WhatsApp API pricing in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC

WhatsApp API pricing in the UAE in USD and AED

UAE numbers (+971) are charged $0.0576 per Marketing message and $0.0157 per Utility or Authentication message. Since April 1, 2026, Meta also publishes an AED rate card for Messaging accounts billed in dirhams, so these AED prices are Meta’s own figures rather than conversions.

Rate changes for the UAE: Authentication was lowered on February 1, 2025; Marketing went up on October 1, 2025 and again on October 1, 2026. The Utility rate that order confirmations and shipping updates use did not change in 2026.

Confirmation happens in Shopify before you book the courier, so it works the same with Aramex, Emirates Post or a same-day delivery partner. The guide to running a Shopify store in the UAE covers payments and shipping.

WhatsApp API pricing in Saudi Arabia in USD and SAR

Saudi numbers (+966) are charged $0.0576 per Marketing message and $0.0107 per Utility or Authentication message. Meta’s SAR rate card, also available since April 1, 2026, gives the same messages in riyals.

Rate changes for Saudi Arabia: Utility and Authentication were lowered on October 1, 2025, and Marketing went up on April 1, 2026 and again on October 1, 2026. So an order confirmation to a Saudi customer costs less than it did before October 2025, while a promotional campaign costs more than it did at the start of 2026. In Saudi Arabia a Marketing message now costs 5.4 times a Utility message, which is why confirmations should stay in Utility; the guide to Utility vs Marketing templates explains how Meta decides.

The same confirmation flow works with SMSA, Aramex, SPL or any other courier. See the guide to running a Shopify store in Saudi Arabia.

WhatsApp API pricing in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain

A Utility message costs $0.0440 to Kuwait, $0.0247 to Oman, $0.0120 to Qatar and $0.0091 to Bahrain. Before July 1, 2026, Meta charged all four at the Rest of Middle East rate. Qatar got its own rates on July 1, 2026, and Kuwait and Oman on October 1, 2026. Bahrain still pays the Rest of Middle East rate, together with Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen.

Kuwait is now the most expensive Gulf market for transactional messages: a Utility message to Kuwait costs 4.1 times one to Saudi Arabia, and only Germany and the Netherlands have a higher Utility rate on Meta’s card. Kuwait and Oman also got an authentication-international rate on October 1, 2026. Bahrain is the cheapest Gulf country for confirmations at $0.0091.

What a WhatsApp order confirmation costs in the Gulf

A WhatsApp order confirmation costs $0.0157 for a UAE customer and $0.0107 for a Saudi customer, because Meta charges it as one Utility template. A shipping update is a second Utility message. For 1,000 orders with both messages, Meta’s fees are:

Whapi tags each Shopify order with the customer’s answer so your team ships only confirmed orders. See how WhatsApp order confirmation works, and the WhatsApp shipping updates that go out from Shopify fulfillment and tracking data.

Selling across the Gulf: you pay your customer’s rate

Meta charges by the country calling code of the customer’s WhatsApp number, not by where your store or your business number is registered. A Dubai store that confirms an order for a customer with a Kuwaiti +965 number pays $0.0440, which is 2.8 times the UAE rate. The same store pays $0.0091 for a Bahraini customer.

If many of your orders ship to Kuwait or Oman, budget for them at their own rates. The calculator below switches country so you can price each market separately.

How Gulf shoppers pay, and where order confirmation fits

Most shoppers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE pay online. Checkout.com’s State of Digital Commerce in MENA 2024 report, produced with YouGov and reported by Enterprise in May 2024, found that only 10% of shoppers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE opt for cash when buying online, and that preference for cash on delivery across the region fell from 41% in 2020 to 20%.

For a Gulf store this means two things. Confirmation protects the orders paid in cash at the door, before you pay to ship them. And if most of your orders are prepaid, shipping updates will make up most of your WhatsApp volume; they are Utility messages at the same rate as a confirmation.

“Genuinely one of the smoothest automation tools I've used. Setup took no time at all — no headaches, no complicated steps, just straightforward from start to finish. …”

Souk Al Ras, United Arab Emirates, on the Shopify App Store

For the 2027 season, astronomical forecasts put the first day of Ramadan in the UAE and Saudi Arabia on February 8, 2027, with the final date set by the moon sighting. Meta raised Marketing rates for Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait on October 1, 2026, so check the January 1, 2027 rate card, announced at least a month ahead, before you plan Ramadan campaigns. Message ideas are in the Ramadan and Eid WhatsApp templates.

How the October 2026 pricing change affects Gulf stores

For Gulf stores, the October 1, 2026 update made promotions more expensive in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, and turned Kuwait and Oman into markets with their own rates. The full list:

• Marketing went up in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and the Rest of Middle East region, which includes Bahrain.
• Kuwait and Oman left the Rest of Middle East region and got their own, higher Utility and Authentication rates.
• Utility templates inside the 24-hour window have a price. A delivery update sent within 24 hours of a UAE customer’s last message costs $0.0157. Meta did not charge for it from July 2025 to September 2026.
• Free-form replies past 1,000 a month per number are billed at the Utility rate, for example $0.0107 to Saudi numbers. An account without a payment method gets only the free 1,000 delivered.

The October 2026 WhatsApp pricing change explainer covers each point in detail.

Paying Meta for WhatsApp in AED or SAR

A WhatsApp Business account can be billed in UAE dirhams or Saudi riyals. Meta added the UAE dirham and the Saudi riyal as billing currencies on April 1, 2026, each with its own rate card, and it now supports 16 currencies in all. Charges go to the payment method you add in Billing Hub in Meta Business Suite.

The billing currency is chosen when the Messaging account is created, and Meta says it can’t be changed once selected. If you want invoices in dirhams or riyals, choose AED or SAR during setup. Stores in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain are billed in one of Meta’s supported currencies, such as US dollars. For the steps, see how to add a payment method for WhatsApp in Meta.

Meta’s Gulf rates vs what WhatsApp apps charge

Two apps that set their own message prices publish figures for Saudi and UAE numbers that are well above Meta’s Marketing list rate. This is what their own pages showed on October 20, 2026: