Three flavours of WhatsApp Business
- WhatsApp Messenger — the consumer app
- WhatsApp Business app — free, good for very small businesses, single-device
- WhatsApp Business API — programmatic, multi-device, scales to millions of messages
The API is the only option for serious customer-support workloads.
How pricing works
Meta charges per conversation (a 24-hour window opened by a template message or customer reply), categorized as:
- Marketing (most expensive)
- Utility (order updates, notifications)
- Authentication (OTPs)
- Service (free, customer-initiated within 24 hours)
In India (2026), rates range from ₹0.12 (authentication) to ₹0.78 (marketing) per conversation, before BSP markup.
Full breakdown: WhatsApp Business API Pricing in India.
What a BSP provides
You can't buy the API directly from Meta — you go through a Business Solution Provider (BSP) like Twilio, Gupshup, or Wati. The BSP handles:
- Phone number registration with Meta
- Template approvals
- Webhook delivery for incoming messages
- Compliance with Meta's commerce and messaging policies
- A platform UI for agents (if you don't want to build your own)
Common use cases
- Two-way customer support on WhatsApp
- Order updates and shipment notifications
- OTP delivery for authentication
- Multi-language outreach in markets where WhatsApp dominates
Related terms
Omnichannel Support
Omnichannel support is a customer service approach where every channel — email, chat, WhatsApp, social, phone — feeds the same unified workspace, preserving conversation history and context as customers hop between them.
Unified Inbox
A unified inbox is a single workspace that consolidates customer messages from every channel — email, chat, WhatsApp, social media, and SMS — into one chronological queue.
Customer Support Software
Customer support software is the system of record for handling inbound customer questions, complaints, and requests — typically combining a unified inbox, ticketing, knowledge base, automation, and analytics.
See whatsapp business api in Bublly
Bublly bundles unified inbox, AI agents, ticketing, and analytics — covering everything in this glossary in one platform.
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