WhatsApp now billed per message in credits, no subscription
WhatsApp Business through SMSBOX now works like your SMS traffic: you pay per message, in credits. The monthly subscription is gone, and so are the set-up fee and the minimum term. Anyone who wants to use WhatsApp requests it from their own SMSBOX account.
What changes?
Until now WhatsApp was a separate module with a fixed monthly amount. That model did not match how most customers use WhatsApp: a hundred verification codes one month, hardly anything the next. So from now on we bill per message, with the same credits you use for SMS, from the same balance.
- Template message — you open the conversation with a Meta-approved template: 1.6 credits
- Verification code (OTP) — one-time code via WhatsApp, with SMS fallback: 1.4 credits
- Session message — your reply within 24 hours after the customer responded: 0.5 credits
- Incoming message — every message a customer sends back to you: 0.25 credits
No messages sent? Then you pay nothing. There are no fixed costs anymore, in any month.
WhatsApp is not switched on by default
WhatsApp is available on request only. You do not activate it with an order, but from your account:
- Log in to the SMSBOX portal and choose WhatsApp in the menu.
- Read the explanation and click Request WhatsApp. Feel free to tell us briefly what you want to use it for.
- We switch WhatsApp on for your account, usually within one working day, and let you know.
Activation itself is free of charge. What you do need are credits: without credits you cannot send or receive WhatsApp messages. If you already have credits for SMS, you are ready straight away.
What opens up once WhatsApp is active?
- Conversations — SMS and WhatsApp conversations in a single chat window, with photos, documents and locations.
- Templates — the approved message templates of your account. Missing one? You request it and we submit it to Meta, usually within a day.
- API key — a dedicated key for WhatsApp, so you send from your own software through the same integration as for SMS.
You need neither your own WhatsApp number nor a Meta account: you send through Smsbox Notification, our shared and secured sender. It is meant for business communication — verification codes, confirmations, reminders and conversations with your customers — not for marketing.
Already using WhatsApp today?
Then nothing changes about your access: conversations, templates and API key keep working as before. Only the billing changes: from now on per message, in credits, without a monthly amount.
All rates and examples are on the WhatsApp for Business page. No account yet? Create one for free and request WhatsApp in the menu. Questions? Contact us.