Meta bills WhatsApp Business Accounts (WABA) based on conversation categories. There are four categories:

• Marketing → Paid
• Utility → Paid
• Authentication → Paid
• Service → Free (if customer-initiated)

Each conversation type runs on a 24-hour billing window per category per customer.

📊 WhatsApp Conversation Categories & Billing Rules

🖼️ Billing Flow Diagram

✉️ Template-Driven Conversations (Paid)

• Business-initiated messages must use pre-approved templates.
• Each template triggers a new 24-hour billing window if no same-category window is active.
• Multiple categories can overlap (e.g., 1 Marketing + 1 Utility window active simultaneously).

💡 Example: Sending a shipping update (Utility) and a promo (Marketing) to the same customer will incur two charges if sent in different categories.

💬 Service Conversations (Free)

• Triggered only when a customer sends the first message.
• Business can respond using free-form messages for 24 hours.
• No billing applies during this window.
• ⚠️ However, if you send a template during this window, a paid window for that template category will open.

⚠️ Key Billing Notes

• ✅ Charges apply per 24-hour window, per category, per customer.
• ✅ Service (customer-initiated) is always free, unless a template triggers a parallel paid window.
• ✅ Multiple billing windows can overlap (Service + Marketing + Utility simultaneously).
• 🌍 Conversation pricing varies by region — refer to Meta’s official rate card.
• 🚫 Templates must be correctly categorized or may be rejected by Meta.

🔌 API Example & Schema

Sample API Response

{  "conversation": {    "id": "conv123",    "category": "utility",    "origin": "business_initiated",    "window": "24h",    "charge": "applied"  },  "message": {    "type": "template",    "template_name": "shipping_update"  }}

Schema Reference

{  "conversation_id": "string",  "category": "marketing | utility | authentication | service",  "origin": "business_initiated | customer_initiated",  "window": "24h",  "charge": "applied | free"}

📚 Related FAQs

• What qualifies as a Marketing vs. Utility message?
• How are free Service conversations tracked?
• Why was I charged multiple times for one customer?

✅ Final Note:
Think of billing as parallel 24-hour tracks.

• Service is free (customer-initiated).
• Marketing, Utility, Authentication are always paid when initiated by templates.
• Multiple categories can overlap — charges apply per window, per customer, per category.