WhatsApp new chats limit: 150 a month on WhatsApp, 600 on WhatsApp Business, and how to get past it with the API

Updated on October 10, 2026 · Reviewed by Alejandro Díaz, CEO of Agent IA SAS

Since October 1, 2026, WhatsApp limits the new chats you can start from the app each month: 150 on regular WhatsApp and 600 on the WhatsApp Business app, according to the warning the app itself shows. A new chat is a message to someone you've never talked to or who hasn't replied.

This guide explains what counts and how to get past the cap: Meta's official WhatsApp Business API has no monthly cap, only daily tiers that start at 250 recipients. It also covers Meta's October 1, 2026 pricing change.

We are SoyAgentia, a Meta-authorized tech provider of AI agents for WhatsApp and other channels, so we compete in this market. The 150 and 600 figures come from the app's own warning; every other fact links to its source.

Try the agent now on WhatsApp Message us and the agent itself replies — no forms.

What is the WhatsApp new chats limit, and why does it exist?

It's a monthly cap on the chats you start from the app. Since October 1, 2026, according to the warning the app itself shows, it's 150 new chats a month on regular WhatsApp and 600 on the WhatsApp Business app. It applies to the apps only, not to the official WhatsApp Business API.

TechCrunch describes it this way: “All messages users and businesses send to others will count against this new per-month limit, unless they get a response.” If the other person answers, those messages stop counting. TechCrunch says the controls target people and businesses that blast messages and spam people.

When you're about to hit the cap, the app shows a warning pop-up with your count, TechCrunch reports. El Tiempo (in Spanish) places the counter under Settings > Chats (“Nuevos chats iniciados” in the Spanish-language app) and says it resets on the first day of each month.

What counts toward the new chats limit (and what doesn't)

The limit is about replies, not about how many messages you type, so it hits outbound habits: cold outreach, chasing old leads, quotes sent to people who went quiet.

Based on reporting from TechCrunch and El Tiempo:

• Counts: a chat with someone you've never talked to, like a contact you met at a conference (TechCrunch's example).
• Counts: messages to someone who hasn't replied to you.
• Stops counting: once the person responds, those messages no longer count.
• Not a new chat you started: your replies to a customer who messaged you first.
• Resets: on the first day of each month, according to El Tiempo.

Can you increase the WhatsApp new chats limit? Yes, with the API

Not from inside the app, but you can get past it. Connect your number to the official WhatsApp Business API through a provider such as SoyAgentia, in coexistence mode, and the chats you start through the platform aren't subject to that monthly cap.

Whichever route you take, these habits keep the app's counter low:

• Let customers write first, through wa.me links, QR codes, a website button or Click-to-WhatsApp ads.
• End your messages with a question that invites a reply; once the person answers, those messages stop counting.
• Stop chasing contacts who never answer; those are exactly the messages that count.

Is it the same as the WhatsApp broadcast limit?

No. WhatsApp's Help Center describes a separate monthly broadcast limit, rolling out gradually in some countries: a personal account can send up to 35 broadcast messages free per month, and, in WhatsApp's words, businesses can get more advanced messaging tools in the WhatsApp Business app.

Meta One Advanced adds more linked devices and business broadcast credits on WhatsApp, from US$49.99 a month (varies by region). Meta states that Meta One “does not change WhatsApp Business Platform functionality or pricing” (WhatsApp Business). The broadcast limit and the new chats cap are separate counters.

The way out: no monthly cap on the WhatsApp Business API

The 150 and 600 caps belong to the apps. Meta's official API, the WhatsApp Business Platform, has no monthly new chats cap; messages your business starts (templates sent outside the 24-hour window) move through daily tiers instead. According to Meta's documentation, a messaging limit is the maximum number of unique WhatsApp users your business can message outside the customer service window in a rolling 24-hour period, shared by all numbers in your business portfolio.

That works in your favor: the starting tier already lets you message 250 different people a day, about 7,500 a month, more than 12 times the app's 600. Replies to customers who message you don't count, and outside the service window you can only send approved templates to customers who opted in. The tiers:

How to increase your WhatsApp Business messaging limit on the API

Meta documents a one-time step to 2,000 and automatic increases after that. The steps:

• Verify your business in Meta Business, or deliver 2,000 high-quality template messages to unique users within 30 days.
• Send useful templates, and only to people who opted in.
• Keep quality high on every number and template; the automatic increase requires it.
• Use at least half of your current limit within 7 days; Meta then moves you up one tier within six hours.
• Check where you stand in WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Messaging limits.

Keep the WhatsApp Business app with coexistence

With coexistence, the number you use in the WhatsApp Business app (version 2.24.17 or later) also connects to the API. It's the best of both worlds: the app for day-to-day, one-to-one chats, and the API, through SoyAgentia, for volume, campaigns and the AI agent, without the 600 monthly cap.

One caveat: chats you start from the phone app still count toward its 600 cap; what goes out through the API doesn't. What changes:

• Unchanged in the app: groups, calls, catalog, greeting and away messages, quick replies and labels.
• Turned off: the app's broadcast lists (existing ones become read-only), plus disappearing messages, view once and live location in one-to-one chats.
• Throughput: a fixed 20 messages per second.
• Pricing: Meta says messages sent from the app stay free; messages sent through the Cloud API follow its pricing.

What changed on October 1, 2026: Meta charges per message

On the API, you pay Meta directly for usage, separately from your SoyAgentia plan, at each country's rates. According to Meta's pricing documentation, every delivered template is charged by its category (marketing, utility or authentication) and the recipient's country.

The change on October 1, 2026: Meta now also charges service messages, the replies you send inside the 24-hour window, at each market's utility rate, with 1,000 free service messages per month per business number that don't roll over. Marketing templates keep their own marketing rate. One exception helps: a Click-to-WhatsApp ad opened in the Android or iOS app opens a free entry point window of up to 7 days.

Per-message rates in US dollars, from Meta's official rate card effective October 1, 2026:

The strategy: let customers message you first

Both the app's cap and the API's tiers apply only to chats you start. Replies to customers who write first aren't new chats in the app and don't count toward any API tier.

Make writing to you easy, and answer everything that comes in: an AI agent replies around the clock, while campaigns go out as approved templates to contacts who consented. See how a WhatsApp AI agent works. Ways to get customers to write first:

• A wa.me link in your bios, emails and invoices; our free WhatsApp link generator is in Spanish.
• A QR code on packaging and counters; our QR code generator is also in Spanish.
• A WhatsApp button on your website.
• Click-to-WhatsApp ads, which open a free entry point window of up to 7 days.
• Instagram and Messenger direct messages.

How SoyAgentia handles it, step by step

SoyAgentia is a Meta-authorized tech provider for the WhatsApp Business API and enables coexistence. Chats you start through SoyAgentia go out through the API, without the app's monthly cap and within Meta's daily tiers. What it does as of October 10, 2026:

• 1. Connect your number to the official Cloud API through Meta's Embedded Signup, in coexistence.
• 2. Turn on the AI agent. It answers incoming chats 24/7 on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and WordPress web chat, plus a Shopify app; on WhatsApp it replies in the language of the customer's last message. TikTok is not available for accounts in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the UK.
• 3. Create marketing and utility templates in the dashboard and submit them to Meta for approval. Status and quality sync back, and only approved templates are sent.
• 4. Run campaigns: an approved template to a list imported from Excel or CSV, scheduled up to 24 hours ahead and sent one message at a time.
• 5. Add follow-ups for customers who go quiet. They're sent only inside the 24-hour window; chats from Click-to-WhatsApp ads can close with a template step.
• 6. Use ad context: the agent receives the headline and text of the ad the customer clicked and answers with that context.
• 7. Reply yourself anytime. When you answer from the phone, the AI pauses for 2 hours in that chat, and each reply restarts the pause.
• 8. Watch quality: the line diagnostics show your number's quality rating (high, medium or low) and whether it can send messages.
• What it doesn't do: verify your business with Meta for you, show your messaging limit tier (check it in WhatsApp Manager), or manage campaign opt-outs and exclusion lists.

Cost example: one month on the API with SoyAgentia

Take a business with customers in the United States on the Plus plan: US$99 a month with 3,500 AI replies. In one month it sends 2,400 service replies (1,000 free plus 1,400 charged at the service rate) and one campaign of 2,000 delivered marketing templates. Meta's charges are paid separately from the plan; see current plans.

If the AI agent writes those 2,400 replies, they fit within the 3,500 included; templates and campaigns don't use the AI allowance. At the starting limit of 250 recipients a day, the campaign takes 8 days; at 2,000 a day, it goes out in one.

The same example elsewhere: in the UK, Meta charges US$157.80 (1,400 × US$0.022 = US$30.80; 2,000 × US$0.0635 = US$127.00), and in India US$25.56 (1,400 × US$0.0014 = US$1.96; 2,000 × US$0.0118 = US$23.60). For other countries, our pricing calculator is in Spanish. The US month, line by line:

Methodology and sources

Reviewed on October 10, 2026. The 150 and 600 figures are the ones the app itself shows in its warning. Everything else comes from the linked sources: TechCrunch (October 17, 2025) and El Tiempo (September 22, 2026, in Spanish) for how the app's cap works; WhatsApp's Help Center for broadcasts; Meta's announcement and WhatsApp Business for Meta One; and Meta's developer documentation on messaging limits, coexistence and pricing. SoyAgentia's features were checked in the product on the same date.

WhatsApp changes these rules. If your app shows something different, write to us and we'll update this page.

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• WhatsApp chatbot for business
• SoyAgentia plans and pricing

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