On this page
- The rule in one paragraph
- What is free and what is billed
- What changed on 1 October 2026?
- A timeline
- The ad window (up to 7 days)
- What it means for support teams
- What it means for sales
- What it means for automation
- Examples by industry
- Multiple numbers and channels
- Counting the window in your tool
- Common mistakes
Too long? Read this
- The window opens with any customer message and lasts 24 hours from their most recent message; your replies do not extend it
- Inside it you can send free-form messages of any kind without a template; from 1 October 2026 those replies are free for the first 1,000 a month on each number, then charged at the utility rate
- Templates are billed by category inside or outside the window; from 1 October 2026 that includes utility templates inside the window
- Outside the window only approved templates can be sent; free-form sends fail with error 131047
- Click-to-WhatsApp ads and Facebook Page buttons open a free entry point window (up to 7 days) in which every message, marketing templates included, is free
The 24-hour customer service window is the rule that shapes every WhatsApp workflow: while it is open you can reply with any message and no template; when it closes you can only send an approved template, and pay for it. It is also the rule most often misread on cost. From 1 July 2025 to 30 September 2026 replies inside the window were free and so were utility templates; from 1 October 2026 Meta charges both, with a free allowance for replies. This guide explains the window with timelines and worked examples, and what it means for support, sales and automation.
The rule in one paragraph
When a customer sends your business a message, a 24-hour window opens, measured from that message. While it is open you may send free-form messages of any type. Each further customer message resets the window to 24 hours from that moment; your own messages do not. When 24 hours pass without a customer message, the window closes, and the only way to message the customer is an approved template, until they write again.
What is free and what is billed
From 1 October 2026, with India rates on Meta's card effective 1 October 2026:
| Message | Inside an open 24-hour window | Outside the window | Inside a ad window (up to 7 days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free-form text, media, documents, audio, location, contacts | First 1,000 a month on each number at no charge, then Rs 0.115 | Not allowed (131047) | Free |
| Interactive messages: buttons, lists, product messages, Flows | Counted as replies, as above | Not allowed | Free |
| Utility template | Rs 0.115 | Rs 0.115 | Free |
| Marketing template | Rs 0.8631 | Rs 0.8631 | Free |
| Authentication template | Rs 0.115 | Rs 0.115 | Free |
What changed on 1 October 2026?
Two rules changed, and both are Meta's, applying on every WhatsApp Business Platform provider. From 1 October 2026 Meta charges for replies too; the first 1,000 each month on each WhatsApp number are free. The allowance counts messages, not chats; it belongs to the business phone number, is shared by 1:1 and group replies and by every Messaging account on that number, and does not roll over. After it, each reply is charged at the recipient market's utility rate. Utility templates are charged per delivered message, including inside the 24-hour window, from 1 October 2026. Until 30 September 2026 an order update sent while the customer was still in an open window cost nothing; from 1 October it costs the same as one sent a week later. What did not change: the free entry point window (up to 7 days), and replies sent from the WhatsApp Business app on a coexistence number, which stay free. The full picture is in Meta's 1 October 2026 pricing change.
A timeline
India, one business number, after 1 October 2026:
| Time | Event | Window | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 10:00 | Customer: "Do you have this in blue?" | Opens, closes Tue 10:00 | None |
| Mon 10:05 | You: photo and price | Unchanged | One reply from the monthly 1,000 |
| Mon 18:00 | Customer: "I will take it" | Resets, closes Tue 18:00 | None |
| Mon 18:02 | You: payment link | Unchanged | One reply from the monthly 1,000 |
| Tue 09:00 | You: "Shipped today" as a utility template | Inside the window | Rs 0.115 |
| Tue 18:00 | No further customer message | Closes | None |
| Thu 11:00 | You want to send "Delivered, how was it?" | Template only | Utility, Rs 0.115 |
| Thu 11:30 | Customer: "Loved it" | Opens again, closes Fri 11:30 | None |
Once the number has used its 1,000 free replies for the month, the two replies on Monday cost Rs 0.115 each as well. The same sale then costs Rs 0.46 in Meta charges in place of Rs 0.23.
The ad window (up to 7 days)
A conversation that starts when someone taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button opens a free entry point window (up to 7 days) instead of 24 hours, and within it every message type, including replies and marketing templates, is free, after 1 October 2026 as before. This is why ad-led WhatsApp funnels are cheap: qualification, catalogue, quote and even an offer can all happen without a charge. Answer ad leads fast so the conversation happens inside the window. The window still resets only on customer messages.
What it means for support teams
Reply within 24 hours and no template is needed; reply later and the first message is a template. From 1 October 2026 the replies themselves count too: each number's first 1,000 a month are free, then Rs 0.115 each in India. So the economics of support are now two habits: a first-response SLA of minutes, and replies that resolve the question in one message rather than five. If your chats average five replies, the free allowance covers about 200 chats a number a month. Asking a closing question ("Is there anything else?") invites a reply that resets the window, which is useful when a follow-up is likely.
What it means for sales
Get the customer to write first: QR codes, wa.me links, ads, a website widget with a WhatsApp handoff. Then move fast: buttons and lists keep them tapping, each tap resets the clock, and the payment link goes out in the same window without a template. Where you need several details, a WhatsApp Flow collects them in one in-chat form instead of a string of replies. A lead who goes quiet is reached with a utility template about their own enquiry, which costs Rs 0.115 and reopens the window when they answer.
What it means for automation
Flows must know the state of the window: free-form replies while it is open, a template step when it is closed. Sequences schedule template steps for closed windows and can send free-form steps when a reply reopens it. Appointment and order automations send utility templates, which from 1 October 2026 cost the utility rate whether or not the customer is engaged. Bots and AI replies count toward the number's free replies exactly like an agent's. VGraple CRM checks the window before every automated send so a free-form message is never rejected with 131047.
Examples by industry
A clinic's reception answers "Do you have a slot tomorrow?" within minutes and books it in the same conversation, drawing on the number's 1,000 free replies a month; the confirmation goes out as a utility template at Rs 0.115, and the reminder the next day costs Rs 0.115 too. A retailer's customer taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad, asks about a saree, and gets the catalogue, a price and a payment link inside the free window of up to 7 days at no charge; the shipping update two days later is a utility template at Rs 0.115. A coaching institute's counsellor replies to an enquiry at 6 pm; the parent answers the next morning, which resets the window, and the fee plan document goes out as a reply without a template. In every case the pattern is the same: talk while the window is open and answer fully, use utility templates for the follow-up, and reserve marketing templates, with consent, for offers.
Multiple numbers and channels
The window is per customer per business phone number, and so is the free replies allowance. A customer who messaged your sales number has opened a window there, not on your support number, and replies from each number draw on that number's own 1,000. Instagram and Messenger have their own reply windows under Meta's Messenger Platform rules (24 hours, extended to 7 days with the Human Agent tag for approved accounts) and no template mechanism, so a closed window there simply means waiting for the customer's next message.
Counting the window in your tool
A good inbox shows the remaining time on every conversation and sorts or flags the ones about to close, so agents answer those first. Automations should read the same clock: a flow that tries a free-form message at hour 25 gets error 131047 and the customer gets nothing. VGraple CRM's composer switches to templates when the window closes and flows pick free-form or template automatically. Each WhatsApp number's card in Settings shows free replies used this month out of 1,000 and the rate after that, and once charging has started a short line under the reply box shows the free replies left. The broadcast cost estimate prices utility templates at the utility rate for every recipient and notes that utility is charged inside the window from 1 October 2026.
Common mistakes
- Assuming your own reply keeps the window open.
- Sending a free-form follow-up the next day and wondering why it failed (131047).
- Treating the ad window (up to 7 days) as 24 hours and paying for templates unnecessarily.
- Assuming replies are unlimited at no cost after 1 October 2026, and answering in many short messages.
- Assuming a utility template is free because the customer wrote in the last 24 hours; that exemption ended on 30 September 2026.
- Confusing the window with Meta's reply rules on Instagram and Messenger, which are separate.
The customer service window glossary entry is the short version; the 131047 help article covers the API case, and Meta's 1 October 2026 pricing change covers what the window costs.