Big change coming for WhatsApp Business in South Africa where every reply will cost 12 cents

[repitah]

Customer> quote me on <vaguest resemblance of an idea of what they want>
Company user> Sjo
Company user> In green
Company user> IDK. Maybe a yellow one
Company user> Is it box shaped?
Company user> or circle?

In the end, R2 spent and the customer still doesn't order a thing and IM speak/typing gets costly [I despise conversations of half thoughts over 10 messages].

Still cheaper than the prices from when I last topped up the BulkSMS account.

 

[neoprema]

Email?
SMS?

Pigeon protocol!

 

[Kosmik]

Not really new. Whatsapp business api has had charges for a while, even with providers like twillio etc.

Assume this is now broader than just
api users.

*Edit* I see there was some free allocation before, so likely that's what's falling away.

WhatsApp Messaging Pricing | Twilio

Learn more about WhatsApp Messaging Pricing with the Twilio MessagingX platform. Our transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing lets you only pay for what you use based on the destination country of your message and type of message you’re sending.

www.twilio.com

 

[The_Ogre]

Good luck enforcing this - especially the geolocation of the originator

 

[Kosmik]

Good luck enforcing this - especially the geolocation of the originator

View attachment 1930942

What do you mean? This is standard whatsapp pass on vendor. It's not a SouthAfrican thing, Whatsapp/Vendor will charge accordingly and pass the Geo through.

 

[The_Ogre]

What do you mean? This is standard whatsapp pass on vendor. It's not a SouthAfrican thing, Whatsapp/Vendor will charge accordingly and pass the Geo through.

Apologies. Thanks for that.

I got confused here thinking the accent fell on local
"Importantly, these changes, published in July 2026, only affect the local WhatsApp Business Platform API users"

 

[Mirai]

Pigeon protocol!

Email works best for serious and professional communication.

 

[Speedster]

Wow. So much shoddy journalism and misinformation on this thread...

Big change coming for WhatsApp Business in South Africa where every reply will cost 12 cents

From 1 October 2026, companies in South Africa replying to a customer on the WhatsApp Business Platform will be charged approximately 12 cents ($0.0076) per message.

Why make it sound like this is a South African thing? It's true for every user on the WhatsApp Business Platform globally.

So the monetisation of whatsapp starts, I wonder when ads will be coming. That's not an insignificant amount when you are sending tens of thousands of messages a day.

I wonder what revenues WhatsApp is expecting to get globally, it's not going to be a small amount?

It’s sad, they lead us like lambs to the slaughter, they make sure theres total market domination, that Whatsapp is the defacto messaging platform then they swoop in for the kill

WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly WhatsApp Business API) has always been a paid service - the only change here is that service messages (messages sent in response to a customer query) are now being charged.

Wait it’s worse :

From 1 October 2026, replying to a customer on the WhatsApp Business Platform will cost approximately R0.12 ($0.0076) per message.
This is just the utility rate, according to WhatsApp owner Meta. The marketing rate is significantly higher at R0.62 cents ($0.0379) per message.
The change means that if a South African firm sends 10,000 marketing messages through WhatsApp Business, it will pay R6,200 for it."

That quote is just blatantly incorrrect. Nothing is changing regarding the marketing message pricing - sending 10 000 marketing messages has been charged at that rate for ages.

It's crazy how they managed to get every business to use their Whatsapp Business as a mean of communication and now you are hooked! Poor Afrihost customers, will be even harder to get support.

Business have been paying for WhatsApp API integration since it became an option.

Firstly, SMS/MMS get largely ignored.
Secondly, I'm sure there will be bulk discounts

Yes, there are discounts, starting at 5% if you send more than 100 000 messages a month and going up to 25% for 80 000 000. Full pricing is available here: WhatsApp Business Pricing

I hope so because at those rates businesses will be thinking twice about using Whatsapp.
I still get lots of Sms from legit businesses,

As above, nothing is changing with regards to marketing messages.

Funny how the Takealots and banks of this world used this platform to bypass SMS and phone call costs but now the free ride is over. They can go back to sending SMSeses.

It's never been a free ride.

Don't see the issue with businesses if the rate is reasonable and/or they offer bundle discounts.

I think the issue might be that they have so many users who use the platform that they now have complete market control., and they are basically holding a gun against companies head , pay or die. So I do see some legal issues coming.

No gun against any companies heads - companies who've been using this have been paying all along. The only change is that service messages are no longer free. This is a siginificant change, but not nearly as drastic as the article implies.

Customer> quote me on <vaguest resemblance of an idea of what they want>
Company user> Sjo
Company user> In green
Company user> IDK. Maybe a yellow one
Company user> Is it box shaped?
Company user> or circle?

In the end, R2 spent and the customer still doesn't order a thing and IM speak/typing gets costly [I despise conversations of half thoughts over 10 messages].

Still cheaper than the prices from when I last topped up the BulkSMS account.

No. While those service messages have been free up until this change, that entire conversation will now be about 75c once the new charges kick in.

 

[Speedster]

Email works best for serious and professional communication.

Agreed. But email read engagment rates in South Africa are between 25%-40%. WhatsApp is about 98%.

 

[Mirai]

Agreed. But email read engagment rates in South Africa are between 25%-40%. WhatsApp is about 98%.

Yes but that includes BS like sending spam, uber eats orders and so on.

And look there is no reason why email can't return as the main way of communicating, it could be integrated better.

 

[RedViking]

Wow. So much shoddy journalism and misinformation on this thread...

Why make it sound like this is a South African thing? It's true for every user on the WhatsApp Business Platform globally.

WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly WhatsApp Business API) has always been a paid service - the only change here is that service messages (messages sent in response to a customer query) are now being charged.

That quote is just blatantly incorrrect. Nothing is changing regarding the marketing message pricing - sending 10 000 marketing messages has been charged at that rate for ages.

Business have been paying for WhatsApp API integration since it became an option.

Yes, there are discounts, starting at 5% if you send more than 100 000 messages a month and going up to 25% for 80 000 000. Full pricing is available here: WhatsApp Business Pricing

As above, nothing is changing with regards to marketing messages.

It's never been a free ride.

No gun against any companies heads - companies who've been using this have been paying all along. The only change is that service messages are no longer free. This is a siginificant change, but not nearly as drastic as the article implies.

No. While those service messages have been free up until this change, that entire conversation will now be about 75c once the new charges kick in.

Clickbait then as usual

 

[Mirai]

It's never been a free ride.

I understand it was way more affordable then?

Contrast to the old ways of doing business:

You have a physical store. You pay big bucks for rent, upkeep etc.
Your communications with customers is via telephone (expensive) and snail mail (expensive).
You still pay for marketing and advertising.

Remember those business reply service postcards? Those were not cheap.
And they had to be processed manually.

With the internet now:

You create a website.
You SEO it and market it.
Your communication can be essentially free, email.
SMS are cheap.
Volume discounts and VOIP for calling.
Then services like Whatsapp and social media, which are often free or very cheap (not like snail mail or POTS, by the minute charges and operators or PABX fees....)

Life is easy.

 

[Kosmik]

There's also a rider about using whatsapp for business via api, no unsolicited contact etc and abuse is highly banned.

 

[Carl_Johnson]

Wow. So much shoddy journalism and misinformation on this thread...

Why make it sound like this is a South African thing? It's true for every user on the WhatsApp Business Platform globally.

WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly WhatsApp Business API) has always been a paid service - the only change here is that service messages (messages sent in response to a customer query) are now being charged.

That quote is just blatantly incorrrect. Nothing is changing regarding the marketing message pricing - sending 10 000 marketing messages has been charged at that rate for ages.

Business have been paying for WhatsApp API integration since it became an option.

Yes, there are discounts, starting at 5% if you send more than 100 000 messages a month and going up to 25% for 80 000 000. Full pricing is available here: WhatsApp Business Pricing

As above, nothing is changing with regards to marketing messages.

It's never been a free ride.

No gun against any companies heads - companies who've been using this have been paying all along. The only change is that service messages are no longer free. This is a siginificant change, but not nearly as drastic as the article implies.

No. While those service messages have been free up until this change, that entire conversation will now be about 75c once the new charges kick in.

They have not and I am sure were not expecting to pay per message.

 

[Speedster]

They have not and I am sure were not expecting to pay per message.

Well, that's the point. They have been.

 

[Kosmik]

Well, that's the point. They have been.

I think people confuse the whatsapp for business app vs actual business api use which is what most companies use.

 

[Speedster]

I think people confuse the whatsapp for business app vs actual business api use which is what most companies use.

Yeah, that's a good point. Most people know of normal WhatsApp and the app based WhatsApp Business, but Joe Average who doesn't work with it won't know about the Business Platform (previously Business API).

 

[Progenix Oj101]

Yeah, that's a good point. Most people know of normal WhatsApp and the app based WhatsApp Business, but Joe Average who doesn't work with it won't know about the Business Platform (previously Business API).

Me included. So using a business account with the WhatsApp Business app, manually replying to customers, remains free?

 

[Speedster]

Me included. So using a business account with the WhatsApp Business app, manually replying to customers, remains free?

Correct

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

Correct

Oh so I can still send men d1ck pix and not have to pay