Per-message billing changed the maths in 2025
Meta moved WhatsApp Business API billing from a per-24-hour-conversation model to per-message billing on 1 July 2025 — every marketing, utility and authentication template you send is now charged individually rather than bundled into a single conversation-window fee, which materially changes the economics for high-volume marketing sends specifically. Malaysia rates run roughly RM0.3467 per marketing message and RM0.0564 per utility or domestic authentication message, with Meta billing Malaysia directly in MYR since April 2026 rather than requiring a USD conversion. International authentication (an OTP sent from a WhatsApp Business Account registered outside Malaysia) carries a materially higher rate, which is worth checking if your account setup isn't Malaysia-registered.
Two free-messaging windows are easy to miss when estimating costs: any reply within 24 hours of a customer's last message is free regardless of category, and messages sent within 72 hours of a user initiating contact via a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page CTA button are free even for templates. Structuring acquisition campaigns to land inside that 72-hour window is one of the more effective, underused cost levers available on this platform.
The "vs. hiring reply staff" comparison exists because the real decision most SMEs face isn't API pricing in isolation — it's API-plus-automation vs. paying someone to manually handle the same conversation volume, and the honest answer depends heavily on your actual message mix. See WhatsApp automation for the account-management layer around this, and the WhatsApp link generator for getting conversations started in the first place. Our WhatsApp marketing for clinics guide covers a category-specific use case in more depth.