Short answer: the WhatsApp Cloud API is Meta’s hosted API for business messaging on WhatsApp. Since the On-Premises API expired on 23 October 2025, it is the only WhatsApp Business API, and every provider runs on it. You can build on it directly, or use a provider that has built the inbox, campaigns and support around it. CampaignHQ is a Meta Business Partner that sets it up for you, with email and SMS on the same customer profile.

We make CampaignHQ, and we say plainly below when going direct is the better call. Last updated: 9 November 2026.

What the Cloud API is, and what changed

Meta hosts the Cloud API on its own servers. You call it over HTTPS (it is part of the Graph API) to send messages, and Meta sends incoming messages and delivery statuses to a webhook you run. You need a Meta business portfolio, a WhatsApp Business Account and a phone number, real or virtual (Meta: platform overview).

Before 2024 there were two flavours. The On-Premises API ran in a business’s (or a provider’s) own containers. Meta stopped shipping features to it in January 2024, stopped registering new numbers on it in July 2024, and its last version expired on 23 October 2025 (Meta: On-Premises API sunset). Many articles still compare “WhatsApp Business API vs Cloud API”. That comparison is out of date: today they are the same thing.

So when a provider says it offers “the official WhatsApp Business API”, it means it connects your number to the Cloud API and adds its own software on top. The question for you is how much of that software you want to build and run yourself.

What Meta gives you, and what you still build

The Cloud API is a pipe, and a good one. Meta runs the servers, and a number sends up to 80 messages per second by default. Meta raises that to 1,000 automatically for numbers with an unlimited messaging limit, a quality rating of yellow or better, and 100,000 or more unique users messaged outside customer service windows in 24 hours (Meta: throughput). What it does not give you is anything a marketing, sales or support team can use.

Most teams scope the first two rows and underestimate the rest. Sending a template from your backend is a sprint. The work that never ends is the inbound side: customers reply to every campaign, and those replies arrive as webhook events with no screen for anyone to answer them on.

How to set up the WhatsApp Cloud API yourself

If you go direct, this is the path in Meta’s getting-started guide (Meta: get started), plus the steps you need before real customers can message you.

1. Create a Meta app with the WhatsApp use case. Register as a Meta developer, create an app, choose “Connect with customers through WhatsApp”, and attach it to your business portfolio.
2. Connect a WhatsApp Business Account. Pick or create the account the app sends from, and note its ID. Meta gives you a test number so you can send your first messages before adding your own.
3. Replace the temporary token. The access token on the setup screen expires quickly. Create a system user in Business Settings, give it your app and WhatsApp account, and generate a permanent token with the whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management permissions.
4. Run a webhook endpoint. Host a public HTTPS endpoint, verify it with Meta, and subscribe to message events. Every reply and delivery status arrives here, so it has to stay up.
5. Add your business number and a payment method. Register the phone number customers will see, verify it with a code, and add a payment method before you send anything Meta charges for.
6. Create and submit message templates. Anything you send outside a customer’s 24-hour window needs an approved template, so submit your first marketing and utility templates early.

Your first message is one HTTPS call. The phone number ID (not the WhatsApp Business Account ID) goes in the URL; the account ID is what you use for templates and account settings. This free-form text only delivers inside an open 24-hour window, so reply from your phone to the test number first, or send an approved template instead.

curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v23.0/<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"messaging_product": "whatsapp", "recipient_type": "individual",
       "to": "<CUSTOMER_NUMBER>", "type": "text", "text": {"body": "Hello!"}}'

That gets you sending. The inbox, campaign tools, consent records and reporting in the table above are still yours to build. A provider replaces most of this list: on CampaignHQ we set up your WhatsApp Business Account with you, verify your number and get your templates approved, and you add a payment method to your own account. Get it set up for you.

What the WhatsApp Cloud API costs

Meta does not list a fee for using the Cloud API itself. You pay Meta per delivered message, priced by category (marketing, utility, authentication, service) and by the customer’s country (Meta: pricing). Three rules change the bill most:

• Service replies: the first 1,000 per number each month are free; Meta has charged for the rest since 1 October 2026.
• Utility messages inside an open customer service window: free from July 2025, charged since 1 October 2026.
• Click to WhatsApp ads: a free entry point window of up to 7 days opens when someone messages you from an ad.

Going direct, Meta bills you. Through a provider, ask how Meta’s charges reach your bill: passed through, with a markup, or paid to Meta from your own account. Our guide to WhatsApp Business API pricing in India explains each category.

Three things that catch direct integrations out

Webhooks are retried for up to seven days, and arrive more than once

If your endpoint returns anything other than a 200, Meta retries with decreasing frequency for up to 7 days, and says plainly that retries can produce duplicate notifications (Meta: webhooks). A deploy that breaks the endpoint on Friday can replay a weekend of replies on Monday. Anything you trigger from a webhook, such as a bot reply, a CRM update or a follow-up, has to check whether it has already seen that event, or customers get the same reply twice.

No payment method, no support replies

Meta warns that a directly integrated business with no payment method on file stops getting service messages delivered once the free 1,000 are used. Teams that tested with the free allowance can find support replies failing in the first busy week.

The 24-hour window lives in your data, not Meta’s

You can send a free-form message only within 24 hours of the customer’s last message; after that, only an approved template. Meta enforces the rule; keeping track of it for each contact is your job. Your inbox and your automations both need to know, for every contact, whether the window is open, or agents type replies that fail and journeys send a template where a free reply would have done.

What a provider takes off your plate, beyond the software

The build list is the visible cost of going direct. The bigger cost shows up after launch, when WhatsApp becomes a channel the business depends on and someone has to own it every week.

Someone to call when Meta says no

Templates get rejected or moved to the marketing category. A display name is not approved. A number’s quality rating drops after one badly targeted campaign, and the next send is held back. Going direct, your engineers read the error code, search Meta’s docs and developer forum, and guess at what the reviewer wanted. A provider sees these cases every week across many accounts, knows what Meta’s review is looking for, and fixes it with you.

Getting to scale is a process, not a setting

Meta caps how many unique customers you can message outside the customer service window in a rolling 24 hours, and the cap is shared by every number in your business portfolio (Meta: messaging limits).

Planning sends around those rules, and noticing a quality drop before it blocks the next step, is daily work. A provider builds it into how campaigns are scheduled and reported, so your marketers see it without reading Meta’s docs.

Meta keeps changing the rules

The Cloud API is not a build-once integration. Since July 2025, Meta has moved to per-message pricing, shut down the On-Premises API, started charging for service replies and in-window utility messages, and set a payment-method deadline for directly integrated businesses. Each Graph API version also stops working two years after the next one ships, so a direct integration has to be upgraded on Meta’s schedule (Meta: API versioning). With a provider, tracking and shipping those changes is the provider’s job, and your campaigns keep running.

Your engineers stay on your product

Every hour spent on webhook retries, template tooling and API upgrades is an hour not spent on your own product. For most marketing, sales and support use cases, WhatsApp is a channel to run, not a system to maintain.

Direct from Meta, a provider, or both

Going direct makes sense when WhatsApp is part of your product rather than your marketing. Login codes, order status from your own app, alerts generated by your backend: one or two message types, owned by engineers, with no human replying. You avoid a platform fee and keep full control.

A provider makes sense when people need to work the channel: marketers running campaigns and journeys, counsellors or agents answering replies, managers reading reports. You trade a subscription for the layers in the table above, and for support through Meta’s reviews, limits and changes.

Most mid-market teams end up with both. The backend keeps sending what it knows (a sign-up, a payment, an abandoned cart) as an event, and the platform decides what to send, on which channel, and gives the team an inbox for the replies. On CampaignHQ that is the developer API: contacts sync through /lists/:list_id/contacts/create_or_update, events go to /tracked_events and start journeys, and webhooks report each message back (CRM and API integration). Your engineers own the events; nobody has to build an inbox.

Top WhatsApp Cloud API providers in India

Every provider below sends through the same Cloud API and within the same messaging limits. What differs is the software around it, the support, and how Meta’s charges reach your bill. We picked the providers Indian mid-size teams most often compare, and describe each one from what it states on its own website (checked 27 October 2026). We list ourselves first because this is our blog; judge us on the same facts.

Keeping your current WhatsApp Business app number (coexistence): CampaignHQ, WATI, Gupshup and Interakt support it, Gallabox on request, AiSensy in beta, and going direct to Meta does not offer it. Teams that only ever need WhatsApp may not use our email and SMS side.

On each shortlisted provider, check four things: how Meta’s charges are billed and whether there is a markup, whether the inbox and journeys are built in or extra, whether there is an API and webhooks for your CRM, and how coexistence and migration from your current tool work. Our full guide lets you compare WhatsApp Cloud API providers in India, nine in all, and explains how to switch WhatsApp providers. Or book a free demo and bring your shortlist questions.

Why teams choose CampaignHQ as their Cloud API provider

A Meta Business Partner that handles the Meta side

We set up your WhatsApp Business Account with you, including number verification, display name approval and templates, and help plan your move from your current tool. Already on the WhatsApp Business app? Coexistence lets your team keep replying from the phone while campaigns and bots run on the API. See how we set up the Cloud API for you.

WhatsApp, email and SMS on one customer profile

One journey can send an email first, a WhatsApp message if the email is not opened, and an SMS if there is still no reply, and stop the moment the customer buys. Every channel’s results sit in one report, including revenue by journey step. As an AWS Partner, we also let you send email through your own Amazon SES and SMS through your own Amazon SNS.

Ready for your team on day one

Broadcasts, no-code chatbots that qualify a lead and hand the chat to the right person, a shared team inbox with a mobile app, segments, and one-click template submission. A native Shopify integration, and an API and webhooks for WooCommerce, Magento, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Zapier, Make or your own backend.

Clear billing and real support

You pay Meta’s message charges to Meta directly, from your own WhatsApp Business Account. CampaignHQ is SOC 2 Type II. Every workspace includes standard onboarding and founder support, so you reach the team that built the product, not a ticket queue, and Priority Onboarding is available if you want us to run the launch with you.

A quick way to decide

Count who will touch WhatsApp in a normal week. If the answer is “only our code”, go direct. If it includes anyone who would ask a developer to change a message, reply to a customer or pull a report, the build list above is your real project, and so is owning Meta’s reviews, limits and changes after launch. For that, a provider on the Cloud API is usually faster than building it, and you get people to call when something breaks.

Two more checks before you commit. If you already use the WhatsApp Business app on the number, coexistence lets the app and the API share it, at a lower throughput (how coexistence works). And if you plan large marketing sends, read how WhatsApp’s daily messaging limits and the 131049 per-user marketing limit work before you size the project.

FAQs

Is the WhatsApp Cloud API free?

Using the API has no Meta fee, but messages do: Meta charges per delivered message by category and country, with 1,000 free service messages per number each month. The cost section above has the details.

What is the difference between the WhatsApp Business API and the Cloud API?

Today, none. “WhatsApp Business API” used to cover both the Cloud API, hosted by Meta, and the On-Premises API, hosted by the business or its provider. The On-Premises API expired on 23 October 2025, so every business on the API, direct or through a provider, now uses the Cloud API.

Can we use the Cloud API without a provider?

Yes. Any business with a Meta business portfolio can register a number, add a payment method and build against the Cloud API. You then host the webhook endpoint and build the inbox, templates workflow, consent records and reporting yourself. Most teams that are not building WhatsApp into their own product choose a Cloud API provider instead.

Which is the best WhatsApp Cloud API provider in India?

There is no single best one: every provider sends through the same Cloud API, so the difference is the software, the support and how you are billed. Pick the provider that matches how your team works. If you want the Meta setup handled and WhatsApp running alongside email and SMS on one customer profile, that is what CampaignHQ is built for.

Can we connect the Cloud API to our CRM?

Yes, either by building the integration yourself on Meta’s API or by using a provider with its own API. With a provider, your CRM sends contacts and events, and the provider handles templates, sending, the inbox and delivery webhooks. Our post on WhatsApp CRM integration in India compares native connectors, middleware and direct APIs.

Get the Cloud API without dealing with Meta

Most businesses are live in hours, not weeks. Your number and approved templates stay yours and can move between providers later, and you pay Meta’s message charges from your own WhatsApp Business Account. Plans are on our pricing page. Tell us where your WhatsApp number is today, and we will take care of the rest.

Written by CampaignHQ Team