Meta changed the rules on 1 October 2026. Three of the changes touch a business that answers customers in WhatsApp — which is what SIPmind does for you.

1. Replies in the 24-hour window are no longer free without limit. Until October every reply to a customer's message was free. Now each WhatsApp number has 1,000 free replies a month; the 1,001st and every one after it is billed at the «service» rate of the customer's country. The thousand resets on the 1st of each month, is counted per number, and does not carry over. Messages customers send you stay free. This is the change that matters: a support or sales number that answers a few thousand people a month now has a Meta bill where there was none.

2. Higher rates in some countries. Utility and authentication messages went up in Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Ukraine, and a separate, higher «authentication-international» rate appeared; marketing went up in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and most of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iraq got cheaper utility and authentication. Several countries that used to share a regional rate now have their own line in the rate card — Kazakhstan and Ukraine among them. In Kazakhstan a service or utility message is now about $0.018.

3. Budget utility templates inside the window as replies. Meta's documentation still lists a utility template sent inside an open window as free; several providers report that since October it is counted with the replies — free within the monthly thousand, paid beyond it. Treat it that way when you plan, and let the first invoice be the final word.

What to do. Make sure a payment card is attached to your WhatsApp Business account in Meta Business Suite — without one, delivery stops the moment the free thousand is used, and it looks like silence. Look at what goes out automatically: a confirmation and a reminder are worth it, a third «thank you» is a message you pay for. If you run several numbers, each has its own thousand. And read what messages cost for the full picture; the live rate card is on Meta's site.