waiaconnect

Frequently asked questions

Honest answers, no fine print. Missing one? Send us your question or, if you have an account, from your panel.

Is your question about WhatsApp rather than Connect? They're all here →

Can I manage Connect from ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor?

Yes. Connect has an MCP server: your AI gets into your account with your permission, shows you how it's doing (numbers, webhooks, templates, errors), explains what's failing, sets it up with your confirmation (webhooks, templates, a test message to your numbers) and writes the code. It's for administration, not messages: it never reads them or writes to your customers. Included in every plan. How to connect it →

What will I pay in total? What Meta charges and what we charge
  • Two separate payments. You pay WAIA Connect the subscription: per connected number, with no message cap. You pay Meta for the messages sent through the API, in your Meta account and with your payment method. We don't charge it, don't see it and add nothing to it.
  • The 14-day trial is WAIA Connect's, not Meta's. During the trial you don't pay us; Meta's charges follow Meta's own rules.
  • Meta charges per delivered message, not per conversation: conversation-based pricing ended on 1 July 2025.
  • Templates (marketing, utility, authentication) are what let you message first or outside the 24-hour window. Meta charges each delivered one by its category and the recipient's country.
  • Service is the free-form text you reply within 24 hours of your customer's last message. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges it per delivered message (in its rate card, the same figure as each country's utility rate), and also utility sent while the window is open. The first 1,000 service messages per number per month are free; after that Meta charges for each reply and needs your card added in Meta. Meta charges this, not WAIA Connect: your trial is still free. The 24-hour window still exists and defines whether you can send free-form text.
  • What you were actually charged is in your Meta billing. While a number is within its 1,000 free, Meta marks each reply free_customer_service and billable: false; from the month's 1,001st, regular and billable: true. Meta's month resets at midnight in your Meta account's time zone, and what you don't use doesn't roll over.
  • Click-to-WhatsApp ads: when the conversation starts from one of those ads, a window opens that can last up to 7 days; while it is open Meta doesn't charge for messages.
  • App and API: in Coexistence, what you send from the WhatsApp Business app on the phone stays free. What goes out through the API is charged like any API message, service included.
  • What your customer writes to you is not charged. Without a payment method in Meta the number keeps receiving, but you can't start a conversation with a template, and Meta delivers your replies only within the month's 1,000 free: after that it stops delivering them until you add a card.
  • Meta changes its rates and they vary by country: its rate card.
  • Checked against Meta's documentation on 2026-10-23.
🔴 Can I message anyone whenever I want? (what a template is)
No, and this is the first thing that changes if you're coming from connecting WhatsApp some other way. The rule is WhatsApp's, not ours: you can reply freely, but you can't start freely. When a customer writes to you a 24-hour window opens and inside it you reply whatever you want. Once that window closes —or when you want to write first— WhatsApp only lets you send a template: a message written in advance and approved by Meta, with slots for the variable parts. Meta reviews it —it usually takes minutes— and, once approved, you send it as often as you like. It exists so the platform doesn't fill with spam, and no provider can skip it — whatever they charge. ⚠ If your case is replying (support, questions, sales), you live inside the window and may never need one. And this is exactly where Connect saves you the ugly part: an industry catalog, a pre-check that tells you what Meta will reject before you send it, and a link so your end customer can propose theirs. Explained from scratch, no jargon →
Do I need a verified Meta Business account?
You need a WhatsApp Business account. We are already the Meta-verified Tech Provider (that's what enables Coexistence). Business verification on Meta may be required to raise your sending limits, and it's done from your Business Manager — we don't do it for you, but it doesn't block getting started.
How long does onboarding take?
Connecting a number is an Embedded Signup (Meta's own popup): a few minutes. With Coexistence the number keeps working on the phone; nothing to migrate and no approvals to wait for to start integrating.
Do you ask for a card to try it?
We don't. It's 14 days free with no payment method: you create the account, connect a number and test the whole integration. When the trial ends nothing is charged on its own — if you don't subscribe, sending pauses (you keep receiving for 7 days if you never paid —30 if you ever paid—; then receiving is cut too, with a notice 2 days before —7 if you paid—). ⚠ Careful with this one: the trial is OURS, not Meta's. What Meta charges follows Meta's own rules, in your Meta account and with your payment method. Without a card in Meta the number keeps receiving, but you won't be able to start a conversation with a template. The first 1,000 service messages per number per month are free; after that Meta charges for each reply and needs your card added in Meta. Meta charges this, not WAIA Connect: your trial is still free.
Can I migrate from another provider?
Yes. When you connect your number, if it was on another provider Connect detects the migration and asks you to confirm before re-pointing the inbound. From then on inbound messages arrive at Connect. The number is never lost.
What happens to my number if I stop paying?
After a grace period, sending is blocked and you keep receiving messages and logging in to settle up. ⚠ That lasts one month: if the payment is still outstanding after a month, the whole service is suspended and your numbers stop receiving. We email you before it happens, with how many days are left. At any point, before or after, you pay and everything comes back — nothing you configured is deleted. And either way your number and WABA stay yours: you can take them to another provider whenever you want, we don't hold them or disconnect them at Meta.
Do you issue invoices?
If you pay through MercadoPago (Argentina), you get the ARCA electronic invoice by email, issued by Mariano Porcile; if you pay through Polar, you get Polar's receipt, as Polar sells as the merchant. Questions? hola@waiaconnect.com.
How do I change plans?
From Billing in the panel. Upgrading: you pay today the difference for the days left in the month, and the new plan and its numbers are enabled as soon as the payment clears; from your next charge you pay the full month, in advance. Downgrading applies from your next charge (until then you keep your current plan). ⚠ If you move down to a plan with fewer numbers than you have connected, the panel warns you first: disconnect the extra ones so the change applies cleanly.
How many different people can I message per day? (Meta's limit)
This is Meta's limit, not ours, and it counts distinct contacts you start a conversation with in 24 h — replying inside an open window doesn't count. The ladder is 250 → 2,000 → 10,000 → 100,000 → unlimited, and it goes up with business verification, volume and quality. ⚠ Since 7 October 2025 the limit is per business PORTFOLIO, not per number: if you have three numbers in the same portfolio, all three share one limit (before, each number had its own). If you manage numbers for several customers, that changes your math. Verified against Meta's documentation on 2026-08-30 — Meta changes this, so confirm before you size anything.
How fast can I send? (the per-second limit)
These are two different things and it pays not to mix them: the one above is how many people you message; this is how fast the messages go out. Meta allows up to 80 messages per second per number on the Cloud API, and up to 1,000 with the automatic upgrade; a number on Coexistence (the one that keeps working on the phone) has a fixed pace of 20 per second. On our side: you don't lose messages by sending faster. The queue absorbs them and drains at a controlled rate, with retries and idempotency — there is no hidden quantity cap in there. Meta's numbers, verified 2026-08-30.
Is there really no message cap?
Really. What defines your plan is how many numbers you can have connected, not how many messages you send. We can do that because our cost is infrastructure, not each message: the server sustains tens of millions of messages a month, measured. The messages themselves you pay to Meta, directly and at their price — we add nothing on top.
What if I need more numbers than my plan includes?
You move up a plan from Billing (you pay the month's difference and it's enabled as soon as the payment clears). On the largest plan (Escala) you can also add individual extra numbers; write to us and we'll sort it out. Each one costs USD 3 per month, prorated by day and charged with the next renewal; with fewer than 30 numbers the plan stays at USD 99. And if you need many more, ask us for a custom plan.
Do you build custom integrations or help integrate Connect with my system?
We don't build custom integrations (with your booking site, your CRM, reminders or an automation). Need a custom integration? We recommend ZZIA and Dendria, two teams that do build them. If you build it yourself, you have the documentation and the WhatsApp in n8n guide.

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