WhatsApp Business API for Malaysian businesses: what it is, what it costs, and when you actually need it

If your customers are in Malaysia, they are on WhatsApp — and most small businesses already run their sales and support from the free WhatsApp Business app on one phone. That works until it doesn't: two people need to reply, someone leaves with the phone, a message gets missed at 11 pm, or you want an assistant to answer the same ten questions so you don't have to.

The WhatsApp Business API (Meta now calls it the WhatsApp Business Platform) is the version of WhatsApp built for that stage. This guide explains what it is in plain terms, what it costs, what you need before you can use it, and how to tell whether you need it yet.

The app and the API are different products

There are three ways a business can be on WhatsApp:

You no longer have to choose one. With Meta's Coexistence, a number can stay on the WhatsApp Business app while software like doTask works on the Platform beside it (more in the questions below).

What it costs in 2026

Meta charges the business, not the customer, and the structure is simpler than it used to be:

• Replies are cheap, and changing on 1 October 2026. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour "customer service window" opens. Until 30 September 2026 everything you send inside it is free. From 1 October 2026 Meta charges these replies ("service messages"), typed by a person or written by an assistant, at the same rate as a utility template, after 1,000 free a month per phone number. Replies to a customer who came from a Click to WhatsApp ad stay free for 72 hours.
• Messages you start are charged per message, and only through pre-approved templates. Meta groups templates by purpose — utility (order updates, appointment reminders), authentication (one-time codes) and marketing (promotions) — and prices each group per country. Marketing templates are the most expensive; utility the least.
• Software on top of the API is a separate cost. doTask's plans start free, and WhatsApp is a channel on every plan, including the free one; Meta's per-message template charges are billed by Meta to your own Business Portfolio, at Meta's rates — doTask adds nothing to them.

The current Malaysian rates, with worked monthly examples, are on our WhatsApp API pricing in Malaysia page. The useful mental model: answering people is cheap; interrupting people costs more. A business that mostly replies pays very little. A business that blasts promotions pays per recipient, and needs those recipients' opt-in first.

What you need before you apply

1. A Facebook Business Portfolio (formerly Business Manager). Free; created at business.facebook.com.
2. A phone number that can receive a call or SMS for verification and is not on the personal WhatsApp app. A number on the WhatsApp Business app can stay there with Coexistence (see below) or be moved over.
3. A display name that matches your business as customers know it. Meta reviews it against your website and registration.
4. Business verification if you want the verified name, higher sending limits and the ability to send marketing templates at volume. This asks for a registration document (SSM certificate for Malaysian companies) and a way to prove you control the domain or phone.
5. A payment method on the Business Portfolio for template charges.
6. Software to actually use it. The API on its own is a set of endpoints; something has to receive the messages, show them to your team and send replies.

doTask does the connection through Meta's embedded sign-up: you click Connect WhatsApp in Settings, log in with Facebook, pick or create the number, and the number is live in the inbox in a few minutes. The steps above are still yours to prepare.

The rules that come with it

The Platform has policies the app doesn't enforce, and Meta does enforce them:

• Opt-in. You may only start conversations (templates) with people who have agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp — a tick box at checkout, a reply to a message, a form. Keep a record of when and how.
• The 24-hour window. Free-form replies only inside 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that, templates only. (The 24-hour window explained.)
• STOP means stop. If someone asks to stop receiving messages, every marketing send must halt. Good software handles this for you; doTask does it automatically, including for reminders.
• Quality rating. Meta scores your number on blocks and reports. A low rating cuts your daily sending limit; a persistently low one can pause the number.

Do you need it yet?

You probably don't if one person answers all messages, replies within business hours are fine, and you have never wished a message had been answered for you.

You do when any of these are true:

• Two or more people need to see and answer the same WhatsApp — a shop assistant and the owner, a receptionist and a therapist, a sales rep and a support person.
• Messages arrive when nobody is working and you lose enquiries overnight or on weekends.
• The same questions repeat — opening hours, prices, "do you have this in stock", "where is my order" — and you would rather an assistant answer them from your own information and hand over the rest.
• You want reminders or order updates sent automatically: appointment reminders the day before, "your order has shipped".
• You want to message customers who agreed to hear from you — a new menu, a reopening, a restock — without copying and pasting to a broadcast list capped at 256 people.
• The phone is a single point of failure and you know it.

If three or more apply, the migration is worth it. The move itself is the hard part; once the number is in an inbox, everything else — the assistant, bookings, reminders — is configuration.

What the switch looks like with doTask

1. Create the free workspace at app.dotask.io (the plans start at RM 0).
2. Settings → WhatsApp → Connect (before you connect, the steps). Sign in with the Facebook account that manages your Business Portfolio and follow Meta's steps; choose the number.
3. Add what the assistant should know: the main pages of your website (added one address at a time), a PDF price list, a Q&A. The AI Agent answers from those and says when it doesn't know.
4. Set working hours, who gets notified, and when the assistant should hand over to a person.
5. Send yourself a message. It appears in the inbox; the assistant replies; you take over from the same thread.

The inbox also carries Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, website chat and email, so WhatsApp is usually the first channel a team connects and not the last.

Frequently asked

Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app as well? Yes. Meta calls this Coexistence: during the Meta sign-in you choose to keep the app, and doTask works beside it on the same number. Replies you type in the app show in the inbox and hand the conversation to you. The app must be version 2.24.17 or newer, and Meta switches off a few app features (disappearing and view-once messages, live location, new broadcast lists).

Do I lose my chat history? With Coexistence, the app's contacts and the last six months of chats are copied into your doTask workspace. A number moved off the app entirely keeps its history on the phone it was on.

Can customers still call the number? Voice calls to a Platform number are not received the way they were on the app. Keep a separate line for calls, or put the calling number in your assistant's answers.

Is there a green tick? The verified badge is granted by Meta after business verification and is now available to more businesses than before; it is not automatic.