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WhatsApp's quality rating and messaging limits

Raquel Updated by Raquel

The sentiment of your users will determine your phone number's quality rating, and ultimately your ability to initiate conversations on WhatsApp.

Because messages on WhatsApp are encrypted, WhatsApp relies on user feedback to measure the quality of a service. WhatsApp provides users the ability to "report spam" and "block" a number. They monitor this feedback to determine an internal quality rating for your number.

Your quality rating impacts your overall phone number status and your messaging limit.

We have a summary of your Account details on our Add a Reminder page:

For more details about your phone number, please visit your Meta Business Suite account.

Simply put, if users block your number or report your messages as spam, WhatsApp flags your number and may restrict how many template conversations you can initiate daily.

Quality rating

Your quality rating indicates how template messages have been received by your users in the last 24 hours. There are three states:

  • 🟢 Green: High quality
  • 🟡 Yellow: Medium quality
  • 🔴 Red: Low quality
A low quality rating may result in messaging restrictions, even if you're otherwise meeting scaling criteria. It will also prevent automatic upgrades to higher tiers.

How to improve your quality rating

  • Make sure your templates comply with the WhatsApp Business Policy.
  • Make sure your messages are clear, personalised, and useful. Avoid open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
  • Only send template messages to users who have opted in to receive messages on that specific topic.
  • Be mindful of your messaging frequency. Avoid sending too many templates in a day.
  • Be thoughtful about informational messages — optimise for content and length.
  • If your quality rating has recently dropped, check whether your organisation added and sent a new template in the last 7 days. This can help identify a problematic template.
Note: We cannot change or request a change to your quality rating. It is your responsibility to follow WhatsApp's recommended good practices.

Phone number status

Your phone number can be in one of three states:

  • Connected: You can send outgoing messages within your messaging limit.
  • Restricted: This occurs when you reach your messaging limit, regardless of quality rating. While restricted, you can't send outgoing templates until the 24-hour window resets. You can still respond to user-initiated messages within that window.
As of October 2025, the Flagged status no longer exists. Messaging limits will no longer automatically decrease if your quality rating drops. However, maintaining a high quality rating is still important — a low rating can prevent your portfolio from scaling up to higher tiers.

Messaging limits

Portfolio-level limits (effective October 7, 2025)

Messaging limits are now managed at the business portfolio level, not per individual phone number. This means all phone numbers in your Meta Business Portfolio share a single messaging limit.

This is a significant change from how limits worked previously:

Before October 2025

After October 2025

Each phone number had its own limit

All numbers in a portfolio share one limit

New numbers started at 250/day

New numbers inherit the portfolio's current limit

Limit upgrades took up to 24 hours

Upgrades now happen within ~6 hours

Limits could be downgraded if quality dropped

Limits no longer decrease due to quality drops

What this means for you:
  • When the change took effect, each portfolio's limit was automatically set to the highest limit among all its phone numbers.
  • Any new phone number you add to your portfolio immediately inherits the portfolio's current limit — no warm-up required.
  • If one number in your portfolio damages quality, it can affect the entire portfolio's ability to scale.
We cannot change your tier directly. To view your current portfolio limit, visit Meta Business Manager → WhatsApp Manager → Messaging Limits.

How to move up the tiers

Getting from 250 → 2,000

New portfolios start at 250 conversations per day. To unlock the 2,000 tier, your portfolio must meet one of the following:

  • Verify your business in Meta Business Manager, OR
  • Send 2,000 delivered template messages (with a High quality rating) to unique users outside the customer service window, within a rolling 30-day period.

Once either condition is met, Meta reviews your quality and applies the 2,000 limit — typically within 6 hours.

Automatic scaling: 2,000 and above

Once your portfolio reaches 2,000, WhatsApp will automatically upgrade your limit when both of these conditions are met:

  1. High-quality messages: Your business is sending high-quality messages across all phone numbers and templates (quality rating must be Medium or High).
  2. Consistent usage: In the last 7 days, your portfolio has used at least 50% of your current daily limit each day.

When both conditions are met, your limit will upgrade to the next tier within approximately 6 hours.

Scaling path example

Day

Portfolio limit

Messages sent

50% threshold met?

Day 1–7

2,000/day

1,200/day

✅ Yes (60%)

Day 8

Upgraded to 10,000/day

—

—

Day 8–14

10,000/day

6,000/day

✅ Yes (60%)

Day 15

Upgraded to 100,000/day

—

—

Tip: You don't need to reach 100% of your limit — just over 50% consistently. Even if you hit your limit on some days, prioritise quality over volume. A low quality rating will block upgrades even if you're hitting usage thresholds.

Tips for scaling faster

  • Gradual rollout: When starting out or sending to a new audience, roll your send out over several days rather than blasting in one go. This protects quality and helps you meet the consistent-usage requirement across 7 days.
  • Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA) ads: Messages initiated through CTWA ads come with an extra 72-hour messaging window after the user replies. This helps you engage new unique contacts and meet usage thresholds more quickly.
  • Coordinate across your portfolio: Since all numbers share one limit, align campaigns across teams and numbers so no single campaign exhausts the daily pool.

How do I know I've hit my messaging limit?

If you're using the Turn APIs to send templates programmatically, watch for error responses relayed from WhatsApp. A Rate Limit error on outgoing templates is often the earliest signal that you've hit your limit — this can appear before you receive an official notification from Meta via email.

For more details, refer to Meta's official documentation on Capacity, Quality Ratings, and Messaging Limits.

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