From 1 October 2026, replies that have been free since November 2024 start costing money. The 24-hour window itself does not go away. This page says exactly what changes, what does not, what it costs in Malaysia, and what to do before the date — every claim is quoted from Meta's own documentation, linked at the bottom.
| Message | Today | From 1 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Service message any non-template reply inside the 24-hour window — typed by a person, or sent by your AI/chatbot |
FREE since 1 Nov 2024 | CHARGED per message, after a free tier of 1,000 delivered per phone number per month |
| Utility template sent inside an open window | FREE | CHARGED per message |
| Utility template sent outside a window | CHARGED | UNCHANGED |
| Marketing template | CHARGED | UNCHANGED |
| Authentication template | CHARGED | UNCHANGED |
| Messages inside a click-to-WhatsApp free entry point | FREE for 72 hours | UNCHANGED — still 72 hours |
"Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for service messages, which have not been charged since November 2024."
"Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for utility messages sent in response to users within an open 24-hour customer service window." Meta — Pricing for non-template messages
A service message is defined by who sends it, and that definition includes you:
"Service messages – As today, these can be powered by a person, like a customer service representative, or by a 3rd-party AI solution." Meta — Pricing for non-template messages
Every reply your integration sends through Bridge inside the 24-hour window is a service message. If your product is an AI that answers customers, this change is aimed squarely at your traffic.
Meta prices service messages at the same rate as utility and authentication for the market, and applies no volume discount:
"rates for service messages are the same as the rates for utility and authentication messages"
"Meta does not offer volume tiers for service messages." Meta — Pricing for non-template messages
From Meta's published USD rate card for Malaysia (effective 1 July 2026):
| Category | Per message (USD) | Approx. MYR |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | $0.0860 | ~RM0.40 |
| Utility | $0.0140 | ~RM0.066 |
| Authentication | $0.0140 | ~RM0.066 |
| Service (from 1 Oct) | $0.0140 | ~RM0.066 |
Worked examples at the Malaysia rate, after the 1,000 free tier:
| Delivered service messages / month (one phone number) | Billable | Cost (USD) | Approx. MYR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 999 | 0 | $0.00 | RM0 |
| 1,000 | 0 | $0.00 | RM0 |
| 1,001 | 1 | $0.014 | ~RM0.07 |
| 5,000 | 4,000 | $56.00 | ~RM264 |
| 20,000 | 19,000 | $266.00 | ~RM1,254 |
Other markets: Meta lists each country's rate card on its pricing page (linked below). Meta also moves some markets to new rates on the same date — Bangladesh, Iraq, Nepal and Sri Lanka lower; Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Ukraine higher. Malaysia is not on either list.
Meta bills the client directly, against the payment method on the client's own WhatsApp Business Account. WasapFlow is a Tech Provider, not a Solution Partner — we hold no credit line and Meta's charges never pass through us. Our slot fee is unchanged and separate.
If you resell to merchants, this is their Meta bill going up. Decide before 1 October whether you absorb it, pass it through, or reprice.
Meta's pricing page (updated 10 September 2026) states it in full:
"Each business phone number has one shared free tier of 1,000 delivered service messages per month. Both 1:1 and group service deliveries draw from this same free tier. A 1:1 delivery consumes one unit; a group send consumes one unit per delivered recipient. Meta charges for service messages after the free tier has been used."
"Unused service messages in the free tier do not roll over. The free tier resets monthly for each business phone number (for example, 1,000 for October with no roll-over; 1,000 for November with no roll-over)." Meta — Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, section 2 "Service rates, effective October 1, 2026"
How it shows up in your webhooks. The pricing.type on status webhooks tells you which side of the tier a message landed on:
| Message | category | type | billable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service, inside the free tier | service | free_customer_service | false |
| Service, after the tier is used | service | regular | true |
| Group service, inside the tier | group_service | free_group_customer_service | false |
| Utility inside a window (from 1 Oct) | utility | regular | true |
| Click-to-WhatsApp window | referral_conversion | free_entry_point | false |
Bridge forwards this object unchanged on every message.sent / message.delivered event. Count from it — do not infer cost from the message text or from your own window logic. Meta decides which side of the tier a message is on, and the webhook is the only place it tells you.
GET /logs. Multiply by the market rate. That is your new monthly Meta cost, in most cases from zero.MYR figures are approximate conversions for orientation only; Meta bills Malaysian accounts in MYR at its own rate card.