Platform & policy
What it costs
There are two bills, from two companies, and mixing them up is the most common billing surprise. Your TopEdge plan is one; Meta’s per-message charges are the other.
Short answer
You pay TopEdge a subscription in INR for the platform, with order and send allowances per billing cycle. Separately, Meta charges per message by template category: in India roughly ₹0.88 for Marketing, ₹0.125 for Utility, and nothing for service replies. TopEdge passes Meta’s charges through at 0% markup.
The two bills#
| Charged by | For | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| TopEdge | The platform — journeys, inbox, CRM, templates, analytics — with order and send caps per cycle. | Your subscription in INR, exclusive of GST, on the pricing page. |
| Meta | WhatsApp template messages, at Meta’s published per-message rates by category and country. | Directly by Meta, passed through at 0% markup. |
| Message type | Approx. price | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing template | ~₹0.88 per message | Promotions, offers, broadcasts. Needs recorded consent. |
| Utility template | ~₹0.125 per message | Order and shipping updates. Free when sent inside an open 24-hour window. |
| Service reply | Free | Any reply inside the 24-hour window after the customer messages you. |
What actually drives your Meta bill#
- Category
- Marketing messages cost about seven times more than Utility ones. Move messages that needn’t be promotional into Utility templates.
- Per message, not per conversation
- Since July 2025, Meta charges for each delivered template message. Three reminders are three charges, even on the same day.
- Audience size
- A broadcast to everyone costs the same per head as one to your best customers, and converts far worse. Segment before you send.
- Ladder length
- A fourth cart reminder costs the same as the first and recovers a fraction as much. Three is the usual ceiling.
Keeping the bill sensible#
- Start with Utility automations. Order updates are cheap, expected and need no consent. They also cut support volume.
- Segment every broadcast. Segments are your strongest cost control.
- Filter low-value carts. A minimum cart value on the cart journey stops you paying to chase a ₹200 cart.
- Keep reply-cancellation on. A customer who already answered shouldn’t get the rest of the ladder.
- Use email where it fits. Email has no Meta per-message fee and handles rich layouts better.
- Watch delivered, not sent. Paying to message invalid numbers is pure waste, so clean the list.
Your TopEdge allowances#
| Plan | Orders / cycle | Campaign + email sends / cycle | Journey Branch | COD to prepaid | Send priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial (14 days) | 20 | 200 | No | No | Standard |
| Launch | 100 | 3,000 | No | No | Standard |
| Growth | 800 | 15,000 | Yes | Yes | Priority |
| Scale | 1,500 | 30,000 | Yes | Yes | Highest |
Caps reset each billing cycle. Current prices are on the pricing page.
Caps reset each billing cycle. You’re warned as you approach one and blocked at it.
So a cap is never a surprise charge; it’s a stop. Details in limits and quotas.
Frequently asked questions
- Does TopEdge mark up WhatsApp message fees?
- No. Meta’s per-message charges are passed through at 0% markup, so that part of your cost is the same with any provider. What differs between providers is the platform subscription and what it includes.
- Why am I getting two bills for WhatsApp automation?
- Two companies are involved. TopEdge bills you for the platform in INR, with order and send allowances. Meta bills per message at its own published rates, separately.
- What is the cheapest way to reduce WhatsApp messaging costs?
- Move anything that needn’t be promotional into Utility templates, which cost far less per message than Marketing (roughly ₹0.125 vs ₹0.88 in India). And segment every broadcast instead of sending to your whole list.