You’re creating a WhatsApp message template and the form asks for a category: Marketing, Utility or Authentication. Pick the wrong one and the template is rejected, or approved as Marketing and charged more than seven times the Utility rate.
The short version: Marketing is for anything promotional, and for anything that isn’t tied to a specific transaction: offers, new arrivals, greetings, “we miss you”. Utility is for non-promotional updates about the customer’s own order, account or request. Authentication is only for one-time passcodes. In India, from 1 October 2026, Meta charges ₹0.8631 per marketing message and ₹0.115 per utility or authentication message, plus 18% GST.
Definitions below are from Meta’s template categorisation guidelines, as of October 2026, with examples you can adapt.
The three categories at a glance
| Category | What it’s for | Examples | India rate per message |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promotions, announcements, re-engagement, relationship building, and any mixed or unclear content | Diwali offer, new collection, abandoned cart reminder with a discount, birthday greeting, event invite | ₹0.8631 |
| Utility | Non-promotional updates about a specific order, account, booking or request the customer made | Order confirmed, out for delivery, appointment reminder, payment received, balance alert | ₹0.115 |
| Authentication | One-time passcodes to verify a login, account or transaction | “123456 is your verification code” | ₹0.115 |
Rates exclude GST; your provider’s plan is separate. A fourth kind, service, is any reply inside the 24-hour window after a customer messages you. It isn’t a template: the first 1,000 service messages per phone number per month are free, then ₹0.115 each. Full details in WhatsApp Business API pricing in India.
Marketing templates
Meta calls Marketing the most flexible category: anything that promotes, or isn’t clearly tied to something the customer did. Meta’s examples cover five jobs:
- Awareness: a new store opening, an event invitation, a service announcement
- Sales: a loyalty discount code, an upgrade offer, a donation appeal
- Retargeting: an abandoned-cart reminder, a renewal with a discount, a pending-application nudge
- App promotion: “check out in the app”, a referral invite
- Relationship building: a birthday greeting, a year-end thank-you
Two rules catch people out. Mixed content is Marketing: an order update with a promo line, or a survey with an offer, is Marketing in full. Unclear content is Marketing: a body that is just {{1}} or “Congratulations!” gives Meta nothing to classify.
Hi {{1}}, our winter collection is in store from Saturday. Show this message for 15% off until 30 November. Reply STOP to opt out of offers.
Marketing templates go only to customers who opted in to offers, and Meta caps how many marketing messages one person receives from all businesses; failures with error 131049 are that cap.
Utility templates
Utility has two tests in Meta’s guidelines: non-promotional, with no persuasive intent, and either specific to or requested by the customer (their order, account, service or transaction) or essential to them (a safety alert, an outage, a recall). The everyday cases:
- Opt-in management: confirming an opt-in or an opt-out
- Order management: order confirmed, shipped with tracking, item backordered with a cancel option, refund processed
- Account alerts: daily balance, upcoming card payment, low plan balance, a changed support number
- Feedback surveys tied to a specific order, visit or chat, with no promotion attached
- Continuing a conversation the customer asked to move to WhatsApp, after a web chat or support call
Meta’s utility template page is blunt: a utility template created or edited with marketing material is automatically re-categorised as Marketing. Order and account templates must not upsell, cross-sell, include offers or ask for renewals.
Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been packed and will be delivered on {{3}} between 10 am and 6 pm. Track it here: {{4}}. Reply to this message if you need to change the address.
Add “a second pair for 20% off” at the end and it is a Marketing template, at the Marketing price.
Authentication templates
Authentication is the most restricted category: Meta says only authentication templates may send a one-time passcode. The body is Meta’s preset text, which you can’t rewrite, plus an optional security disclaimer and an expiry line of 1 to 90 minutes. Per Meta’s authentication template reference, it needs a one-time-password button: copy code, one-tap autofill (Android) or none for zero-tap. No URLs, media or emojis, and the code parameter is limited to 15 characters.
123456 is your verification code. For your security, do not share this code. This code expires in 10 minutes.
Use it for logins, account recovery and verifying an order or payment. OTPs sent through a Utility or Marketing template get notice, then the template is rejected on the first day of the following month.
What each category costs in India
Meta charges only for delivered messages, per its pricing documentation, billed to your Meta business account. Rates for Indian numbers from 1 October 2026:
| Category | Rate | 1,000 messages | With 18% GST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | ₹0.8631 | ₹863.10 | ≈ ₹1,018 |
| Utility | ₹0.115 | ₹115 | ≈ ₹136 |
| Authentication | ₹0.115 | ₹115 | ≈ ₹136 |
| Service (replies inside 24 hours) | First 1,000 per number per month free, then ₹0.115 | ₹0 | ₹0 |
A shop sending 1,000 order updates pays about ₹136 as Utility, and about ₹1,018 if a promo line pushed them into Marketing. Replies within 24 hours of a customer’s message and messages in the free window after a Click-to-WhatsApp ad aren’t charged at these rates. Estimate your month with our cost calculator.
Why Meta re-categorises templates, and what to do
Meta checks the category both when you submit a template and afterwards. From the categorisation guidelines:
- At review: a Utility template Meta judges to be marketing is approved as Marketing (Meta’s behaviour since 9 April 2025) or rejected as incorrect category.
- After approval: a Utility template later found to be marketing is re-categorised automatically, normally with 1 day’s notice, instantly after a category-misuse warning. It stays approved and keeps sending, as Marketing.
- How you’re told: email to admins, an icon and banner in WhatsApp Manager’s template list, Business Support, and a webhook to your provider.
Your options
- Accept it. If the message really is promotional, leave it as Marketing and budget for it.
- Edit the template. Remove the promotional wording and resubmit; it is reviewed again and the category updates if it passes.
- Request a review, only in WhatsApp Manager: Message Templates → the banner → Business Support → Template category updates → select → Request Review, within 60 days of creation or of the change. Decisions show as Unchanged or Reversed.
Repeatedly submitting marketing content as Utility has its own enforcement ladder:
| Step | What happens | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | Written warning to admins; later re-categorisations become instant | Ongoing |
| Rate limiting | Utility messages capped in a rolling 24-hour window | At least 7 days |
| Utility restriction | Approved Utility templates moved to Marketing; no new Utility templates or category reviews | 7 days, 30 for repeats |
| Portfolio restriction | The same, across every WhatsApp account in your business portfolio | 30 days |
Rejected for another reason? See WhatsApp template rejected: reasons and fixes. Account-level restrictions are covered in account banned or restricted.
A quick test for choosing the category
- Is it a passcode? Authentication. Nothing else goes there.
- Does it mention an offer, discount, new product, event, or ask the customer to come back or buy? Marketing.
- Is it only about this customer’s own order, booking, payment, account or request, with nothing persuasive? Utility.
- Is it a greeting, a general announcement, or a template with only a variable in it? Marketing.
When in doubt, write two templates: a clean Utility one for the update and a Marketing one for the offer. Two messages in the right categories cost less than one mixed message re-categorised to Marketing, and keep your Utility templates safe.
What NOT to do
- Don’t tuck a coupon into an order confirmation to “save on the marketing rate”. Meta re-categorises it, and repeats lead to restrictions.
- Don’t send OTPs through Utility templates.
- Don’t submit templates whose body is just
{{1}}; Meta classifies them as Marketing or rejects them. - Don’t use Utility for “we miss you” or “it’s been a while”. There is no transaction behind it.
How WaBot handles this
- Category on creation. In Settings → Templates, the form has a Category dropdown (Marketing, Utility, Authentication) and a sub-type such as Custom, Catalog, Flows, Order Status, Order Details or One Time Passcode, each with a one-line description. Templates guide.
- Status synced from Meta. The list filters by status (Approved, Pending, Rejected) and category. When Meta approves, rejects or pauses a template, WaBot receives the webhook and updates it; Sync from WhatsApp pulls in templates created in WhatsApp Manager.
- Rejections and pauses in the Updates feed. The bell shows entries like Template “order_update” rejected, with Meta’s reason (“incorrect category”), so you don’t find out from a failed campaign.
- Re-categorised templates are flagged. A template Meta moved from Utility to Marketing is marked “re-categorised by Meta” in the list, with the advice to rewrite it without promotional wording.
- Quality rating. Once Meta rates a template, its quality tag shows in the list, before it gets paused.
Templates and campaigns are on the Starter plan (₹840/month + GST) and above; workflows that send templates automatically are on the Base Plan (₹9,240/year + GST). Meta’s per-message charges are billed by Meta directly, with no WaBot markup.
Create templates in the right category, first time
Create your free WaBot account, connect your number and build Marketing, Utility and Authentication templates with their status synced from Meta. Connecting a number starts a 15-day Base Plan trial, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between marketing and utility templates on WhatsApp?
Utility templates are non-promotional messages about a specific order, account, booking or request, such as an order confirmation. Marketing templates are anything promotional or not tied to a transaction: offers, announcements, greetings, re-engagement. In India, Meta charges ₹0.115 per utility message and ₹0.8631 per marketing message, plus GST.
Can I add a discount or offer to an order confirmation template?
You can, but Meta then treats the whole template as Marketing: approved or re-categorised as Marketing, charged at the marketing rate and counted against the customer’s marketing cap. Send the offer as a separate Marketing template.
Why did Meta change my utility template to marketing?
Because Meta’s review found promotional or persuasive content in it, or content not tied to a specific transaction. Meta normally gives one day’s notice, keeps the template approved, and lets you request a review in WhatsApp Manager within 60 days, or edit the template and resubmit.
How much does a WhatsApp marketing template cost in India?
From 1 October 2026, ₹0.8631 per delivered marketing message for Indian numbers, plus 18% GST, so about ₹1.02 each. Utility and authentication messages are ₹0.115 plus GST, about ₹0.136.
Can I send OTPs with a utility template?
No. Meta says only authentication templates may be used for one-time passcodes. A utility or marketing template used for OTPs is given notice and then rejected on the first day of the following month.
Final thoughts
Choose the category by what the message does, not by what it costs. Updates about the customer’s own transaction are Utility, anything that sells is Marketing, passcodes are Authentication. Keep them separate and Meta’s re-categorisation and restriction ladders never apply to you.
