Short answer
To increase your WhatsApp messaging limit, verify your business and send high-quality template messages. New business portfolios start at 250 unique users per moving 24 hours. After 2,000, Meta raises the limit one tier automatically, within 6 hours, when messages are high quality and you have used at least half of your current limit in the last 7 days.
What the messaging limit counts
The messaging limit caps how many unique WhatsApp users a business can reach with messages sent outside customer service windows in a moving 24-hour period. Replies inside an open window do not use it, and sending two messages to the same person counts once.
Since 7 October 2025 Meta sets the limit per business portfolio, shared by all its phone numbers. One busy number can therefore use the whole allowance.
| Tier | Unique users per moving 24 hours |
|---|---|
| Starting limit | 250 |
| Tier 2 | 2,000 |
| Tier 3 | 10,000 |
| Tier 4 | 100,000 |
| Top tier | Unlimited |
How to move from 250 to 2,000
- Complete Meta business verification for your business portfolio.
- Or, if a partner onboarded you, ask the partner to verify your business.
- Or deliver 2,000 messages outside customer service windows to unique users within 30 days, using high-quality templates.
- Wait for Meta to review your message quality and approve or deny the increase.
How automatic scaling works above 2,000
Meta raises the portfolio's limit by one level within 6 hours when two conditions hold: the business sends high-quality messages across all its numbers and templates, and it has used at least half of its current limit in the last 7 days.
In practice, steady volume to engaged, opted-in users is what moves a business up. A business sending 1,200 users a day on the 2,000 tier qualifies on usage; one sending 300 does not, even with perfect quality.
Common mistakes
- Planning a campaign larger than the current tier instead of splitting it across days.
- Sending to old or purchased lists, which lowers quality and blocks scaling.
- Forgetting that all numbers in the portfolio share one limit.
- Not checking the limit in WhatsApp Manager, or via the whatsapp_business_manager_messaging_limit field, before a send.