Meta fixes the category when a template is approved, not message by message.
Ask us to estimate your monthly WhatsApp bill from your own message mix.
Ask us on WhatsAppA clinic owner comparing two WhatsApp vendor quotes side by side often finds two completely different per-message rates with no explanation for why. The gap is not a typo or a negotiation lever, it is Meta's own category-based pricing for the WhatsApp Business Platform: utility templates and marketing templates are billed differently.
On CuraVerto, utility messages cost ₹0.15 and marketing broadcasts cost ₹0.88, as two separate line items.
Meta also defines a third category, authentication, for one-time passcodes, but it barely touches clinic messaging.
This is not a pricing trick: Meta prices the marketing category higher for every business on the Cloud API.
If a WhatsApp bill arrives as a single blended figure, ask what mix of templates produced it.
Ask one question: does it fire because of something the patient already did, or because the clinic chose to send it?
With CuraVerto: Broadcast Campaigns is available on every plan. A clinic that sends no broadcasts has a WhatsApp bill that is entirely utility-rate messaging by default.
One broadcast of 500 messages is ₹440 of a ₹594.50 bill, close to three-quarters of the total.
| Message type | Category | Rate | Volume | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmations | Utility | ₹0.15 | 300 | ₹45.00 |
| Appointment reminders | Utility | ₹0.15 | 300 | ₹45.00 |
| Digital Rx delivery | Utility | ₹0.15 | 280 | ₹42.00 |
| Follow-up and recall reminders | Utility | ₹0.15 | 150 | ₹22.50 |
| Patient chat inside 24-hour window (not charged by CuraVerto) | Free allowance | ₹0 | approx. 600 | ₹0 |
| One promotional broadcast, health camp | Marketing | ₹0.88 | 500 | ₹440.00 |
| Total metered spend for the month | Mixed | - | 1,530 templates | ₹594.50 |
Utility messages make up 1,030 of the 1,530 metered messages that month, 67 percent of the volume, but only ₹154.50 of the ₹594.50 total.
Every WhatsApp send debits a prepaid wallet, itemised by category, not one blended monthly figure.
With CuraVerto: The ₹0.15 and ₹0.88 figures are what is metered to the wallet, with an itemised ledger available to check against.
Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform bills business-initiated template messages by category. Utility templates, tied to something the patient already did like a booking or a payment, are the cheaper category. Marketing templates, promotional content the clinic chooses to send, cost more per message. On CuraVerto, utility templates are metered at ₹0.15 and marketing broadcasts at ₹0.88, flat CuraVerto rates that follow Meta's category pricing, where marketing costs more than utility.
With CuraVerto: A reminder tied to an appointment the patient already booked is utility, billed at ₹0.15 per message. It only becomes marketing if it is sent as a broadcast disconnected from a specific booking, for example a general checkup campaign sent to a patient list rather than triggered by an actual appointment.
With CuraVerto: It depends almost entirely on how many, if any, marketing broadcasts a clinic sends, since utility messaging is the cheap, high-volume default. A clinic sending only reminders, confirmations and digital prescriptions, no broadcasts, pays ₹0.15 per message and nothing else for WhatsApp. Broadcasts, available on every plan, are priced per recipient at ₹0.88.
This is Meta's own category-based pricing for the WhatsApp Business Platform, applied to every business using the Cloud API regardless of which software sits on top. The category is fixed at template approval, not chosen per message, so the higher marketing rate reflects Meta's own rate card, not a decision any individual vendor makes.
Only after a free allowance. Once a patient messages the clinic, a 24-hour service window opens. Meta now charges service messages per message after a free allowance of 1,000 a month per business phone number (as per Meta's published rate card; confirm the current terms), and patient-initiated conversations started from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad stay free for 72 hours. On CuraVerto, patient replies inside the 24-hour service window are not charged by CuraVerto. Business-initiated template messages like reminders or broadcasts are metered separately.
With CuraVerto: No. The ₹0.88 marketing rate applies only when a clinic sends a Broadcast Campaign, which is available on every plan but is always a deliberate choice. A clinic that sends no broadcasts pays only the utility rate of ₹0.15 per message for its reminders, confirmations and digital prescriptions.
Utility templates metered at ₹0.15 per message, marketing broadcasts at ₹0.88, every debit itemised on a prepaid wallet. No blended number, no platform fee, no per-agent seat fee.
Prefer not to use WhatsApp? Leave your number and we will call.