? Qué te cuesta · honest cost calculators for small businesses

WhatsApp Business API pricing calculator

Platforms publish their subscription, not what Meta charges you per message. This adds the two together, for 18 platforms and 38 markets at once, and prices the same month again from October 1, 2026, when replies stop being free.

Your operation
Meta charges a different rate in each one
Agents who need the same inbox
Free today, billed from October 1, 2026
Promotions and campaigns. Always billed
Confirmations, shipping updates, reminders

For 3 people in North America (United States and Canada), the cheapest is Chatwoot: $93.40 a month

Subscription plus what Meta charges for your messages. Of that total, 84% goes to Meta, not to the platform, and it is the same amount whichever of the 18 you pick.

That one is open source and self-hosted: no license fee, but you need a server and someone to run it. The cheapest in the cloud is Tidio, $102.57 a month.

From October 1, 2026 the same month costs $97.48: Meta starts billing the 1,200 replies you send inside the 24-hour window, at the utility rate of $0.0034 each.

Your bottleneck is the campaigns, not the software: 3,000 marketing messages are $75 a month on their own. Sending fewer saves you more than switching platform.

Meta, per month$78.40At North America (United States and Canada) rates. You pay this with any platform.
Meta from October 1$82.481,200 replies at $0.0034 each: $4.08 more a month.
Cheapest total$93.40Chatwoot · Self-hosted (open source)
Most expensive$337.40Cliengo. Same job, 3.6× the price.

What each platform costs you per month

Subscription plus Meta, for the numbers above. The order is decided by the total, never by whether the platform pays us a commission. The last column is the same month from October 1, 2026.

#PlatformPlanSubscriptionMetaTotal / monthFrom Oct 1
1ChatwootNo license fee, but you need a server and someone who can run it. Its affiliate program does not pay for self-hosted.Self-hosted (open source)$15$78.40$93.40$97.48
2TidioCapped at 100 billable conversations a month: with real volume you are pushed to a higher plan.Starter (annual)$24.17$78.40$102.57$106.65
3ManyChatThe $14 Essential plan does not include WhatsApp. Limit of 2,500 active contacts.Pro$29$78.40$107.40$111.48
4WatiOne WhatsApp channel only. Going to 5 users means the Pro plan.Growth (annual)$30$78.40$108.40$112.48
5KommoBilled at least 6 months up front. No affiliate program: it sells through resellers, who invoice and support the customer.Base$45$78.40$123.40$127.48
6CrispIts partner program pays 20% cashback for a year, only on Essentials and Plus and by application: we currently earn nothing from Crisp.Mini$45$78.40$123.40$127.48
7WhaticketOne WhatsApp connection; each extra connection adds $20/month.Base$49$78.40$127.40$131.48
8ZokoUnlimited agents, but adds a $0.015 surcharge per conversation.Starter$49.99$78.40$128.39$132.47
9FreshchatThe free 10-agent plan does not include WhatsApp. We earn nothing from Freshchat.Growth (annual)$57$78.40$135.40$139.48
10Chatwoot CloudCloud version only; self-hosted is not part of its program. Code MARTIN takes 5% off every payment.Startups (annual)$57$78.40$135.40$139.48
11respond.ioThe Starter plan has no broadcasts and no automations: for those you need Growth ($159).Starter (annual)$79$78.40$157.40$161.48
12LeadsalesOne WhatsApp number only. Does not publish the terms of its referral program.Basic$97$78.40$175.40$179.48
13CallbellMinimum 3 agents plus a separate $54/month WhatsApp credit. Priced in euros, converted approximately. Its partner program is a reseller scheme (30%, first-level support by the partner), not an affiliate program.Multiagent Chat$102$78.40$180.40$184.48
14SleekFlowBills template messages at its own rate card, not at Meta’s rates directly.Pro AI (annual)$119$78.40$197.40$201.48
15BotmakerAdds 20% on top of Meta’s rates and charges a one-time $99 account setup fee.Standard$149$94.08$243.08$247.98
16LandbotThe Professional plan alone does not include WhatsApp. Priced in euros, converted approximately.Professional + WhatsApp (annual)$173$78.40$251.40$255.48
17CliengoThe $45 Starter plan has no WhatsApp API: for the real API you need Business.Business$259$78.40$337.40$341.48
18B2ChatCapped at 1,000 unique inbound contacts; each extra one costs $0.05.Basic with WhatsApp (annual)$78.40no fit

Calculated for North America (United States and Canada): 3,000 marketing messages at $0.0250 and 1,000 utility messages outside the 24-hour window at $0.0034, per delivered message. The 1,200 replies inside the window are free today and $4.08 a month from October 1, 2026. “No fit” means the plan does not allow 3 users.

List prices from each vendor's official pricing page on August 30, 2026; Meta's rates from its pricing documentation, verified on September 8, 2026. Chatwoot Cloud, Tidio and Whaticket pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, and the order never depends on that: cómo nos financiamos (Spanish).

The formula, written out

There is no trick in it, and that is the point: total = subscription + (marketing messages × marketing rate) + (utility messages × utility rate), with the rate taken from the market of the person receiving the message, not from where your company is registered. Replies you send inside the 24-hour window a customer opened are free today, so they add nothing; from October 1, 2026 they are billed at the utility rate and the last column adds them. The subscription is the cheapest plan that actually includes WhatsApp, priced for the number of people you entered: per-user pricing, minimum seats and mandatory add-ons included, which is where most published comparisons go wrong.

Your market moves the bill more than your platform does

Meta's rates are nowhere near each other. With the same 3,000 marketing messages, the monthly fee runs from $32.70 to $479.10 depending on where your customers are: Turkey is the cheapest of the 38 markets and Netherlands the most expensive, a difference of 15×. Change the market above and watch the Meta column move while the subscriptions stay still. It is also why a platform that adds its own markup on top of Meta's rates costs you more the more expensive your market is.

What this does not include

One-off setup fees, which only Botmaker publishes ($99, once). Taxes, and currency conversion: Callbell and Landbot price in euros, so their dollar figures are approximate. Annual-billing discounts are already applied where the plan name says so, which also means those prices commit you for a year. Volume discounts from Meta exist but start at a million messages a month for utility and authentication, so no small business reaches them. And features: this page compares what you pay, not what you get, because a price can be checked against a primary source and a feature list cannot.

How to use it honestly

Put in the numbers from the last month you actually had, not the ones you hope for. If you do not run campaigns, set marketing to zero and look at what is left: for a business that answers rather than broadcasts, the bill collapses — at least until October 1, 2026, and the free WhatsApp Business app, which lets up to five people answer the same number, may be all you need. The number that should decide is the total, and the total is the only thing this table is sorted by.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost per month?

Two bills, never one. Meta charges per delivered message, by category and by the market of the person receiving it: with the volume this page starts with (3,000 marketing and 1,000 utility messages) that is $78.40 a month at North America rates. On top of that you pay the platform you send and answer from, which for 3 agents runs from $15 to $259 a month. The calculator adds the two for all 18 platforms at once, which is the number you actually pay.

Is there a free WhatsApp Business API?

The API has no license fee of its own, so "free" comes down to the two things you do pay for. Meta's per-message fees are unavoidable for marketing, and for utility messages sent outside the 24-hour window. The platform is avoidable: the WhatsApp Business app lets up to five people answer the same number at no cost, and Chatwoot is open source, so self-hosting costs only the server it runs on. Set marketing and utility to zero in the calculator and you can see how far the bill falls.

What happens to the price on October 1, 2026?

Today a reply you send inside the 24-hour window that a customer opened is free, with no limit on how many. From October 1, 2026 Meta bills those service messages at the same rate as utility messages in each market. In the example this page starts with that is 1,200 replies at $0.0034 each, $4.08 more a month, which is why the table shows today's total and October's side by side.

Do the platforms include Meta's fees in their price?

No. None of the 18 platforms includes Meta's per-message fees in its list price; they are billed separately and come to the same amount whichever one you choose. Botmaker is the only one that adds a markup of its own, 20% on top of Meta's rates, and SleekFlow bills template messages at its own rate card. That is why a pricing page showing $30 a month can be less than half of what you end up paying.

How is the table ordered, and do you earn a commission?

The order is decided by the total monthly cost for the numbers you enter, computed with the same formula for all 18, and by nothing else. Chatwoot Cloud, Tidio and Whaticket pay us a commission if you sign up through our link; those links go through /ir/ and carry rel="sponsored". They show up wherever their price puts them, above or below the ones that pay us nothing.

One page per market, with the same rates and three monthly scenarios: all 38 markets side by side. The 18 platforms ranked without the calculator: cheapest WhatsApp Business API platform. What changes on October 1: WhatsApp starts charging for service messages. Questions or corrections: hola@quetecuesta.com

The rest of this site is in Spanish, including la misma calculadora con las tarifas de América Latina and las tarifas de Meta por país.