How to get the WhatsApp Business API in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi restaurant gets on the WhatsApp Business Platform (the official "API") by connecting its own number to a Meta Tech Provider, then verifying its business with Meta. You don't apply to Meta directly or write any code. With Menuthere, you sign in with Facebook, link the number you already use, and your menu, checkout and order updates run on WhatsApp. Meta bills your own account for messages at its SAR rate card: from October 1, 2026, each order update to a Saudi (+966) number costs SAR 0.0401. Menuthere adds no markup.

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WhatsApp Business app vs the WhatsApp Business Platform (the "API")

Two different products share the WhatsApp Business name:

For restaurant ordering you want the Platform, because it can send an Order Now link, take an order from your menu in SAR, and push each status update back into the chat.

How a Saudi restaurant gets on the WhatsApp Business Platform

You can go direct through Meta's developer tools (a server, a Business Manager, templates and webhooks to maintain) or through a Tech Provider that runs all of that for you. Menuthere is the second route:

1. Create your free ordering page and import your menu from a photo or PDF.
2. Upgrade to Pro (7-day free trial; a card is needed to start, and nothing is charged until it ends).
3. Connect your number under Sales channel → WhatsApp with Facebook sign-in. Use the number you already use on the WhatsApp Business app, or a landline you can receive a verification code on. You keep chatting from your phone.
4. Set your display name (your restaurant's name). Meta reviews it.
5. Switch on the Welcome and order-update flows and send yourself a test "Hi".

No code, no self-hosted server. Menuthere submits your message templates to Meta for approval.

The green tick (Official Business Account) in Saudi Arabia

The "green tick" is Meta's Official Business Account badge, now shown in blue since Meta aligned its badges across WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. A few facts that save Saudi owners time:

• You can't buy it. Per WhatsApp's own help, a business can't request or pay to turn a regular business account into an official one. Meta grants it based on factors such as whether the brand is notable.
• It only exists on the Platform. The free Business app has no path to the badge.
• Business verification comes first. Verify your business in Meta Business Manager with your commercial registration (CR) details; the Official Business Account is a separate, later step.
• A blue or green badge is not required to take orders. Your ordering flow works from day one.

What Meta charges in Saudi Arabia

Meta charges per delivered message, priced by category and by the country of the customer's number. Since April 1, 2026, Meta publishes a card in Saudi riyals:

• Order updates are utility templates and are always billed from October 1, 2026, even inside the 24-hour window.
• Only service messages have a free tier: 1,000 a month per business number, which covers the reply to "Hi".
• Your account currency is fixed at creation. Pick SAR at the start if you want riyal invoices.
• Prices can change only on January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. Check live figures in our WhatsApp cost calculator.

A Saudi utility update (SAR 0.0401) is the cheapest in the Gulf after none — far below Kuwait's equivalent — so a full order flow stays inexpensive here.

Worked example: a Riyadh restaurant's first month

Say 600 WhatsApp orders a month, all to Saudi numbers, your account on the SAR card, a lean flow (the "Hi" reply plus three updates: placed, dispatched with tracking, completed).

Compare it with delivery-app commission on the same orders: reported averages put Jahez near 15.5% and HungerStation in the high teens to around 20%.

Paying for the orders

Stripe doesn't open accounts in Saudi Arabia, so there's no online card checkout through Menuthere yet. Customers pay cash or by card on delivery, at pickup, or through your own payment link. If you use HyperPay, Moyasar, Tap Payments or PayTabs, add it to the gateway request list in Settings → Payments & tax; requests decide which gateway we add next. Never ask for card numbers inside the chat — WhatsApp's policies forbid it.

Saudi number and VAT notes

• Saudi numbers are +966. Mobiles start 05 locally; written internationally they drop the leading 0 (for example +966 5 …).
• One number, one WhatsApp use. A number on the Platform can't also run the consumer app. Use a dedicated line to keep a personal WhatsApp separate.
• Show prices in SAR with 15% VAT included where you're VAT-registered.
• Make a pre-filled "Hi" link with the WhatsApp link generator and a table QR with the WhatsApp QR code maker.

Ready to take orders once you're connected? See WhatsApp ordering in Saudi Arabia and our Saudi online ordering system.