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21 Sept 2026: Spend Estimator: know what you'll spend, and don't run out of credits

Raquel Updated by Raquel

Two new features in Turn: a Spend Estimator that projects your costs under the new rates based on what you're already sending, and Auto top-ups that keep your balance funded when traffic goes beyond that.

Meta's new messaging rates take effect on 1 October. For most teams, the hard part isn't the rates themselves — it's not knowing what they'll actually mean for your bill, and having messages fail to send because the account balance hit zero without anyone noticing.

We've shipped two features to fix both problems.

Spend Estimator

The Spend Estimator gives you a projected monthly cost for each billing account, based on your real sending history rather than a generic calculator.

How it works. We take the last six months of traffic on your WABA and reprice it using the rates that come into effect on 1 October. You get an estimated monthly spend, plus a runway figure showing how long your current credit balance is likely to last at that rate.

What's included in the calculation:

  • Your 1,000 free service conversations per number, per month
  • If you are under the current waiver on authentication and utility messages

What isn't: free service messages for eligible government and non-profit organisations. If your organisation qualifies for that programme, your real costs will be lower than the estimate shows.

Read it as a projection, not an invoice. It's built on what you've sent in the past, and the past six months were unusual: service messages were free for most of that window, and until April the waiver covered marketing as well. If your mix of message types shifts — and for most projects it will — your actual spend will differ.
Teams with high month-to-month variance should treat the number as a range, not a target.

Auto top-ups

Auto top-ups keep your account funded without anyone having to watch the balance.

Once enabled, whenever your credit balance drops below $10, we automatically charge your payment method for an amount you choose. You can also set a monthly cap, so automatic top-ups stop once you've hit your budget for the month — no silent overruns.

Availability: Auto top-ups work with automatic subscriptions (credit card or PayPal) only. If you're currently on a manual subscription and want to use this, get in touch with your Turn contact — we'll move you across.

How to get access

Both features are rolling out gradually. If you'd like them enabled on your account, or you need help switching to an automatic subscription for Auto top-ups, contact your Turn representative or reach out support.

What's next

We're continuing to refine the estimator as more post-October data comes in, and self-service subscription switching is on the way — so moving from a manual to an automatic subscription won't need us in the loop.

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