Working with an AI agent? Download the full documentation as a Markdown file to use as context.
Download full .mdThere are two things you pay for when you message people on Meta's channels: Meta's own fees, and whatever the service you use to reach Meta charges you. They get conflated a lot, which is where most of the confusion about pricing comes from. This page separates them.
The figures below are rough orders of magnitude. Real rates depend on the country and change over time, so treat them as a sense of scale and check Meta's pricing page for the current number in your market.
All three channels share the same starting point: when someone messages you, you can reply to them for free for the next 24 hours. Answering inbound costs nothing on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger alike. Costs only come into it when you want to message someone first, after that window has closed.
Instagram and Messenger have no per-message fee on ordinary messaging. Inside the 24-hour window you can send whatever you like, including promotional content, at no cost. Reaching someone after the window closes is where it gets nuanced, and it changed in 2026: Instagram still has no paid way to reopen a conversation (you wait for the user to write back), but Messenger now has a paid, opt-in marketing channel similar to WhatsApp's. Both also support a couple of free-but-limited ways out of the window. The full picture is in The 24-Hour Window.
WhatsApp is the only channel Meta bills per message, and the part worth being clear about is what gets billed: approved template messages, not ordinary free-form chat. A template is a structured message — an order confirmation, a one-time code, a promo — that you submit to Meta for approval before you can send it. The free-form replies you type back to a customer are a separate category and aren't billed. What you pay turns on the template's category:
| Category | What it is | Charged? |
|---|---|---|
| Service | Free-form reply (not a template), inside the 24-hour window | Free, unlimited |
| Utility | Approved template — order status, receipt, reminder | Free inside an open window, paid outside it |
| Authentication | Approved template — one-time passwords, verification codes | Paid, cheaper than marketing |
| Marketing | Approved template — promotions, broadcasts, re-engagement | Paid, the most expensive category |
So the messages you actually pay for are the structured templates you send on your own initiative. Replying in free-form text to someone who messaged you, inside the 24-hour window, costs nothing. (One more free path: if a user reaches you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad and you reply within 24 hours, the following 72 hours are free, business-initiated messages included.)
WhatsApp rates are set per country, and the range is wide. Some illustrative marketing rates per message:
| Market | Marketing (≈ per message) |
|---|---|
| India | ~$0.0094 |
| United States | ~$0.025 |
| United Arab Emirates | ~$0.05 |
| Brazil | ~$0.0625 |
| Germany | ~$0.12+ |
Utility and authentication usually land 80–90% below marketing in the same market. Meta can only change these prices once a quarter (the 1st of January, April, July or October), so within a quarter your costs hold steady, and it now bills in local currency in a growing number of markets. If your audience spans several countries, expect a spread rather than one flat rate.
To reach these APIs you either build the Meta integration yourself or go through a provider. Providers tend to price one of three ways:
Which one suits you depends on who's sending the messages. If it's a person working a shared inbox, a seat-based tool makes sense. If it's an application or an AI agent, a per-message markup or a per-seat fee can end up larger than Meta's own charges.
Fiwano charges a flat fee per license — $12 for Starter or $19 for Pro — and each license covers one WhatsApp, one Instagram and one Facebook Messenger channel. Capabilities lists what the two tiers include.
There's no per-message markup; we don't resell traffic or take a cut. Where Meta charges a fee, Meta bills it directly to your own WhatsApp Business account, so it never passes through us. Receiving messages and replying within the 24-hour window are free on Meta's side, which means a reactive setup — a support bot, a helpdesk, an AI agent answering inbound — can run a near-zero Meta bill and just pay the flat Fiwano fee. You only pay Meta when you send business-initiated WhatsApp templates.
Today Fiwano covers the two things most products need: free-form replies inside the 24-hour window and approved WhatsApp templates. The other out-of-window mechanics described in The 24-Hour Window — the human-agent extension, one-time notifications, Messenger marketing messages — aren't part of Fiwano yet; we plan to add them in Q4 2026.
Billing runs month to month through Paddle, which also acts as merchant of record and handles VAT and sales tax, so there's nothing large to commit up front. New accounts get a 7-day Pro trial with no card required. Subscriptions & Billing covers how the lifecycle and channel state work; to connect a channel and start sending, see Channels and Sending Messages.
Yes. On all three channels, when someone messages you, you can reply for free for the next 24 hours. Answering inbound costs nothing; fees only apply when you message someone first after that window has closed.
Approved template messages you send on your own initiative — not ordinary free-form replies. The price depends on the template category (utility, authentication or marketing, with marketing the most expensive). Free-form service replies inside the 24-hour window are free.
Ordinary messaging has no per-message fee, and replies inside the 24-hour window are free on both. The exception is new in 2026: Messenger added a paid, opt-in marketing channel for reaching users after the window. Instagram still has no paid outbound option — you wait for the user to write back.
No. Fiwano charges a flat fee per license ($12 Starter, $19 Pro) with no per-message markup. Where Meta charges a fee, Meta bills it directly to your own WhatsApp Business account, so it never passes through Fiwano.
It is set per country and varies widely — marketing templates range from roughly $0.0094 in India to $0.12+ in Germany, with utility and authentication usually 80–90% cheaper. Check Meta's pricing page for the current rate in your market.
Fiwano API Documentation