WhatsApp replies are no longer free: Meta's 1 October 2026 change

For years, the rule of thumb was simple: on the WhatsApp Business Platform, you paid for template messages and your replies to customers were free. That changed on 1 October 2026. Meta’s documentation for non-template messages now says: “Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for service messages.”

This guide explains what that means for a Malaysian business, using only what Meta publishes. Where Meta’s own pages disagree with each other, we say so.

What counts as a service message

When a customer messages your business, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it, you can reply freely, in your own words, without a pre-approved template. Those free-form replies are service messages (Meta also calls them non-template messages).

Everything else is a template message, which Meta must approve in advance and which falls into one of three categories:

• Marketing, such as promotions and offers.
• Utility, such as order updates and appointment reminders.
• Authentication, such as one-time passcodes.

What changed on 1 October 2026

Meta’s page on service message pricing says three things:

1. Service messages are charged per message.
2. By market, the rate for service messages is the same as the rate for utility and authentication messages.
3. Meta does not offer volume tiers for service messages.

Until 1 October 2026, service messages inside an open customer service window were free. That is the change.

One caution. At the time of writing, Meta’s main pricing page still says “All non-template messages are free” within an open customer service window, while its non-template pricing page describes the new charge. If you’re budgeting, follow the more specific page, and check both again before you rely on them.

What is still free

Meta’s main pricing page describes a 72-hour free entry point window. When someone messages you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button, and you reply within 24 hours, a 72-hour window opens in which “you can send any type of message to the user at no charge.”

Utility templates delivered inside an open customer service window are also free, according to the same page.

Some vendors report a monthly allowance of free service messages per number. We could not find that allowance on Meta’s own pages, so don’t plan around it until you can.

Who pays, and how

Meta bills message fees to the WhatsApp Business Account that sends them. If your number is on a WhatsApp Business Account that belongs to your business, Meta bills you directly. If a provider owns the account and resells messages, the price you pay is the provider’s, which may include a markup.

With ezychat.io, the account is yours. Meta bills you, and ezychat adds nothing on top.

Do AI replies cost more?

No. Meta prices by type of message, not by who wrote it. A reply your AI employee writes and a reply your staff types are both service messages, charged the same way.

What changes is volume. An AI agent that answers every message at midnight will send more replies than a team that answers in the morning, so your Meta bill follows the conversations you actually have.

How rates are set in Malaysia

Rates depend on two things: the category of the message, and the country calling code of the person you’re messaging. A message to a +60 number is charged at Malaysia’s rate.

Meta publishes rate cards by currency, including MYR, and says it may update pricing only on the first day of each quarter, so up to four times a year. Rate cards are effective from those dates in your WhatsApp Business Account’s time zone.

We don’t reprint the ringgit rates here, because they change each quarter and secondhand copies go stale. Download the current card from Meta’s pricing page.

How to keep the bill predictable

• Answer in one message, not five. Each service message is charged, so a complete answer is cheaper than a string of short ones. A good AI agent should answer in full the first time.
• Use ads that open WhatsApp. Conversations that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad get the 72-hour free entry point window.
• Watch your rate card each quarter. Put a reminder in the first week of January, April, July and October.
• Keep the account in your name. Then Meta’s invoice is the whole story, and there’s no markup to audit.

What ezychat charges

ezychat.io never charges per reply. Plans are priced by active customers a month, the number of different people who message you, from a free plan for 30 to Scale for 1,600, with packs of 50 for RM50 when you need more. See pricing in RM.