WhatsApp broadcast: lists, limits and costs

A WhatsApp broadcast sends one message to many people at once, and each person receives it as a normal one-to-one chat from you. Nobody sees who else got it, and replies come back to you privately. There are two very different ways to do it, though: the broadcast lists built into the WhatsApp app, and broadcasts sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform. They differ in reach, rules and price, so it is worth knowing which one you need before you start.

Broadcast lists in the WhatsApp app

In WhatsApp and the WhatsApp Business app, you can create a broadcast list from the chats menu, pick contacts, and send. It is free, and it is the right tool for a small, personal audience such as regular customers or a club.

• A list holds up to 256 contacts. You can make several lists, but you send to each one by hand.
• Only people who have saved your number in their phone receive it. Everyone else on the list silently gets nothing.
• Each recipient sees an ordinary chat from you, and their reply arrives as a private message, not in a group.
• There is no scheduling, no audience filtering and no report of who read it beyond the usual ticks.

Broadcasts on the WhatsApp Business Platform

Past a couple of hundred people, or once you want to target, schedule and measure, broadcasts move to the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API). Tools like MuChat connect to it on your behalf. The trade-off is that Meta sets firm rules, and messages that start a conversation are paid.

• Opt-in first: people must have agreed to hear from your business on WhatsApp, for example by messaging you or ticking a box on your site.
• Approved templates: outside the 24-hour window after someone's last message, you can only send a message template that Meta has approved. Templates are marketing, utility (order, booking or account updates) or authentication.
• Messaging limits: a new business portfolio can message 250 unique people a day outside the window. Verifying your business, or sending 2,000 good-quality messages in 30 days, raises that to 2,000, and steady quality moves it up to 10,000, 100,000 and then unlimited. The limit is shared by all numbers in the portfolio.
• Per-message pricing: since July 1, 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message, with rates set by category and by the recipient's country.

Is WhatsApp broadcast free?

Broadcast lists in the app are free. On the Business Platform, each delivered template message is charged by Meta, and the rate depends on the template's category and the country of the person receiving it; Meta publishes the current rates on its pricing page. Messages you send inside an open 24-hour window, in reply to someone who wrote to you, are not template messages.

How to send a WhatsApp broadcast with MuChat

1. 01Connect your WhatsApp Business number in Settings → Accounts, through Meta's own sign-up flow.
2. 02Create a message template in Settings → WhatsApp templates and submit it. Meta reviews it, often within minutes and sometimes up to a day, and its status shows next to the template.
3. 03Start a broadcast, choose the template and fill in its variables, such as the customer's first name.
4. 04Pick the audience: everyone, a saved segment, or a filter on tags and fields.
5. 05Send now or schedule it for later, then follow who received it in the broadcast's report.

One broadcast can reach up to 10,000 people, within your WhatsApp messaging limit. The same broadcast can include Instagram contacts too: on Instagram it reaches only people who messaged you in the last 24 hours, because Instagram has no templates for marketing messages.

Will people know it's a broadcast?

Not from the message itself: it arrives as a normal one-to-one chat from your business, and recipients can't see each other or each other's replies. They can still block or report you in one tap, which is why relevance matters more than reach.