Amount Meta will charge Kenyan businesses for WhatsApp customer replies from October

Kenyan businesses using the WhatsApp Business platform will begin paying Meta for customer-service messages from October 1, 2026, as the technology company ends the free treatment previously given to certain replies sent within the 24-hour customer service window.

The change will affect businesses that use the WhatsApp Business platform or API to communicate with customers at scale, rather than ordinary users of WhatsApp or the standard WhatsApp Business mobile application.

Under Meta’s updated pricing policy, service messages will be charged per delivered message from October 1.

The Facebook-parent company said the same change will apply to utility messages sent in response to users while an open 24-hour customer service window is active.

In Kenya, service messages will be charged at the applicable market rate for utility and authentication messages.

Meta’s current rate information puts the Kenyan rate at about $0.004 per delivered message, equivalent to roughly Sh0.52, although the company says the rates applicable from October 1 will be published by September 1.

The change means that a business responding to 10,000 customers through the platform could incur approximately Sh5,200 in Meta messaging charges at that rate, before any additional costs charged by third-party providers or software platforms.

Meta distinguishes between several categories of business messages on WhatsApp.

Marketing, utility and authentication messages sent using templates are already charged on a per-message basis, with rates varying according to the recipient’s market and message category.

The new change concerns non-template service messages, which are typically used when a business responds directly to a customer who has initiated a conversation.

These messages can only be sent while an open 24-hour customer service window is active. The window opens or resets when the user sends a message to the business.

Until the new pricing takes effect, Meta has allowed service messages without a delivery charge. The company says service messages have not been charged since November 1, 2024.

Utility messages sent in response to customers have also received free treatment within the 24-hour window since July 1, 2025. From October 1, those messages will also become chargeable.

Meta said service messages will have no volume-based pricing tiers, while utility and authentication messages will continue to have applicable volume tiers.

The change has been building since 2025

The October move is part of a broader restructuring of WhatsApp Business Platform pricing.

Meta moved to per-message pricing for business-initiated template messages on July 1, 2025, affecting marketing, utility and authentication communications.

The company has continued changing how different categories of business messaging are priced.

From August 1, 2026, Meta also began charging for messages generated by its Meta Business Agent, using a token-based model covering both AI processing and message delivery.

Meta says the global rate for Business Agent messages is $2 per one million tokens. A typical message consuming between 20,000 and 25,000 tokens would therefore cost approximately four to five US cents, depending on its complexity.

The company distinguishes those messages from ordinary service messages powered by a human customer-service representative or a third-party AI system.

Businesses must have a payment method

Meta has also warned businesses that they must have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026.

According to the company, Solution Providers and directly integrated businesses that do not have a payment method by that deadline will have their service messages stopped once charges begin on October 1.

This makes the payment requirement particularly important for businesses that rely on automated WhatsApp customer support.

Meta says businesses can access the platform through Solution Providers, meaning some companies may also incur separate charges from the providers they use to operate their WhatsApp systems.

For businesses using third-party AI solutions, Meta notes that AI providers may separately charge for AI usage while messaging providers charge for message delivery.

What the new pricing could mean in practice

The financial impact will depend largely on the number of customer interactions handled through the platform.

Banks, airlines, retailers, telecommunications companies, e-commerce businesses and other organisations increasingly use WhatsApp Business Platform infrastructure for customer support and transactional communication.

At the Kenyan rate of about KSh0.52 per delivered service message, 100,000 chargeable messages would amount to roughly KSh52,000 in Meta charges, while one million messages would amount to about KSh520,000, based on the current rate.

Meta's pricing is based on the recipient’s country and message category, rather than applying one global price to all businesses.

The company has also retained a 72-hour free entry point window for message delivery when users enter conversations through qualifying Click to WhatsApp ads or Facebook call-to-action buttons. Meta Business Agent messages, however, continue to incur token-based charges.

Meta said the pricing changes are intended to ensure that pricing reflects the value business messages deliver to companies.

From October 1, therefore, a customer-service interaction that previously generated no Meta message charge will become another billable part of operating a WhatsApp-based customer communication system.