How to connect WhatsApp to your CRM: options, Meta's rules and costs

In many countries, plenty of customers would rather send a WhatsApp message than call or email. The problem is where those conversations end up: on a salesperson’s phone, on a shared number nobody knows who answers, or scattered across several people with the CRM none the wiser. When that salesperson goes on holiday, the conversation goes with them.

Connecting WhatsApp to your CRM fixes that: every conversation lands on the customer’s record, where it can be assigned, measured and automated. This guide covers which version of WhatsApp you need, the ways to connect it, Meta’s rules you cannot skip, how messages are billed and the most common mistakes.

WhatsApp Business app or WhatsApp Business Platform

There are two products with similar names, and only one is built to integrate properly with a CRM:

• The WhatsApp Business app is the free mobile app. It is designed for one person answering from their phone (and a few linked devices), with quick replies, labels and a catalogue. It has no official connection to your CRM.
• The WhatsApp Business Platform (its cloud API, the Cloud API) is the business version that connects to other systems. It lets several people answer the same number from the CRM, send automated messages and log every conversation. You use it directly with Meta or, more often, through a provider or your CRM’s integration. The old self-hosted version (the On-Premises API) stopped working in October 2025; today the platform is the Cloud API.

If you already use the app with a number your customers know, you do not have to give it up. Meta supports coexistence: connecting that same number to the platform while still using the app, with history synced. There are limits (groups and broadcast lists, for example, do not carry over to the platform), so check them before you move.

What you gain by connecting WhatsApp to your CRM

• The full history on the customer’s record. Anyone on the team can see what was said, even if they were not the one answering.
• Assigned conversations. Every chat has an owner, and if nobody replies, an alert goes off.
• No lost leads. A new contact who writes on WhatsApp is created in the CRM automatically, with their source and first request.
• Useful automated messages. Confirmations, appointment reminders or order updates, sent from the CRM when something happens.
• Measurement. How many conversations come in, how long replies take and how many end in a sale.

Three ways to connect it

1. Your CRM’s native integration. The big CRMs have one, usually built on Meta’s official platform. According to their help pages in October 2026: HubSpot includes it in the Professional and Enterprise plans of Marketing Hub or Service Hub; Pipedrive from its Growth plan; Zoho CRM in its paid editions; and Salesforce through its messaging channel in Service Cloud. The simplest option if your plan includes it.
2. An intermediate messaging inbox. Tools that specialise in chat support connect to WhatsApp and sync contacts and conversations with your CRM. A good fit if you serve customers on several channels (WhatsApp, web chat, Instagram) or your CRM has no native integration.
3. A custom integration. Connecting the Cloud API to your CRM through an automation platform (n8n, Make) or code. It gives full control over what gets stored and automated, and it is the option when the CRM is in-house or the process is very specific.

Each option has its own cost: the CRM plan that includes the integration, the messaging provider’s fee or the development, plus what Meta charges for messages.

WhatsApp’s rules you cannot skip

The platform has strict rules, and breaking them can get your number blocked:

• The 24-hour window. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens in which you can reply freely. Every new message from the customer resets it. Outside that window you can only send approved templates.
• Templates. Predefined messages that Meta reviews before you can use them, each in a category: marketing, utility (confirmations, order updates, reminders) or authentication (one-time codes). Review can take up to 24 hours.
• Consent. Under the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, you may only message people who have given you their number and agreed to hear from you, and you must honour every opt-out. Privacy law (the GDPR in the EU) applies on top. Record in the CRM when and how each contact gave consent.
• A path to a person. You can automate replies, but the policy requires clear, prompt ways to reach a human: handing the chat to a person, a phone number, an email.
• Sending limits. There is a maximum number of different people you can message outside the service window in 24 hours. It starts at 250 and rises as you verify your business and keep message quality high.

What sending messages costs

Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered message, at a rate that depends on the category and the recipient’s country. Since 1 October 2026, also:

• Free-form replies inside the 24-hour window (service messages) have a free tier of 1,000 a month per phone number; beyond that they are charged.
• Utility templates sent inside that window are no longer free, as they were from July 2025 to September 2026.
• Marketing and authentication templates are always charged, except within the free window that opens when someone messages you from an ad that clicks through to WhatsApp.

Meta reviews its prices every quarter, so check its pricing page before running numbers. Add the fee of the CRM plan or provider you use.

Patterns that tend to work

Example (hypothetical). A clinic connects its WhatsApp number to the CRM. When a new patient writes, the contact is created with their question and the chat is assigned to reception. When the appointment is booked, the CRM sends a confirmation template and, the day before, a reminder with an option to reschedule. If the patient replies with a question, the conversation goes back to the assigned person. Everything stays on their record.

Other common uses:

• Leads from ads or the website that arrive on WhatsApp and become deals assigned to the right salesperson.
• Order status: confirmation, dispatch and delivery, triggered from the ERP or online store.
• A short survey after the service, with the answer stored in the CRM.
• An automatic first reply outside office hours, saying what to expect and how to reach a person.

Chatbots and AI on WhatsApp

You can have an AI assistant answer your customers on WhatsApp, as long as it is your own customer service. What Meta’s terms prohibit is using the platform to offer general-purpose AI assistants as the main product. An assistant that answers about your products, orders or appointments is allowed.

It should, however, make clear it is AI, always offer a way to reach a person and answer only from your own information. We go into detail in AI agents for customer service.

Common mistakes

• Several people sharing one phone with the app, instead of moving to the platform.
• Sending promotions to people who did not agree to them. Besides breaking the policy, it leads to blocks and reports that lower your number’s quality rating.
• Not recording consent in the CRM, so you cannot prove it later.
• Generic or ambiguous templates that Meta rejects, or that the customer cannot make sense of out of context.
• Automating with no way out to a person. It frustrates customers and goes against WhatsApp’s policy.
• Connecting WhatsApp before tidying the CRM. With duplicate contacts, conversations get split across different records.

Where to start

Check whether your CRM plan includes the integration, decide which number you will use (and whether you need coexistence with the app), and pick one or two specific uses to begin with, such as logging leads and sending reminders. This is the kind of project we do in CRM setup, migration and integration and, if you want an assistant that answers, in AI chatbots and customer service. In the free 30-minute audit we go through it with you; write to us from the contact page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I connect the WhatsApp Business app to my CRM?

Not officially. Integration needs the WhatsApp Business Platform. If you already use the app, Meta supports coexistence: connecting the same number to the platform while still using the app, with some limits.

How much does it cost to send WhatsApp messages from a CRM?

Meta charges per delivered message by category and country. Since October 2026, replies inside the 24-hour window have 1,000 free messages a month per number, then they are charged. Add the CRM or provider fee.

Can I send promotions to my customers on WhatsApp?

Only to people who gave you their number and agreed to hear from you, using approved marketing templates, and honouring every opt-out. Privacy law also applies.

Can I use an AI chatbot on WhatsApp?

Yes, if it is your own customer service assistant. Meta prohibits offering general-purpose AI assistants as the main product. It must always offer a way to reach a person.