What is the WhatsApp Business API?

First, the hands: on the Platform the same number can be answered by several people and several systems at once, each from their own computer. Mind the fine print: the API carries the messages, but routing conversations, keeping two people from answering the same one and managing users are features of the inbox you choose, not of the API itself.

Second, automation: software can read every incoming message and answer, quote or book without a human. Third, the record: every conversation can land in your CRM instead of living on one phone.

What you lose is simplicity: you register a business portfolio with Meta, pass the display-name review, decide who operates the connection, and use approved templates when you are the one starting the conversation. It is a bigger suit, with everything that implies.

Since July 1, 2025 Meta charges per delivered template message, not per conversation: the rate depends on the template category, for example marketing, utility or authentication, and on the country of the number receiving it. Understanding that change is half the negotiation: anyone quoting you per conversation is using the old model.

Through 30 September 2026, neither non-template messages nor utility templates sent while the customer-service window is open carry a Meta cost; the exception is Meta Business Agent messages, which Meta has charged since 1 August 2026. From 1 October 2026, under Meta's official rate card, utility templates inside the 24-hour window cost USD 0.0085 per delivered message in Mexico and service messages are free up to 1,000 per phone number per month. Marketing templates are chargeable with the window open or closed; the only exception is the free entry point window that opens when the customer arrives from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp and the business replies within the 24-hour window: delivery is free while it stays open.

On top of that there may be provider costs: if you hire a platform, it decides whether it charges a monthly fee, seats, credits or a margin per message, and that lives in its contract, not Meta's. If you integrate directly with the Cloud API, you pay Meta and supply the engineering. The classic mistake is comparing only one of the two layers: always ask for the total cost at your real message volume.

A phone number for the business, a Meta business portfolio and the review of the name your customers will see. Verifying your company with Meta is not an absolute gate to start: it matters for scaling and for eligibility, because your messaging limits depend on it, meaning how many distinct recipients you can start conversations with per day, along with things like the official business account badge.

If your number is already on the WhatsApp Business app, you do not necessarily have to leave it: Coexistence lets an eligible number connect to the Cloud API and keep being used in the app, under Meta's eligibility conditions and feature limits. If your case is not eligible, then yes, the number has to migrate.

With Eva that path is part of the onboarding service we offer: we prepare the registration, the migration or the coexistence setup depending on your case, the verification application and the templates, and we follow through until the number is answered by the agent. Timing depends on your paperwork and on Meta's reviews, so we do not promise a date: we tell you which step it is on.