WhatsApp Business API pricing changed shape when Meta moved from per-conversation to per-message billing for template messages during 2025. Most cost estimates circulating in Indian marketing teams still assume the old model, which understates marketing spend considerably.
What you pay for
Under per-message pricing, marketing template messages are billed individually. Send a broadcast to 10,000 people and you pay for 10,000 messages, not for the conversations they open. Utility templates, the transactional ones such as order updates, are priced lower. Service messages, where the customer wrote to you first, are free within a service window.
India has among the lowest per-message rates of any Meta market, which is why WhatsApp economics work here in ways they do not elsewhere. It also means volume grows fast and so does the bill.
The three line items that surprise people
Business Solution Provider markup. You do not buy from Meta directly, you buy through a BSP, and most add either a per-message markup or a platform fee. Compare the all-in per-message rate rather than the headline platform price.
Failed and undelivered messages. Depending on the provider, some categories of failure still bill. Ask specifically and get the answer in writing before signing.
The marketing and utility split. Teams underestimate how much of their volume Meta classifies as marketing rather than utility, and marketing costs more. A message that mentions an offer alongside an order update is marketing. Categorisation disputes are common and expensive.
Modelling it honestly
Take your actual send plan for a month, split it by template category, multiply by the all-in rate your BSP quoted including markup, and add fifteen percent for miscategorisation and retries. That number is closer to your bill than any calculator on a vendor site.
Then divide by expected conversions to get cost per conversion, and compare that against your email and paid numbers. WhatsApp usually still wins on engagement in India. It does not always win on cost per outcome once volume is real.