Since October 1, WhatsApp service messages are no longer free 😫 , and some accounts are finding out the hard way. This post covers two things: what to do if it already hit you, and how to know in advance whether it will.
What's happening
Accounts that have handled customer service on WhatsApp for years suddenly can't reply inside the 24-hour window. The warning says the Wallet balance is insufficient. Often the business only finds out when customers start complaining.
What the Help Center says (updated Sept 30, 2026)
- Since October 1, 2026, service messages are charged when delivered. These are non-template messages sent while the customer service window is open.
- Each WhatsApp Business number gets 1,000 free service messages per calendar month, across all destination countries. Unused messages don't roll over.
- From message 1,001 onward, you pay. If you shared your credit line with Manychat, the charge comes out of your Wallet as soon as the message is delivered.
- Messages delivered during an open free entry point window are still free.
- Price depends on the recipient's country. For example, a service message costs $0.0008 to Colombia and $0.02 to Spain. Same flow, very different bill.
If you're already blocked: what to check
- Your Wallet balance. If it's at or near zero, that's your problem.
- Auto-refill. It's off by default. Turn it on with a minimum amount and a daily limit, so the balance never hits zero without anyone noticing.
- Your credit line. Confirm your WhatsApp Business Account still has its credit line shared with Manychat. Some accounts have lost it after reconnecting WhatsApp.
- If all of that looks fine and messages still don't go out, open a support ticket with concrete examples: the contact, the time, and the exact warning you see.
👀 Before it happens: count your messages
At Dominari AI we ran this exercise on a live system in September. The number came out much higher than anyone would have estimated by eye. Here's how we did it:
- Pick your most common path, from the first message to the end of the conversation.
- Open each step and count every message the person actually receives. A single block with text, an image and buttons may arrive as more than one message.
- Add your team's replies from the Inbox. Those are service messages too.
- Multiply by your monthly conversations. Above 1,000, you know you'll pay, and roughly how much.
- Look for messages you don't need: repeated confirmations, one text split into three, the "give me a moment" ones.
Quick example: 3,000 conversations a month × 12 messages each = 36,000 messages. Minus the 1,000 free ones leaves 35,000 billable. That's about $28 if your customers are in Colombia, and about $700 if they're in Spain.
What I'd do this week
- Turn on auto-refill with a daily limit.
- Count the messages in your main flow.
- Decide who on your team gets alerted if the channel stops replying.
If this already happened to you, share what worked in the comments. And if anyone has confirmed with support exactly what happens when the credit line isn't shared, help us complete this guide.
Catalina Rendon,
Dominari AI.
We design conversational sales systems on Manychat.
Sources:
Help Center, WhatsApp pricing guide: https://help.manychat.com/hc/en-us/articles/14281380243740-WhatsApp-pricing-guide
Manychat’s post on the change: https://manychat.com/blog/whatsapp-pricing-changes/
