WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business API, now called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is how software talks to WhatsApp. You connect a business phone number to it, either directly through Meta's Cloud API or through a Business Solution Provider, and from then on your chatbot, shared inbox and template broadcasts send and receive messages on that number. It is different from the free WhatsApp Business app, which is a phone app for one person and cannot run a bot or a team inbox.

WhatsApp Business app vs WhatsApp Business API

	WhatsApp Business app	WhatsApp Business API (Platform)
What it is	A free phone app	A programmatic interface for software
Who uses it	One person on one phone, or up to a few linked devices	A team, a chatbot or both, through a platform
Automation	Greeting and away messages, quick replies	AI agents, flows, routing, CRM writes
Broadcasts	Broadcast lists to saved contacts, capped	Approved template messages to opted-in contacts at scale
Rich messages	Basic	Buttons, lists, catalogues, forms
Cost	Free	Meta's per-message fees plus a platform plan
Verification	Optional	Meta Business verification required
Green tick	Rare	Available through Meta Business verification

The app is right for a sole trader answering a few chats a day. The API is right as soon as more than one person answers, you want an AI agent to reply at night, or you send order and appointment updates at volume. Coexistence lets one number run both at once; see WhatsApp coexistence.

What the API enables

• Automated replies from an AI agent grounded in your documents, inside the 24-hour customer-service window.
• A shared inbox so a team answers one number with assignment, notes and handoff.
• Template messages for business-initiated conversations: order updates, appointment reminders, one-time passcodes and opted-in promotions, each pre-approved by Meta.
• Rich messages: buttons, list menus, product catalogues and forms.
• Integrations with your CRM, order system, calendar and field-service software.

The rules that come with it

• Opt-in. Customers must agree to hear from you before you send a template.
• The 24-hour window. A customer's message opens a 24-hour service window in which you can reply free-form; after it closes you need an approved template.
• Categories. Templates are classified as marketing, utility or authentication and billed by Meta per delivered message by category and market. The WhatsApp Business API pricing guide has the current rates and a calculator.
• Quality rating and messaging limits. Blocks and reports lower a number's quality rating, which caps how many new conversations it can start a day; limits rise as you send at good quality.

How to get access in three steps

1. Verify your business in the Meta Business Portfolio with your legal name, address and a document; verification usually takes 24 to 48 hours.
2. Register a phone number that can receive a verification code and is not already on the WhatsApp app, or use coexistence to keep the app running.
3. Connect through the Cloud API or a provider, submit your first utility template, and set the display name. Botcadence's WhatsApp chatbot connects a new number on the Cloud API, transfers a number from another provider, or runs coexistence.

Cloud API, on-premises API and BSPs

Meta offers two paths. The Cloud API is hosted by Meta, free apart from per-message fees, and is what nearly every platform uses today. The older on-premises API required hosting Meta's software yourself and has been retired for new customers. A Business Solution Provider is a Meta-authorised partner that onboards you, hosts the connection and often bundles an inbox and templates; see BSP. You can also connect directly through a Meta Verified Tech Provider, which is how Botcadence connects.

How to choose a WhatsApp Business API provider

• Markup. Does the provider pass Meta's fees through or add a percentage? Botcadence adds none; some add 10 percent.
• The AI. Does it answer from your own documents, or do you build flows and buy AI credits?
• Channels. Will the same agent answer your website, Instagram and phone, or is each a separate subscription?
• Seats and contacts. Per-seat and per-active-contact charges are where bills grow.
• Number ownership. Confirm you can migrate the number and templates out.
• Support hours in your time zone.

The best WhatsApp chatbots and API providers post compares eight with prices checked November 6, 2026.

Costs

Meta bills template messages per delivered message by category and market, for example $0.025 for a marketing template and $0.0034 for a utility message to a US number on list rates read November 6, 2026; replies inside the 24-hour window are free up to 1,000 service messages a month per number. Your platform subscription is separate: Botcadence includes WhatsApp on the Free plan with 100 AI replies and on Starter at $39 a month. See the pricing page.

Example

An HVAC company verifies its business, registers its office number on the Cloud API through Botcadence with coexistence so the dispatcher keeps the app, and submits an appointment-reminder utility template. The AI agent answers service-area, hours and booking questions at night inside the free window, the reminder goes out the day before each tune-up at the utility rate, and anything about an invoice goes to a person in the shared inbox with the thread attached.