How WhatsApp Instant Messaging (IM) Credits Work
To understand how WhatsApp Instant Messaging (IM) Credits work, it’s important to be familiar with concepts such as Utility Messages and Customer Service Window. This help document provides an overview of these concepts and includes simple examples to illustrate how credits work.
Utility Messages
According to Meta (Parent company of WhatsApp Business), these messages allow you to keep users informed and engaged through notifications and confirmation messages. This includes sending notifications when a transaction is approved, rejected, or requires approval action. The charges for utility messages are determined by the volume tier assigned to the WhatsApp Business Account, based on the recipient’s country, as defined by Meta.
Customer Service Window
When you send a utility message, such as notification when a report or trip is submitted, approved, rejected, or when expenses are reimbursed, the cost is deducted from your credits.
When a user sends a message to the WhatsApp business account, a new customer service window opens for 24 hours. Notifications can be sent to the same user during this period for the next 24 hours without any additional charges.
Each time the user sends a new message, the 24-hour window resets from that point.
The following table explains how cost deduction works when a WhatsApp notification is sent to a user.
| Date | Notification Time | Message Type | Cost Deduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th of July | 10 a.m. | Utility Message | Cost is deducted for the first WhatsApp notification you send. |
| 10th of July | 12.30 p.m. | Service Message (User has sent you a message at 12:30 p.m., so the customer service window is open) | No cost deducted. |
| 10th of July | 1 p.m. | Utility Message | No cost deducted. |
| 10th of July | 3 p.m. | Service Message (User has sent you a message at 3 p.m., so the customer service window is open) | No cost deducted. |
| 11th of July | 1 a.m. | Utility Message | No cost deducted. |
| 11th of July | 10 a.m. | Utility Message | Utility message expires after 24 hours. |
| 11th of July | 3 p.m. | Utility Message | Cost is deducted based on the volume tier, as the customer service window closed at 3 p.m. |
Cost Deduction Factors
Currency Associated With the WhatsApp Business Account
The cost deducted for your messages depends on the currency associated with your WhatsApp Business Account. To view the currency:
- Log in to business.facebook.com.
- Go to Settings.
- Navigate to Accounts and click WhatsApp Accounts.
- Select the WhatsApp account that you’ve connected with Zoho Expense.
- You can view the currency in the Business Information section.
Meta provides different rate cards based on the WhatsApp Business Account’s base currency. You can also check the recent pricing updates and download the volume tier with the rate card for your WhatsApp Business Account’s currency.
Message Category
The cost deducted also varies based on the Message Category. In Zoho Expense, we only use the Utility Message Category.
In the rate card that you’ve downloaded, the Utility column comprises the list rate, which is the standard rate applied for the first range of utility messages.
Recipient’s Country
The rate also depends on the country of the user’s phone number to whom the notification is sent.
In Zoho Expense, your credits will be reduced based on the rate charged. For example, if one credit costs $2.06, and sending a WhatsApp utility message to an Indian user costs $0.0014, you can send approximately 1471 messages to that user using just one credit. (Number of messages that can be sent = Cost per credit / Message cost). This is excluding the notifications sent during the customer service window.
Volume Tier
A Volume Tier is a pricing structure defined by Meta for WhatsApp Business accounts. It determines the cost per message based on the total number of utility messages sent in a month, excluding those sent during the customer service window. Based on this count, the applicable volume range is determined.
Note: At the beginning of every month, the utility message count for each country is reset to 0.
Examples for Credit Calculation
Note: Credits are deducted instantly whenever a message is sent, based on the message category and recipient’s country.
Here’s a sample scenario to illustrate the WhatsApp credits usage:
Patricia has her WhatsApp Business Account’s currency set to USD, and one credit is valued at $2.06. She had purchased 45,000 credits for her WhatsApp Business Account. On July 1, a notification is sent for expense report approval to a user in Argentina.
Since the first utility message falls under Tier 1, the list rate 0.0289 USD (standard rate applied for the first range of utility messages) is applied. As soon as the message is delivered, credits are reduced based on that cost. Here’s how the deduction of credits is calculated:
The above image depicts the volume tier chart for calculating the utility messages sent to a recipient in Argentina. The first 100,000 messages falls under the first tier, known as the list rate. As the message volume increases, the messages move through different tiers with decreasing rates. This tiered pricing helps reduce costs as the total message volume increases.
Here’s how credits are deducted on July 1 based on the message category:
Recipient’s Country: Argentina
Message Category: Utility Message
Message Count: 1
Rate per Message: 0.0289 (List rate)
Cost: 1 × 0.0289 = 0.0289
Credits Used (Cost ÷ 2.06): 0.0140
Remaining Credits (from 45,000): 44,999.9524
On July 31, Patricia sends a utility message to a user in Argentina. By this time, a large number of messages have already been sent throughout the month, including 2,000,000 utility messages. As a result, the 2,000,001st utility message falls under Tier 3.
Since credits are deducted instantly for each message sent, Patricia’s WhatsApp Business Account had only 576 credits remaining by July 30. Here’s how credits will be deducted on July 31:
Recipient’s Country: Argentina
Message Category: Utility Message
Message Count: 2,000,001
Rate per Message: 0.0260 (Tier-3)
Cost: 1 × 0.0260 = 0.0260
Credits Used (Cost ÷ 2.06): 0.0126
Remaining Credits (from 45,000): 576 − 0.0126 = 575.9874
By the end of July, Patricia had spent around 44,424 credits and had a balance of approximately 575 credits left in her WhatsApp Business Account.
WABA and Shared Volume Tier Usage
A Meta Business Account can have multiple WhatsApp Business Accounts (WABAs). When utility messages are sent from different WABAs to recipients in the same country, the total message count is collectively measured across all WABAs for utility billing purposes.
Let’s say, Patricia has a Meta Business Account registered in the US, where she manages two different WhatsApp Business Accounts (WABAs). WABA-1 is connected to Zoho Expense (with Zoho as the Business Service Provider), and she sends 100,010 utility messages in a month in Argentina. WABA-2 is linked to a custom application with a different Business Service Provider, and she sends 2,000 utility messages in the same country during the same month. Since both WABAs are part of the same Meta Business Account and the messages are sent in the same market-category (Argentina-Utility), Meta combines the total message volume and counts 102,010 utility messages for tier calculation.
So, the first 100,000 messages fall under the list rate (0–100,000), which costs $0.0289 per message. The remaining 2,010 messages fall under Tier 2 (100,001–1,000,000), billed at $0.0275 per message.
WABA-1 is billed as follows:
Total utility messages sent: 100,010
The cost for first 100,000 as per the list rate: 100,000 × $0.0289 = $2,890.00
The cost for next 10 messages as per Tier 2: 10 × $0.0275 = $0.275
Total cost: $2,890.00 + $0.275 = $2,890.28
Hence, WABA-1 is billed $2,890.28 for utility messages
WABA-2 is billed as follows:
Total utility messages sent: 2,000
These 2,000 messages fall under Tier 2
The cost as per Tier 2 rate: 2,000 × $0.0275 = $55.00
Total cost: $55.0000
Hence, WABA-2 is billed $55.00 for utility messages.
Since Patricia manages two WABAs under the same Meta Business Account, the charges are applied separately based on the tier applicable to each WABA’s message volume. WABA-1 is billed $2,890.28, while WABA-2 is billed $55.00, with all its messages falling under Tier 2 pricing.
