Nigeria
WhatsApp costs in naira
What WhatsApp conversations cost in naira
Your WhatsApp bill has two parts: what you pay DMly for the platform, and what Meta charges per message at the Nigeria rate. This guide separates them, explains the categories and works through three examples.
Two bills explained
Free service window
Worked examples
No DMly markup
The two bills
What you pay DMly, and what Meta charges
Business owners mix these two up and then get a surprise. They are separate, and only one of them moves when you send more.
Your DMly plan is the fixed part
You pay DMly a set amount every month in naira, from ₦19,500 for Starter on the launch offer, ₦39,000 for Growth and ₦79,000 for Premium. That covers the team inbox, the AI agent, bookings, invoices, broadcasts and every channel. Yearly billing gives you two months free, and prices are shown before VAT, with the 7.5% added on the invoice.
Meta conversation charges are the variable part
Meta bills per message at the Nigeria rate and DMly adds nothing on top. This is the part that moves with how much you send, so it is the part worth planning. Count the templates a month needs before you send them, rather than working it out afterwards.
What starts a charge
A charge starts when your business sends a template message first. A booking confirmation, a delivery update, a one time passcode or a promotion all begin with you, so all of them are billed. The category Meta gives the template when it reviews it decides the price, which is why the wording of a template is a money decision, not a copywriting one.
What does not start a charge
A customer messaging you first costs you nothing, and neither does anything you send back inside the next 24 hours. Replies inside that customer service window are free. Contacts sitting in your CRM, flows that never fire and templates you drafted but never sent cost nothing either.
The categories
Every line that can show up on your WhatsApp bill
Meta sorts messages into categories and prices them differently. Put the same message in the right category and it costs less.
Worked examples
Three examples, worked out at the published rates
These are examples, not quotes. The message counts are invented to show the arithmetic. Put your own counts in and the rates stay the same.
About ₦
6,600
a month
Example only. A salon that confirms 300 bookings and sends 300 day before reminders has sent 600 utility messages. At ₦11 each that is about ₦6,600, on top of the plan. The questions customers ask in between are service replies, so they cost nothing.
About ₦
11,000
a month
Example only. A restaurant sending one order update per order on 1,000 orders has sent 1,000 utility messages. At ₦11 each that is about ₦11,000. Every back and forth about the address, the rider or a missing item is free, because the customer opened the conversation.
About ₦
17,600
a term
Example only. A school with 800 parents on its list, sending one fee reminder and one result notice, has sent 1,600 utility messages. At ₦11 each that is about ₦17,600 for the term. Parents replying with questions do not add to it.
Keeping it down
How to spend less on the same customers
None of this is about sending less. It is about sending the right category, to the right list, at the right moment.
Window
Answer inside the 24 hours
When a customer messages you first, everything you send back for the next 24 hours is free. Getting the AI agent and your team to close the question inside that window is the biggest saving available to you, and it is the one most businesses leave on the table.
Category
Keep transactional messages transactional
A booking confirmation, a delivery update or a receipt is a utility message from ₦11. Bolt a promotional line onto the end of it and the whole thing becomes marketing at about ₦30. Keep the offer in its own template and send the confirmation clean.
List
Only message people who really opted in
A scraped number costs exactly the same to message as a loyal customer, and it will not reply. Keep the people who messaged you or ticked a box, record where and when the opt-in happened, and pay for an audience that actually answers.
Timing
Send when Nigerians actually read
A marketing template costs the same at 6am as it does at 8pm. Schedule around commute hours and paydays rather than the middle of a work morning, and the same spend puts your message in front of people who are holding their phone.
Plan
Match the plan to your volume
Your plan sets how many broadcast and template messages are included and how many contacts stay active. Before you buy add-ons one by one at ₦6,500 a seat or ₦9,500 per 1,000 contacts, price the next tier up and compare the two.
Season
Budget December before December arrives
Your heaviest broadcast month is also your most expensive one. Build the calendar first, count the templates in it, sort them into utility and marketing, then price the month at the rates above.
Questions about the bill
What Nigerian business owners ask us about cost
Does DMly add anything on top of the Meta charges?
No. Meta bills at the Nigeria rate and it is passed through with nothing added. What you pay DMly is the plan, and that sits on its own line.
Do I pay for messages my customers send me?
No. Incoming messages are free, and so is everything you send back inside the 24 hour customer service window their message opens.
How do I work out what a campaign will cost?
Count the contacts in the segment and multiply by the rate for that template's category, about ₦30 for marketing and from ₦11 for utility. Replies that come back inside the 24 hour window are free, so a campaign that starts real conversations costs less than the send alone.
What is the difference between utility and marketing?
A utility message carries information the customer is expecting about something they already did, from ₦11 each. A marketing message sells something, at about ₦30 each. Meta decides which one your template is when it reviews it.
Is VAT charged on this?
Plan prices are shown before VAT and the 7.5% is added on your invoice, as required. You get a naira invoice with a VAT receipt, which is what your accountant will ask for.
Can I see the real numbers before I commit?
Yes. Seven days on any plan, every feature unlocked, no card needed. Setup help and Meta business verification help are free, on a call with the Abuja team.
See the cost before you send
Start a seven day free trial, every feature unlocked and no card needed, then price your own month against the rates above.