AS META ROLLS OUT NEW CHARGES
Nigerian businesses are set to start paying for certain WhatsApp messages from October 1, 2026, as Meta introduces new fees on the WhatsApp Business Platform.
The parent company of WhatsApp disclosed the pricing change in a WhatsApp Business Platform pricing update in July 2026, stating that charges for service messages would resume from October 1, 2026.
The new charges will affect companies using the official WhatsApp Business Platform, formerly known as the WhatsApp Business API, to manage customer conversations at scale.
Banks, fintechs, e-commerce companies, telecoms operators, logistics firms and large retailers that rely on the platform for customer service and transactional communication are among those that could be affected.
However, the development will not affect ordinary WhatsApp users or most small businesses using the standard WhatsApp Business app on their phones.
Under the current system, when a customer messages a business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. During that period, businesses can respond with free-form service messages and certain utility messages without paying Meta.
From October 1, 2026, Meta will begin charging businesses on a per-message basis for service messages sent during that window.
In its developer documentation, Meta said: “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for all service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages. These messages have not been charged since November 1, 2024.”
The company added: “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users within an open 24-hour customer service window. These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025.”
Meta also warned businesses and Solution Providers to add a payment method before the deadline.
“For any Solution Provider or directly-integrated businesses that do not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026.”
For Nigerian businesses, a chargeable utility or service message is expected to cost about $0.0101 per message, equivalent to roughly ₦14 based on an exchange rate of about ₦1,340/$.
Marketing messages are considerably more expensive, at about $0.062 per message, or approximately ₦84.
The charges are Meta’s fees and do not include additional costs from Business Solution Providers.
For example, a Nigerian fintech sending 500,000 chargeable messages at $0.0101 would pay about $5,050 in Meta fees alone — roughly ₦6.8m before provider charges.
WhatsApp has become a critical channel for Nigerian businesses. Banks and fintechs use it for customer support, while e-commerce, logistics and retail firms use it for order and delivery updates.
With Meta moving business messaging toward a per-message model, companies that depend heavily on WhatsApp will have to factor the new costs into their operating budgets from October.
