GuidePublished 19 September 2026 · 6 min read

The WhatsApp 24-hour customer service window, explained: what you can send, what it costs, and how to sell inside it

Inside the window any message, free-form — charged per reply since 1 October 2026; outside it a template, charged. The 72-hour free entry point from Click-to-WhatsApp ads, what resets the clock, and five ways the rule should change how you sell.

Rates and limits verified against Meta's published pricing on 19 September 2026 · Meta's page

In short

When a customer messages your business, a 24-hour customer service window opens; inside it you can send any message, free-form, and until 1 October 2026 for free. Every message from the customer resets the clock. Outside it you can send only an approved template, and it is charged. A Click-to-WhatsApp ad opens a 72-hour window where everything is free.

On this page

The rule
Inside the window
Outside the window
The free entry point
What it means for how you sell

The rule

WhatsApp is a channel the customer controls. A business may write to a person only when that person has just written to it — the last 24 hours — or with a message Meta approved in advance, a template, that the person agreed to receive. The 24 hours is the customer service window, and it is the single rule that shapes everything about selling on WhatsApp: what you can say, what it costs, and why speed matters.

Inside the window

Any message: text, a picture, a PDF, a catalogue card, a payment request, buttons, a list.
No template needed and no review.
Since 1 October 2026, ₹0.115 per message in India — the utility rate, with no volume tiers.
Every new message from the customer restarts the 24 hours. A conversation that keeps going never leaves the window.

After the window: an approved template, priced by category — utility for an order update, marketing for an offer.

Outside the window

Only an approved template, with variables filled.
Charged per message by category: ₹0.8631 marketing, ₹0.115 utility or authentication, in India, plus GST.
A marketing template needs the person's consent; a utility template about their own transaction does not.
The customer's reply to a template opens a fresh 24-hour window.

The free entry point

A customer who arrives from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page's call-to-action button opens a 72-hour window in which every message, template or not, is free — and stays free after 1 October 2026. This is why ad-driven businesses put the first three days of the sale inside WhatsApp: the qualification, the quote, the reminder and the payment request all cost nothing.

The window is why the first minute matters — every reply inside it is free-form and costs a fraction of a rupee.

What it means for how you sell

Reply in the first minute. The window is open and the person is on their phone. A reply the next morning is a template, charged, to someone who has moved on. The speed-to-lead guide is about exactly this.
Ask everything you need while it is open. Qualifying questions, the budget, the timeline — inside the window they are free and answered.
Send the thing they asked for inside the window if you can. A quote sent at 6 pm is free; the same quote sent at 9 am tomorrow is a utility template.
Design the templates for after. The quote-ready message, the reminder, the document request: written as utility templates, so the window closing does not stop the sale.
Treat the reply as a gift. Every reply reopens the window. A template that asks a question — "reply YES to confirm" — is a template that gets you 24 more free hours.

How Linkubit handles it

The window is checked in code before every send. Inside it, the assistant replies free-form; outside it, the send is refused unless a template is chosen, and a missing window is treated as closed rather than assumed open — a caller that forgot to check is exactly the caller the check exists to stop. The inbox shows the countdown on every thread.

Does the 24-hour window reset when I message the customer?

No. Only the customer's messages reset it. Your own messages, template or not, do not extend it.

What is the 72-hour window?

The free entry point: a conversation started from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button is free for 72 hours, every message, template or not.

Can I send a template inside the window?

Yes. A utility template inside the window is charged at the utility rate since 1 October 2026; a marketing template is charged wherever it is sent.

What happens on 1 October 2026?

Meta starts charging for the free-form replies inside the window — about 11.5 paise each in India — and for utility templates sent inside it. The free entry point stays free. The pricing guide has worked examples.