WhatsApp Business API pricing in Sri Lanka
Meta's per-message rates for recipients in Sri Lanka, effective 1 October 2026, with volume tiers, free-message rules and a worked monthly example. OmniChannels.ai passes Meta's rate through with zero markup.
- Marketing
- $0.0732
- Utility
- $0.0020
- Authentication
- $0.0020
- Service (after 1,000 free)
- $0.0020
Short answer
A WhatsApp marketing message to Sri Lanka costs $0.0732, a utility message $0.0020 and an authentication (OTP) message $0.0020 from 1 October 2026, charged by Meta per delivered message. The first 1,000 service messages per number each month are free. OmniChannels.ai charges Meta's rate with zero markup.
Rates by message category
| Category | USD per message | Per 1,000 messages | vs nearby average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing | $0.0732 | $73.20 | +42% |
| Utility | $0.0020 | $2.00 | −66% |
| Authentication | $0.0020 | $2.00 | −66% |
| Authentication-international | $0.1440 | $144.00 | — |
| Service | $0.0020 | $2.00 | −66% |
Free-message rules, how volume tiers are counted and Meta's price-change calendar are the same in every market: see the rules on the WhatsApp pricing hub.
WhatsApp or SMS in Sri Lanka?
An authentication (OTP) template in Sri Lanka costs $0.0020, 94% less than the cheapest SMS: $0.0340 on Hutch Sri Lanka. We route SMS to 3 networks there (Dialog Axiata, Mobitel and Hutch Sri Lanka). A marketing template costs $0.0732, 2.2× that SMS rate, so promotions are where the gap is widest.
SMS in Sinhala is UCS-2: 70 characters per segment, so a 120-character message bills as 2 SMS; WhatsApp bills 1 message.
Cost of 10,000 messages
| WhatsApp authentication | $20.00 |
| WhatsApp utility | $20.00 |
| WhatsApp marketing | $732.00 |
| SMS, list rate (Dialog Axiata) | $389.00 |
| SMS, list rate (Mobitel) | $364.00 |
| SMS, list rate (Hutch Sri Lanka) | $340.00 |
| SMS at the 5M+ volume tier | $204.00 |
| 120-character SMS in Sinhala (2 segments) | $680.00 |
Sender identity and registration in Sri Lanka
No sender ID to register for WhatsApp: Meta reviews your display name. SMS fallback follows TRCSL rules:
- SMS sender formats
- TRCSL · Dialog Axiata and Mobitel: Alphanumeric (local script supported), up to 11 chars
- SMS sender ID registration
- TRCSL · Dialog Axiata and Mobitel: Set by the operators; BroadNet confirms the current requirements during onboarding
- Typical lead time: 5-10 business days.
Consent and sending hours in Sri Lanka
- Opt-in
- Verifiable opt-in required, with traffic categorised by use case at the time of registration. DLT-style template approval applies in several markets.
- Opt-out
- STOP keyword and DND-registry suppression applied automatically. Records retained per regulator requirements.
- Sending hours
- TRCSL's promotional-messages guidelines bar promotional messages from 20:00 to 08:00. Transactional 24/7.
- Time zone used for scheduling: Asia/Colombo.
Template languages for Sri Lanka
Customers in Sri Lanka mostly read Sinhala, Tamil and English. With 3 languages in common use, pick the template language from the customer's stored preference, not from the phone number's country code.
Volume tiers
utility
| Monthly messages | Rate | vs list |
|---|---|---|
| 0–150,000 | $0.0020 | list |
| 150,001–1,000,000 | $0.0019 | -5% |
| 1,000,001–4,000,000 | $0.0018 | -10% |
| 4,000,001–25,000,000 | $0.0017 | -15% |
| 25,000,001–50,000,000 | $0.0016 | -20% |
| 50,000,001+ | $0.0015 | -25% |
authentication
| Monthly messages | Rate | vs list |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100,000 | $0.0020 | list |
| 100,001–300,000 | $0.0019 | -5% |
| 300,001–1,000,000 | $0.0018 | -10% |
| 1,000,001–10,000,000 | $0.0017 | -15% |
| 10,000,001–20,000,000 | $0.0016 | -20% |
| 20,000,001+ | $0.0015 | -25% |
authentication international
| Monthly messages | Rate | vs list |
|---|---|---|
| 0–100,000 | $0.1440 | list |
| 100,001–300,000 | $0.1368 | -5% |
| 300,001–1,000,000 | $0.1296 | -10% |
| 1,000,001–10,000,000 | $0.1224 | -15% |
| 10,000,001–20,000,000 | $0.1152 | -20% |
| 20,000,001+ | $0.1080 | -25% |
Volume tiers at 2,000,000 utility messages
2,000,000 utility templates a month in Sri Lanka: $3715.00 instead of $4000.00 at list, a blended $0.00186 per message (7% off).
| Messages in the month | Messages | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–150,000 | 150,000 | $0.0020 | $300.00 |
| 150,001–1,000,000 | 850,000 | $0.0019 | $1615.00 |
| 1,000,001–2,000,000 | 1,000,000 | $0.0018 | $1800.00 |
Worked example
An illustrative month for a business messaging customers in Sri Lanka, at list rates before volume tiers:
| Marketing | 50,000 × $0.0732 | $3660.00 |
| Utility | 200,000 × $0.0020 | $400.00 |
| Authentication | 100,000 × $0.0020 | $200.00 |
| Service (1,000 free) | 29,000 × $0.0020 | $58.00 |
| Meta charges for the month | $4318.00 |
Illustrative volumes. Excludes taxes, platform fees and volume-tier discounts.
Which category drives the bill
In the example month, marketing is 85% of the bill in Sri Lanka but only 13% of the messages: one marketing template costs as much as 36.6 utility templates. Moving order and account updates to utility templates, and answering inside the free service window, lowers the bill fastest.
Sri Lanka compared with nearby markets
Marketing in Sri Lanka ranks 3 of 5 in this group (1 = cheapest) and is 42% above the average of the other markets. Utility and authentication are 66% below their average.
| Market | Marketing | Utility | Authentication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | $0.0732 | $0.0020 | $0.0020 |
| India | $0.0118 | $0.0014 | $0.0014 |
| Nepal | $0.0732 | $0.0034 | $0.0034 |
| Bangladesh | $0.0732 | $0.0037 | $0.0037 |
| Pakistan | $0.0473 | $0.0150 | $0.0150 |
Source: Meta's official WhatsApp Business Platform rate card (USD), effective 1 October 2026, retrieved 2026-10-10. Rates are set by Meta and can change; your quote confirms the current rate.
WhatsApp pricing in Sri Lanka: questions
How much does a WhatsApp message cost in Sri Lanka?
From 1 October 2026, Meta charges per delivered template message to recipients in Sri Lanka: $0.0732 for marketing, $0.0020 for utility and $0.0020 for authentication, and $0.1440 for authentication-international. Rates are in USD.
Is WhatsApp cheaper than SMS in Sri Lanka?
An authentication (OTP) template in Sri Lanka costs $0.0020, 94% less than the cheapest SMS: $0.0340 on Hutch Sri Lanka. We route SMS to 3 networks there (Dialog Axiata, Mobitel and Hutch Sri Lanka). A marketing template costs $0.0732, 2.2× that SMS rate, so promotions are where the gap is widest. SMS in Sinhala is UCS-2: 70 characters per segment, so a 120-character message bills as 2 SMS; WhatsApp bills 1 message.
Which WhatsApp messages cost the most in Sri Lanka?
In the example month, marketing is 85% of the bill in Sri Lanka but only 13% of the messages: one marketing template costs as much as 36.6 utility templates. Moving order and account updates to utility templates, and answering inside the free service window, lowers the bill fastest.
What do 2,000,000 utility messages a month cost in Sri Lanka?
2,000,000 utility templates a month in Sri Lanka: $3715.00 instead of $4000.00 at list, a blended $0.00186 per message (7% off).
What is the authentication-international rate in Sri Lanka?
$0.1440 per message, 72× the domestic authentication rate of $0.0020. Meta charges it only when an eligible business sends authentication templates to users in Sri Lanka from outside its primary business location.
Which opt-in rules apply to business messages in Sri Lanka?
Verifiable opt-in required, with traffic categorised by use case at the time of registration. DLT-style template approval applies in several markets. STOP keyword and DND-registry suppression applied automatically. Records retained per regulator requirements.