Messaging limits and quality

WhatsApp keeps two numbers on your account. Your messaging limit is how many different people you can send to in 24 hours. Your quality rating is how customers have reacted to your recent messages. The rating decides whether the limit can grow.

Meta sets both, automatically. Nobody can raise your limit by request.

Messaging limit

The limit counts unique users: different people you send to in a 24-hour slot.

How it grows

flowchart LR
    S["250"] -->|"1,000 unique users<br/>in 30 days, or KYC"| T1["Tier 1<br/>2,000"]
    T1 -->|"1,000 unique users<br/>in 7 days"| T2["Tier 2<br/>10,000"]
    T2 -->|"5,000 unique users<br/>in 7 days"| T3["Tier 3<br/>100,000"]
    T3 -->|"Half your limit"| T4["Tier 4<br/>Unlimited"]

The rule at every step is the same: send to at least half your current limit, while your quality rating holds up. If your quality rating falls, your limit does not increase.

Your limit goes up the day after you meet the rule. On Tier 1, if you reach 1,000 unique users within the next 7 days, your limit becomes 10,000 on the 8th day. If you reach them on day 1, it becomes 10,000 on day 2.

Shared across your numbers

The limit belongs to your Facebook Business Manager, not to one number. If you have several WhatsApp numbers under the same Business Manager, they share one limit.

With a 10,000 limit and three numbers, a broadcast to 10,000 people from any one of them uses up the day's limit for all three. You can send again the next day, once the limit resets.

When the limit rises, the new limit is shared the same way.

When you go over it

You cannot send to more people than your limit allows. If a broadcast's audience is bigger than what is left of the day's limit, you see:

Audience size exceeding remaining quota, some messages may not be delivered.

Some messages may not be delivered. Reduce the audience to fit, or send the rest the next day. See Failed messages.

Go to 2,000 with KYC

KYC verification takes your limit from 250 to 2,000 without sending to 1,000 people first, and without verifying your Facebook Business Manager.

Before you start

You need:

• A live WhatsApp Business API number
• Either your GST number and GST certificate, or your MSME (Udyam) registration number

Steps

1. On your dashboard, click Start KYC.

2. Submit your GST details and certificate, or your MSME number.

3. Verify with your registered email address or mobile number.
4. Enter the OTP you receive, and submit.

5. Wait for the result. It shows on your dashboard within 1 to 2 days.

If it is rejected

Quality rating

Your quality rating shows the quality of the messages your customers received in the past 24 hours. You can see it on your dashboard.

What moves it

The rating depends entirely on how customers respond to your messages.

So a message that nobody answers does not hurt you. A message that makes people block you does.

When it drops

When your rating goes down, you get a warning notification in your Facebook Business Manager account.

Stop broadcasting. Stop sending broadcasts for some days and let the rating climb back to green. You can still reply to customers who message you in that time.

Do not push through it. If you keep broadcasting, the rating keeps falling, and WhatsApp eventually blocks the number.

If your account is restricted, send no broadcasts at all for the next week.

Keep your rating high

These come from WhatsApp's own guidance.

• Follow the WhatsApp Business Policy.
• Message only people who opted in. They gave you their number and agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp. See Opt-in and opt-out.
• Honour opt-outs. Messaging people who asked you to stop can get your account blocked.
• Put an opt-out in every template footer, such as "Reply STOP to unsubscribe".
• Make each message personal and useful. Avoid open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
• Watch how often you send. Too many marketing messages can lead customers to block you.

WhatsApp judges a message as high quality when it is:

When to use this

Read this page before your first big broadcast, and again whenever your rating turns yellow.

Grow with the customers who know you. While you are climbing tiers, send to your most recent and most engaged customers first. They reply and tap buttons, which keeps your rating green while the numbers add up.

Plan big sends around your limit. A sale announcement to 8,000 people on a 2,000 limit needs four days. Split the audience with tags or filters, and send the most valuable group first. See Filter contacts.

Treat cold lists with care. Contacts who never opted in are the ones who block. If you must message people who may not remember you, include "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" in the footer, and send to a small group first to see how it goes.

Remember the limit is shared. If another team or brand in your business uses a number under the same Business Manager, agree who sends what on which day. Otherwise one team's broadcast can use up the other's limit.