Is WhatsApp broadcast free? Charges, caps and message packs

It depends which broadcast you mean, and WhatsApp now has two. A broadcast list in the ordinary app is free, though people in some countries now see a cap of 35 free broadcast messages a month. Business broadcasts, the newer feature in the WhatsApp Business app, are charged for each message delivered, priced by the recipient's country code.

Below: which of the two you are using, what the 35-a-month cap is and how to check yours, how business broadcast billing actually works, what message packs are, and why a business broadcast can stop sending altogether. Checked against WhatsApp's help centre in October 2026.

Two different broadcasts, two different bills

Most people asking about charges are using the first one and have run into the monthly cap rather than a bill. If you have never seen a payment screen in WhatsApp, you are on the free feature. How to create a broadcast list covers that one end to end.

The 35-a-month broadcast cap

WhatsApp has begun showing a monthly broadcast limit in some countries: you can send up to 35 free broadcast messages a month. WhatsApp describes the feature as rolling out gradually and says it might not be available everywhere, so whether you have it depends on where you are.

1. 1Open Settings.
2. 2Tap Broadcasts.
3. 3The screen shows your limit and what you have used.

If there is no Broadcasts entry in Settings, the cap has not reached you. WhatsApp says it notifies you when you are close to the limit, so you are unlikely to hit it unannounced.

The cap counts broadcast messages, not recipients, which is the distinction that catches people: one broadcast to 200 people is one message against the 35. That makes it a limit on how often you broadcast rather than on how many people you reach.

Can you increase the 35 broadcast limit?

Not as a setting. WhatsApp documents no way to raise it, and offers three alternatives instead: status updates and channels, both of which reach many people at once, or the WhatsApp Business app, which it describes as having more advanced messaging tools.

Which is the honest answer to "how to increase whatsapp broadcast limit": you change feature, not setting. Can you increase the WhatsApp broadcast limit? covers the separate 256-contact cap on a list, and why making more lists does not get round it.

How much do business broadcasts cost?

WhatsApp does not publish one number, because the price depends on where each recipient is. It charges by the country code of each message recipient, against rate cards it publishes per currency, including an INR rate card. Where a currency has no rate card, it converts from USD.

The billing mechanics, in WhatsApp's own terms:

• You pay only for each message delivered to a contact within five days of being sent. A message that never arrives is not charged.
• The balance for delivered messages accumulates. You are charged once it exceeds a set amount, or on your billing date, whichever comes first.
• You can instead pay from prepaid funds. Funds are deducted daily as messages are delivered, your payment method is charged for the total number of recipients you chose, and the money for anyone the broadcast could not reach is credited back to your account.
• The total cost, estimated tax and estimated total are shown in the app before checkout, and WhatsApp notes the final cost may be lower if some messages are not delivered.

What are WhatsApp message packs?

Message packs are the prepaid option: you buy a set number of messages up front, and one credit is used for each recipient who receives your broadcast. Send to 50 people and all 50 receive it, and 50 credits go. WhatsApp says the credits do not expire.

1. 1Tap Tools, then Business broadcasts, then Message credits to see your balance.
2. 2Tap Message packs, choose a pack, tap Buy and complete the payment.
3. 3Or, on the broadcast review screen before sending, tap Add to see the available packs.
4. 4Credits are applied automatically when you send; if you do not have enough for every recipient, buy another pack before sending.

Three restrictions worth knowing before you buy. WhatsApp lists message packs as available only on iOS devices as of October 2026; it says packs cannot be refunded, subject to applicable law, and cannot be resold; and it reserves the right not to offer them to some accounts. Pack prices live in the app, under Tools > Business broadcasts > Message credits.

Why can't I send business broadcasts?

Either the feature has not reached your account, or the account has been flagged against Meta's terms for the feature. WhatsApp sets out the second path plainly: if a significant number of people report or block your account over unwanted messages, the account gets a warning; if the spam continues, business broadcasts are suspended on it for three days.

The suspension lifts automatically at the time shown in the app, and WhatsApp says it cannot be appealed. Access can be withdrawn again after reinstatement if reports continue, and repeated restrictions may mean longer suspensions. Its own advice for avoiding them:

• Collect opt-in per category of message people should expect, such as order updates, offers or product recommendations, and a separate opt-in before calling them.
• Say clearly how to opt out of each category, and honour it.
• Send only to people who opted in, and drop contacts who have not dealt with you recently.
• Keep the messages matched to what people signed up for.
• Do not broadcast to the same contacts immediately after a suspension ends.

That list is worth reading as the rule for any high-volume sending, not just this feature: reports and blocks are the signal that triggers enforcement. Why WhatsApp bans numbers and the daily pacing guide cover the same ground for ordinary sending.

Sending from your own numbers instead

A per-delivered-message price is predictable only if your volume is. For a business sending a few thousand messages a month from numbers it already owns, the usual alternative is to send one-to-one from those numbers on a schedule, which is what sending to many contacts without a broadcast list describes.

That is also how WavesFlo works: it links your existing numbers as devices and sends one personalised message per row of a CSV you import, with gaps between sends, daily and hourly caps per number, and quiet hours, and it does not charge per message. The limits are WhatsApp's either way, and no tool changes whether a number gets restricted. Replies come back into one inbox across every number you sent from.

What neither route avoids is consent. Whether you pay Meta per message or send from your own number, the thing that gets an account restricted is messaging people who did not ask, and the opt-in and opt-out discipline above is the part that actually protects you.