What is the WhatsApp Business API, and what changes for a company in Mexico?
The WhatsApp Business API, also called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is the official way for a company to connect its WhatsApp number to software: a shared inbox, an AI agent, a CRM or campaigns. The free WhatsApp Business app is built for one phone; the API is what lets several people and AI agents answer the same number.
For a company in Mexico three things change: how messages are charged (a Meta rate per country, also published in pesos), how the number is written (+52) and how the team is organized when there are several branches or departments. This guide goes through them in that order and ends with how HellouOne handles it.
If you are not sure yet whether you need the API, start with WhatsApp Business app vs API: what a growing team needs.
Meta's WhatsApp prices in Mexico in 2026: MXN and USD
Meta charges per delivered message, and the rate depends on two things: the message category and the country calling code of the number that receives it. For customers with a +52 number, the Mexico line of Meta's rate card applies, effective October 1, 2026.
Meta also publishes that rate card in Mexican pesos. The MXN values are the ones Meta publishes, not our conversion, so they are not exactly the dollar value multiplied by the day's exchange rate.
| Category | Pesos (MXN) | Dollars (USD) | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | 0.7298 | 0.0397 | A template that promotes: offers, news, an abandoned-cart reminder |
| Utility | 0.1565 | 0.0085 | A template about something the customer asked for, such as an order confirmation |
| Authentication | 0.1565 | 0.0085 | A template with a one-time code |
| Service | 0.1565 | 0.0085 | A free-form reply inside the 24-hour window that a customer message opens |
Source: Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform pricing page, MXN and USD rate cards, checked on November 8, 2026. These are list rates: Meta's volume tiers only lower utility and authentication, and the platform plan is separate.
Marketing is the category that weighs most in Mexico. For reference, the same marketing template costs USD 0.0125 in Colombia, which has its own line on the rate card; if you serve customers in both countries, see the WhatsApp Business API in Colombia.
Worked examples with Mexico's rates: what a campaign costs
These sums use the list rates in the table, with no volume tiers, and Meta charges only delivered messages:
- A campaign of 1,000 marketing templates: 1,000 × 0.7298 = 729.80 MXN (USD 39.70).
- A campaign of 5,000 marketing templates: 5,000 × 0.7298 = 3,649.00 MXN (USD 198.50).
- 500 order confirmations, which are utility: 500 × 0.1565 = 78.25 MXN (USD 4.25).
- 3,000 free-form replies in a month on one number: the first 1,000 are free and the other 2,000 cost 2,000 × 0.1565 = 313.00 MXN (USD 17.00).
- A month with 2,000 marketing templates, 1,500 utility templates and 3,000 free-form replies on one number: 1,459.60 + 234.75 + 313.00 = 2,007.35 MXN (USD 109.15).
For your own volume, use the WhatsApp pricing calculator. The October change to free-form replies is explained in WhatsApp service messages are now paid, and the country-by-country picture in WhatsApp Business API pricing in 2026 by country.
How Meta charges: the 24-hour window, 1,000 free messages and click-to-WhatsApp ads
Five rules explain almost the whole Meta bill of a company in Mexico:
- The 24-hour window. When a customer writes to you, a 24-hour window opens and resets with each of their messages. Inside it you reply with free-form messages; outside it, or to start the conversation, you need a template approved by Meta.
- Customer messages. Messages the customer sends you are not charged.
- Service: 1,000 free a month per number. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, which do not roll over. Since October 1, 2026, Meta charges the service rate from the 1,001st message: 0.1565 MXN in Mexico.
- Utility inside the window. Utility templates sent while the window is open are charged since October 1, 2026; from July 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 they were free.
- Click-to-WhatsApp ads. If a customer writes to you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad using the WhatsApp app on Android or iOS, and you reply inside the window, that message is not charged and opens a free entry point window of up to 7 days: while it is open, Meta does not charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages.
To handle those ads with an AI agent that replies first, read answering click-to-WhatsApp ad leads.
Can you pay Meta in Mexican pesos?
Meta offers the Mexican peso (MXN) as a platform billing currency since January 1, 2026. According to Meta, the currency is chosen when the messaging account is created and, once selected, it cannot be changed, so it is worth deciding before you create the account.
We cannot confirm for you whether your account can bill in MXN: it depends on Meta's conditions for that account, and you check it in your Meta account. What is clear is that the peso rate card exists and works for building your budget.
HellouOne bills its plan in dollars (USD), so the platform cost in pesos moves with each month's exchange rate. You pay Meta's rates straight to Meta, from your own account.
How to write a Mexican (+52) number for WhatsApp
WhatsApp asks for the number in full international format: a plus sign, the country code and the local number, with no leading zeros or special dialing codes. For Mexico, the country code is 52.
According to WhatsApp's article on the international phone number format, phone numbers in Mexico need a 1 after the +52, even Nextel numbers: +52, then the 1, then the local number. It is a difference from other countries, and worth keeping in mind when you register a number or build a link.
The same article notes that WhatsApp is designed for mobile phones and that a landline can only be registered on the WhatsApp Business app, where the verification code arrives by call. If your business number is a landline, write to us before connecting it.
To build a WhatsApp link in the right format, use the WhatsApp link generator, which adds the 1 after the 52 as the help center says and also downloads the QR code.
WhatsApp Business app, API or coexistence: which one fits?
Many Mexican businesses start with the free WhatsApp Business app on one phone, and it works well with one or two people. The app allows up to four linked devices, but it does not assign chats: two colleagues can answer the same customer, or neither does.
The API is the next step when the team grows, you want an AI agent or you need reports. You keep your number: it moves from the app to the API and your customers keep writing to the same contact they already have saved.
Coexistence lets the WhatsApp Business app and the team inbox work on the same number. The owner keeps their phone while the team moves to the inbox, without switching everyone on the same day.
- WhatsApp Business app: free, one phone and up to 4 linked devices, no chat assignment.
- API with a team inbox: several teammates, each with their own login, with assignment rules, AI agents and reports.
- Coexistence: the app and the inbox share the same number during the transition.
To go deeper: how coexistence works, moving your number to the API and the 4-device limit of linked devices.
Privacy and personal data in Mexico: the new LFPDPPP
WhatsApp chats with customers contain personal data: a name, a phone number, a purchase history. In Mexico, how companies handle that data is governed by the Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares (LFPDPPP), which has a new version published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on March 20, 2025.
Read the new LFPDPPP on the Chamber of Deputies website and, for your specific case, with a legal adviser. Complying with it remains your company's responsibility; the tool helps organize the information (who sees which chats, and a history that lives with the company and not on a personal phone), but it does not replace that duty.
On WhatsApp's side, Meta reminds you that you can only send messages to people who opted in to receive them. In HellouOne, WhatsApp campaigns with built-in consent send an approved template to contacts who agreed to receive messages.
Several branches, teams and languages on one WhatsApp
It is the question that reaches us most from businesses with several sites: one WhatsApp number, several branches and teams, and chats that get lost or that someone forwards by hand. With the API, that moves from each person's phone to a shared inbox. This is what HellouOne does today:
- Teams: you group people by what they handle, such as sales, support, collections or a branch, so every conversation reaches the right group.
- Assignment rules: round robin, priority or only people who are online, so every new conversation has an owner.
- AI agent handover areas: you describe in your own words when the agent should step aside and which team takes the case. Whoever receives it sees the whole history, so the customer does not repeat their question.
- Five visibility levels per person, from only their own conversations to the whole account; a manager can see their teams' conversations without reading every chat.
- Reassignment: when someone goes on vacation or leaves the company, the chat stays with the company and moves to another teammate with its history.
- Languages: HellouOne works in Spanish and English, and the AI agents reply in the language people write to them in.
- More channels in the same inbox: WhatsApp and web chat from Starter, Telegram and Facebook Messenger from Growth, Instagram and email from Scale.
Advanced routing (priorities, teams, online-only assignment and tiered visibility) is included from the Growth plan. From Growth, AI classifications also label each conversation by lead rating and sentiment, and smart routing uses those signals to send it to the right team. If your routing logic by branch is more specific, tell us during the trial or on a call.
How to set it up, step by step: WhatsApp multi-agent, several teammates on one number, assignment rules and who sees what, teams by responsibility and what happens to chats when a salesperson leaves. The full guide is WhatsApp shared inbox: one number, the whole team.
An AI agent that replies first, in your customer's language
An AI agent for WhatsApp answers frequent questions at any hour with your business's real information (your documents, web pages and price lists) and hands the conversation to a person when needed. It helps, for example, so that the customer who writes at night or on a weekend gets a reply, and to give the first reply to messages that come from click-to-WhatsApp ads.
It is set up without code. LIA, the assistant inside the app, asks you five questions about your business and proposes the agent; you approve every change before it is applied. Plans with AI include an AI agent and a pool of AI messages, which on the Starter plan is 2,000 a month.
What it is, what it does and how it compares with a rules-based menu is in the guide to AI agents for WhatsApp; the numbers are in how much a WhatsApp AI agent costs in 2026.
What about AI voice calls in Mexico?
If you are looking for a voice API or agents that answer and make calls, HellouOne has AI voice agents that handle inbound calls and run outbound campaigns, with a transcript, a summary and handover to your team. Plans run from USD 499 to USD 2,999 a month and include the AI, the voice and telephony in Colombia, billed per second, with prices before taxes.
The agent speaks Spanish (Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Latin American Spanish) and US English; premium voices are natural voices with a Colombian accent. The telephony included in the plans is Colombian: if you need numbers in another country, such as Mexico, or want to keep a number you already have, tell us on the sales call and we will tell you what is possible for your case.
Hellou Connect, Hellou's telephony line, publishes the list of countries with local numbers on its Calling page; exact availability by city and number type is confirmed on a discovery call. The plan details are on AI voice agents.
How the WhatsApp Business API works with HellouOne
HellouOne is Hellou AI's customer communication platform. You connect your WhatsApp Business number through the official API, with LIA as your guide inside the app, and your team and your AI agents answer from a shared inbox. The steps are in connect WhatsApp Cloud to HellouOne.
The plan is billed monthly in dollars with no lock-in, from USD 49 a month. Meta's rates are paid straight to Meta from your own account, with a 0% markup from HellouOne, and before you send a campaign the estimator shows its cost based on Meta's rates. Outbound campaigns, up to 25,000 messages a month, are included from the Scale plan.
The trial lasts 7 days, needs no card and includes 2 teammates, 2 inboxes and 100 conversations. When it ends, the account goes read-only: nothing is deleted and, when you pick a plan, you continue where you left off.
- Starter: USD 49 a month, 1 teammate, 2,000 AI messages, no setup fee.
- Team: USD 190 a month plus a USD 100 setup fee (one time), 3 teammates, 5,000 AI messages.
- Growth: USD 490 a month plus a USD 200 setup fee (one time), 6 teammates, 25,000 AI messages, advanced routing and more channels.
See every plan on pricing and how to compare costs in how much a WhatsApp CRM costs and how to choose one.
How to choose a WhatsApp Business API provider in Mexico
These criteria work for evaluating any provider, HellouOne included. Ask for the answers in writing and compare them with Meta's rates in the table above.
| Criterion | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Official API | It runs on Meta's WhatsApp Business platform, not on a WhatsApp Web session linked with a QR code | Unofficial clients break WhatsApp's terms and can get your number blocked |
| Markup on Meta's rates | Whether Meta's per-message rates are resold with a markup or passed through as they are, and who you pay them to | A markup multiplies on every campaign |
| Currency and lock-in | Which currency the plan is billed in, whether it is monthly and whether there is a lock-in clause | The exchange rate moves your monthly cost in pesos, and a lock-in limits your exit |
| Team and assignment | Several teammates on one number, assignment rules and visibility levels | Without them, two people answer the same customer, or nobody does |
| AI agent | Whether it is included in the plan or charged separately, and whether it hands the chat to a person with the history | Night and weekend messages still get a reply |
| Your number | Moving the number to the API or keeping the app with coexistence | Your customers keep writing to the contact they already have saved |
| Language and channels | Interface and AI agents in Spanish, and whether Instagram, email or voice reach the same inbox | You serve each customer on the channel they write from |
How HellouOne scores: it runs on the official WhatsApp Business platform, passes Meta's rates through at a 0% markup, bills the plan in USD with no lock-in from USD 49 a month, includes assignment rules, five visibility levels and AI agents on the plans with AI, and supports coexistence. To compare with other platforms using public data, see the alternatives.
