# Set a max-price for marketing messages (BETA) | Developer Documentation

<div id="bkmrk-set-a-max-price-for-">## Set a max-price for marketing messages (BETA)

<div><span>Updated: Mar 17, 2026</span></div><div><div>Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp (formerly known as Marketing Messages Lite API) is now generally available.</div></div><div><div>Amidst our introduction of the max-price feature on the Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp, there is no change to how we charge on the WhatsApp Business Platform. We continue to charge on a per-message basis, as outlined [here](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/pricing-on-the-whatsapp-business-platform-developer-documentation).</div><div>The max-price feature will become available via Limited Beta as of mid-May and be **optional** throughout 2026.</div></div><div id="bkmrk-what-is-a-max-price%3F"><div id="bkmrk-what-is-a-max-price%3F-1"><div>### What is a max-price?

</div></div></div><div>As announced in March 2026 -- in 2026, we're introducing new pricing features on the Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp to enable businesses to *drive higher ROI* and *have more control* to optimize spend for their marketing messaging campaigns.</div><div>Our first pricing feature allows businesses to **set a maximum price (max-price) per marketing message delivery; when a max-price is set, Meta will charge that max-price or lower for delivery**. Businesses can choose to set a max-price the same as, lower than, or higher than the published rate to achieve their objectives per campaign.</div><span>*Lower costs while maintaining delivery rates similar to current WhatsApp campaigns*, by setting max-prices the same as published rates.</span><span>*Target a broader range of customer cohorts on WhatsApp at lower cost*, by setting max-prices lower than published rates.</span><span>*Increase delivery rates when customer engagement matters most*, like during holidays and peak sales periods, by setting max-prices higher than published rates.</span><div>The second pricing feature is the **reach estimation tool**, which helps businesses set the right max-price by helping them understand estimated delivery rates and costs at different max-prices.</div><div id="bkmrk-max-price-explainer"><div id="bkmrk-max-price-explainer-1"><div>#### Max-price explainer

</div></div></div><div>The max-price feature allows you to set the maximum price you are willing to pay per message delivery. You are charged your max-price or lower. In the API, you express this as a `bid_amount` value per 1,000 deliveries within the `bid_spec` object.</div><span>[Max-price explainer PDF](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-ams2-1.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fv%2Ft39.8562-6%2F652260051_2871429753198389_1292317443132886324_n.pdf%3F_nc_cat%3D107%26ccb%3D1-7%26_nc_sid%3Db8d81d%26_nc_ohc%3DR6IMKT9-QbUQ7kNvwHjw-7R%26_nc_oc%3DAdqbSrK358oRJw-PoC_zAuZTJyCer5yWR5--ujHnbN32-ShuqTNKhzSg-kI5nHf1DrY%26_nc_zt%3D14%26_nc_ht%3Dscontent-ams2-1.xx%26_nc_gid%3DG3aCMxUEd71RXXgD-zWp7A%26_nc_ss%3D7a389%26oh%3D00_Af2SIuA8sYJ1__1IsCmPyeiqoqLnMBYindACx8faFemOfg%26oe%3D69D2BE07&h=AT6NcVZ1hYYwjZeFVS2UBzDwiLgHPEtHRqVr9M9YL6gQxyWuqVcSwXsqepxwE5g5kUOm73CmgWOvdEOLoDyeVRK6g4wAB4OsKQmiIfPQGqZmg74zyCs399JaiOa2tiR6G-H1L_r0IQrNZo1j6rx09g)</span><div id="bkmrk-phased-roll-out-of-t"><div id="bkmrk-phased-roll-out-of-t-1"><div>### Phased roll-out of the max-price feature

</div></div></div><div>We plan to roll out our max-price feature in 3 phases:</div><span>Limited Beta starting **mid-May 2026** -- Any partner and any directly-integrated business can integrate and use the max-price feature and reach estimation tool. Each partner can enable these features for a limited number of clients.</span><span>Open Beta starting **October 2026** -- Any partner can enable these features for all their clients.</span><span>General Availability (GA) as of **Q2 2027** -- The max-price feature will become required in eligible geographies and fixed, published rates for marketing messages will only apply on the Cloud API.</span><div id="bkmrk-before-you-begin"><div id="bkmrk-before-you-begin-1"><div>### Before you begin

</div></div></div><div>To use the max-price feature, you must:</div><span>Have an active WhatsApp Business Account that has been [onboarded](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/onboard-developer-documentation) to the Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp.</span><span>Be in a [country eligible for MM API for WhatsApp](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/get-started-developer-documentation).</span><div id="bkmrk-recommendations"><div id="bkmrk-recommendations-1"><div>### Recommendations

</div></div></div><div>Set your max-price at the template level. The `bid_amount` in `bid_spec` is what Meta's delivery system optimizes against. Setting the right max-price when you create the template gives the system the best signal for delivery optimization.</div><div>The `per_message_bid_multiplier` scales the template's `bid_amount` up or down for individual messages, but the delivery system generally gives better performance optimizing based on the original template-level `bid_amount` on large amount.</div><div>For example, if you set a template's `bid_amount` to 50,000 and then apply a multiplier of 2.0 on every message, delivery performance might differ from setting the template's `bid_amount` to 100,000 directly -- even though the effective max-price is the same. Hence we recommend setting up the bid at template level and update the template's `bid_spec` if needed rather than changing the message level multiplier as a workaround.</div><div>Ramp up traffic gradually. When sending messages with a new max-price template for the first time, increase volume slowly before sending at scale. This aligns with [Template pacing](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/template-pacing-developer-documentation) best practices and helps the delivery system optimize effectively.</div><div id="bkmrk-create-templates-wit"><div id="bkmrk-create-templates-wit-1"><div>### Create templates with max-price

</div></div></div><div id="bkmrk-request-syntax"><div id="bkmrk-request-syntax-1"><div>#### Request syntax

</div></div></div><div>If `bid_spec` is not included, the template uses standard rate card pricing.</div><div id="bkmrk-request-parameters"><div id="bkmrk-request-parameters-1"><div>#### Request parameters

</div></div></div><div><table><tbody><tr><th><span>Placeholder </span></th><th><span>Description </span></th><th><span>Example Value </span></th></tr><tr><td><div><div>`<ACCESS_TOKEN>`</div><div>*String*</div></div></td><td><div><div>**Required.**</div><div>[System token](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/access-tokens-guide-developer-documentation) or [business token](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/access-tokens-guide-developer-documentation).</div></div></td><td><div><div>```
EAAAN6tcBzAUBOZC82CW7iR2LiaZBwUHS4Y7FDtQxRUPy1PHZClDGZBZCgWdrTisgMjpFKiZAi1FBBQNO2IqZBAzdZAA16lmUs0XgRcCf6z1LLxQCgLXDEpg80d41UZBt1FKJZCqJFcTYXJvSMeHLvOdZwFyZBrV9ZPHZASSqxDZBUZASyFdzjiy2A1sippEsF4DVV5W2IlkOSr2LrMLuYoNMYBy8xQczzOKDOMccqHEZD
```

</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>`<API_VERSION>`</div><div>*String*</div></div></td><td><div><div>**Optional.**</div><div>Graph API version.</div></div></td><td><div><div>v25.0</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>`<WABA_ID>`*String*</div></div></td><td><div><div>**Required.**</div><div>WhatsApp Business Account ID.</div></div></td><td><div><div>`102290129340398`</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>`<BID_AMOUNT>`</div><div>*int*</div></div></td><td><div><div>**Required.**</div><div>Maximum price per 1,000 message deliveries, expressed in your WABA currency's smallest unit (cents for USD, paise for INR, peso for MXN). See [supported currencies](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/pricing-on-the-whatsapp-business-platform-developer-documentation) for a list of currencies.</div></div></td><td><div><div>`87000`</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

</div><div id="bkmrk-calculating-max-pric"><div id="bkmrk-calculating-max-pric-1"><div>#### Calculating max-price amounts

</div></div></div><div>The `bid_amount` represents your max-price per 1,000 deliveries in your WABA currency's smallest unit. To convert from your desired per-delivery price:</div><span>Convert your desired per-delivery price to your WABA currency's smallest unit</span><span>Multiply by 1,000 to express the value per 1,000 deliveries</span><div>**Example**: To set a max-price of ?0.87 per delivery:</div><span>Convert to paise: 0.87 Rupees = 87 paise</span><span>Multiply by 1,000: 87 x 1,000 = 87,000</span><div>Set `bid_amount` to `87000`.</div><div>**Example**: To set a max-price of $0.05 USD per delivery:</div><span>Convert to cents: $0.05 = 5 cents</span><span>Multiply by 1,000: 5 x 1,000 = 5,000</span><div>Set `bid_amount` to `5000`.</div><div id="bkmrk-metrics-and-billing"><div id="bkmrk-metrics-and-billing-1"><div>### Metrics and billing

</div></div></div><div>Messages sent with or without the max-price feature use the same **Marketing Lite** product type (SKU) for billing purposes.</div><div>Marketing messages sent with max-price appear in analytics with the following identifiers:</div><span>**Pricing Analytics**[`/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID>?fields=pricing_analytics`](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/analytics-developer-documentation): `pricing_category` = `MARKETING_LITE`</span><span>**Template Analytics**[`/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID>?fields=template_analytics`](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/analytics-developer-documentation): `product_type` = `MARKETING_MESSAGES_LITE_API`</span><div>Webhooks use lowercase `marketing_lite` for `pricing.category`, while analytics APIs use uppercase `MARKETING_LITE` for `pricing_category`.</div><div id="bkmrk-pricing-analytics-re"><div id="bkmrk-pricing-analytics-re-1"><div>#### Pricing analytics response example

</div></div></div><div id="bkmrk-template-analytics-r"><div id="bkmrk-template-analytics-r-1"><div>#### Template analytics response example

</div></div></div><div>For more details on metrics, see [Viewing metrics](/books/meta-whatsapp/page/viewing-metrics-developer-documentation).</div><div id="bkmrk-error-codes"><div id="bkmrk-error-codes-1"><div>### Error codes

</div></div></div><div><table><tbody><tr><th><span>Code</span></th><th><span>Message</span></th><th><span>Possible reasons and solutions</span></th></tr><tr><td><div><div>131061</div></div></td><td><div><div>Marketing templates containing bid_spec are not supported by the Cloud API. To use templates with bid_spec, please use the Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp.</div></div></td><td><div><div>You are sending a template with `bid_spec` to the Cloud API `/messages` endpoint. Send to the `/marketing_messages` endpoint instead.</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>100</div></div></td><td><div><div>You need to sign the testing legal agreement before sending out messages.</div></div></td><td><div><div>You have not signed the testing legal agreement. Please sign the agreement to gain access to this feature.</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

</div><div>For a full list of error codes, see [Error codes](/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/support/error-codes).</div></div>