The short version: From 1 October 2026, the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API version, used through providers like Wati, Twilio or 360dialog) stopped letting businesses reply free without limit. You now get 1,000 free service messages per business number per month. After that, every delivered message is charged.
If you sell on WhatsApp — and in Kenya, that is most people — this is a real cost change, not a feature announcement.
What changed
- Service messages are now metered. These are your ordinary replies to a customer who messaged you first. First 1,000 a month per number: free. After that: paid per message delivered.
- The 1,000 does not pool. Each business phone number gets its own 1,000. You cannot borrow from another number.
- Utility messages inside the 24-hour window are no longer free. Order confirmations, delivery updates and receipts sent during an open conversation now cost money.
- Marketing and utility rates moved in some countries. Increases were reported in markets including Morocco, Kuwait, South Africa and Mexico. Kenya is priced as its own market, so your rate card is specific to you.
- What is still free: the 72-hour window when someone reaches you through a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button. That window did not change.
Who this does and does not affect
- Affected: anyone using the WhatsApp Business API — a chatbot, a bulk sender, a CRM, an automated order flow, or any provider dashboard you log into.
- Not affected: the free green WhatsApp Business app on your phone, where you type replies yourself. That remains free.
- Most affected: businesses running automated flows that fire several messages per order. Three automated messages per order × 400 orders = 1,200 messages. You are already over the free limit.
Do this today
- Log into your WhatsApp provider dashboard and find last month’s message count, split by category.
- If you are under 1,000 service messages, you are fine. Note it and move on.
- If you are over, open your flows and delete the messages that do nothing. “Thank you for your message” and “Your order is being processed” are usually two paid messages that could be one.
- Combine. One message with order number, amount and delivery date beats three separate ones — and now costs a third as much.
- Push more conversations through Click-to-WhatsApp ads, where the 72-hour free window still applies.
- Ask your provider, in writing, for your Kenya rate per message in each category. Do not guess from a blog — including this one.
The bigger point
- Meta has spent 2026 putting a price on things that used to be free. Expect more of it, and build on that assumption.
- An email list and a phone list you own cost you nothing per message. WhatsApp is rented ground. Collect both.