Conversation-based pricing has changed. See Pricing to learn how our new conversation-based pricing model works.

In addition, visibility of metric_types have changed effective July 1, 2023. Please see the Conversation Analytics table for more details.

Messaging Limits

Messaging limits are the maximum number of business-initiated conversations (conversations opened as a result of sending a marketing, utility, or authentication template to a WhatsApp user) a business phone number can open in a 24-hour moving period.

Business phone numbers are initially limited to 250 business-initiated conversations in a 24-hour moving period, but this limit can be increased.

Increasing Your Limit

Messaging limits can be increased to the following:

  • 1K business-initiated conversations
  • 10K business-initiated conversations
  • 100K business-initiated conversations
  • An unlimited number of business-initiated conversations

You can increase your messaging limit to 1K on your own using the following methods. Higher limits, however, can only be achieved through automatic scaling, which happens after your limit has been increased to 1K.

Note that in order for your business phone number to be eligible for an increase, it must have a connected status, and if your business phone number has a low quality rating, it may continue to be limited to 250 business-initiated conversations until its quality rating improves.

Business Verification

Submit your business for business verification. If your business is approved, we will analyze your messaging quality to determine if your messaging activity warrants an increase to your messaging limit. Based on this analysis, we will then either approve or deny a messaging limit increase.

Identity Verification

If you submit your business for verification and are approved, you may be asked to verify your identity.

If you are asked to verify your identity, the WhatsApp Manager > Overview > Limits panel will display the following notification:

In addition, an account_alerts webhook with alert_type set to INCREASED_CAPABILITIES_ELIGIBILITY_NEED_MORE_INFO will be triggered.

If you complete identity verification and your identity is confirmed, we will approve a messaging limit increase. If your identity is not confirmed, we will deny a messaging limit increase, and the WhatsApp Manager > Overview > Limits panel will display one the following notifications:

Open 1K Conversations in 30 Days

Open 1,000 or more business-initiated conversations in a 30-day moving period using templates with a high quality rating rating. Once you reach this threshold, we will analyze your messaging quality to determine if your messaging activity warrants an increase to your messaging limit. Based on this analysis, we will then either approve or deny an increase.

Send High-Quality Messages

If you are rejected for business or identity verification, ensure that you are sending high-quality messages. We will periodically reevaluate your messaging activity and quality and based on this analysis, may approve an increase.

Here are some guidelines for sending high-quality messages:

  • Make sure messages follow the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
  • Only send messages to users who have opted into receiving messages from your business.
  • Make the messages highly personalized and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
  • Be mindful of messaging frequency; avoid sending customers too many messages a day. Be thoughtful of informational messages, optimizing for content and length.

Request an Increase

If you completed business verification or identity verification, or have met the 1K conversations in 30 days threshold, but are still limited to 250 business-initiated conversations, you can open a direct support ticket and request a messaging tier upgrade (Ask a Question > WABiz: Phone Number & Registration > Request type > Request a Messaging Tier Upgrade).

Based on your support submission and messaging quality, we will either approve or deny an increase.

Increase Approvals

If we approve a messaging limit increase, we will increase your business phone number's messaging limit to 1K and notify you by email and developer alert. In addition, a business_capability_update webhook will be triggered with the max_daily_conversation_per_phone property indicating the new limit.

Once approved, your business phone number will be eligible for automatic scaling.

Increase Denials

If we deny a messaging limit increase, we will keep your business phone number's messaging limit at its current level and notify you by email and developer alert. In addition, an account_alerts webhook will be triggered, with the alert_type and alert_description properties indicating alternate methods you can pursue to increase your limit.

alert_type ValueAction you can take

INCREASED_CAPABILITIES_ELIGIBILITY_DEFERRED

Send high-quality messages or open 1K conversations in 30 days.

INCREASED_CAPABILITIES_ELIGIBILITY_FAILED

Request an increase or open 1K conversations in 30 days.

INCREASED_CAPABILITIES_ELIGIBILITY_NEED_MORE_INFO

Complete identity verification or open 1K conversations in 30 days.

Automatic Scaling

Once you have reached the 1K business-initiated conversations limit, each time you open a business-initiated conversation, we will determine if your limit should be increased according to the following criteria:

  • your business phone number is connected
  • your business phone number quality rating is Medium or High
  • in the last 7 days, your business phone number has been used to open X or more business-initiated conversations, where X is the business phone number's current messaging limit, divided by 2

If your business phone number meets all conditions, we will increase its limit by one level, 24 hours later. If its quality rating has been set to Flagged for the last 7 days, however, we will decrease its limit by one level, immediately.

Examples

Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 2 days:

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4

Business-initiated conversations opened

500

500

Business-initiated conversations opened in last 7 days

500*

1,000

Messaging limit

1K

10K

* If the 500th conversation is opened at 3pm (for example), the messaging limit is increased at 3pm the following day (i.e. 24 hours later).

Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 4 days:

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4

Business-initiated conversations opened

100

200

200

300

Business-initiated conversations opened in last 7 days

100

300

500*

800

Messaging limit

1K

1K

1K

10K

* If the 500th conversation is initiated at 7pm (for example), the messaging limit is increased at 7pm the following day (i.e. 24 hours later).

Reaching Your Limit

If you reach your messaging limit, you can initiate more conversations as soon as one or more active conversations end. For example:

Checking Your Limit

Before you reach the 1K messaging limit, the WhatsApp Manager > Overview > Limits panel displays helpful information about what you can do to increase your limit.

After you reach the 1K messaging limit, the WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Insights pane will display your business phone number's new limit, including new limits that have been increased as a result of automatic scaling.

Messaging Quality

Your messaging quality is based on how messages have been received by recipients over the past seven days and is weighted by recency. It is determined by a combination of quality signals from conversations between you and WhatsApp users. Examples include user feedback signals like blocks, reports and the reasons users provide when they block a business.

Your business phone number's status, quality rating, and messaging limits are displayed in the WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Phone numbers panel.

Note that it is normal for numbers with high traffic to experience quality changes within short intervals (even within minutes).

See About your WhatsApp Business phone number’s quality rating for more information about quality ratings.