What the October 2026 WhatsApp pricing change means for you
Summarise this post with
From 1 October 2026, two things that used to be free start costing money: free-form service replies, and utility templates sent inside the 24-hour customer service window. Only the 72-hour window opened by a Click-to-WhatsApp ad stays free.
What actually changes
Service and in-window utility messages are billed at the utility rate. For most Indian senders that is a small per-message cost, but at volume it adds up, so it is worth modelling before the date rather than after the first invoice.
How to soften it
Lean on the free entry points you still have, batch service replies where you can, and move routine confirmations to templates that were already priced in. The cheapest message is still the one a customer never has to send because the first one was clear.