WhatsApp Business API in Vietnam: 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. Vietnamese sellers use it to answer every chat automatically in Vietnamese, confirm cash on delivery orders, send delivery updates, take payment by link and book shipments. You get it through a provider such as AeroChat, which connects your number with Meta’s embedded signup. Meta charges per delivered message, and messages to Vietnamese numbers are charged at the “Rest of Asia Pacific” rate. You can keep the WhatsApp Business app on the same number.
Vietnamese shoppers message shops on Facebook Messenger, Zalo, Instagram and WhatsApp. WhatsApp matters most for sellers whose buyers include overseas Vietnamese, foreign residents and customers abroad. 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. AeroChat runs Messenger and Instagram from the same dashboard, and Zalo is on its list of channels coming next.
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 and courier |
| 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 Vietnam
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. Vietnam (+84) is not a separate market on Meta’s rate card. It is charged at the “Rest of Asia Pacific” rate. A message to a customer with a US (+1) number is charged at the North America 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 Vietnamese online sellers run on it with AeroChat
- Answer every chat from store data, in Vietnamese. Stock, price, delivery and order status, from Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix or a Google Sheets store, with the polite dạ and ạ your shop uses. See AI customer service in Vietnamese.
- Confirm COD orders before dispatch. See cash on delivery confirmation in Vietnam.
- Take payment in the chat. Airwallex is built in (open an account if you don’t have one). If you already use 2C2P, it connects through its API. Payment is detected automatically, so nobody checks a transfer screenshot.
- Book the delivery with DHL eCommerce, or same-day with Lalamove or GrabExpress.
- Send order and delivery updates as utility templates in Vietnamese. See Vietnamese order confirmation templates and Vietnamese shipping update templates.
- Send broadcasts to customers who opted in, as marketing templates, for example before 11.11 or Tết. See WhatsApp broadcasts.
Customer: Chào shop, em đặt hộp quà Tết hôm qua, đơn #2290, khi nào giao vậy ạ? (ví dụ)
In English: Hello, I ordered a Tết gift box yesterday, order #2290. When will it be delivered?
AeroChat: Dạ chào anh. Để bảo mật đơn hàng, anh vui lòng cho shop xin số điện thoại đặt hàng ạ.
In English: Hello. To keep your order private, please send the phone number you ordered with.
Customer: 0912 345 678
AeroChat: Dạ cảm ơn anh. Đơn #2290 đã được gửi đi hôm nay, dự kiến giao trong 1 đến 2 ngày ạ. Mã vận đơn VN0222333444 (ví dụ).
In English: Thank you. Order #2290 shipped today and should arrive in 1 to 2 days. Tracking number VN0222333444.
In the store: nothing changes. AeroChat read the order and the tracking and answered.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks where their order is, follow these steps.
- Ask for the phone number or email they ordered with, and match it to the order in our store.
- If the order has not shipped, tell them when we expect to ship it.
- If it has shipped, read the tracking from DHL eCommerce (example) and tell them where the parcel is and when it should arrive.
- Send the tracking number.
- If the tracking shows a failed delivery or a return, pass the chat to our team with the order number.
Reply in the customer’s language. In Vietnamese, address the customer as anh or chị and use dạ and ạ.
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. Add Messenger and Instagram in the same dashboard.
- Connect your store. Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix are built in.
- Describe your workflows in your own words, in Vietnamese or English, or paste the recipe above. Add your gateway or courier keys in the dashboard.
- Submit your order templates for approval and turn the workflows on.
Questions
Can I write my WhatsApp templates in Vietnamese?
Yes. Templates can be submitted in Vietnamese. Ready-to-copy Vietnamese messages are in the Vietnamese COD confirmation templates and Vietnamese payment reminder templates.
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.
Does AeroChat work on Zalo?
Zalo is on AeroChat’s list of channels coming next. Today the same workflows run on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and web chat.
Which provider should I use in Vietnam?
Compare what each provider connects to, not only the message price. See the best WhatsApp API provider for online sellers and WhatsApp chatbot for online sellers in Vietnam.
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 “Khi nào giao vậy shop?” (When will it arrive?).
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.