WhatsApp template categories and pricing
Meta divides templates into Marketing, Utility, and Authentication, each with its own India rate per conversation. Getting the category right can save up to 85% per send.
The 2024 category-based pricing change made the category matter for your margin, not just your compliance. Matching the right category to the right message saves anywhere from 30% to 85% per conversation.
India rates (per conversation, INR)
- Authentication — ₹0.1150 flat rate for OTPs and login alerts.
- Utility — ₹0.1150 for order/status updates. Free within a 24-hour service window triggered by a user-initiated message.
- Marketing — ₹0.7260. Always billed, regardless of service window.
- Service (1:1 human replies) — free inside the 24-hour service window, ₹0.2891 after.
SMSLocal shows the category and price per template right in the composer, so there are no billing surprises at month end.
Browse other help categories
Getting started
Create your SMSLocal account, add INR credits to your wallet, complete DLT registration, and send your first compliant SMS, WhatsApp, or OTP in under fifteen minutes.
SMS campaigns
SMS content templates, DLT routing, sender ID setup, delivery report statuses, bulk campaign scheduling, throttle controls, and automatic retry logic for India.
AI WhatsApp Agents
Train your AI WhatsApp agent on your own knowledge, sync your product catalogue, configure handoff triggers, and serve customers across twelve Indian languages.
OTP & Transactional
Priority routing to the fastest carrier, automatic retry and failover logic, idempotency keys to prevent double-sends, and WhatsApp OTP fallback when SMS is slow or fails.
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