A WhatsApp marketing budget has a fixed part and a usage part, and most surprises come from forgetting one of them or from the costs that appear on neither invoice. This guide lists everything, gives the figures that are public, and suggests how to size a first pilot.
Read alongside this guide: WhatsApp marketing software and Waki plans and pricing.
Key takeaways
- Plans from ₹699 to ₹2,999 a month, GST extra, two months free on yearly billing.
- Meta’s conversation charges are the usage part; estimate by category and expect marketing to dominate.
- Team hours and integration are real costs that appear on no invoice.
- Budget one pilot month, then replace estimates with invoices.
The fixed part: the plan
Waki plans are priced in rupees and shown live on the pricing page. The Chhotu Plan is ₹699 a month, Professional ₹1,499 a month and Enterprise ₹2,999 a month; paying yearly costs ten times the monthly price, which is two months free. Plan prices exclude 18% GST, which is added at checkout and shown on the tax invoice. The first month or year is paid at checkout; auto-pay is optional and can be turned on later.
The usage part: Meta’s conversation charges
Meta prices conversations by category (marketing, utility, authentication and service) using a rate card per country that it publishes and changes from time to time. On a number connected through your own Meta account, Meta bills you directly. On a Waki-provided number a prepaid wallet pays the per-message charges, with GST on top-ups. Estimate conversations by category for the month, and expect marketing to dominate the bill.
People and content
Someone writes templates, builds segments, schedules campaigns and answers the replies. Count the hours. Count also the design of images or PDFs, and the time to review flows and unanswered questions each week. For most small businesses this is the largest cost and the one automation reduces.
Integration
Connecting your store, booking tool or CRM so that events trigger messages costs either a developer’s time against the REST API and webhooks, or a subscription to a connector such as Pabbly Connect, or nothing more than a Google Sheet if that is how your business runs. Decide which before the plan, because it changes what the plan needs to include.
Sizing a pilot
Take the plan that fits your contacts and team for one month, add a conservative estimate of conversation charges for one use case and one small segment, add GST, and add the hours of the person running it. That is the pilot budget. Run it, then replace the estimate with the invoices before deciding the full budget.
Reviewing the budget
Each month, divide the total cost by conversations, by replies and by the outcomes you wanted. Rising cost per outcome usually means segments have widened or frequency has crept up; falling cost per outcome means automation and better templates are doing their job. Adjust the plan tier when limits, not ambition, require it.
Next steps
Conclusion
Write the budget in two columns, fixed and usage, add a third for people, and run one month before trusting any of it. The channel is affordable at small scale precisely because you can test it that way.