Ion Rotaru
A WhatsApp broadcast sends one message to many people at once. Each person gets it as a private chat with you: nobody sees the other recipients, and replies come back only to you. That makes broadcasts a good fit for offers, reminders and news, as long as people agreed to hear from you.
In 2026 there are three ways to broadcast on WhatsApp:
- Chatfuel Broadcasts on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Send a template approved by Meta to all your WhatsApp contacts or to a segment, now or on a schedule, and AI Agent answers the replies.
- Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app. A paid feature, available in a limited number of countries.
- Broadcast lists in the WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business apps. Free, but limited to 256 contacts per list, and only people who saved your number get the message.
This guide compares the three, shows how to send a broadcast with Chatfuel step by step, and explains what broadcasts cost, which limits and opt-in rules Meta applies, and how to set up a broadcast list in the app.
Ways to send a WhatsApp broadcast compared
| Feature | Chatfuel Broadcasts | Business broadcasts (Business app) | Broadcast lists (app) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | All your WhatsApp contacts or a segment, within Meta's messaging limit | Contacts you select from your address book or imported lists | Up to 256 contacts per list |
| Who gets it | Contacts who opted in | Contacts who opted in | Only contacts who saved your number |
| Message | Template approved by Meta: text, image or video, variables, buttons | Text, media and one action button, reviewed by Meta | Any message |
| Scheduling | Send now or at a set time | Send now or at a set time | No scheduling |
| Cost | Meta's fee per delivered template, paid from your Chatfuel wallet | Meta's fee per delivered message | Free, with a monthly cap in some countries |
| Replies | AI Agent answers, your team takes over in Chats | You answer in the app | You answer in the app |
Broadcast lists work for a few dozen friends or regular customers. Once you need to reach hundreds or thousands of people, target them by their interests and answer every reply, you need the WhatsApp Business Platform, also known as the WhatsApp Business API.
How to send a WhatsApp broadcast with Chatfuel
Chatfuel is an official Meta Business Partner and connects your number through the WhatsApp Business API. If you already use the WhatsApp Business app, coexistence lets you keep the same number and keep using the app on your phone.
Before your first broadcast, you need an approved message template. You create templates in WhatsApp Manager in your Meta Business account, and Meta reviews each one, usually within minutes and in up to 24 hours. See how to create WhatsApp templates for the steps.
Then send the broadcast:
- Go to AI Agent → Broadcasts and click New mass message.
- Choose a template. The list shows each template's category, language and status, and you can send only active, approved templates. Fill in the variables, for example the contact's first name, and add the header image or video if the template has one. Click Continue to schedule.
- Choose when to send: Send now, In one hour, Tomorrow at 9:00 or Custom for any date and time. Click Continue to audience.
- Choose All WhatsApp contacts, or From segment to filter contacts by their properties, such as a tag or an attribute. Chatfuel shows how many contacts match your filters.
- Click Send broadcast, check the number of contacts and click Confirm and send.
The broadcast then appears on the Broadcasts page as sent or scheduled. Click it to see the template, the audience and how many contacts it went to.
When someone replies, a new 24-hour window opens and AI Agent answers right away, using your knowledge base: services, prices, opening hours, policies. Rules in Switch to human agents hand chats to your team, for example when a customer wants to talk to a person, and everything lands in Chats, the shared inbox. To build segments, AI Agent saves the details it learns in chats to the contact card, so you can send each segment its own offer.
See how Chatfuel Broadcasts work
WhatsApp templates, the 24-hour window and costs
The 24-hour customer service window
Every time a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it, you can send any message. Outside it, and to start a conversation, you can only send a template. Most people on your list haven't written to you in the last 24 hours, which is why every Chatfuel broadcast is a template.
Template categories
Meta sorts templates into three categories:
- Marketing: offers, new products, events, invitations to come back.
- Utility: updates about something the customer started, such as an order, a booking or an account.
- Authentication: one-time passcodes.
Meta checks the category during review. If a template submitted as Utility contains marketing, Meta approves it as Marketing. A template can have a header (text, image, video or document), a body with variables, a footer and buttons, such as a website link, a phone number or up to three quick replies. Only Marketing templates can have an opt-out button.
How much a WhatsApp broadcast costs
Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message. The price depends on the template category and on the recipient's country, so a marketing broadcast to Brazil costs differently from one to India. Meta publishes the prices in its rate cards.
Since 1 October 2026, Meta also charges for replies inside the 24-hour window, called service messages, after a free tier of 1,000 per business phone number each month, and for utility templates sent inside the window. Conversations that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad open a free entry point window, where Meta doesn't charge for your messages.
With Chatfuel, Meta's fees come out of your Chatfuel wallet, so you get one bill instead of two. See WhatsApp pricing for how it works.
Messaging limits, opt-in and quality
Messaging limits
Meta limits how many people you can message outside the 24-hour window. The limit counts unique recipients in a rolling 24 hours, and since October 2025 it applies to your whole business portfolio, shared by all its phone numbers. According to Meta, the levels are:
- 250 for a new business portfolio;
- 2,000 once you verify your business, or after 2,000 delivered messages outside the window to unique people in 30 days with high-quality templates;
- 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited after that. Meta raises the limit by one level automatically, within 6 hours, when your quality is high and you used at least half of your limit in the last 7 days.
Limits per person
Meta also caps how many marketing templates one person gets from all businesses, based on how they engage with those messages. If someone has reached their cap, the message isn't delivered and Meta returns error 131049. Wait at least 24 hours before trying again, because repeated attempts can block that person for longer. Marketing templates are currently not delivered to WhatsApp users with US phone numbers (+1).
Opt-in
You can only message people who agreed to hear from your business on WhatsApp. The opt-in can be collected on your website, in a chat, by phone, in a form or in person, and it must name your business. Make it easy to stop: add an opt-out button to marketing templates and stop messaging people who ask.
Quality rating
Meta rates each template and your phone number by how people react: blocks, reports and mutes lower the rating. Low quality can pause a template, slow down your limit increases and, in the end, get your number restricted. Send broadcasts only to people who expect them, and read how to avoid WhatsApp bans.
How to schedule a WhatsApp broadcast
Broadcast lists in the WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business apps send right away: the apps have no option to schedule them. Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app can be scheduled before you send them.
In Chatfuel, scheduling is a step of every broadcast. Choose In one hour, Tomorrow at 9:00 or Custom with any date and time, and the broadcast shows as scheduled on the Broadcasts page until it goes out.
Pick a time when your customers usually read messages and when your team is around for questions AI Agent hands over, such as mid-morning on a weekday. Keep in mind that a scheduled time is the same for everyone, so for customers in several time zones, send a separate broadcast to each region.
How to create a broadcast list in the WhatsApp app
A broadcast list in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app sends your message to each contact as a separate chat. According to WhatsApp, these are the rules:
- Only people who saved your number in their address book get the message.
- A list can have up to 256 contacts, and you can create as many lists as you like.
- Broadcast lists work only on phones, not on Windows, Mac or WhatsApp Web.
- In some countries, WhatsApp is rolling out a monthly limit of 35 broadcast messages. You can check yours in Settings → Broadcasts.
Android
To create a list, open Chats, tap the three-dot menu → Broadcast lists, tap the checkmark, select contacts and tap the checkmark again.
To edit a list, open it and tap the three-dot menu → Broadcast list info:
- to rename it, tap the three-dot menu → Change broadcast list name, enter a name and tap OK;
- to add or remove people, tap Edit recipients, select contacts or tap the x on a contact's photo, then tap the checkmark.
To delete a list, open Broadcast list info → Delete broadcast list → Delete.
iPhone
To create a list, tap Settings or your profile picture → Broadcast messages → New List, select contacts and tap Create.
To edit a list, open Broadcast messages and tap the i next to it. In List Info, tap the list name to rename it, or Edit list... to add people or remove them with the x, then tap Done.
To delete a list, swipe left on it in Broadcast messages and tap Delete.
Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app
Business broadcasts are a paid feature of the WhatsApp Business app, available in a limited number of countries. They exist only in the app: you can't send them through the WhatsApp Business API.
To create one, go to Tools → Business broadcasts. Select your audience from your contacts, add an image, video or document, the text and an optional action button (Catalog, Custom reply, Phone call or Website). Then preview it, review the price and send it or schedule it. Meta reviews every business broadcast before it goes out, and you pay for each delivered message by the recipient's country. Details are in the WhatsApp Help Center.
Replies come into the app on your phone, where you answer them one by one.
WhatsApp broadcast vs. group chat
| Feature | Broadcast | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Up to 256 per broadcast list; your whole contact list with Chatfuel | Up to 1,024 members |
| Who sees whom | Recipients don't see each other | All members see each other |
| Who writes | Only you; replies come to you privately | Every member, unless admins limit it |
| Replies | Visible only to you | Visible to the whole group |
| Leaving | People ask you to stop, tap an opt-out button or block you | Members leave the group themselves |
Choose a broadcast when you want to reach many customers with the same message and keep each conversation private, for example for an offer or a reminder. Choose a group when you want people to talk to each other, for example a class or a club.
See also: WhatsApp Group vs Broadcast: Business Guide
Tips for WhatsApp broadcasts that get replies
- Send only to people who opted in. It keeps your quality rating high and your number safe.
- Segment your audience. A smaller list that matches the offer gets more replies than the same message to everyone.
- Personalize with variables. Use the customer's name and details that matter to them, such as the service they booked last time.
- Keep it short and give one clear action: a button, a question to reply to or a link.
- Send when people read. Avoid late evenings and early mornings in your customers' time zone.
- Don't send too often. Too many broadcasts lead to blocks and per-person limits, so space them out and stop for people who opt out.
- Answer every reply fast. A broadcast is the start of a conversation: let AI Agent answer at once and hand chats to your team when needed.
Summary
A WhatsApp broadcast reaches many people with one message while each conversation stays private. Broadcast lists in the app are free but capped at 256 people who saved your number, and Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app are paid and limited to some countries. To reach all your WhatsApp contacts or a segment, on a schedule, with every reply answered, use Chatfuel Broadcasts: choose an approved template, set the time, pick the audience and let AI Agent handle the replies. Get opt-in first, keep your quality high, and Meta's limits grow with you.
FAQs
How do I send a WhatsApp broadcast to more than 256 contacts?
Use the WhatsApp Business API through a platform like Chatfuel. Go to AI Agent → Broadcasts, choose an approved template, set the time and send it to all your WhatsApp contacts or a segment. How many people you can reach a day depends on Meta's messaging limit, which starts at 250 and grows to unlimited.
How much does a WhatsApp broadcast cost?
Broadcast lists in the app are free. Through the WhatsApp Business API, Meta charges per delivered template by category and recipient country, and in Chatfuel the fees come out of your wallet. Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app are paid per delivered message. See WhatsApp pricing.
Can I schedule a WhatsApp broadcast?
Not with broadcast lists in the app. Business broadcasts in the WhatsApp Business app can be scheduled, and in Chatfuel every broadcast has a schedule step: send now, in one hour, tomorrow at 9:00 or at any date and time.
Why didn't some contacts get my broadcast?
With a broadcast list, people who didn't save your number don't get the message, and the monthly limit may apply in your country. With the WhatsApp Business API, a message may not be delivered because of Meta's per-person marketing limit, your messaging limit, a number that isn't on WhatsApp, or, for marketing templates, a US phone number.
Is there a limit on WhatsApp broadcast messages?
Yes. A broadcast list holds up to 256 contacts, and in some countries the app allows 35 broadcast messages a month. Through the API, Meta's messaging limit sets how many unique people you can message outside the 24-hour window each day, from 250 up to unlimited.
Do recipients see each other in a WhatsApp broadcast?
No. Each person gets the message as a private chat with you and can't see who else got it. Their replies come only to you.
Is a broadcast better than a WhatsApp group for business?
For offers, reminders and news, yes: recipients don't see each other's numbers and every conversation stays private. A group works better when you want people to talk to each other.
