Starting October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for outbound service messages on WhatsApp.
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The first 1,000 service messages per month and WhatsApp Business Account are free. Charges only apply from the 1,001st service message onwards.

A service message is a regular response sent by you or the WhatsApp Bot within the 24-hour customer service window after a candidate has contacted you. Incoming messages from candidates remain free.
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The price of each additional service message is based on Meta’s Utility rate for the recipient’s country or region.
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👉 Check the current rates on the WhatsApp Business Pricing page.

You can set monthly limits for your WhatsApp Bot and Direct Messaging to keep your costs under control.

If you don't set your own limits before October 1, 2026, the following defaults apply:

💡 If you want to avoid additional Meta costs, you can set your combined Bot and Direct Messaging limits to a maximum of 1,000 messages per month.
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You can monitor your outbound message usage directly in your settings in WhatsApp Hiring:

This level of transparency helps you quickly identify high-usage areas and optimize accordingly.
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The most effective way to lower costs is by reducing the number of messages sent per WhatsApp application.
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With Custom Flows, you can configure your WhatsApp Bot to:

Optimizing your application structure can significantly reduce your overall messaging volume - without impacting candidate experience.
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👉 Read more in our Help Center article on Custom Flows

Alternatively, you can also set the Direct & Bot Message Limit to 0. In this case, the bot will be automatically deactivated and you will receive the message from the candidate expressing interest in a job directly in the Recruitee inbox. There are no costs for these incoming messages, so you can continue using WhatsApp Hiring without any additional costs.