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WhatsApp API

WhatsApp API: Cloud API, templates, costs, and white-label

What the WhatsApp API is today (Cloud API), templates, the 24-hour window, Meta costs, and how 42agents packages it white-label.

Last updated: September 15, 2026

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  • 7-day free trial on any plan
  • Official Cloud API with coexistence
  • Your brand, your price, your client

From USD 39/account · 7-day free trial

“WhatsApp API” in 2026 means, in practice, WhatsApp Cloud API: the official Business Platform interface to send and receive business messages. It includes webhooks, templates (marketing, utility, authentication), the 24-hour customer service window after a user message, and number quality rules. It is not the personal WhatsApp API or an unofficial wrapper. On top of that API, products like 42agents add inbox, AI agent, and white-label so an agency can resell without building Meta infrastructure. Platform pricing from USD 39/account; Meta conversation fees not included.

Layers: API, BSP/Tech Provider, agency product

Meta exposes Cloud API. A BSP or Tech Provider registers numbers and sometimes bills messages. A white-label product (42agents) adds brand, multi-account, agent, and inbox. Mixing the three layers is the #1 cause of impossible RFPs (“I want Twilio + chatbot + my logo at plugin price”).

Templates and the 24-hour window

Within 24 hours of the user’s last message, you can reply with session messages (per current rules). Outside that window, proactive outbound uses approved templates. Categories (marketing, utility, authentication) drive price and use. Opt-in remains required for marketing.

Costs: platform vs Meta vs AI

Three mental invoices: (1) white-label software — USD 39 or 117 on 42agents; (2) Meta conversations by country/category; (3) model tokens if you use BYOK. “Free API” does not exist at business scale. Use the site’s illustrative calculator only for order of magnitude; official rates live in Meta docs and change.

wa.me, QR, click-to-WhatsApp

The API does not replace acquisition: click-to-WhatsApp ads, wa.me links, and QR codes remain the front door. The API handles what comes in. 42agents has free link/QR tools; the product connects that number to Cloud API + agent.

Build your own vs white-label

Integrating Cloud API in-house means Embedded Signup, webhooks, templates, quality rating, inbox, and compliance. It makes sense for a core product. For an agency that wants margin this quarter, white-label shortens months. 7-day trial on 42agents; signup in the dashboard.

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