Meta Business Agent
Term 164 of 314 · Technology
In one sentence
Meta Business Agent is the AI agent Meta offers businesses to reply on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger using the company's own information: catalog, hours, prices and policies. Its responses are billed per token.
Reviewed by Juan Manuel Garrido
Co-founder of VantegrateLinkedIn
Meta Business Agent definition
Meta Business Agent is Meta's artificial intelligence agent for serving a company's customers on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. It replies in natural language using the information the business uploads (catalog, hours, prices, policies), recommends products, books appointments and hands off to a person when needed. Each agent response is shown with an AI label visible to the customer.
Meta launched it first in Mexico as Business AI and then opened it to businesses of any size worldwide (Meta, 2026). Its responses are billed per token: USD 2 per million tokens, about 4 to 5 cents per typical response according to Wati (2026).
What it does and what it doesn't
The agent works with the information the business provides inside Meta's tools. It answers frequently asked questions, shows catalog products, guides the buyer through the purchase and books appointments. What it does not do on its own is read the company's internal systems: ERP stock, each customer's price list, their account balance or their history in the CRM. For that, Meta announced a separate platform for large enterprises that lets them build agents connected to systems such as Shopify or Zendesk (Meta, 2026).
When it is enough
- Businesses with a small or stable catalog and the same prices for everyone.
- Repetitive questions: hours, payment methods, shipping, general availability.
- Teams that reply by hand from the app and have no CRM or ERP to integrate.
When it is not enough
- B2B sales with customer-specific price lists, volume discounts or credit to validate.
- Orders that need to be entered in the ERP without double data entry.
- Operations where every conversation has to be logged in Salesforce or another CRM, with its source campaign.
- Technical products where a made-up answer has a cost: compatibility, standards, expiration dates.
In those cases, the deciding factor is not the cost of each response but the integration with your systems, which is the work a managed agent such as Sellium does.
How it is billed
The Meta agent's responses are billed per token. It is worth estimating that cost together with the per-message rates of the WhatsApp Business API: the details are in how much the WhatsApp Business API costs.
Meta Business Agent vs. an integrated AI agent
| Aspect | Meta Business Agent | Integrated agent (for example, Sellium) |
|---|---|---|
| Source of answers | What the business uploads to Meta | Your systems: ERP, CRM, catalog and rules |
| Customer-specific prices | Only with your own integration | Yes, with your price list and your terms |
| CRM logging | Only with your own integration | Every conversation and every order |
| Setup | Self-service | Implementation with discovery and integration |
| Cost | Responses billed per token | Implementation plus a subscription with AI credits |
FAQs about Meta Business Agent
What is Meta Business Agent?
What is Meta Business Agent?
It is Meta's AI agent that lets businesses reply on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger using the company's own information: catalog, hours, prices and policies. It replies in natural language, recommends products, books appointments and hands off to a person when needed.
How much does Meta Business Agent cost?
How much does Meta Business Agent cost?
Its responses are billed per token: USD 2 per million tokens, about 4 to 5 cents per typical response according to Wati (2026).
Does Meta Business Agent connect to my ERP or CRM?
Does Meta Business Agent connect to my ERP or CRM?
Not on its own: it replies with what the business uploads to Meta's tools. To connect it to your own systems, Meta announced an enterprise platform that requires development. When the sale depends on ERP stock, customer-specific price lists or logging in the CRM, an integrated agent is the better fit.
When is an integrated AI agent better than Meta's?
When is an integrated AI agent better than Meta's?
When the answers depend on data that lives in your systems: real stock, customer-specific prices, credit, orders that have to go into the ERP or conversations that have to be logged in Salesforce. For simple catalogs and frequently asked questions, Meta's agent is usually enough.
From the definition to the conversation that sells
Sellium replies, qualifies and books meetings on WhatsApp without anyone watching the phone, and keeps every conversation synced to the CRM. Tell us how you sell today and we will show you how it would look.
Related terms
- AI AgentAn AI agent is a software system that perceives its environment, reasons about a goal and takes actions autonomously to achieve it, using tools and memory without a fixed script or human intervention at every step.
- ChatbotA chatbot is a program that simulates a conversation with people through text or voice, answering questions automatically. Modern chatbots use artificial intelligence to understand natural language and solve tasks, not just follow a fixed script of options.
- WhatsApp Business APIThe WhatsApp Business API is Meta's official interface that lets mid-sized and large companies connect WhatsApp to their systems (CRM, e-commerce, chatbots) to send messages at scale, automate conversations and serve customers through multiple agents.
- WhatsApp Service MessageA service message is the free-form, non-template reply a business sends on WhatsApp within the 24-hour window the customer opens by writing in. Each number gets 1,000 free per month; after that, they are charged at the utility rate.
- Meta Business VerificationMeta Business Verification is the process through which a company confirms its legal identity to Meta, with official documentation, in Business Manager. It is a requirement for running the WhatsApp Business Platform at scale: registering numbers and raising messaging limits.
- Omnichannel InboxAn omnichannel inbox is a single interface that brings together conversations from every channel (WhatsApp, email, web chat, social media and phone) in one place, so the same agent can reply without switching apps and see the customer's full history.
Related questions
- What is outbound in sales?in Outbound Sales
- What is a payment gateway?in Payment Gateway
- What is a payment link?in Payment Link
- What is a quotation?in Quotation (Sales Quote)
- What is an SDR in sales?in SDR (Sales Development Representative)
- What is an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)?in SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
Sellium
The AI agent that replies, qualifies and books meetings on WhatsApp, with every conversation synced to the CRM.
How Sellium solves itFive AI products that work on top of the CRM you already use. They don't replace your system: they add the layer you do by hand today.
