WhatsApp Rate Updates for Jan 01, now live

Meta’s important pricing updates for the WhatsApp Business Platform, are effective January 1, 2026

🔹 Utility & Authentication rates are updated in North America with a slight decrease - North America - from $0.004 (currently) to $0.0034 (from Jan '26).

🔹 Marketing rates are updated in 3 markets - with approx 10% Increase in - India - from $0.0107 (currently) to $0.0118 (from Jan '26).

Also there is a 40% decrease of marketing message rates in France and Egypt - Egypt - from $0.1073 (currently) to $0.0644 (from Jan '26) France - from $0.1432 (currently) to $0.0859 (from Jan '26)

Gif header now supported in marketing template creation

Businesses using Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp can now use animated GIFs as the message header in their WhatsApp marketing campaigns. This new format is now globally available to all partners and end businesses, and aims to bring motion and visual richness into the message bubble, helping brands stand out in chats and drive stronger engagement.

GIF headers are supported for carousel marketing message templates and are exclusively available only to businesses using the Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp. If your template includes a URL in the call-to-action button or message body, the GIF header is also tappable, allowing people to navigate directly to your destination link. This launch gives businesses a new way to create more dynamic and engaging campaigns on WhatsApp. By bringing motion and richer visual storytelling into the message header, businesses can better capture attention, differentiate their brands in chat, potentially leading to better results for their marketing efforts on WhatsApp.Wpload video in template creation API which will show as GIF.

Now supported in Gupshup Temp creation API Check Gupshup Docs

Named params in Template Creation

Named params which are brought in by Meta are self-documenting and make it easier for- Product managers, Ops teams, QA and Support to review during template approval and audits. These are now supported on Gupshup template creation API. Read Meta docs Check Gupshup docs

MM Lite ToS Signed event

Since Meta has introduced ToS signed event on completion of MM Lite onboarding, we recommend V3 API users to consume the event to know when they can start redirecting their marketing messages to the MM lite endpoint. Read more

Latam - All set for WhatsApp Voice?

Yes, we are excited to announce that Gupshup has now launched both user-initiated and business-initiated WhatsApp Business Calling API for SIP, a capability introduced by Meta to bring real-time voice calling directly into the WhatsApp messaging thread. This powerful feature transforms WhatsApp from a pure messaging channel into a true end-to-end business communication platform. The feature is now fully supported in all latam regions - Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, etc. Inbound docs Outbound docs

Partner API to delete template by ID and elementname now live

Partner can now use this API to delete a template using the templateId and elementName. Read here

Carousel in service message now supported

The interactive product carousel message enables businesses to send horizontally scrollable product cards within WhatsApp conversations, allowing users to browse and engage with products directly in-thread. Product Card Message

Interactive media carousel messages display a set of horizontally scrollable media cards. Each card can display an image or video header, body text, and either quick-reply buttons or a URL button. Media card Message

Additional Cost of Marketing through Cloud API & Breakup of the same - now live

Starting Jan 01, 2026, marketing messaging sent via Cloud API (not MM Lite) are charged at 6% extra cost by Gupshup. The breakup of the Gupshup fee is now available in Partner portal

Other improvements -

Coupon code templates now support codes with up to 20 characters, instead of 15
Major improvements in billing event latency has been taken which should reduce the billing event delays significantly.
Partner portal ‘Apps’ tab now supports filter/sort apps by ‘customer ID’ for easier discovery.

Template matching service in session endpoint - End of Life

The Gupshup template matching service - which helps you send template msgs even as a body through session message endpoint of v2v- will be discontinued for apps using it, over the next few days.

IMPACT :

Starting Feb 01, 2026 the template matching service will be discontinued for all apps created on or before 31st July 2025. Thus any template messages (or content same as of a template) sent via the session message endpoint will be passed on to Meta as session message, instead of template message. This means that if the end user is not within the customer service window,

HOW TO FIX:

Partners must ensure to use Send Template endpoints (instead of session message endpoints) to send template messages for all their apps, on or before 31st Jan 2026 to avoid any message delivery disruptions.

Gupshup Partner Terms of Use Now Live – Action Required

The Gupshup Partner Terms of Use are now live and available. Please refer to the official link below for the Partner Terms of Use: https://www.gupshup.ai/partner-terms-of-use These terms are also available in the Partner Portal → Resources → Legal section.

Why this matters?

The partner terms of use is Gupshup's endeavor to provide you a single, always-updated source of truth, improve compliance, and ensure uninterrupted access to partner features. It thereby provides 100% clarity and transparency between Gupshup and you, thus leading to smoother collaboration going forward.

Acceptance Required for Partners

We have started capturing acceptance of the terms on the Partner Portal once you login.

Acceptance must be completed by a partner account admin
Recommended deadline: March 31
Partners who do not accept the Terms by this date may start losing access to certain partner features

We request you to review and accept the Terms within the stipulated timeline.

Partner Changelogs - now live

The partner product changelogs are now available here.

Deprecation notice: Optin optout interface from gupshup.ai interface & APIs by 31st March

Read this article for details

Changelog

January 2026

December 2025