Guide · Meta pricing · Open beta from 1 October 2026

WhatsApp marketing messages: setting a maximum price, open to all from 1 October 2026

Until now every WhatsApp marketing message to a country cost the same published rate. Meta has added a way to choose the most you will pay for each delivered marketing message instead. It opened to every provider's clients on 1 October 2026, and Meta plans to make it required in eligible countries in 2027.

Published 27 September 2026 · Updated 7 October 2026

What a maximum price is

You set the most you are willing to pay for each marketing message that is delivered. Meta then charges that amount or less. Meta describes three ways to use it:

Same as the published rate: Meta says this can lower costs while keeping delivery much like today's campaigns.
Lower than the published rate: Reaches more customers for less money, with the trade-off that fewer messages may be delivered.
Higher than the published rate: For busy periods such as holidays and big sales, when you want more of your messages delivered.

Alongside it, Meta offers a reach estimate that shows the likely delivery rate and cost at different maximum prices, so the number you choose is not a guess. Meta adds that the estimate does not guarantee what will happen.

A different ceiling for each country: One template can carry its own ceiling for each country the messages go to, up to 50 countries, each set as a multiple of the template's ceiling of up to ten times. Countries not listed use the template's ceiling.
Adjusting single messages: A provider can lower or raise the ceiling for an individual message when it is sent. Meta says this setting may change during the beta.
Meta's advice on setting it: Set the template's ceiling at the most you would accept and lower individual messages from there. Meta says this gives its delivery system the widest range to work with.
Going back to the published rate: A template can switch between the published rate and a ceiling without being made again. Switching back clears any country ceilings, so they have to be set again later.

When it arrives

Since 15 May 2026: Limited beta: each provider could switch it on for a limited number of clients.
From 1 October 2026: Open beta: a provider signs Meta's beta agreement once, and every client account it manages can use the feature without signing up separately. A business connected to Meta directly signs for itself.
Second quarter of 2027: General availability: Meta plans to make a maximum price required in eligible countries, with fixed published marketing rates applying only on the Cloud API.

Who can use it

It works on marketing messages sent through Meta's Marketing Messages API, from an account that has been set up for it, in a country Meta lists as eligible. If your marketing messages go out another way, this does not apply to them yet.

Meta's page lists two ways a promotion with a maximum price fails. Sent through the ordinary Cloud API instead of the Marketing Messages API, it is refused. Sent to someone in a country where Meta does not offer maximum-price delivery, it fails too; Meta added that case to its error list on 5 October 2026. Its fix for the second is to send that person a template without a maximum price, charged at the published rate.

One message, several ceilings

Meta's duplicate templates page, a limited beta inside the maximum price feature, lets a business clone an approved marketing template under a new name with a different ceiling and nothing else changed. Because the words already passed review, the copy is approved at once. Meta's own examples are a higher ceiling for recent buyers and a lower one for cold prospects, or two identical copies run side by side to see what the ceiling does to delivery. The number of copies allowed per template depends on the business's trust level, up to 25, and each copy counts against the account's template limit.

Where it shows in WhatsApp Manager

Meta's WhatsApp Manager page puts the choice in the Pricing section when a marketing template is created or edited: Templates, then Manage templates, then Create template, with the Marketing category. Choose Set maximum price, pick the country where most of the recipients are to see a suggested ceiling, and enter a maximum per 1,000 deliveries; an Estimated results panel shows the likely cost and delivery per 1,000 people, based on recent history such as the last 7 days. Or choose Use default price, the published rate for each recipient's country. The view only appears for an enrolled account with a separate visibility setting switched on.

What to do if you send promotions on WhatsApp

Ask your provider two questions: do your marketing messages go through the Marketing Messages API, and is your country on Meta's eligible list?
Test before it becomes required. Meta's own advice is to compare campaigns with no maximum price, one at the published rate, one above it and one below it, on similar customers over the same period, and to raise volume slowly with a new setting.
Treat early results with care. Meta calls it an early-stage feature whose performance may vary while its systems learn.

Replies and reminders are not affected

This is only about marketing messages. Replies to customers follow the separate 1 October change to service messages.

Questions

Will Meta ever charge more than my maximum?

No. Meta says it charges your maximum price or less for each delivered message.

If I set a low maximum, are all my messages still sent?

Not necessarily. A maximum below the published rate is a way to reach more people for less, and Meta's own examples treat a higher maximum as the way to raise delivery, so a lower one can mean fewer deliveries.

Can one promotion have a different ceiling in each country?

Yes. Meta's page lets one template carry its own ceiling for up to 50 countries, each a multiple of the template's ceiling, and countries not listed use the template's ceiling.

Why did a promotion with a maximum price fail for customers in one country?

Meta's page says a template with a maximum price fails for someone in a country where maximum-price delivery is not offered. Send those customers a template without a maximum price instead.

Where can I see the ceiling on my own templates?

In WhatsApp Manager, the Manage templates table has a Pricing column showing each template's maximum per 1,000 delivered messages, or that it uses the default price. A template's Insights page shows it under Cost per message delivered, next to how the template performed.

Do I have to use it now?

No. It is optional during the beta. Meta plans to make it required in eligible countries in the second quarter of 2027.

Sources

Meta's developer documentation: Set a max price for marketing messages, read 7 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Enroll in the max price feature, read 6 October 2026.
Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform changelog, read 7 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Duplicate templates, read 3 October 2026.

More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

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