What This Page Covers
How Meta bills WhatsApp Business Calling. UIC is free; BIC is per-pulse billed; permission-request messages are billed under standard messaging rates.
For Dualhook subscription pricing, see Pricing. Calling charges are paid to Meta directly — Dualhook does not add per-call fees and is not in the calling billing path.
Headline Rules
| Direction | Billed? |
|---|---|
| User-initiated calls (UIC) | Free |
| Business-initiated calls (BIC) | Per-pulse billed (see below) |
| Call permission request messages (free-form or template) | Billed under standard messaging pricing |
Calls extend the customer service window: when a WhatsApp user calls you (whether you accept or not), or when they accept your BIC, the CSW timer starts or refreshes — same effect as messaging.
How BIC Is Priced
Charges are based on three factors:
- Duration — billed in 6-second pulses
- Country code of the recipient's phone number
- Volume tier — your portfolio's monthly minutes called determines which tier rate applies
A valid payment method is required to place calls — this also applies to phone numbers that only intend to receive calls (since callbacks are BIC).
The 6-Second Pulse
Calls are billed in 6-second increments. Fractional pulses round up — a 56-second call is 9.33 pulses, charged as 10 pulses (60 seconds).
Always invoke the terminate endpoint when you end a call, even if you sent an RTCP BYE. Skipping terminate can result in inaccurate pricing.
Volume Tiers
Tiering accrual works the same way as messaging — see Pricing → Volume Tiers. Calling tiers are separate from messaging tiers but use the same monthly aggregation logic.
For calls that span pricing tiers (e.g. you cross from the 0–50,000 tier into the 50,001–250,000 tier mid-call), the entire call is priced at the higher-volume (lower) tier rate. This is favorable to the business — it doesn't split a single call's billing.
CSW and Calling
A call now opens or refreshes the customer service window:
| Trigger | CSW effect |
|---|---|
| User messages you | CSW opens / refreshes |
| User calls you (any outcome — accepted or not) | CSW opens / refreshes |
| User accepts your BIC | CSW opens / refreshes |
| You answer a call | No effect on its own (the user calling already opened the CSW) |
| You place a BIC that the user rejects | No effect on CSW |
This means accepting an inbound call is enough to also send any service-message type to that user inside the next 24 hours — you don't need a separate text message to open the window.
Call Permission Request Messages
Permission requests sent as either free-form interactive messages or template messages are billed under standard messaging pricing. They count against the regular messaging rate card for the recipient's country and category. They are not included in the calling pulse pricing.
This is a separate cost from the call itself. Even if the user never accepts and you never call, you've paid for the request message.
Call Analytics
GET /<WABA_ID>/?fields=call_analyticsReturns cost, count of completed calls, and average call duration. Useful for cost reconciliation and per-period reporting. Granular details and date-range parameters are documented in Meta's call analytics reference.
Where to Find Current Rates
Meta publishes per-country, per-tier rate cards on their developer site. Always reference the official rates — they update on Meta's standard pricing calendar (Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1).
https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/calling/pricing
We don't mirror the rate tables here — they go stale fast.
Billing Prerequisites
- A credit line attached to the WABA is required to use the Calling API.
- Business verification is not required for calling (same as messaging).
- Calling API usage does not currently count toward messaging rate limits, but the 1,000 concurrent calls limit per phone number applies.