WhatsApp Capacity, Quality Rating, and Messaging Limits

WhatsApp imposes rate limiting when you first start sending messages with your new WhatsApp number

If you are intending to message with more than 1,000 unique users, you have to gradually roll out and increase your tier rating over a few weeks.

Here are WhatsApp's rate limit tiers:

Every new WhatsApp-enabled number is initialized at Tier 1. WhatsApp monitors message volume as well as quality, and will automatically move customers between tiers based on the total number of unique recipients across the past 7 days.

If within the past 7 days, a WhatsApp-enabled phone number has communicated with 2x the unique recipients of the per-day limit, and maintains a good "quality rating" from WhatsApp, that number will be automatically moved to the next tier on the next day.

Because WhatsApp encrypts messages, it relies on user feedback to measure quality of messages. WhatsApp uses this feedback to track an internal "quality rating" for senders that can effect how users are able to move between rate limiting tiers. Factors including the frequency rate of "report spam" and "block" on your sender may influence the quality rating." Senders with the Low quality rating may not be eligible to move up in rate limiting tiers.

In order to maintain high quality, WhatsApp recommends the following:

• Make sure messages follow the WhatsApp Business Policy.
• Only send messages to users who have opted into receiving messages from your business.
• Make the messages highly personalized and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
• Be mindful of messaging frequency; avoid sending customers too many messages a day. Be thoughtful of informational messages, optimizing for content and length.

A low Quality rating can result in a number being prevented from moving to a higher rate tier, or even in some cases being downgraded to a lower rate tier.