Get Started with the WhatsApp Business API

It is the interface Meta provides for businesses that need more than the free WhatsApp Business app — multiple agents on one number, approved message templates, broadcasts at scale, chatbots, and connections to your other systems. There is no app to install: you access it through a provider like ChatMitra, who sets up the account and gives you the inbox and tools.

Most businesses are live the same day. Signing up and connecting a number takes minutes; the parts that can add time are Meta Business verification and your first template approvals, which usually complete within a day or two. You can start testing before verification finishes.

No. ChatMitra gives you a no-code dashboard for the inbox, templates, broadcasts and chatbot flows. A developer is only needed if you want to connect the API directly to your own systems, and even then most common integrations are available without writing code.

You pay per conversation rather than per message, and a conversation covers a 24-hour window. Marketing messages cost more than utility ones, and replies inside an open window (service messages) are free for the first 1,000 each month, then ₹0.115 each. ChatMitra's Starter plan is ₹0.20 per conversation with no monthly subscription.

Usually yes. A number currently on the regular WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app can be migrated to the API — you keep the number, though it cannot be used on the app and the API at the same time. A fresh number is also an option if you would rather keep the app running.