Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, is set to introduce new per-message charges for certain businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform in Nigeria from October 1, 2026.
The pricing change means companies that rely heavily on WhatsApp for customer service, transaction alerts and other business communications could face higher operating costs.
However, the new charges will not affect ordinary WhatsApp users who use the messaging app to communicate with family, friends or other individuals. They also do not generally apply to small businesses using the standard WhatsApp Business application on their phones.
According to Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform pricing information, businesses are charged according to the category of message and the country of the recipient. The platform has four categories: marketing, utility, authentication and service. Charges are applied when a message is delivered.
From October 1, Meta will begin charging for service messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform. It will also charge for qualifying utility messages sent in response to customers within an open 24-hour customer service window.
Service messages are typically responses to customers seeking assistance, while utility messages include communications such as payment confirmations, order updates and delivery notifications.
Meta had previously allowed some of these messages to be sent without a charge. The company said the new system will bring service and qualifying utility messages into its per-message pricing structure.
For Nigerian businesses, reports citing Meta’s pricing indicate that a chargeable service or utility message could cost around $0.0101, or approximately ₦14 at an exchange rate of about ₦1,340 to the dollar. Marketing messages attract a higher rate, although the exact amount can vary with Meta’s pricing and exchange-rate movements.
The financial impact could be significant for companies that send hundreds of thousands or millions of messages every month.
For instance, a business sending 500,000 chargeable messages at $0.0101 each would incur about $5,050 in Meta fees alone, before any additional charges imposed by third-party Business Solution Providers.
Banks, fintech companies, telecommunications firms, e-commerce platforms, logistics companies and large retailers are among the organisations that commonly use the
