WhatsApp Pricing

Devotel is a Tech Provider (TP), not a Business Solution Provider (BSP). That means your WhatsApp conversation costs are billed directly by Meta to the payment method on your WhatsApp Business Account. Devotel never takes a cut of message traffic and does not resell conversations. WhatsApp on Orbit is free — templates, flows, inbox, AI assist, campaigns, analytics. You pay Meta for conversations; you pay Devotel nothing for WhatsApp.

Who bills what

Cost	Who you pay	How
WhatsApp conversations (user→business or business→user within 24h)	Meta	Meta debits the payment method on your WABA directly
WhatsApp phone number purchase (if new)	The carrier / number marketplace	One-time or monthly fee per number
Orbit’s platform features (inbox, templates, AI, campaigns, webhooks, API)	Nobody (for WhatsApp)	Free on every tier, including Starter
Other Orbit channels (SMS, voice, email, RCS, etc.)	Orbit	Per-unit credit pricing — see Pricing

So on the Orbit platform, your WhatsApp work incurs no Orbit charges. On Meta’s side, you’ll see a monthly invoice for the conversations your WABA opened.

How Meta prices conversations

A conversation is a 24-hour window of messages between your business and a single user. Meta charges once per window, regardless of how many messages flow.

Four categories

The first template you send sets the category for the entire 24-hour window.

Category	What it’s for
Authentication	OTPs, login codes, password resets, 2FA
Utility	Transactional — order status, appointment reminder, delivery ETA, payment receipt
Marketing	Promotional — campaigns, re-engagement, abandoned cart, upsells
Service	User-initiated conversations (customer support) — free the first 1,000/month

Category drives price. Mis-categorising a template (a marketing template submitted as “utility” to save money) risks WABA suspension — see Restricted Content Policy.

Indicative 2025-Q2 rates

These are Meta’s rates, not Orbit’s. Meta updates them quarterly (Feb 1, May 1, Aug 1, Nov 1). Check Meta’s conversation pricing page for live numbers by country.

United States (USD per conversation)

Category	Rate
Authentication	$0.0135
Utility	$0.0150
Marketing	$0.0250
Service (after 1K/month tier)	$0.0150

Brazil

Category	Rate
Authentication	$0.0315
Utility	$0.0080
Marketing	$0.0625

India

Category	Rate
Authentication	$0.0014
Utility	$0.0011
Marketing	$0.0123

Europe (range, varies by country)

Category	Rate
Authentication	$0.046–$ 0.086
Utility	$0.030–$ 0.061
Marketing	$0.125–$ 0.150

Rates differ significantly between countries — Egypt is cheaper than Germany is cheaper than the UK. See the full matrix on Meta’s page.

Free entry points

Some conversations are free even outside the service tier:

First 1,000 service conversations per month on every WABA
Click-to-WhatsApp ads — conversations opened from a Meta ad get the first 72 h free
Facebook Page “Message on WhatsApp” button — same 72 h free window

Free entry points are automatic; nothing to configure.

The 24-hour window

Day 1, 09:00  Send marketing template
              → MARKETING window opens (charged marketing rate)
Day 1, 09:30  Send utility template
              → Same window, NO extra charge
Day 1, 17:00  User replies "thanks"
              → Still same window, no extra charge
Day 2, 10:00  Send utility template
              → NEW window (marketing window closed at 09:00 Day 2)
              → UTILITY window opens (charged utility rate)

Three rules:

One window = one charge. Multiple messages within the window don’t add up.
User-initiated replies are free (service category), up to 1,000/month per WABA.
The first template fixes the category. A utility template sent later in a marketing window doesn’t reprice it.

How you read the Meta invoice

Meta bills monthly to the payment method on your WhatsApp Business Account. Find your invoice:

business.facebook.com → Billing → Account Spending Limits → WhatsApp
Or Settings → Payments → Transactions for line-by-line history

Meta’s line items look like:

WhatsApp Business Platform — United States — Marketing       412 × $0.0250 = $10.30
WhatsApp Business Platform — United States — Utility       1,205 × $0.0150 = $18.08
WhatsApp Business Platform — India — Authentication        8,847 × $0.0014 = $12.39
WhatsApp Business Platform — Service (free tier)           1,000 × $0.0000 =  $0.00

These line items come from Meta’s own insights — not from Orbit. If a conversation appears in Orbit but not on your Meta invoice (or vice versa) within 72 h, it’s a reconciliation issue to raise with Meta support, not Orbit.

How Orbit helps you track Meta’s billing

Orbit can’t invoice you for WhatsApp conversations — but we can mirror Meta’s insights so you have an operational view without needing to dig through Meta Business Manager every time.

Insights mirror

Dashboard → Channels → WhatsApp → Insights pulls the conversation count + estimated cost from Meta’s Graph API every 6 hours. You’ll see:

Conversations opened today / week / month, split by category
Estimated Meta spend (using current rates + country mix of your actual traffic)
Free-tier quota remaining (how many of the 1,000 service conversations you’ve used)
Per-template rollup

This is estimated, sourced from Meta’s Graph API. The authoritative invoice is whatever Meta shows in Business Manager.

Budget alerts (Orbit-side, optional)

You can configure budget alerts in Orbit that fire based on our mirrored Meta numbers:

Alert email when estimated WhatsApp spend passes a threshold you set
Alert email when the 1,000 free-tier runway is < 48h at current pace

These are soft alerts. Orbit does not block sends based on Meta’s billing — that’s Meta’s job, and they do it via their own spending limits.

Set Meta-side limits

We recommend every tenant set a Meta-side spending limit at business.facebook.com → WhatsApp → Payment settings. This is the only hard cap that can actually stop Meta from running up a bill.

Upgrading to a BSP relationship (future)

When Devotel becomes an approved Business Solution Provider later in 2026, tenants will get the option to route billing through Orbit — consolidated invoice, credit-wallet integration, single currency. Today, as a Tech Provider, Meta bills you directly. If you want to be notified when the BSP option becomes available, email whatsapp-support@devotel.io.

FAQ

Does Orbit markup Meta's conversation rates?

No. Devotel is a Tech Provider — we have no billing relationship with you for WhatsApp conversations. Meta bills you directly.

Are Orbit platform features free for WhatsApp?

Yes — templates, AI assist, campaigns, inbox, analytics, webhooks, API, flows, catalog. Everything. No feature is behind a paywall for WhatsApp specifically.

Why can't I see my WhatsApp invoice in Orbit's billing page?

Because Orbit doesn’t issue it. Your WhatsApp invoice lives in Meta Business Manager → Billing. Orbit’s Insights page shows an estimate for operational planning, not an authoritative bill.

What if I send a template mis-categorised as utility to save money?

Meta’s classifier may re-categorise and backbill; a pattern of mis-categorisation can also get your WABA suspended. Worst case, Meta terminates the WABA and you lose the number. Always submit the correct category.

Can I pre-pay Meta to lock in rates?

Meta does not offer pre-paid reservations at the rate-card level. You can pre-fund your Meta Payments account, but Meta applies the then-current rate at the moment of conversation.

Does Orbit's free tier cap my WhatsApp usage?

No. Orbit’s WhatsApp feature set is unlimited on every plan. Limits come from Meta’s messaging tier (250 → 1K → 10K → 100K → unlimited), which is a function of your quality rating — see Setup Guide.

​WhatsApp Pricing

​Who bills what

​How Meta prices conversations

​Four categories

​Indicative 2025-Q2 rates

​United States (USD per conversation)

​Brazil

​India

​Europe (range, varies by country)

​Free entry points

​The 24-hour window

​How you read the Meta invoice

​How Orbit helps you track Meta’s billing

​Insights mirror

​Budget alerts (Orbit-side, optional)

​Set Meta-side limits

​Upgrading to a BSP relationship (future)

​FAQ