What is WhatsApp Business Platform?
WhatsApp Business Platform lets large and medium-sized businesses engage and communicate with customers at scale via APIs. Conversations can run live through an agent or fully automated, and the APIs connect to the back-end systems you already use.
WhatsApp Business Platform takes the world's most used messaging app into the commercial world. It gives you a specialized chat app built for businesses, plus an API that adds enterprise-scale capabilities, so you can reach the more than 3 billion people who use WhatsApp every month.
Unlike the consumer WhatsApp app, WhatsApp Business Platform isn't an app at all. It's an interface that lets businesses connect to WhatsApp at scale through APIs.
What Are the WhatsApp Business Platform APIs?
WhatsApp Business Platform runs on two APIs: the Cloud API and the Business Management API.
WhatsApp Cloud API
The Cloud API lets you send and receive messages through servers Meta hosts and manages. Because Meta runs the infrastructure, you don't carry hosting costs, and the platform scales with your message volume without extra setup. Since October 2025, the Cloud API is the only way to send and receive WhatsApp Business Platform messages: Meta retired the older On-Premise API, and any business still running on it has since moved to the Cloud API.
WhatsApp Business Management API
The Business Management API lets you manage your WhatsApp Business Account: your templates, phone numbers, and account settings.
How to Get WhatsApp Business Platform?
Working with a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (such as CM.com) is easiest way to get access to WhatsApp Business Platform. Business Service Providers (BSPs) are exclusively selected by Meta to offer direct access to WhatsApp Business Platform.
