Two costs stack up: (1) Meta's per-conversation fees — £0.004 to £0.020 per conversation depending on category and volume tier. (2) Your BSP/platform monthly fee — £29 to £500/month depending on provider and plan. Real all-in cost for a typical mid-size British D2C brand: £400–£1,200/month. This page breaks down every pound.
Meta charges you for each conversation window (24 hours per customer, counted once per category). Rates depend on which category the template falls into and your monthly volume tier. Rates dropped significantly in 2026 to compete with SMS and RCS.
| Category | Low volume (0–10K) | Mid volume (10K–100K) | High volume (100K+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utility (order updates, OTPs, alerts) | £0.009 | £0.006 | £0.004 |
| Marketing (promos, broadcasts) | £0.020 | £0.016 | £0.011 |
| Authentication (OTPs when Utility not eligible) | £0.004 | £0.003 | £0.003 |
| Service (customer-initiated within 24h window) | FREE — no charge | ||
Rates shown are Meta's published India rates as of April 2026. Meta bills these directly or through your BSP. Any BSP that marks these up is charging you extra — Go4whatsup passes them through at cost.
Your BSP (Business Solution Provider) charges a monthly platform fee on top of Meta's rates. This is where prices differ dramatically — some price by number of contacts (MAC), some by agents seats, some flat per tier. Below is a directional comparison of BSPs available in the UK at their published Standard tier.
| Provider | Starting ₹/mo (India) | Pricing model | AI included? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go4whatsup (this platform) | £29 | Flat per tier, no MAC | ✓ Yes |
| Wati | ~£99 | Contact-block (MAC) tiers | ✗ Add-on |
| MessageBird | ~£75 | Per-conversation surcharge | ✗ Add-on |
| Sinch | ~£150 | Per-message + platform fee | ✗ Add-on |
| Gupshup | Custom quote | Enterprise-tier only | ✗ Add-on |
| Twilio | $0 platform | Per-message API only | ✗ No CRM |
Reading this table: Go4whatsup starts at less than half the price of the enterprise-grade competitors, includes AI (auto-reply, drafted replies, campaign copy) in the base plan, and does not use MAC or seat-based pricing. Competitor prices are directional based on public pricing pages as of April 2026 — verify latest on each vendor's site.
The published starter price is rarely the real bill. Check these six line items before signing anywhere.
Many BSPs charge per 1,000 active contacts per month. Grow your list to 25K contacts and your £99 plan silently becomes £400. Go4whatsup does not use MAC pricing — the plan tier is the plan tier.
Adding a support agent can cost £15–£50/agent/month extra on some BSPs. A 10-person support team suddenly adds £300/mo. Go4whatsup Standard includes unlimited team seats.
Some BSPs charge £5–£25 per template approval — up to 20 templates for a real e-commerce workflow. Meta doesn't charge for approvals; the BSP is pocketing the money.
Enterprise BSPs often charge £500–£3,000 one-time onboarding. Fair for complex custom integration, robbery for a standard setup.
Meta's rates should pass through at cost. Some BSPs add a 15–30% markup hidden inside "credits". Ask for a line-item invoice — Meta charges separately from BSP fees.
Auto-reply, drafted replies, and campaign copy are marketed as "AI features" and sold as a £20–£100/mo add-on on most BSPs. Go4whatsup includes them in the base plan.
Three worked examples of what you actually pay per month, all-in, at typical Indian business scales.
Volume: 5,000 utility conversations (order/dispatch) + 2,000 marketing broadcasts. Meta: 5,000 × £0.009 + 2,000 × £0.020 = £45 + £40 = £85. Go4whatsup Standard: £29. Templates: £0 (approved by Meta free). Total: ~£80/mo.
Volume: 30,000 utility + 10,000 marketing broadcasts + 5,000 authentication (OTP). Meta: 30K × £0.006 + 10K × £0.016 + 5K × £0.003 = £400+ (varies by volume tier). Go4whatsup PRO: £99. Total: ~£450/mo.
Volume: 300K utility + 100K marketing + 50K authentication. Meta: 300K × £0.004 + 100K × £0.011 + 50K × £0.003 = £3,700+. Go4whatsup Enterprise: from £300/mo. Total: ~£4,000+/mo. Custom quote for higher tiers.
Use the Go4whatsup Cost Calculator to input your conversation counts by category and see the exact monthly bill vs. each major BSP. Free, no signup, exports to CSV.
Meta has changed rates twice in 12 months (2025 and April 2026, both drops). Numbers above are approximate based on the April 2026 UK rate card — always verify against Meta's live pricing page before signing a contract. Competitor prices are directional based on their public Standard tiers — enterprise deals frequently negotiate 30-50% below list.
Category classification (Utility vs Marketing) is judged by Meta's approval team, not by you. If your "order update" template contains promotional language, Meta will reclassify it as Marketing and you'll pay 3-5× more. Get templates right at approval time.
Utility conversations at high volume (100K+/month) are £0.004 each. Combined with a Go4whatsup Standard plan at £29/mo, a small D2C brand sending only order-status messages can operate on £50–£150/mo all-in. Marketing broadcasts cost 3-5× more per message, so keep the Utility/Marketing ratio in your favor.
Meta subsidizes transactional messages (orders, OTPs, appointments) because customers want them. Promotional broadcasts are priced higher to discourage spam. Rule of thumb: if the customer expected the message, it's Utility (cheap). If the customer didn't ask for it, it's Marketing (~3× the cost).
Both models exist. Cloud API deployments typically bill you directly through Meta (transparent, no markup possible). On-Premise API deployments route through the BSP. Go4whatsup uses Cloud API by default and passes Meta rates through at cost — you see a separate line on every invoice.
MAC = Monthly Active Contacts. A BSP counts how many unique contacts you engaged with that month and charges you in blocks (e.g., ₹3,499 for up to 5K contacts, ₹8,999 for up to 25K). It rewards low-volume startups but punishes growth. Go4whatsup does not use MAC — you pay by plan tier only.
Meta does not charge onboarding fees. Some BSPs charge ₹25,000–₹1L for onboarding, mostly enterprise providers. Go4whatsup Standard and PRO have no setup fee — you pay the monthly plan and go live in 3-5 working days.
For OTP-only use cases, the Authentication category is the cheapest tier (₹0.11–₹0.19). At scale, WhatsApp OTPs cost roughly the same as SMS OTPs from Indian aggregators (~₹0.15), but delivery reliability and read-receipts are far better. Common workflow: use Authentication category + a minimal BSP plan like Go4whatsup Standard.
No. Every Go4whatsup paid plan includes AI auto-reply, drafted replies for agents, AI-generated campaign copy, and language detection. Most competitors sell this as a ₹1,000–₹5,000/mo add-on. Verify what's included when comparing.
Prices shown are tax-exclusive. 20% VAT applies for UK-based customers. Full tax breakdown appears on the invoice.
Yes — annual prepay typically gets 15–20% off the monthly rate. This is common across BSPs. Ask sales for the annual quote before committing to monthly billing.
Transactional SMS in the UK typically costs £0.010–£0.020 per message from major aggregators. WhatsApp Utility at £0.004–£0.009 is comparable at high volume and often cheaper — you're only charged once per 24-hour conversation, regardless of how many messages exchange.
Use the calculator to enter your conversation volumes. Or start free — the first 1,000 conversations are on us so you can measure real cost against real usage before committing.