WhatsApp API: what it is, what it costs, and how to get it

The WhatsApp API is the interface Meta provides so that software can send and receive WhatsApp messages on behalf of a business. There is no app to install and no phone to keep charged. A business phone number is registered with Meta, and from then on any system connected to it can message customers on that number: a shared team inbox, a broadcast tool, your online store, or your own code.

Meta’s official name for the product is the WhatsApp Business Platform. Most people say WhatsApp API or WhatsApp Business API. They all mean the same thing. If you want the short version of why it exists, it is this: the free WhatsApp Business app is built for one person on one phone, and the API is built for a team and for volume.

“WhatsApp APIs” is really a small family of interfaces. You will meet these names in Meta’s documentation and in vendor pitches, so here is what each one does.

When someone says “we integrate with the WhatsApp API”, check that they mean the official Cloud API. Tools that automate the regular WhatsApp app through a browser or a modified client are not APIs. They break Meta’s terms and get numbers banned.

The free app and the API share the WhatsApp brand and almost nothing else. This is the comparison that usually settles the decision.

There are two routes. Both end with your number registered to a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) that you own.

Route 1: through a platform

You sign up with a platform built on the Cloud API, click through Meta’s embedded signup, verify the number with an OTP, and start using an inbox and broadcasts the same day. The platform runs the integration for you. This is what most businesses do, and it is how Boldally Chat works.

Route 2: directly with Meta

You create a Meta developer app, add the WhatsApp product, register a number, generate an access token, and build against the API yourself. You get the raw endpoints and nothing else: no inbox, no template editor, no reporting. Sensible if you are building a product, not if you want to answer customers. The developer steps are in our documentation map.

What you need either way

• A Facebook Business Manager (now Meta Business Portfolio).
• A phone number that can receive an SMS or call for verification.
• A display name that matches your business, for the profile and later the green tick.
• Business verification documents (GST certificate, incorporation certificate or similar) to lift the starting messaging limit.

Meta charges per message, by category, at rates it sets for each country. These are the current India rates, which Boldally passes through at cost.

Then there is what your platform charges. Two things to check in any pricing page: the monthly fee, and whether the per-message rate is Meta’s rate or Meta’s rate plus a markup. Markups of 10 to 20 percent are common and rarely labelled. The cost calculator shows what that adds up to at your volume, and the full breakdown is in our pricing guide.

The 24-hour window

When a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens in which you can reply with anything. Outside that window you can only send an approved template. This single rule shapes everything else.

Templates

Any message that starts a conversation must be a template Meta has approved. Templates can have variables, buttons, images and documents. Approval is usually quick, but marketing templates that read like spam get rejected. See template examples that pass.

Messaging limits

A new number can start conversations with 250 unique customers in 24 hours. After business verification that rises to 1,000, then 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited, as you send more with a good quality rating.

Quality rating

Meta scores each number green, yellow or red based on blocks and reports. A red rating lowers your messaging limit. Sending only to people who opted in, and giving them a way to stop, keeps it green.

Opt-in

You must have the customer’s permission before sending a template. In India that is also a requirement under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Keep a record of when and how they opted in.

You probably need it if any of these are true:

• More than one person answers customers on WhatsApp.
• You send the same message to more than a few hundred people at a time.
• You want order, delivery or appointment updates to go out on their own.
• You want the green tick.
• You want WhatsApp connected to your store, CRM or booking tool.

If none of those apply, the free app is fine, and honestly you should stay on it. If two or more apply, the cost of not moving is usually missed messages and a business that lives on one person’s phone.

# The whole API in one request: send an approved template
curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v22.0/<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "messaging_product": "whatsapp", "to": "919876543210",
        "type": "template",
        "template": { "name": "order_update", "language": { "code": "en" } } }'

That request, plus webhooks for replies, is the API. Everything else (the inbox, assignments, templates, reporting, retries) is the platform layer. Boldally Chat is that layer, on top of the official API, at Meta’s rates with nothing added.