What Is the WhatsApp Cloud API? Business API, Cloud API and Business Platform Explained

The WhatsApp Cloud API is the part of Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform that lets a business send and receive WhatsApp messages and calls from its business phone number through software. Meta hosts it, so there is no server to run. When people say “the WhatsApp Business API” today, they mean the Cloud API: Meta retired the older On-Premises API in October 2025, so every business on the API now uses it.

The three names cause a lot of confusion, partly because they are used loosely. This guide explains what each one means, what the platform includes, the accounts and limits you should know about, what it costs, and the ways to start. If you are ready to set it up, our step-by-step guide on how to get the WhatsApp Business API walks through it.

WhatsApp Business API, Cloud API and Business Platform: what each name means

Name	What it refers to	Where you will see it
WhatsApp Business Platform	Meta’s official name for its set of APIs for businesses on WhatsApp	Meta’s developer documentation and business site
WhatsApp Cloud API	The Meta-hosted API inside the platform that sends and receives messages and calls	Meta’s developer documentation, software and provider websites
WhatsApp Business API	The common, older name for the same thing	Search engines, provider websites, most conversations
WhatsApp Business app	The free app for one business on a phone, not an API	App stores

So “WhatsApp Business API” and “Cloud API” are, for any business starting today, the same product under different names. The WhatsApp Business app is the one that is genuinely different: it is a phone app, not something software connects to. Our comparison of the WhatsApp Business app vs API covers when you need which.

What happened to the On-Premises API?

Before the Cloud API, businesses or their providers could run the On-Premises API on their own servers. Meta has retired it: its documentation says the final supported client version expired on October 23, 2025, that it can no longer be used to message WhatsApp users, and that businesses should use the Cloud API.

That is why older articles comparing “On-Premises vs Cloud API” no longer help with a decision. Whoever you work with, your messages now run on the same Meta-hosted Cloud API. What still differs is who owns the account, who pays Meta and which software your team uses.

What the WhatsApp Business Platform includes

Meta’s documentation describes these parts of the platform:

• Cloud API. Send and receive messages (text, media, interactive messages and templates), make and receive WhatsApp calls, and create and message WhatsApp groups.
• Business Management API. Manage your accounts programmatically: phone numbers, templates, partner access, billing settings, and analytics for messages, pricing and templates.
• Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp. A separate API for marketing messages, with optimizations and conversion metrics that Meta says are not available on the Cloud API.
• Webhooks. Every message a customer sends you, and every delivery status for the messages you send, reaches your software as a webhook.
• Meta Business Agent. Meta’s own AI agent that can answer customers on WhatsApp. It is optional, and it is billed separately per token.

Most businesses never touch these APIs directly. They use software that is built on them, and the software decides which parts you get.

The accounts behind the Cloud API

To use the platform, Meta requires:

1. A business portfolio (managed in Meta Business Suite), which holds your business assets. Verifying it unlocks higher limits.
2. A WhatsApp account, which holds your business phone numbers, display name and partner access. Many people still call this the WhatsApp Business Account, or WABA.
3. A Messaging account, which holds your message templates, billing and payment method.
4. A business phone number, real or virtual, that is not already registered elsewhere. Coexistence is the exception for numbers that stay in the WhatsApp Business app.
5. An app with access tokens and permissions. If you use software, the software provides this through Meta’s sign-up flow.

Owning these accounts yourself, rather than having them sit under a provider, is what makes it easy to change software later without losing your number.

Limits you should know about

The Cloud API is built for scale, but several limits apply, according to Meta’s documentation:

• Throughput: a business phone number can send up to 80 messages per second by default, with upgrades available.
• Messaging limits: the number of unique customers you can reach with templates, outside a customer service window, in a rolling 24 hours. It is set at the business portfolio level and grows as you send good-quality messages and verify your business.
• Pair rate limit: about one message every 6 seconds to the same customer, with short bursts allowed.
• Templates and the 24-hour window: free-form messages can only be sent within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. Outside that window you need an approved template.
• Opt-in: you must have the customer’s opt-in before sending them templates, and it must make clear your business name and what they will receive. See our guide to WhatsApp opt-in.

What the WhatsApp Cloud API costs

Meta does not charge a fee to access the API. It charges per delivered message, based on the message category (marketing, utility, authentication or service) and the recipient’s country. The main rules since October 1, 2026:

• Marketing, utility and authentication templates are charged per message. Utility templates sent inside the customer service window are charged too.
• Service messages, the free-form replies inside the 24-hour window, are charged at the market’s utility rate after a free tier of 1,000 a month per business phone number.
• When a customer messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad and you reply in time, a free entry point window opens for up to 7 days, and messages in it are not charged.
• Messages from customers to you are never charged.

Rates and examples are in our WhatsApp API pricing guide, and you can estimate your own mix with the bulk messaging calculator. The software you use on top of the API is a separate cost.

Three ways to start using the Cloud API

1. Build on it yourself. Create a Meta app, generate access tokens, set up webhooks and build your own interface. This gives full control and suits teams with developers.
2. Use software that connects your own account directly. You sign up through Meta’s own sign-up window inside the software. You keep the accounts and the number, and Meta bills you directly.
3. Go through a provider. Some providers onboard you under their own billing arrangement. Check who owns the account and whether Meta’s fees are marked up before you sign.

Our guide on how to get the WhatsApp Business API compares these routes and shows the setup step by step.

Using the WhatsApp Cloud API with MonoChat

MonoChat is business messaging software and an official Meta Business Partner. It connects your own WhatsApp account directly to Meta’s Cloud API, so Meta bills you directly for messages and MonoChat does not add a markup to Meta’s fees.

On top of the API, you get:

• Ready-made apps from the MonoChat Store. For example, MonoChat Start builds an AI assistant from your website, Shop Assistant answers order and product questions for online stores, and the WhatsApp Template API app lets your own systems send approved templates with one API call.
• One team inbox for WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, SMS, voice and web chat, with assignment and roles. See the unified team inbox.
• Your number kept with Coexistence, if you want to keep using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone.
• WhatsApp calls in the same place as your chats.
• AI and workflow automation on the same conversations.

You can start on the free Basic plan (one user, one channel) at app.monochat.ai and compare plans on the pricing page. For definitions of the other terms in this article, see the glossary.

Sources

• Meta for Developers: WhatsApp Business Platform
• Meta for Developers: About the WhatsApp Business Platform
• Meta for Developers: On-Premises API sunset
• Meta for Developers: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform