What is WhatsApp Business API?
In this document, we’ll help you understand what the WhatsApp Business API is and how to use it to reach your customers on WhatsApp.
Meta (the company that owns WhatsApp) offers two different WhatsApp solutions:
- WhatsApp Business Platform
WhatsApp is the standard messaging app that is used by billions of people across the globe to chat with friends and family. It also has a companion web app, WhatsApp Web, that you can access from your browser.
WhatsApp Business Platform, on the other hand, is a separate solution designed to help small, medium, and large-scale businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages from their customers.
One of the products under this platform is the WhatsApp Business mobile app. It provides businesses with an additional set of features, like quick replies, to manage customer conversations. Millions of small businesses use this app to stay connected with their customers.
For businesses that need more advanced capabilities, WhatsApp also offers a programmatic solution through the WhatsApp Business API. It allows you to send bulk messages, automate replies, create chatbots, and integrate WhatsApp with your existing tools and systems.
The WhatsApp Business mobile app is best suited for small businesses that need a simple chat tool. But if you need to send thousands of messages at once, trigger transactional messages for actions like order placements or form submissions from your website, or manage chats across your sales, marketing, and support teams, the WhatsApp Business API is a better choice.
Note that you cannot use the same phone number for both the WhatsApp Business mobile app and the Business API at the same time.
3 Different Ways to Use WhatsApp Business API
There are three different ways you can use the WhatsApp Business API to send and receive messages:
- Building a tool in-house – You can hire developers to integrate the API with your website or CRM through custom code.
- Sign up with a Business Solution Provider (or BSP) – BSPs are official WhatsApp partners that offer ready-to-use software for accessing the Business API. This means you don’t need to build anything yourself. However, a major downside is that BSPs act as intermediaries between you and WhatsApp, often charging high monthly fees along with a 12–35% markup on top of WhatsApp’s standard per-conversation pricing.
- Sign up with a Tech Partner like WANotifier – We provide a simple, easy-to-use tool that lets you access the WhatsApp Business API using your own API credentials. You retain full control over the setup, usage, and billing of the API. We charge only a small fee for using our platform, giving you all the benefits of a BSP, without the high costs or added markups.
Get started today by creating your free account.
Want to learn more?
If you’re looking for a deeper understanding of how the WhatsApp Business API works, we’ve written a detailed guide covering setup, use cases, and best practices.
>>> WhatsApp API Guide for Businesses
Updated on: 20/06/2025
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