f you haven't read our first post on Meta Business Agent yet, it covers what the agent is, what it costs, and how it compares to HALO. This follow-up picks up right after: is your number eligible, and what happens once you switch it on.
Is your WhatsApp number eligible?
Meta checks eligibility per phone number, not per business, and a number needs to clear every condition below before Meta Business Agent shows up as an option at all:
The account sits in a supported vertical. Meta excludes Finance, Government, Health, Alcohol, Gambling, over-the-counter drugs, and matrimony services, and the account needs a valid business category set.
The number runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform's Cloud API, not the consumer WhatsApp Business app.
The WhatsApp Business account and the business behind it are in good standing, not restricted or banned.
The business is based in a country Meta has authorized for Meta Business Agent.
The account meets Meta's trust and verification requirements.
The number isn't already running a different messaging product that would conflict with it.
There's no public list of eligible countries beyond the vertical exclusions, so guessing wastes time. Meta's Eligibility endpoint gives a straight yes or no per number, which is worth checking before any other setup work starts.
What the setup actually looks like
Once a number is eligible, the steps happen in a fixed order, and the order matters because early steps unlock later ones. At a high level: you accept the Meta Business Agent Terms of Service in WhatsApp Manager, decide whether you're testing or launching to everyone, then move through the technical setup (system user, access token, app subscription, and the webhook fields the agent needs to hand conversations back to you). We've laid out the exact sequence, including where BSP-managed numbers need a second Terms of Service acceptance, in the Knowledge Center walkthrough.
You can test this before spending anything. Restrict the agent to an allowlist of specific numbers, and Meta doesn't require a payment method at all. Billing only starts once you open the agent to everyone, which makes the allowlist the obvious way to run real conversations through the whole flow before any cost or real customer traffic is on the line.
Your agent is live: what changes for your team
The part that catches most teams off guard isn't the setup, it's what happens the moment the agent goes live. It becomes the one answering your customers. Your existing inbox or automation doesn't disappear, but it moves to standby: it still sees every message coming in, just through a different channel, and it won't reply unless you actively take control back.
A few things worth knowing before that first message comes in:
Taking control back only takes one message. Handing control back to the agent takes a deliberate action instead, releasing it through the API. Simply going quiet on your end doesn't hand control back, which is the most common reason a business thinks the agent has stopped working when it's actually just waiting for a release it never got.
You still see everything, including the agent's replies and delivery and read receipts, so your records stay current even while the agent does the talking.
The agent hands off to a human on its own when it's unsure, hits a policy issue, or a customer asks for a person. That trigger isn't something you configure. You can shape the message sent at that moment, not whether the handoff happens.
If you're already running WhatsApp through CM.com, that handoff lands where your team already works: Agent Inbox, not a new tool bolted on top.
Billing works differently here
Meta bills Meta Business Agent messages directly, through a dedicated credit line in your own Billing Hub, separate from any Solution Provider credit line you already use for standard WhatsApp messaging. That's a different flow from the rest of your WhatsApp billing, where CM.com handles the invoice.
It's also a hard requirement once you go live to everyone: without a credit line attached, agent messages simply won't go out. If you already have a Meta credit line, you attach the Business Agent account to it directly. If not, you apply through Billing Hub and Meta reviews the request.
Ready to check if it fits?
If you're running your WhatsApp Business Platform account through CM.com already, this is the part we handle for you: the eligibility check, both Terms of Service, the webhook and handover setup, and a handoff that lands in the workspace your team already uses.
Schedule a call with us and we'll walk through whether your setup is ready.
FAQ
Ja. Beperk de agent tot een allowlist van specifieke nummers en er is geen betaalmethode nodig. Een credit line heb je alleen nodig zodra je toegang voor iedereen openzet, dus de logische route is: eerst testen op een allowlist, bevestigen dat het werkt zoals verwacht, en dan facturering inrichten voor de volledige uitrol.
Één tarief dekt alles: $2,00 per 1 miljoen tokens, waarbij AI-verwerking en berichtaflevering in één kosten samenkomen. Een gemiddeld antwoord gebruikt 20.000 tot 25.000 tokens, dus de meeste berichten kosten ongeveer 4 tot 5 cent. Deze tokenkosten gelden specifiek voor antwoorden van Meta Business Agent.
Die worden niet uitgeschakeld, maar verliezen de mogelijkheid om automatisch te reageren totdat je zelf actief de controle over het gesprek overneemt. Draai je nu al automation die direct antwoordt, check dan nu of die onbedoeld de controle zou grijpen bij elk klantbericht, en of die de controle daarna weer vrijgeeft of de agent voor onbepaalde tijd stil laat staan.
