WhatsApp Business API in the United Kingdom: How It Works, What It Costs and How Online Sellers Use It
The WhatsApp Business API connects your business number to software instead of one phone. UK sellers use it to answer every chat automatically, send order confirmations and delivery updates, take payment by link, start returns and book delivery through their shipping software. You get it through a provider such as AeroChat, which connects your number with Meta’s embedded signup. Meta charges per delivered message, and the UK has its own rate on Meta’s rate card. You can keep the WhatsApp Business app on the same number.
Many UK shoppers already use WhatsApp every day with friends and family, and they expect the same quick reply from a shop. The free WhatsApp Business app works while one person can keep up. Once several staff share the number, or you want order messages sent from your store automatically, you need the API. Meta calls it the WhatsApp Business Platform, and the version most businesses use today is the Cloud API.
WhatsApp Business app vs the API
| WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Business API | |
|---|---|---|
| Who replies | You or your staff, on a phone or linked devices | Software such as AeroChat, plus your team in a shared inbox |
| Automation | Greeting, away message and quick replies | Full workflows connected to your store, payment gateway, returns app and shipping software |
| Messages after 24 hours | Typed and sent by hand | Approved templates (utility, marketing, authentication) |
| Cost | Free app | Meta’s per-message fees plus your provider’s plan |
With coexistence you keep the app on your phone and run the API on the same number. More detail in WhatsApp app vs API and multiple users on one number.
How Meta prices WhatsApp messages for the UK
As of November 2026, from Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform pricing documentation:
- Per message. Meta charges per delivered message sent by the business, not per conversation. This model started on 1 July 2025.
- By category. Template messages are marketing, utility or authentication, and each has its own rate.
- By country. The rate depends on the country calling code of the recipient’s number. The UK (+44) is its own market on Meta’s rate card. A message to a customer in Ireland or France is charged at that market’s rate.
- Customer messages are free. Messages customers send you cost nothing.
- Service replies. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month. From 1 October 2026, service messages above that are charged. Utility templates sent inside an open 24-hour window are charged from the same date.
Meta publishes the current rates in its rate cards. See WhatsApp pricing for how the categories and the 24-hour window work, and AeroChat pricing for the plans.
What you need to start
- A Meta business portfolio.
- A phone number that can receive a verification code. It can be the number you already use in the WhatsApp Business app.
- A display name that meets Meta’s rules.
You can start before your business is verified with Meta. Verification raises your messaging limits. See how to get the WhatsApp Business API and choosing a solution provider.
What UK online sellers run on it with AeroChat
- Answer every chat from store data. Stock, price, delivery options and order status, from Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix or a Google Sheets store.
- Take payment in the chat. Airwallex is built in (open an account if you don’t have one). If you already use Stripe, PayPal or Mollie, they connect through their APIs. Payment is detected automatically.
- Book the delivery through Sendcloud or ShipStation, and send the tracking number in the same chat.
- Start returns and exchanges with Loop Returns or AfterShip Returns, inside the return window you set.
- Send order and delivery updates as utility templates. See order confirmation and delivery updates.
- Handle business orders. Quote, take the order and raise the invoice in Xero or Sage Accounting. See B2B reorders.
- Send broadcasts to customers who opted in, as marketing templates, for example before Black Friday or the January sales. See WhatsApp broadcasts.
Customer: Hi, I won’t be home on Thursday. Can my order #6652 go to my office instead? 3rd floor, 20 King Street, Manchester M2 6AZ. (example)
AeroChat: To keep your order private, can you confirm the phone number you ordered with?
Customer: 07700 900123
AeroChat: Thanks. Order #6652 is packed and has not been collected by the carrier yet, so I can change it. The new address is 3rd floor, 20 King Street, Manchester M2 6AZ. Is that right?
Customer: Yes, brilliant.
AeroChat: Done. Your order will go to your office. Here’s the tracking link so you can follow it.
In the store: the shipping address on order #6652 is updated and the shipment in Sendcloud is created for the new address.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks to change their delivery address on WhatsApp, follow these steps.
- Ask for the phone number or email they ordered with, and match it to the order in our store.
- Check the order in Sendcloud (example). If the parcel has already been collected by the carrier, tell them the address can no longer be changed and send the tracking link.
- If it has not been collected, ask for the full new address with postcode and read it back.
- When they confirm, update the shipping address on the order and create the shipment for the new address.
- Send the tracking link.
- If the new address is outside the UK, pass the chat to our team with the order number.
Reply in the customer’s language.
How to set it up with AeroChat
- Sign up for AeroChat and start your 7-day free trial.
- Connect your WhatsApp number through Meta’s embedded signup. Keep the WhatsApp Business app on it with coexistence if you want.
- Connect your store. Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix are built in.
- Describe your workflows in your own words, or paste the recipe above. Add your gateway or shipping software keys in the dashboard.
- Submit your order templates for approval and turn the workflows on.
Questions
Can several staff use the same WhatsApp number?
Yes. On the API your team shares one inbox in AeroChat, and AeroChat answers the chats your rules cover. See multiple users.
How do I send messages after 24 hours?
Outside the 24-hour customer service window, a business-initiated message needs an approved template, utility or marketing, and the customer’s opt-in. See message templates and template approval.
Can I get the green tick?
Verification with Meta is a step towards it. See the official business account guide.
Which provider should I use in the UK?
Compare what each provider connects to, not only the message price. See the best WhatsApp API provider for online sellers. More on selling through WhatsApp in WhatsApp chatbot for online sellers in the United Kingdom.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Put your WhatsApp number on the API
Sign up, connect your number with embedded signup, and ask your own number “Where’s my parcel?”
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.