JawabkanThere are two bills, not one
Running an assistant on the official WhatsApp Business API means two separate parties can charge you.
Meta charges for the messaging itself. The WhatsApp Business API is Meta's product. Meta meters what goes through it and bills the business that owns the number. This is usage-based: it moves with how busy you were.
The software vendor charges for the assistant. That is the part that reads your price list, understands a customer asking "ada stok tak?" at 11pm, answers in the right language and knows when to stop and call you. That is a subscription.
A price list showing only the subscription is not wrong, but it is incomplete, and the gap is exactly where a surprise invoice lives. The first question worth asking any vendor is not "how much" — it is "which of these two bills is that figure, and who pays the other one?"
What Meta charges, and why any ringgit figure needs a date on it
Meta's rates are set per country and per message category — a service reply to a customer who messaged you is priced differently from a marketing message you send first. Malaysia has its own rate card, and it is not the same as Indonesia's or India's, which is why a figure copied off an Indonesian blog is not your cost.
More importantly, Meta has restructured this pricing more than once, including moving away from charging per 24-hour conversation window toward charging per message for template categories, and from 1 October 2026 charging for ordinary replies it had not charged for since November 2024. Any vendor page that prints a hard sen-per-conversation number is publishing something with a shelf life, and most never go back and update it.
So the figures here carry a date. From 1 October 2026, Meta's Malaysia rate card charges about RM0.0564 per message (rate checked on 19 Oct 2026) for service replies (answering a customer who messaged you first), and the same for utility and authentication messages. A marketing message costs about RM0.3467. Meta also gives each business phone number 1,000 free service messages a month. Check the current figures on Meta's own pricing page, which is the only copy that is current by definition. What matters for a buying decision is not the exact sen — it is the shape: metered, per-message, category-dependent, and changed by someone who is not your vendor.
How to estimate your monthly Meta reply bill (and keep it low)
Because Meta charges per service reply sent through the API after your first 1,000 free replies each month, you can estimate your monthly Meta bill with one formula: (monthly API service replies − 1,000) × RM0.0564 (estimate only; Meta's invoice is final; Malaysia rate checked on 19 Oct 2026).
| Monthly API service replies | Covered by Meta's 1,000 free tier | Billable replies | Estimated Meta charge (at RM0.0564) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,000 replies | All | 0 | RM0 |
| 2,000 replies (example, not an average) | First 1,000 | 1,000 | About RM56.40 |
| 3,000 replies (example: 1,000 threads × 3 replies) | First 1,000 | 2,000 | About RM112.80 |
How to keep Meta's bill low:
- Replies you type in the WhatsApp Business app are free. When a conversation is handed over to you and you reply from your phone app within the 24-hour customer service window, Meta does not charge for those manual app replies.
- Complete facts mean fewer back-and-forth messages. When your approved facts state the price, size and delivery charge together in one clear reply, the customer gets their answer in one turn instead of four.
- Website chat, Telegram and LINE have zero per-message fees. Every conversation on your other connected doors uses the same approved facts and counts toward the same Jawabkan plan allowance, with no Meta charge.
What Jawabkan charges
RM199 a month for Starter, including 1,000 conversations. RM399 a month for Growth, including 2,500. Multi-branch is scoped and quoted per business. A conversation means one customer thread, however many messages are in it.
Meta's messaging fees are not inside that price, and we add nothing to them. Meta bills them directly to your own WhatsApp Business account. Our subscription does not change because you had a good month; Meta's part does, because Meta charges per message. Website chat, Telegram and LINE carry no messaging fees at all.
This page used to say we absorbed Meta's fees. That was written while Meta charged nothing for replies. From October 2026 it charges for each one after the free 1,000, and Meta bills that directly to the business's own WhatsApp account; we did not raise any plan's price.
We are not SST-registered, so no SST is added. There is no setup fee — loading your prices, hours and FAQs is part of the subscription, not a professional-services charge — and there is no lock-in contract or minimum term.
The two caveats, said out loud
The conversation allowance is real. It is not a fair-use footnote nobody enforces. If you are consistently near your limit we will talk to you about a larger plan. We will not silently switch the assistant off mid-month, and we do not bill overage without agreeing it with you first.
Marketing broadcasts are not included, and Jawabkan will not send them. A promotional blast is charged by Meta per recipient, so its cost scales with the size of your list rather than with any subscription. Jawabkan only replies to customers who message you first. It does not send bulk messages.
Why you will find RM30 a month elsewhere
You will, and it is worth understanding what makes that price possible rather than assuming everyone else is simply greedier.
The cheapest WhatsApp automation tools do not use the WhatsApp Business API at all. They ask you to scan a QR code, then drive your ordinary WhatsApp account like a robot. There is no relationship with Meta, so there is nothing to pay Meta for — no business verification, no template review, no infrastructure with obligations attached.
Meta classes that as unauthorised automation and bans numbers for it, temporarily or permanently. For a shop whose entire customer list is in one WhatsApp account, even a short ban cuts it off from every customer, and appeals are slow and uncertain; some bans are final. The RM30 is real. So is what it is buying.
There are also legitimate competitors on the official API charging less than we do. Against those the honest comparison is not the headline figure but what the figure includes: whether Meta's fees are passed through on top, whether onboarding is billed separately, and whether the number of included conversations is one you will actually stay under.
Five questions worth asking any vendor here
Is this the official WhatsApp Business API, or a QR-code tool? This single question separates the two markets, and the answer changes what every other number means.
How are Meta's fees billed — passthrough, markup, or included? All three exist. Ours: Meta bills your WhatsApp account directly, and we add no markup. A per-message price above Meta's rate card is a markup, whatever the invoice calls it.
What does leaving cost, and how do I get my data out? Ours: nothing, no notice period, and your full conversation record as a CSV within three business days of asking.
What happens when it breaks? Ours: WhatsApp or email, answered the same business day, Monday to Saturday. If our side is down for a material part of the month the refund is automatic and written into the published policy rather than left to goodwill. Meta outages are Meta's, and we say so instead of pretending otherwise.
What stops my number being banned? Ours only replies to people who messaged you first, never sends unsolicited messages, and stops abusive traffic before it reaches the model so it cannot generate a reply that damages your quality rating.
Frequently asked
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost in Malaysia?
Two things add up: Meta's own metered fees for messaging, set per country and per message category, and whatever the software vendor charges for the assistant on top. From 1 October 2026, Meta charges about RM0.0564 per service reply in Malaysia after each number's first 1,000 free replies a month. With Jawabkan the software is RM199 or RM399 a month, and Meta bills its fees directly to your WhatsApp Business account, with nothing added by us.
Does Jawabkan charge per message?
We don't. Your plan price is the same whether the month was quiet or busy, up to the conversation allowance the plan includes. Meta does charge per message on WhatsApp, and bills that directly to your WhatsApp Business account; we add nothing. Website chat, Telegram and LINE have no messaging fees.
What counts as a conversation?
One customer thread, no matter how many messages are in it. A customer who asks six questions in a row is one conversation, not six.
Is there SST on top of the price?
No. We are not SST-registered, so no SST is charged on these prices and RM199 means RM199.
Is there a setup fee or a contract?
Neither. Loading your price list, hours and common questions is part of the subscription rather than a separate charge, billing is monthly, and there is no minimum term or lock-in.
Can I send marketing blasts on this price?
No, and that is deliberate. Meta charges per recipient for promotional messages, so the cost scales with your list. Jawabkan only replies to customers who message you first. It does not send bulk messages.
Why are some WhatsApp auto-reply tools only RM30 a month?
Because they are not on the WhatsApp Business API. They scan a QR code and drive your ordinary WhatsApp account, which Meta treats as unauthorised automation and bans numbers for, temporarily or permanently. The price is genuine, and so is the risk it carries.
