Are WhatsApp Business broadcast lists paid?

Published on October 12, 2026

It depends on which one you use.

The WhatsApp Business app now has two features for sending the same message to many people: regular broadcast lists and business broadcasts.

The “am I being charged?” question comes up because the names are similar and the screens sit close together.

But only the second one has a fee published by Meta.

Regular broadcast lists

A saved list of contacts that sends the same message to several customers, each in their own chat.

The WhatsApp Help Center page on broadcast lists in WhatsApp Business explains how to create, edit and delete a list, including from a label, and says nothing about charges.

The same page has the rule that trips up most campaigns: only people who saved your number in their phone contacts get the message.

Anyone who never saved it is left out, and you aren’t told.

If a customer replies, the reply shows up as a one-to-one chat in the Chats tab, and others on the list don’t see it.

To reach people who haven’t saved your number, the Help Center points to another option: turning the list into a marketing message.

That is where charges come in.

Business broadcasts

You’ll find them under Tools, Business broadcasts, and they only exist in the WhatsApp Business app.

The WhatsApp for Business page on business broadcasts says they reach customers even if they haven’t saved your number, support action buttons and let you schedule sends and check results afterwards.

The official steps are in how to create and send business broadcasts.

You choose the audience, build the message with media, text and an optional button (catalog, quick reply, call or website), check the preview and review the price before sending or scheduling.

The same page lists three points that matter day to day:

Once you use up the free messages, you need to add a payment method and have funds to send more. The page doesn’t say how many free messages there are or how long they last.
Meta may review the broadcast before it goes out.
Processing usually takes seconds, but can take up to three hours.

How charges work

The official page on business broadcast pricing explains the math.

You only pay for messages delivered within five days of sending.

Each message is priced by the recipient’s country code, with rate cards per currency, including one in Brazilian reais.

Before you pay, the app shows the total cost, estimated taxes and the estimated total.

When you send, WhatsApp holds the amount for every recipient you chose.

Anything not delivered comes back as credit, according to the page on how to create and send business broadcasts.

That’s why the final cost can be lower than the estimate.

There are also prepaid message packs, where each recipient who gets the message uses one credit.

The Help Center page on message packs says credits don’t expire and that each pack’s price is in its description inside the app.

For now, packs only show up on iPhone.

Business broadcasts and packs are not refunded, in line with applicable law.

Both pages note that the feature has only launched in some countries and may not be available on your account.

If you don’t see the option in your app, you haven’t done anything wrong.

Paying doesn’t mean you can message anyone.

The page on how to create and send business broadcasts says the business needs the customer’s opt-in, must label the broadcast as commercial and must honor every request to stop.

WhatsApp tracks spam reports, and anyone who breaks the terms can lose access to business broadcasts, temporarily or permanently.

Purchased lists and contacts who never asked for messages don’t meet that rule, whether or not you pay a fee.

Business broadcasts or the official API

Business broadcasts are for people who work inside the app, with someone choosing the audience and pressing send.

The official API is a different product: marketing messages go out as approved templates, charged per delivered message by category and country, in the WhatsApp Business Platform pricing table.

Either way, marketing messages cost money, and the price that counts is the one in the official table on the day you send.

What the table doesn’t cover is what happens next.

A campaign that works brings replies, and replies need someone to answer them: price, hours, availability, “is it still in stock?”.

The assistant we build handles that part, answering people who write back and passing anything off script to your team.

Every message Meta charges for still shows up in the cost, with no promise of unlimited sending.

If your goal is to notify customers who already saved your number, a regular list does the job with no published fee.

If you want to reach people who haven’t saved it, business broadcasts charge per delivery, and the app shows the cost before you send.