What is the WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp Business API is a technical interface provided by Meta to send and receive WhatsApp messages from software.
There is no app to open: messages arrive in your system (shop, CRM, support tool, chatbot) and are sent from it. Meta offers a version hosted on its side, the Cloud API, which you connect to directly or through a provider.
This is what makes it possible, for example, to automatically send the confirmation of an order placed on your website, let an AI agent answer common questions, or share conversations between several people on the team.
How is it different from the WhatsApp Business app?
The app is made to be used by hand; the API is made to be connected to tools.
The WhatsApp Business app is free and installs on a phone. It offers a business profile, a catalogue, labels and a few automatic replies. It is perfectly suited to a shop that handles its own messages.
The API becomes useful when volume grows, when several people need to reply on the same number, or when you want to automate: order notifications, appointment reminders, chatbot, syncing with your stock. It needs development and hosting for the software that uses it.
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Request a quoteHow do the 24-hour window and message templates work?
When a customer writes to you, you can reply freely during the 24 hours after their last message.
Outside this window, or to contact someone who has not written to you, you must use a message template submitted to Meta beforehand and approved. Templates are grouped by category, for example marketing, utility (confirmation, delivery tracking) or authentication (login code).
These rules aim to limit spam. They also require the customer's consent before you send them messages, and Meta tracks the quality of what you send: too many reports and your ability to send is reduced.
How do you get access to the WhatsApp Business API?
Access goes through a Meta Business account and a phone number dedicated to the API.
- Create or use a Meta Business account in the company's name
- Verify the business with Meta if asked, with official documents
- Choose the number that will be connected to the API
- Get the display name shown to customers approved
- Create the application that will receive and send the messages
- Submit the first message templates
Approval times depend on Meta. It is better to start these steps before development.
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost?
The cost is made up of what Meta charges for certain messages, plus the development and hosting of your own tool.
Meta charges messages according to their category and the recipient's country. Replies given to a customer within a conversation they opened are treated differently from marketing messages you send on your own initiative. Meta changes its rate cards from time to time: always check its official pricing page before costing a project.
On top of that come the development work (chatbot, connection to the shop or CRM) and the server that runs this software. An intermediary provider, if you use one, also takes its fees.