orca.floWhatsApp Business API messaging limits: tiers and how to move up
Short answer
On the WhatsApp Business API, Meta limits how many unique customers you can message outside the 24-hour window in a moving 24 hours. New business portfolios start at 250; verifying the business or sending 2,000 good-quality messages in 30 days lifts it to 2,000, then automatically to 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited.
Updated
If you plan broadcasts or reminders on the official API, the messaging limit decides how many people you can reach in a day. It catches out many businesses in their first week. Here is how it works, in Meta’s own terms.
The tiers
| Messaging limit (unique customers per moving 24 hours) | How you get there |
|---|---|
| 250 | Where new business portfolios start |
| 2,000 | Complete a scaling path: verify your business, have your partner verify it, or send 2,000 delivered messages outside service windows in 30 days with high-quality templates |
| 10,000 | Automatic: high-quality messages, and you used at least half your limit in the last 7 days |
| 100,000 | Automatic, on the same two conditions |
| Unlimited | Automatic, on the same two conditions |
Five things to know
- It counts people, not messages. The limit is unique phone numbers you deliver to outside the 24-hour customer service window. Replies to customers who wrote to you don’t use it.
- It belongs to the business portfolio. All numbers in the portfolio share one limit, so one busy number can use it up for the others.
- Quality decides everything. If customers block or report your messages, Meta won’t raise the limit and may deny a request.
- Moving up is fast once you qualify. Automatic increases happen one level at a time, within 6 hours.
- Verification helps. A verified business can unlock 2,000 without having to send 2,000 messages first.
And on the WhatsApp Business app?
Meta’s API messaging limits don’t apply to the WhatsApp Business app, but WhatsApp still restricts numbers that behave like spam: brand-new numbers, messages to people who never contacted you and identical mass broadcasts. On OrcaFlo’s QR link to the app, broadcasts are paced and the number must be at least 10 days old; that link has no green tick and some ban risk, because it isn’t an official WhatsApp app. See how to avoid a WhatsApp Business ban.
How OrcaFlo fits
On the official API, OrcaFlo’s replies to customers who wrote to you stay inside the 24-hour window, so they don’t use your messaging limit; broadcasts and follow-ups outside it do. Plan big campaigns around your tier. No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 2¢ per message. No setup fee. More: the 24-hour window and message templates.
Questions
The maximum number of unique customers your business can deliver messages to outside the 24-hour customer service window in a moving 24 hours. New business portfolios start at 250.
Verify your business, or send 2,000 delivered messages outside service windows within 30 days using high-quality templates, to reach 2,000. After that Meta raises it automatically when your quality is high and you used at least half your limit in the last 7 days.
No. The limit covers messages delivered outside the customer service window. Replies within 24 hours of the customer’s message don’t use it.
No, it’s per business portfolio and shared by all its phone numbers.
Not Meta’s API tiers, but WhatsApp restricts numbers that look like spam. Pace broadcasts and message people who contacted you first.
Related
The WhatsApp 24-hour window, explained for UAE businesses
Read more GuideHow to send WhatsApp broadcasts without risking your number
Read more GuideHow to keep your WhatsApp Business number from getting banned
Read more WhatsApp Business APIThe official WhatsApp Business API for UAE businesses, with an AI that answers
Read moreStop losing customers to slow replies.
No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 2¢ per message. No setup fee. Let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.