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A customer sends your shop a WhatsApp question at 10:00 on Monday. When does the reply window close? Does your answer restart it? And does “inside the window” always mean free?
The WhatsApp Business 24-hour window is easiest to understand when you separate permission to reply from message pricing. The window is a messaging rule. Charges are a separate question.
First, know which WhatsApp product you use
The WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp Business Platform are different products. This article's service-window and approved-template explanation concerns the Business Platform, used for API-connected systems. Do not apply Platform billing assumptions to every message sent manually in the app.
If you use an inbox provider, ask which connection it uses and whether its own subscription or delivery fees apply.
What opens and resets the window?
Under WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy, the customer service window opens and resets with each user message. You may reply without an approved template during that 24-hour window. Outside it, Platform messages must use approved templates. Source: WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
For example, a message received Monday at 10:00 opens a window until Tuesday at 10:00. Your reply on Monday afternoon does not reset it. If the customer messages again Monday at 18:00, the window moves to Tuesday at 18:00.
Use the timestamp your messaging system records, including its timezone. Do not treat “tomorrow” as an exact expiry time or rely on a manual guess around the deadline.
Does the window make every reply free?
According to Meta's pricing documentation, checked on 13 October 2026: since 1 July 2025 the Platform charges per delivered template message instead of per conversation. Inbound customer messages cost nothing. Replies without a template inside an open 24-hour window are free, and so are utility templates (for example an order update) sent inside that window. Template messages outside the window are charged, and the price depends on the message category and the recipient's country. Marketing templates are always charged. Messages in the 72 hours after a customer contacts you through a Click to WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button can be free as well. Source: Meta, WhatsApp pricing.
Pricing is not frozen. Meta changes rates only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October and lists announced changes on a public page. Source: Meta, updates to pricing. In autumn 2026 several software providers wrote that replies inside the window would become chargeable from 1 October 2026. Meta's published pricing pages did not list such a change when we checked, so treat it as unconfirmed: look at Meta's pricing page and at your latest invoice before you plan a budget around “free replies”. Your inbox provider may also charge its own fees on top.
The safe way to speak about it to customers and colleagues: the window decides whether you may reply without a template; the current price list decides what the message costs.
What happens after the window closes?
The Platform requires an approved message template. A template's approval is not a substitute for customer permission or applicable law. Promotional reminders must meet the relevant rules; do not relabel a sales promotion as an order update to avoid them. WhatsApp's policy also expects that the person agreed (opted in) to receive your messages.
If a customer returns and sends a new message, that starts a new service window. Reply to what they asked rather than using the reopening as a reason to send unrelated promotions.
A simple shop workflow
Show the remaining service-window time in your operating process if your provider supports it. Prioritise open customer questions while there is time to send a useful response. Keep stock, delivery and collection answers ready so staff are not searching old messages.
When a case needs a person, preserve the customer's context and move it into the human queue. Do not rush an uncertain refund decision just because a timer is running out. Clear escalation paths are part of WhatsApp's automation policy: you may use automation while the window is open, but you must offer a prompt, clear way to reach a person.
Teach your team one sentence: the latest customer message resets the window; our reply does not. Then teach the second: a reply being allowed does not establish its price.
For practical wording, see customer reply templates. For outreach after a quiet conversation, see Following up without annoying.
