Capabilities

What each channel supports, the license tiers, and the platform limits.

Channel Capabilities

Feature	WhatsApp	Instagram	Facebook Messenger
Outbound text — max length	4096 chars	1000 chars	2000 chars
Outbound media (Pro)	image, audio, video, document, sticker (WebP file)	image, audio, video, document	image, audio, video, document, sticker (Meta catalog `sticker_id`)
Interactive messages (Pro)	reply / url buttons, cards (carousel), list	reply / url buttons, cards (carousel), quick replies	reply / url buttons, cards (carousel), quick replies
Template messages (Pro)	✅ Required outside 24h window	❌ Not supported	❌ Not supported
Incoming webhooks — text	✅ `type: "text"`	✅ `type: "text"`	✅ `type: "text"`
Incoming webhooks — media (Pro)	image, audio, video, document (stickers as `image` + `media.sticker`)	image, audio, video, document	image, audio, video, document (stickers as `image` + `media.sticker`)
Delivery statuses	`sent` `delivered` `read` `failed`	`delivered` `read` `failed`	`delivered` `read` `failed`
Recipient format	Phone number without `+`	IGSID	PSID
24h window workaround	Use approved templates	None — wait for user to message	None — wait for user to message
Channel identifier	`phone_number_id`	`ig_account_id`	`page_id`
Sender profile	`data.from_name` (from Meta contacts)	Via profile endpoint	Via profile endpoint

Note: Each Meta account (phone number, Instagram account, or Facebook Page) can only be connected to one Fiwano account at a time.

License Tiers

Fiwano offers two license tiers. Each connected channel requires an active license.

Tier	Monthly	Capabilities
Starter	$12	Unlimited inbound and outbound text messages, delivery statuses
Pro	$19	Everything in Starter + inbound media with files, outbound media via HTTPS URL (signed URLs supported), interactive messages (buttons, cards, quick replies, lists), WhatsApp template management and sending

New accounts start with a 7-day free trial (Pro tier). For the billing lifecycle and how a channel's subscription state is reported, see Subscriptions & Billing. For how this flat fee relates to Meta's own per-message charges, see Messaging Costs Explained.

Rate limits

Message sends are limited to 10 accepted send attempts per second per channel across all API keys. The limit is shared by text, media, and template sends, so creating another key does not increase one channel's allowance while one key can drive many channels independently. Exceeding it returns HTTP 429 with Retry-After.

Every other public API operation (channels, subscriptions, templates, sender profiles, media downloads, redirects) is limited to 20 requests per second per API key. This is a guardrail against runaway loops, not a quota: a normal integration is nowhere near it, and one misbehaving key does not affect the other keys of the same account. Exceeding it returns HTTP 429 with Retry-After. Fire event-driven reads (media downloads, sender profiles) with a retry on 429 rather than in one unbounded parallel burst — inbound media stays available for 60 minutes.

During exceptional outbound saturation, a send can briefly return HTTP 503 + Retry-After; honor the header and retry. Meta also enforces its own channel and recipient limits (shown in Meta Business Manager, not controlled by Fiwano).

Messaging windows (24h)

Meta restricts when you can message a user outside an open conversation:

Instagram & Facebook Messenger — you can reply only within 24 hours of the user's last message. These replies are free — Meta does not charge for them. There is no template workaround — wait for the user to message again.
WhatsApp — you can send regular text only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. Outside the window, use an approved template via POST /api/v1/messages/send-template. This is a Meta policy. Replies inside the window are free for the first 1,000 a month per number; Meta bills the replies after that, and every template. Without a payment method on the WhatsApp Business account, the free 1,000 still go out, and later replies are not delivered (error 131042) — see Messaging Costs.

Media limits

Outbound file size

Meta downloads your media_url and enforces its own per-platform caps. Fiwano does not re-check the file, so an oversize file is rejected by Meta with error_code 100 and the message is not retried — see Errors.

Media type	WhatsApp	Instagram	Facebook Messenger
Image	5 MB (JPEG, PNG)	8 MB (JPEG, PNG)	8 MB (JPEG, PNG, GIF)
Sticker	100 KB static / 500 KB animated (WebP, 512×512 px)	not available	no file — sent by Meta catalog `sticker_id`
Video	16 MB (MP4, 3GPP)	25 MB (MP4, OGG, AVI, MOV, WebM)	25 MB
Audio	16 MB (AAC, AMR, MP3, MP4, OGG)	25 MB (AAC, M4A, WAV, MP4)	25 MB
Document	100 MB (PDF, Office, text)	25 MB (PDF)	25 MB

These are Meta's limits and Meta may change them; encoding overhead can push a file over the cap even when its size on disk looks safe. Meta does not list accepted formats per type exhaustively, so handle the oversize or unsupported-format rejection rather than relying on a fixed list.

Inbound media

Inbound media (images, audio, video, documents) is stored for 60 minutes. Download it via GET /api/v1/media/{media_id} promptly after the webhook. Maximum file size: 10 MB, any file type. A larger file arrives with download_url: null and its real file_size.
Pro license required for sending/receiving media, sending interactive messages and using WhatsApp templates. With a Starter license, inbound media arrives as type: "unsupported" with upgrade_required: "pro". See Subscriptions & Billing.