WhatsApp channel

Connect a WhatsApp Business number as a HelpStack channel. Customer messages land in the inbox like any other conversation, and agent and AI replies go back through the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API.

Connecting#

Create a channel of type WhatsApp under Settings → Channels and enter the Phone Number ID, the Access Token and the App Secret from your Meta app. HelpStack then shows the webhook setup instructions to finish on Meta's side. The full walkthrough is in the channels guide.

Per-message billing since 1 October 2026#

Meta changed how WhatsApp replies are charged. The source is Meta's own page on pricing for non-template messages, re-read on 15 October 2026. The relevant parts, in Meta's words:

• "Effective October 1, 2026 - Meta will charge on a per-message basis for all service messages, consistent with how Meta charges for template messages. These messages have not been charged since November 1, 2024."
• On the rate: "By market, rates for service messages will be the same as the rates for utility and authentication messages." The figures live in the rate cards on Meta's WhatsApp pricing page.
• On volume: "Volume tiers: None. Meta will not offer volume tiers for service messages. Meta continues to offer volume tiers for utility and authentication messages." So the volume discounts your templates may earn do not apply to replies.
• Meta charges "only when the message is delivered (vs. sent)".

Check that a payment method is on file, or Meta stops delivering your replies. Meta's page says: "For any Solution Provider or directly-integrated businesses that does not have a payment method on file by September 30, 2026, Meta will stop delivering service messages as of when they become charged on October 1, 2026. To avoid disruptions to your service messages, please add a payment method for your Messaging account(s) by September 30, 2026." You connect your own number with your own Meta app, so you are a directly integrated business and this applies to you. That deadline has passed: if no payment method is on file for the WhatsApp Business Account that owns your number, your replies are not reaching customers, and adding one in Billing hub → Payment methods is what fixes it.

What changed for you

Every reply sent inside the 24-hour customer service window is a service message. That is every reply HelpStack sends on your WhatsApp channel: replies typed by an agent, AI drafts an agent approves, and auto-replies. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges each of them per message, on your WhatsApp Business Account, at the utility and authentication rate for the customer's market.

Templates you send to reach out to a customer (marketing, utility, authentication) are charged as they were. One template case changes on the same date, so check it if you send order updates inside a conversation: "Effective October 1, 2026 - Meta will charge on a per-message basis for utility messages sent in response to users (within an open 24-hour customer service window). These messages have not been charged since July 1, 2025."

What to check

The charges land on the WhatsApp Business Account that owns the number. Open Billing hub → Payment methods, the page Meta's own warning links to, pick the business that owns the number, and check that a payment method is there and that the charges you see match the volume you send.

If an agency or partner set up your number and owns the WhatsApp Business Account, the billing sits on their account. Check with them.

What HelpStack does and does not do

• HelpStack shows a notice on the channel's settings pages until 30 November 2026, long enough to cover the first invoice that carries these charges. You can dismiss it; it stays dismissed for you.
• HelpStack does not bill you for WhatsApp messages. Meta charges your WhatsApp Business Account directly. Your HelpStack plan and AI credits are unchanged.
• HelpStack does not see your Meta charges or your payment method. That is between your business and Meta, so the notice is a reminder and your Meta billing page is the truth.
• Sending, templates and the 24-hour window all work exactly as before. If replies stop going out, check your Meta billing first: with no payment method on file this is a delivery problem, not only an invoice problem.