# What are WhatsApp template categories?

> Marketing, utility and authentication are the WhatsApp template categories. Learn what each covers, how they are priced, and how to pick the right one.

WhatsApp template categories are the labels Meta assigns to every approved template, marketing, utility or authentication, which control how the template may be used and what each send costs.

Updated 6 Aug 2026

## The three categories.

Marketing covers anything promotional: offers, new product announcements, invitations to buy again. Utility covers messages tied to a transaction the customer already has with you: order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders, payment receipts. Authentication covers one-time passcodes and login verification, and nothing else. Every template you submit must be filed under one of these, and Meta reviews the wording against the category you chose.

## Why the category matters.

Category is the main input to what you pay. Marketing sends cost the most, utility sends cost less, and authentication is priced separately again, with rates varying by the country code of the customer. Category also shapes tolerance: customers block promotional messages far more readily than they block a delivery update, and blocks feed straight into your quality rating and messaging limits.

## Getting the category right.

If Meta thinks your wording is promotional, it will re-categorise the template as marketing regardless of what you filed it under, and you pay the higher rate. The safest approach is to write utility templates that genuinely read as utility: reference a specific order, booking or account, keep offers out of them, and put the promotional wording into a separate marketing template that goes to an opted-in audience.

The Voltade take

When we map a client's WhatsApp flows, we sort every outbound message into a category before writing a word of copy. Most of what an SME actually needs to send is utility: the order moved, the appointment is tomorrow, the invoice is ready. Keeping those clean and separate from marketing keeps both cost and complaint rates down.

Related pages

WhatsApp Template Message · WhatsApp Conversation-Based Pricing · WhatsApp Quality Rating · WhatsApp Broadcast Messaging

More from the glossary

AI Agent · PSG Grant · AI Agent vs Chatbot

## Want to see this in action?

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SMEs are eligible for up to 50% Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) support for the adoption of Voltade AI solutions, a Pre-Approved Solution under the IMDA SMEs Go Digital programme.

## Links

- [WhatsApp Template Message](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/what-is-a-whatsapp-template-message)
- [WhatsApp Conversation-Based Pricing](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/whatsapp-conversation-pricing)
- [WhatsApp Quality Rating](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/whatsapp-quality-rating)
- [WhatsApp Broadcast Messaging](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/whatsapp-broadcast-messaging)
- [AI Agent](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/what-is-an-ai-agent)
- [PSG Grant](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/what-is-psg-grant)
- [AI Agent vs Chatbot](https://voltade.com/sg/resources/glossary/ai-agent-vs-chatbot)