OleonUpdate
Meta's WhatsApp price change on 1 October 2026, explained
From 1 October 2026, Meta will charge businesses for ordinary WhatsApp replies once a number sends more than 1,000 in a month: US$0.002 a reply in Sri Lanka, about Rs 0.67. Here is what is changing, who pays, and what to do before then.
From 1 October 2026, Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, will charge businesses for the everyday replies they send to customers. The first 1,000 replies each month from every business phone number stay free. After that, each reply costs US$0.002 in Sri Lanka, about Rs 0.67.
What is changing on 1 October 2026?
WhatsApp messages from a business come in two kinds.
Template messages are the ones a business starts: an order update, an appointment reminder, an offer. Meta has always charged for these.
Service messages are replies. When a customer messages you first, everything you send back in the next 24 hours is a service message. Today these replies are free. From 1 October 2026, Meta will charge for them too, once a number has used up its free allowance for the month.
How much will a WhatsApp reply cost?
Meta prices WhatsApp in US dollars. In Sri Lanka, every reply after the free allowance will cost US$0.002. At the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's selling rate on 10 September 2026, Rs 333.14 to the dollar, that is about Rs 0.67. Your bank's card rate on the day Meta charges you may differ a little.
In other countries, a reply costs the same as Meta's utility message rate there, so the price depends on where your customer's phone number is from.
1,000
free replies a month, for each business number
US$0.002
for each reply after that in Sri Lanka, about Rs 0.67
24 hours
after a customer's message, when your replies count
Will anything still be free?
- The first 1,000 replies every month, for each business phone number. The count starts again on the 1st of the month, and unused replies do not carry over.
- Replies to customers who came from an ad. If someone messages you by tapping a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a button on your Facebook Page, your replies to them are free for 72 hours.
- Messages your customers send you. Receiving a message never costs anything.
What will this mean for a small business?
Say your shop sends 50 replies a day. Over a 30-day month that is 1,500 replies. The first 1,000 are free, and the other 500 cost 500 × US$0.002, which is US$1.00 for the month, about Rs 333.
If you send fewer than about 33 replies a day, you stay inside the free 1,000 and pay nothing new.
Meta counts messages, not conversations. An answer sent as three short messages counts as three, so saying it in one message costs less.
Who sends the bill, Meta or Oleon?
Meta. These are Meta's charges: Meta sets them, Meta can change them, and Meta bills you directly through your WhatsApp Business account. Oleon does not add anything to them or take a share of them.
What do I need to do?
- Add a payment method in Meta's WhatsApp Manager before 1 October. Without one, Meta stops delivering your replies once the free 1,000 are used. If a project has no payment method, Oleon shows a red notice at the top of every page until one is added.
- Answer in one full message instead of several short ones.
- Think about click-to-WhatsApp ads for campaigns that bring in many questions: replies to those customers stay free for 72 hours.
Are any WhatsApp prices going down?
Yes, in Sri Lanka. On 1 October, Sri Lanka moves out of Meta's "Rest of Asia Pacific" group onto a price list of its own, and its utility rate drops from US$0.0113 to US$0.002 a message. So order updates, reminders and other utility templates get much cheaper at the same time.
Sources: Meta: pricing for service (non-template) messages, Meta: WhatsApp Business Platform pricing and Central Bank of Sri Lanka rates for 10 September 2026, as reported by Newswire. Prices are those Meta set for 1 October 2026, and Meta may change them. Rupee amounts use the 10 September 2026 selling rate, Rs 333.14 to US$1.
