G2Guide
WhatsApp Business setup or a WhatsApp auto-reply bot: an owner's guide
Two different things share the name WhatsApp Business. One is a free app you can set up properly in an afternoon; the other lets a bot answer for you at any hour. Here's what each does, what Meta charges for, and how to tell which one your business needs.
Two things with one name
The WhatsApp Business app is a free app on your phone, separate from personal WhatsApp. You answer customers yourself, with some tools that make it quicker.
The WhatsApp Business Platform is how software talks to WhatsApp. It's what a bot runs on: your number is connected to a system that can read a message, look up the answer in your own list, reply, and pass the chat to a person when it should.
What the app does well
Set up properly, the free app already does a lot. This is what our WhatsApp Business setup covers:
- A catalogue of what you sell or offer, with prices and photos, that customers can browse inside the chat.
- Greeting and away messages, so a first message or one sent after hours gets an answer.
- Quick replies: your common answers saved as shortcuts, typed in two keystrokes.
- Labels to sort chats into new, waiting for payment, done, or whatever fits your week.
- A click-to-chat link and a QR code for your website, your counter and your business card.
What the app can't do is think. Its away message is the same text for everyone. It can't look up whether Saturday is free, take an order with the details in the right place, or decide that a question needs you. A person still answers every chat.
What a bot adds
- Answers from your own list: prices, hours, location, the questions you're asked every day, at any hour.
- Booking and order requests, taken in a structured way and passed to you to confirm. It doesn't confirm anything you haven't agreed.
- A handover to a person when the question is new, unusual or needs judgement, and it tells the customer that's what it's doing.
- A record: with the enquiry tracker, every request lands in one sheet with its status.
What Meta charges for
The app is free. On the Platform, Meta charges for some messages and not others, and the line is simple once you see it:
- Replies are free. When a customer messages you, you can reply freely for the next 24 hours. A bot answering questions sits almost entirely here.
- Messages your business starts are charged. A reminder, a follow-up or a nudge sent outside that 24-hour window has to use a template Meta has approved, and since July 2025 Meta charges for those per message. The price depends on the kind of message and the customer's country.
- Some are free in the window. Utility templates, such as an appointment confirmation, cost nothing when sent within those 24 hours.
Chats your customers start cost nothing extra. Messages your business starts on WhatsApp (reminders, follow-ups) carry small Meta fees, and phone services need a phone line. Both are billed at cost, and we tell you the numbers before anything is set up.
Source: Meta's pricing for the WhatsApp Business Platform, checked 23 October 2026. Rates change; we give you the current ones before anything is set up.
Can I keep the app on my phone?
Often, yes. Meta now lets one number work in the Business app and on the Platform at the same time, which it calls coexistence: a bot handles the routine chats, and you can still open the app and reply yourself. It needs a recent version of the app and isn't offered for every number or country, so we check yours before we start. Where it isn't available, the bot runs on a number of its own.
Which one do you need?
| Question | The app, as installed | The app, set up properly | An auto-reply bot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost from Meta | Free | Free | Free replies; messages you start are charged per message |
| A message at 11 pm | Waits for you | Gets your away message | Gets an actual answer |
| "How much is it?" | You type it out again | A quick reply, or the catalogue | Answered from your own price list |
| "Can I book Saturday?" | A conversation | A conversation, a bit quicker | Taken as a request, passed to you to confirm |
| A question nobody expected | You answer | You answer | Handed to you, and the customer is told |
| Best for | Getting started | A handful of chats a day | Dozens of chats, or many after hours |
A rough rule: if you answer the same questions more than a few times a day, or a lot of your messages arrive when you're closed, the bot earns its place. If not, a properly set-up app is enough, and cheaper.
The time it takes now
Count a normal week of chats and how long each takes you. Most of the saving comes from the questions you've answered a hundred times before.
Calculator · your numbers
Time spent answering the same questions
Count a normal week of chats. Slide in your own numbers.
Hours a month on repeat questions 12
The WhatsApp auto-reply bot answers those at any hour for $149, once, at launch pricing. Anything it can't answer still comes to you.
Messages × 4.33 weeks × minutes each × the share that are repeats, in hours. Routine questions are the part a bot can answer; the rest still comes to you. The starting numbers are an example: use your own week.
Watch a bot hand over
A late-night cake order for a fictional bakery: the bot answers the hours and the price, and passes the custom message to a person, who confirms it in the morning. Simulated data.
Customer's WhatsApp
Hi, are you open on Sunday? And how much is a 1 kg chocolate cake?
Hi! We're open Sunday, 8 am to 2 pm. A 1 kg chocolate cake is $32, and a cake with a message needs a day's notice. Would you like to order one?
Yes, for Sunday morning. Can you write Happy 40th Maya on it?
Lovely! A message on the cake needs a person to check it, so I've passed your order to the team. They'll confirm here in the morning, from 8.
Good morning! Your cake is confirmed for Sunday, ready from 10 am, with Happy 40th Maya on top. Pay when you collect.
Owner · Maple Street Bakery
- Bot answered: Sunday hours, cake price
- Orders
Time Customer Order Status Fri 22:41 ••• 4410 1 kg chocolate, Sun, "Happy 40th Maya" Confirmed - Chat handed to the team: custom message
-
01
WhatsApp Business setup
Your WhatsApp looks and works like a business number, not a personal one.
Ready in under 2 days, once we have your details.
$79
standard price $149 -
02
WhatsApp auto-reply bot
Answers the questions you get every day on WhatsApp, at any hour.
Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details. (plus Meta's approval time)
$149
standard price $299
Together$174at launch pricing
Instead of $228 bought one at a time: related services share their groundwork.
?Questions
Common questions.
- Will customers know they're talking to a bot?
- They should. We recommend the first reply says it's automatic: people are fine with a fast, accurate answer from a bot, and what annoys them is a bot pretending to be a person.
- Does Meta have to approve anything?
- Yes. Meta reviews the business's display name, approves the templates used for messages you start, and may ask to verify the business. We set it up and walk you through it; it's why WhatsApp services say "plus Meta's approval time".
- Can the bot take payments?
- Not ours. It takes the request and passes it to you; you take payment the way you do now.
- Can I message all my customers at once?
- Only those who agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp, and each message you start uses an approved template and is charged by Meta. Done carelessly, it gets numbers reported and limited.
- What if I just want the app set up properly?
- That's the WhatsApp Business setup: catalogue, greeting and away messages, quick replies, labels, a click-to-chat link and a QR code. Ready in under 2 days, once we have your details.
- Are there running costs?
- Chats your customers start cost nothing extra. Messages your business starts on WhatsApp (reminders, follow-ups) carry small Meta fees, and phone services need a phone line. Both are billed at cost, and we tell you the numbers before anything is set up.