orca.floWhatsApp cost calculator for UAE businesses (AED)
Short answer
For UAE numbers on the official WhatsApp Business API, Meta charges AED 0.2115 per marketing message, AED 0.0576 per utility message and AED 0.0576 per reply after the first 1,000 replies a month per number (rate card effective 1 October 2026). That is paid to Meta through your BSP, before the BSP’s own fee.
Updated
Enter how many WhatsApp messages you send in a month and see what Meta charges for them on the official WhatsApp Business API, in dirhams, from Meta’s UAE rate card effective 1 October 2026. Next to it is what OrcaFlo would cost for the same month. The two work differently, so read the notes under the numbers before you compare.
Work out your monthly cost
Your messages in a month
Paid to Meta through your BSP, before the BSP’s own fee.
- Marketing: 1,000 × AED 0.2115AED 211.50
- Utility: 600 × AED 0.0576AED 34.56
- Replies: first 1,000 free, 1,000 × AED 0.0576AED 57.60
Runs on your existing WhatsApp Business number, not the official API, so no Meta fee.
- Plan feeAED 55.05
- 5,600 messages × about AED 0.11AED 616.98
- includes 2,000 customer messages (one per reply)
- about USD 182.99
At these volumes Meta’s fees alone come to AED 303.66 a month, and OrcaFlo’s plan and messages to about AED 672.03. Meta’s fees are only part of an API bill: add your provider’s monthly fee above to compare the whole thing.
Meta’s rates: UAE (+971) list rates from Meta’s AED rate card, effective 1 October 2026, for one business number; replies are free for the first 1,000 a month per number. Messages to other countries are charged at their own rates, authentication (one-time password) messages aren’t included, and messages inside a free entry point window (after a click-to-WhatsApp ad) cost nothing. OrcaFlo: after the 14-day free trial, the plan fee plus 3¢ per message, counting every message your customers send and every message sent through OrcaFlo; messages you type yourself on your phone don’t count. Every invoice comes with a payment processing fee, shown as its own line. Meta’s rate card
The rates the calculator uses (UAE numbers, from 1 October 2026)
| Message type | What it is | Meta’s rate per delivered message | Free |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | A template that promotes: offers, announcements, broadcasts to opted-in customers | AED 0.2115 | Only inside a free entry point window (after a click-to-WhatsApp ad) |
| Utility | A template about something the customer started: order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders | AED 0.0576 | Only inside a free entry point window |
| Service (replies) | Your free-form replies inside the 24-hour window after a customer writes | AED 0.0576 | The first 1,000 a month per business number, and inside a free entry point window |
| Messages customers send | Anything a customer writes to you | Free | Always |
Who you pay, and for what
On the official WhatsApp Business API there are two bills. Meta charges per delivered message, by type and by the country of the person you message, and you normally pay it through your provider, the business solution provider (BSP): billed to your own WhatsApp Business account or resold by the BSP. The BSP then charges its own subscription, and often seats, AI credits or a markup on Meta’s fees. The calculator shows Meta’s part on its own, because every BSP prices its part differently; type your provider’s monthly fee into it to see the whole bill.
Marketing and utility messages are templates Meta approves before you can send them. Replies are free-form messages inside the 24-hour window after a customer writes, and since 1 October 2026 only the first 1,000 a month per number are free. The guide to WhatsApp Business API pricing in the UAE covers every rule, what changed in October and the rates for the rest of the GCC.
Why OrcaFlo has no Meta fee
OrcaFlo works on the WhatsApp Business number you already use, linked by QR code the way WhatsApp Web is, not through the official API. Meta’s per-message fees are an API charge, so they don’t apply; you pay OrcaFlo’s own price instead. From $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message, after a 14-day free trial. Your customers’ messages and the messages sent through OrcaFlo count; messages you type yourself on your phone don’t.
The trade-off is real. OrcaFlo isn’t Meta’s official API or an official WhatsApp app, so there is no green tick, and WhatsApp can restrict or ban a number that uses an unofficial app, more so if it behaves like spam. That’s why OrcaFlo asks for a WhatsApp Business account at least 10 days old and paces broadcasts. If you need a verified badge or very large template broadcasts, the official API fits better; a WhatsApp chatbot without the API explains when each makes sense. Support for Meta’s official API in OrcaFlo is waiting on Meta’s app review (current status); once a number is on the API, Meta bills its fees to your own WhatsApp Business account.
How to read the result
- Messages customers send are free on the API but count on OrcaFlo. Leave that box empty and the calculator assumes one customer message for every reply; type your real number if you know it.
- The OrcaFlo figure is a normal month after the 14-day free trial. During the trial there is no plan fee and the first 500 messages are free; messages beyond that are billed weekly, in the trial too.
- Meta’s figure uses list rates for UAE (+971) numbers on one business number. Messages to other countries, authentication (one-time password) messages and volume discounts aren’t in it, and messages inside a free entry point window after a click-to-WhatsApp ad would cost nothing.
- Cards are charged in UAE dirhams: AED 55.05 a month for Starter (AED 367.25 for Done-for-you), about AED 0.11 per message. Every invoice comes with a payment processing fee, shown as its own line. The calculator leaves that fee out.
Worked example: a Dubai clinic
A clinic sends 2,000 replies, 600 appointment reminders (utility templates) and one offer to 1,000 opted-in patients (a marketing template) in a month, all to UAE numbers. On the API, Meta’s fees come to about AED 304: the first 1,000 replies are free and the rest cost AED 57.60, the reminders AED 34.56 and the offer AED 211.50. The provider’s subscription comes on top.
On OrcaFlo the same month, plus about 2,000 messages from patients, is 5,600 messages: about AED 672.03 on the Starter plan, with no Meta fee and the AI replies included. Which route costs less depends on your provider’s fee, so put your own numbers into the calculator above.
Questions
On Meta’s AED rate card effective 1 October 2026: AED 0.2115 per marketing message, AED 0.0576 per utility message, and AED 0.0576 per reply after the first 1,000 a month per business number. Messages customers send you are free. Your provider’s fees come on top.
The first 1,000 a month per business number are. Since 1 October 2026 each reply after that, to a UAE number, costs AED 0.0576.
Only if you type it in. Meta’s fees are shown on their own, as paid to Meta through your BSP, before the BSP’s own fee, because every provider prices its subscription, seats and AI credits differently.
OrcaFlo runs on your existing WhatsApp Business number, linked by QR code, not on Meta’s official API, and Meta’s per-message fees are an API charge. The trade-off: no green tick, and it isn’t an official WhatsApp app, so there is some risk of a ban.
On the API they are free. On OrcaFlo your customers’ messages and the messages sent through OrcaFlo count; messages you type yourself on your phone don’t.
No. The calculator runs in your browser; the numbers you type are not sent to OrcaFlo or stored.
From Meta’s AED rate card for WhatsApp, effective 1 October 2026, linked from Meta’s WhatsApp pricing page for developers. We re-check the card when Meta publishes a new one.
Stop losing customers to slow replies.
No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 3¢ per message. No setup fee. Let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.