Account at Meta's rate; Linkubit adds nothing to it. When the plan is too small, Starter is ₹499 a month for 3 users and 100 credits. Every plan starts with a 14-day trial of Pro.
What it costs to get started, then
- Meta: ₹0 to connect. Business verification — the form that lifts the 250-conversations-a-day starting limit — is ₹0 too, and takes Meta a few days.
- Messages: what you send. A business that answers enquiries inside the window and sends one reminder template a day pays Meta a few hundred rupees a month at these rates; the calculator prints the exact figure for your numbers, with GST.
- Software: the plan you choose, from ₹0.
Read next
WhatsApp Business API pricing in India has every rate and the volume tiers; what changes on 1 October 2026 covers the new charge on replies; how to get the API is the fifteen-minute setup.
Is the WhatsApp Business API free to use?
Access is free; messages are charged per message by Meta — ₹0.8631 marketing, ₹0.115 utility or authentication in India, and from 1 October 2026 ₹0.115 for a free-form reply — plus whatever the software you use charges.
Is there a free version of the WhatsApp Business API?
The API itself has one version and one price list, Meta's. Free versions are of the software around it: Linkubit's Free plan is ₹0 a month with limits; other providers offer trials.
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost per month?
Meta's part is per message, so it depends on volume: a small business sending a thousand utility templates and answering inside the window pays Meta a few hundred rupees. The software is a separate line, from ₹0.
Is WhatsApp Business free?
The WhatsApp Business app, yes — the app on a phone is free and has no per-message charges. It is one phone, one person, no automation. The app vs API guide is about when a business outgrows it.
Do I pay Meta or the provider?
Depends on the provider. With Linkubit, Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business Account directly and Linkubit adds nothing. With a provider that bills messages on its own rate card, you pay the provider, who pays Meta and keeps the difference.
Are incoming messages free?
Yes. Every message a customer sends is free, and always has been.
Read next
More on Getting and keeping leadsLinkubit vs other toolsWhatsApp templatesCost calculatorPricing
Try it on your own number. Linkubit answers, qualifies and quotes on WhatsApp from your catalogue, and adds nothing to Meta’s per-message price. Start free — fourteen days of Pro, no card — or read the pricing.