WhatsApp Cost per Order Index: what one order's updates cost in 47 markets

Last updated: 20 October 2026. Every price below is Meta's own list rate for the WhatsApp Business Platform, effective 1 October 2026, worked out the same way for every market.

One WhatsApp order update costs a restaurant between US$0.0008 (Colombia) and US$0.055 (Germany) on Meta's rate card from 1 October 2026, so three updates for one order cost between a quarter of a cent and 16.5 cents. In the US and Canada an update costs US$0.0034, in the UK US$0.022 (£0.0159), and in India US$0.0014 (INR 0.115). Marketing messages cost 1.4 to 37 times more than an update, depending on the market. Since 1 October 2026 every order update is billed, even inside a chat the customer opened; only each number's first 1,000 service replies a month are free.

The index: what WhatsApp order updates cost, market by market

All prices are Meta's list rates in US dollars, before any volume discount and before tax. "Local billing currency" is the same price on Meta's rate card in the market's own currency, where Meta bills in it (Meta bills in 16 currencies). The monthly column assumes 300 orders with three updates each: 900 billed messages.

How each figure is worked out: Meta's utility price for the market × the number of updates. One order here means the updates you send about it (for example "order received", "accepted" and "delivered" for three; add "ready" and "out for delivery" for five). The customer's first "hi" and your reply to it are not counted: a reply inside a chat the customer opened is a service message, and each WhatsApp number gets 1,000 of those free a month. Past the 1,000, a service message costs the same as a utility message in every market on this card.

What the table doesn't include: volume discounts (Meta lowers utility and authentication prices once a business sends enough of them in a month), tax, any fee your messaging tool adds, and the plan fee of the ordering system you use.

Five things the index shows

1. The same three updates cost 69 times more in Germany than in Colombia. US$0.165 against US$0.0024 for one order. Across all 47 markets the median update costs US$0.015.
2. The US and Canada are among the cheapest places to send updates. Both are priced at Meta's North America rate: US$0.0034 an update, so about a cent for three. 300 orders a month with three updates each cost about US$3.06.
3. Europe is the expensive end. Germany (US$0.055), the Netherlands (US$0.050), Russia (US$0.040) and Hungary (US$0.035) are four of the five priciest markets for an update; the fifth is Kuwait (US$0.044). France and Italy charge US$0.030 and the UK US$0.022.
4. Promotions cost far more than updates. A marketing message costs 37 times an update in Sri Lanka, 22 times in Nepal and 8.4 times in India, but only 1.4 times in Oman and 1.6 times in Indonesia. In the Netherlands one marketing message costs US$0.16.
5. Cutting two updates saves 40%. Moving from five updates to three (and letting customers check a live tracking page instead) takes the cost per order from US$0.11 to US$0.066 in the UK, and from US$0.275 to US$0.165 in Germany.

What changed on 1 October 2026

• Every order update is now billed. Before 1 October 2026, a utility message sent while the customer's 24-hour service window was open was free. Meta changed its pricing type from free to regular on that date, so a restaurant now pays for every update, whether or not the customer messaged first.
• Service replies have a free monthly allowance. Meta gives every business phone number 1,000 free service messages a month; unused ones don't roll over, and past the 1,000 they are charged.
• Chats from click-to-WhatsApp ads stay free. When a customer messages you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button and you reply in time, Meta opens a free entry point window that "may remain open for up to 7 days", and messages in it aren't charged.
• Meta can change prices only on the 1st of a quarter: 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October, with at least a month's notice. We recheck this index on each of those dates.

Who marks up Meta's prices?

Many restaurants send WhatsApp messages through a messaging tool rather than straight through Meta. Some tools publish a message price above Meta's. Here is what each tool shows on its own pricing page, for messages to Indian numbers (the one market all three publish), against Meta's own rate card.

Meta's prices exclude tax, and the tools' pages don't say whether their message prices include India's 18% GST, so read the percentages as differences between the figures each company publishes. Prices checked on each company's own pricing page on 20 October 2026. If you're a listed company and your price has changed, tell us via the contact page and we'll update the table.

What this means for a restaurant

• Count updates, not conversations. Meta prices each delivered template. Three well-timed updates plus a live tracking link do the job of five or six messages. See how a tracking page replaces status pings.
• Check where your customers' numbers are from. A restaurant in Dubai messaging Indian numbers pays India's rate for those customers, and the UAE rate for UAE numbers.
• Keep promotions for the markets where they make sense. In most markets a promotion costs several times an update. In the US, Meta doesn't deliver marketing templates to +1 numbers at all, so WhatsApp can send order updates but not promotions there; use email for offers. More: can I send WhatsApp offers to US numbers?
• Ask your tool what it adds. A 26% markup is small per message and adds up over a year of updates. Ask for the per-message price in writing and compare it with Meta's card.

Worked example: a takeaway in Manchester sends three updates for each of 600 orders a month to UK numbers. On Meta's card that's 1,800 utility messages × £0.0159 = £28.62 a month. Its replies to customers' first messages come out of the 1,000 free service messages. The same 1,800 updates through a tool charging 26% more would cost about £36.06.

Send order updates on your own WhatsApp number at Meta's price, with a free tracking page for every order. WhatsApp ordering is on the Pro plan; see work out your own numbers with the.

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Method

• Source: Meta's rate card for the WhatsApp Business Platform, effective 1 October 2026, in US dollars and in the local billing currencies listed (developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing). Prices are list rates before volume tiers and tax.
• Markets: the 47 pricing markets on Meta's card: 39 countries with their own rate and 8 regional rates. The US and Canada share the North America rate. A country not on the list pays its regional rate (for example, most of Western Europe pays "Rest of Western Europe").
• Calculation: utility price × updates per order. Service replies are left out because each number gets 1,000 free a month; at higher volumes they cost the utility price. Monthly figures: 300 orders × 3 updates. Rounded to four decimal places in US dollars.
• Markups: each tool's own public pricing page, read 20 October 2026, compared with Meta's INR rate card for Indian numbers.
• Updates: we recheck after every quarterly change to Meta's card (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October) and update the date at the top.

Cite this: Menuthere, "WhatsApp Cost per Order Index", 20 October 2026, https://menuthere.com/en/reports/whatsapp-cost-per-order-index