WhatsApp messaging limits: how many customers you can message a day
Updated October 20, 2026
A WhatsApp messaging limit is the most unique customers a business can message outside open chats in any rolling 24 hours. Meta sets it for the whole business portfolio: new businesses start at 250, and the limit can rise to 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 or unlimited as the business verifies itself and keeps message quality high. Replies inside an open 24-hour window don't count against it.
In short
- Counts people, not messages: unique numbers you deliver to outside an open 24-hour window, in a moving 24-hour period.
- Shared by every phone number in the same business portfolio.
- Starts at 250. Business verification, or 2,000 good-quality template deliveries in 30 days, takes you to 2,000.
- Grows by itself when you use at least half your limit over 7 days with high-quality messages; each step comes within about 6 hours.
- In the US, the limit is mostly about order updates: Meta doesn't deliver marketing templates to +1 numbers, so WhatsApp sends updates (utility, about US$0.0034 each), not promotions. Use email for offers.
The tiers
| Limit (unique customers per 24 hours, outside open chats) | How a business gets there |
|---|---|
| 250 | Where every new business portfolio starts |
| 2,000 | Verify the business (or have a partner verify it), or deliver 2,000 high-quality template messages outside open chats within 30 days |
| 10,000 | Automatic: high-quality messaging, and using at least half of the 2,000 limit in the last 7 days |
| 100,000 | Automatic, on the same conditions |
| Unlimited | Automatic, on the same conditions |
Meta raises the limit one level at a time, within about 6 hours of the conditions being met.
What counts, and what doesn't
| Message | Counts toward the limit? |
|---|---|
| A reply to a customer who wrote in the last 24 hours | No, it's inside an open window |
| An order update template to a customer who ordered on your website and never wrote to you | Yes |
| A weekend offer broadcast to 900 customers | Yes, up to 900 people |
| A second offer to the same customer the same day | No extra count (it's unique people), but per-user limits on marketing may block it |
That second row surprises restaurants: on a busy night, utility updates to website customers use up the same allowance as offers.
A worked example: a 3,500-person offer list on a 2,000 limit
A verified bakery chain has a 2,000 limit and 3,500 opted-in customers outside the US.
- Day 1: about 1,700 offers, keeping roughly 300 of the day's allowance for order updates to website customers.
- Day 2: the remaining 1,800.
- Because it used well over half its limit in the last 7 days, with good quality, Meta can lift it to 10,000, and the next offer goes in one day.
Illustrative numbers. Quality matters as much as volume: offers that people block or report hold the limit back.
How to keep your limit growing
- Verify your business in Meta Business Manager.
- Send what people asked for. Clear opt-ins, separate for offers.
- Keep marketing useful and infrequent. See marketing templates.
- Use the open window. Replies inside a 24-hour window cost nothing against the limit.
How Menuthere handles messaging limits
- You see what's left. On the Pro plan (US$39 a month), the Broadcast screen shows Sent today, Daily limit left and an estimated spend.
- Big lists aren't refused. If a broadcast is bigger than today's limit, the first batch goes now and the rest at 6 PM store time each day until everyone is covered.
- Order updates are protected. Comeback messages use at most about a third of your daily limit, and a send can be refused with a reason on screen when the number's quality rating is low or too little of the limit is left.
- Blocklist and STOP keep people who opted out off every broadcast, which helps your quality.
What it doesn't do: Menuthere can't raise Meta's limit for you or bypass it; verification and quality are between you and Meta. See broadcasts.
Let regulars reorder from your own page, with no message limit and 0% commission.
Related terms
- WhatsApp 24-hour window: messages inside it don't count.
- WhatsApp marketing template: the messages most likely to hit the limit.
- WhatsApp opt-in: good opt-in keeps quality, and the limit, up.
- Win-back campaign: automated offers that share the limit.
FAQs
What is the WhatsApp messaging limit?
It is the maximum number of unique customers a business can deliver messages to outside open customer service windows in a moving 24-hour period. Meta sets it per business portfolio, from 250 for new businesses up to unlimited.
How do I get from 250 to 2,000 on WhatsApp?
Verify your business in Meta Business Manager, have a partner verify it, or deliver 2,000 high-quality template messages outside open chats within 30 days. Meta then raises the limit to 2,000.
How does the WhatsApp messaging limit increase after 2,000?
Automatically, one level at a time, when your messages are high quality and you used at least half your current limit in the last 7 days. Meta says the increase comes within about 6 hours.
Do replies to customers count toward the messaging limit?
No. The limit counts messages delivered outside an open customer service window. Replying to a customer who wrote to you in the last 24 hours does not use it.
Sources (4)
- Meta for Developers, Messaging limits ("maximum number of unique WhatsApp user phone numbers your business can deliver messages to" in a moving 24-hour period outside a customer service window; set at business portfolio level and shared by its numbers; new portfolios start at 250; 2,000 / 10,000 / 100,000 / Unlimited; initial step: verify the business, partner verification, or 2,000 delivered messages outside windows in 30 days with high-quality templates; automatic scaling needs high quality and use of at least half the limit in the last 7 days; one level up within 6 hours): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messaging-limits (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Per-user marketing template message limits: https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/marketing-templates/per-user-limits/ (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Marketing Messages API: Get started (no marketing messages to US users from 1 April 2025): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/marketing-messages/get-started (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Menuthere help: Broadcasts (Sent today, Daily limit left, 6 PM batches), Comeback messages (about a third of the daily limit; refusal reasons): https://menuthere.com/docs/whatsapp/broadcasts (accessed 20 Oct 2026)