Every business that sends WhatsApp messages through the official API pays Meta per delivered template message. The price depends on the category of the message and the country of the number it goes to. Meta publishes its rates in UAE dirhams too, so a UAE business can plan its WhatsApp budget without converting from dollars.
Meta’s rates for UAE numbers
These are Meta’s published rates for messages to numbers in the United Arab Emirates, in AED, as shown on Meta’s pricing page on 29 October 2026.
| Category | What it is for | Rate per delivered message |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Offers, campaigns, announcements | AED 0.2115 |
| Utility | Order, booking and payment updates | AED 0.0576, down to AED 0.0432 at high volume |
| Authentication | One-time passwords | AED 0.0576 |
| Authentication, international | One-time passwords from a business based in another country | AED 0.1872 |
| Service | Your replies within 24 hours of the customer’s last message | No charge |
Meta can change these rates, so check its page before you set a budget.
The messages that cost nothing
Two rules from Meta’s pricing page matter most for a UAE business:
- The 24-hour window. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Your service replies inside it are free, and the window starts again with every message the customer sends.
- Free entry points. When a customer messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button, your messages for the next 72 hours are not charged.
So a clinic that answers enquiries and books appointments inside the conversation pays nothing to Meta for those replies. It pays when it starts the conversation itself with a template: a reminder the next day is a utility message, a Ramadan offer is a marketing message.
Estimating a month
Take a salon in Dubai that sends 2,000 appointment reminders and one campaign to 1,000 clients who agreed to marketing messages:
- 2,000 utility messages × AED 0.0576 = AED 115.20
- 1,000 marketing messages × AED 0.2115 = AED 211.50
- Meta’s fees for the month: AED 326.70
The replies to clients who answer the reminder are inside the 24-hour window, so they add nothing.
The calculator on our pricing page does the same sum for your own numbers.
How this looks in MonoChat
- Connect your own number. You connect your WhatsApp number to Meta’s Cloud API from MonoChat. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account directly, and MonoChat adds no markup.
- Use the right template category. Reminders and order updates go out as utility templates; offers as marketing templates. The industry apps, such as Salon Assistant or Clinic Assistant, submit the templates they need on your number for you.
- Send campaigns only to people who agreed. A bulk message in MonoChat can be scheduled and filtered to customers whose Opt-in is Yes, so you do not pay for marketing messages to people who did not ask for them.
- Answer inside the window. Replies from your team or your AI assistant to a customer who wrote in are service messages.
What MonoChat itself costs
MonoChat’s plans are separate from Meta’s fees. Basic is free, with one user, one channel and 1,000 outgoing messages a month. Growth is AED 440.70 a month, taxes included, with two users, one channel and 100,000 outgoing messages. See pricing for the details.