If you sell or rent property in India, WhatsApp is probably where most of your enquiries arrive. From 1 October 2026, Meta changes how it charges for WhatsApp Business API messages: replies are free only for the first 1,000 each month, and some reminders that used to be free now cost money. This guide shows exactly what that means for a broker’s monthly bill, with three worked examples.
Every figure below comes from Meta’s own India rate card, effective 1 October 2026, plus 18% GST. There is no platform markup hidden inside any of them.
The four kinds of WhatsApp message
Meta puts every message a business sends into one of four groups, and each group has its own price. Here is what they look like in a broker’s day:
| Kind | A broker’s example | Meta’s India rate (from 1 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | “New 3 BHK project launched in Sector 150, prices from ₹1.2 crore.” | ₹0.8631 per message |
| Utility | “Your site visit is confirmed for Saturday at 11 am.” | ₹0.115 per message |
| Authentication | “Your login code for the buyer portal is 482913.” | ₹0.115 per message |
| Service | Your typed reply to “What is the price of the 2 BHK?” | First 1,000 a month free, then ₹0.115 each |
Marketing, utility and authentication messages are sent from Templates, which are messages you write once and Meta approves before use. Meta decides the category when it approves the template, and you pay the price of that category every time you send it. If a site-visit reminder also mentions a festive discount, Meta can file it as marketing, and you pay ₹0.8631 instead of ₹0.115. Keep reminders plain and keep offers in their own template.
The 1,000 free replies each month
A service reply is any normal message you send inside the 24-hour window that opens when a customer writes to you. Each new message from the customer restarts that window. Until 30 September 2026 these replies were free without limit. From 1 October 2026 the rules are:
- 1,000 free replies per business phone number per month. Two numbers get 1,000 each.
- No rollover. If you use 400 in October, you still get 1,000 in November, not 1,600.
- After 1,000, each reply costs ₹0.115 plus GST, the same as a utility message.
- No payment method, no replies after 1,000. If your WhatsApp Business account has no payment method, Meta delivers the free 1,000 and then stops delivering your replies until you add one.
- Reactions stay free. A thumbs-up on a customer’s message is not charged and does not count toward the 1,000.
For a solo broker, 1,000 replies a month is roughly 33 replies a day, so many small offices will pay nothing for replies. A busy office with three or four people answering will go over it in the second or third week.
Utility messages inside the window are now charged
This change is easy to miss. From 1 July 2025 until 30 September 2026, a utility template sent while the customer’s 24-hour window was open cost nothing. From 1 October 2026, Meta charges it at the normal utility rate of ₹0.115, and it does not come out of your 1,000 free replies.
For a broker, this usually means automatic site-visit confirmations. If a customer books a visit through your WhatsApp menu and your system sends a confirmation template straight away, that confirmation now costs ₹0.115 plus GST, even though the chat is open. A typed reply in the same chat (“Done, see you Saturday at 11”) counts as a service reply instead and uses the free 1,000. Both are fine; just count them in the right line of your budget.
Three real monthly bills
Here are three typical offices, each using one WhatsApp number. The counts are examples to show the maths, not averages from real customers. “Reminders” are utility templates such as visit confirmations and document reminders; “offers” are marketing templates such as new launches and price drops.
1. A solo broker
| Line | Count | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replies | 600 (all inside the free 1,000) | Free | ₹0.00 |
| Reminders (utility) | 200 | ₹0.115 | ₹23.00 |
| Offers (marketing) | 300 | ₹0.8631 | ₹258.93 |
| Subtotal | ₹281.93 | ||
| GST 18% | ₹50.75 | ||
| Total for the month | ₹332.68 |
2. A 3-agent office
| Line | Count | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replies | 2,500 (1,000 free, 1,500 charged) | ₹0.115 | ₹172.50 |
| Reminders (utility) | 800 | ₹0.115 | ₹92.00 |
| Offers (marketing) | 1,500 | ₹0.8631 | ₹1,294.65 |
| Subtotal | ₹1,559.15 | ||
| GST 18% | ₹280.65 | ||
| Total for the month | ₹1,839.80 |
3. A developer’s sales team
| Line | Count | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replies | 8,000 (1,000 free, 7,000 charged) | ₹0.115 | ₹805.00 |
| Reminders (utility) | 3,000 | ₹0.115 | ₹345.00 |
| Offers (marketing) | 10,000 | ₹0.8631 | ₹8,631.00 |
| Subtotal | ₹9,781.00 | ||
| GST 18% | ₹1,760.58 | ||
| Total for the month | ₹11,541.58 |
Two things stand out. First, offers are most of every bill: in all three examples, marketing messages make up more than 80% of the subtotal. Sending a launch to 1,000 people who actually asked about that area costs the same per message as sending it to 1,000 random numbers, so a clean, well-tagged contact list saves more money than anything else. Second, the new reply charge is small next to that. Even the developer’s team, with 7,000 paid replies, spends ₹805 before GST on them.
What the platform fee covers, and what it does not
If you use the WhatsApp Business API through a platform, your bill has two separate parts:
- The platform fee pays for the software: the shared Inbox where your whole team answers from one number, Flows that answer common questions with buttons, Follow-ups that remind leads who went quiet, Broadcasts for launches, and Contacts with tags so you know who asked about which project.
- The message charges are Meta’s, per message, as in the tables above.
Some platforms sell messages at their own higher rate, so a marketing message that costs ₹0.8631 at Meta may show up as ₹1 or more on your invoice. Always ask for the per-message rate in writing and compare it with Meta’s card.
At OGIR, message charges are Meta’s rates, passed on at cost: Marketing ₹0.8631, Utility ₹0.115, Authentication ₹0.115; replies inside the 24-hour window: first 1,000 a month free, then ₹0.115 each; all plus 18% GST. OGIR adds no markup to Meta’s rates. The plan fee for the software is listed on our pricing page.
If you are also wondering whether Meta’s new subscription could replace a platform altogether, we compared the two in Meta One vs AiSensy, Interakt and WATI.
To see how a property office puts the Inbox, Flows and Follow-ups to work on its own number, read A WhatsApp front door for your real-estate office in 30 minutes.
Your account must bill in rupees by 31 December 2026
Meta started billing Indian businesses in rupees (INR) on 1 January 2026. Every WhatsApp messaging account owned by an Indian business must move to INR by 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, Meta will stop delivering messages from Indian accounts that still bill in another currency, such as US dollars.
What to check: in your Meta business settings, open the billing and payments section and look at the currency shown for each WhatsApp account. If it says INR, you are done. If it shows another currency, or if a platform set up your number for you, ask them to confirm the move before December. Also make sure a working payment method is saved there, so your replies do not stop after the free 1,000.
Frequently asked questions
Are messages that customers send to me free?
Yes. Meta charges only for messages your business delivers. Receiving enquiries, photos and documents costs nothing.
Is the free 1,000 for each number or for my whole account?
For each business phone number. An office with two WhatsApp numbers gets 1,000 free replies on each, every calendar month.
Do replies from the WhatsApp Business app on my phone cost anything?
No. If your number is connected to the API and you also keep using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone (Meta calls this coexistence), messages you send from the app stay free. Only messages sent through the API are charged.
What happens if I go over 1,000 replies?
Each extra reply costs ₹0.115 plus 18% GST, so 500 extra replies cost about ₹68 with GST. Without a payment method on your account, Meta stops delivering replies after the 1,000th until you add one.
Is a chat from a Click to WhatsApp ad still free?
Yes, and for longer than it used to be. When someone taps your Click to WhatsApp ad on their phone and you reply within 24 hours, a free window opens that can last up to 7 days. Inside it, every message you send is free, including templates. This does not apply when the person writes from WhatsApp on a computer.
Sources: Meta for Developers, “Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform” and “Pricing updates” (updated 28 September 2026), including the INR rate card effective 1 October 2026; Meta for Developers, onboarding WhatsApp Business app users (coexistence) pricing. Checked on 30 September 2026. GST at 18%.
