What will WhatsApp cost you a month? — 4 worked examples in EGP and SAR
The short answer
Every page in this market gives you a per-message price and leaves you the multiplication. This one multiplies for you: four complete examples at the post-1-October-2026 prices, in pounds and riyals, with the arithmetic shown so you can substitute your own figures.
The result that surprises everyone: a shop answering fewer than a thousand messages a month from one number pays nothing for replies. Measured on our own platform in September 2026, that describes seven of every eight numbers.
How the number is worked out
A Meta bill is the sum of four lines, each with its own price. The rates below are Egypt's, read from our own real invoices:
| Line | When it counts | Per message |
|---|---|---|
| Your reply to a customer | past the first 1,000 per number a month | $0.0036 |
| Utility template (confirmation, shipping) | every message | $0.0036 |
| Authentication (OTP) template | every message | $0.0036 |
| Marketing template | every message | $0.0545 |
Note the spread: a marketing template is about 15× a utility one. Most people complaining of a high bill are sending alerts under the marketing category.
Four worked examples — Egypt
The OTP-heavy store replies to only 700 customers — less than half the free allowance — and still has the biggest bill. Because its bill was never in replies: it is in the templates it starts. If your bill is high, October is probably not the cause, and cutting your replies will not be the fix.
The same examples in Saudi riyals
The rate follows the customer's market. If your customers are Saudi, multiply the billed replies by Saudi's rate:
| Example | Billed replies | Cost in riyals |
|---|---|---|
| Small shop | 0 | free |
| Mid-sized shop | 1,000 | 40.13 SAR |
| Large support desk | 5,000 | 200.63 SAR |
| OTP-heavy store | 0 | free |
Work out your own number
- Count your monthly replies, per number
Each number has its own allowance. Subtract 1,000; if the result is zero or less, the sum is done and you pay nothing for replies.
- Multiply the rest by your customer's market rate
Egypt $0.0036 · Saudi Arabia $0.0107 a message.
- Add the templates you start
Usually the larger line: order confirmations, verification codes and campaigns. The calculator adds them all on your figures.
- And if you want to bring it down
Seven measured tactics — the biggest is not replying less, it is folding the bubbles inside one reply.
Frequently asked
Why does the small shop pay nothing for replies?
Because the allowance is 1,000 free replies per number per month, and a shop answering 400 customers is nowhere near it. Measured on our platform in September 2026: seven of every eight numbers were under the thousand.
Can I split traffic across two numbers to get two thousand?
Yes — the allowance is per number. But a second number is not free in practice: another line, another verification, and customers seeing a different number. If you already split orders from support across two numbers, you have it; if you would open one for this reason alone, do the sum first.
Are these figures in pounds or dollars?
Meta bills in dollars everywhere; the conversion here is for display at a fixed rate. Your actual invoice is in dollars, and what you pay in your own currency follows your bank's rate on the day.
Where is the platform subscription in these numbers?
It is not. Everything above is Meta's fee alone and goes to your own Meta account. The platform subscription is a separate number entirely — both together here.
Read next
The calculator runs on your own figures
Pick your market, your volume and your message mix, and it adds Meta's fees and the platform subscription into one number.