1,000 free replies a month, and the payment method Meta needs
Which replies count as service messages, how the monthly free tier works, and why replies stop reaching customers after the 1,000th without a payment method in Meta.
Updated 30 October 2026
A service message is any normal reply you send inside the 24-hour window: text, photos, documents, voice notes, buttons and lists. Who sends it makes no difference; a teammate in the inbox, a flow and the AI agent all count the same. Templates are not service messages; they have categories of their own.
The free tier
- Meta gives every business phone number 1,000 free service messages each calendar month.
- The count resets at midnight on the 1st, in your Meta account’s time zone. Free messages you do not use do not carry over.
- From the 1,001st service message of the month, each one is charged at Meta’s service rate for the customer’s country.
- The free tier covers service messages only. Utility, marketing and authentication templates are charged from the first one, also inside the 24-hour window, unless a free window from an ad is open.
Add a payment method in Meta
If your Meta account has no payment method, Meta delivers the first 1,000 service messages of the month and then stops delivering them. Your team and the AI agent would go on replying, but customers would not receive those replies until a payment method is added.
Add one in Meta’s Billing Hub, signed in with the Facebook account that manages your business. A message Meta refuses because of a payment problem shows "Billing Issue" under it in the inbox; that is the moment to open Billing Hub.