Every provider uses these words on day one and almost none of them explain what they mean. Here they are, in the order you’ll run into them.
- WhatsApp Business Platform
- Meta’s official product for business messaging at scale. “WhatsApp Business API” is the older name for the same thing and the two are used interchangeably. It is not the free WhatsApp Business app.
- Cloud API vs On-Premise API
- Two ways the Platform used to be reached. Cloud API is hosted by Meta and is what everyone uses now. The On-Premises API ran on your own servers and Meta has retired it, which is why migration guides still turn up in search. On Cloud API runs on the Cloud API.
- WABA (WhatsApp Business Account)
- The container Meta creates for your business. It holds your phone numbers, your message templates and your quality rating. You own it; a provider connects to it.
- Embedded Signup
- Meta’s hosted popup that links your Facebook Business account and phone number to a provider. This is the ten-minute part of setup — the waiting is business verification, not this.
- Message template
- A pre-written message Meta reviews before you may send it to someone outside an open conversation. Categories are marketing, utility and authentication, and the category sets the price.
- 24-hour customer service window
- When a customer messages you, you can reply freely for 24 hours. Each business number gets 1,000 of these replies free per month; beyond that Meta bills the utility rate. After it closes you need an approved template, which is billed.
- Quality rating
- A green/yellow/red score Meta gives each number, driven mostly by blocks and “report” taps. It is the thing that actually governs whether your number stays healthy, not your sending volume.
- Messaging limit
- How many unique customers you may start conversations with in a rolling 24 hours. New numbers begin on a low starter tier; once you are business-verified the tier steps up through 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 to unlimited, provided your quality rating holds.
- Business verification
- Meta checking your company is real, using registration documents. It lifts your messaging limits and is a prerequisite for applying for the verified badge. Turnaround varies; mismatched company names are the usual reason it drags.
- Verified badge (blue tick)
- The badge next to your business name. Meta used to show it in green and now shows it in blue, so older guides and newer ones describe the same thing. Meta grants it at its own discretion based on how notable your brand is—no provider can issue one or promise you one.
- Coexistence
- A newer Meta option that lets a number keep working in the WhatsApp Business app while also running on the API, so you can move across without losing your chat history.
- Tech Provider vs BSP
- The two Meta partner types that change what you pay. A Business Solution Provider resells the messaging and prices it itself. A Tech Provider supplies the software while Meta’s published rates apply. On Cloud API is a Tech Provider.
