Salesforce WhatsApp templates:who your BSP is and who bills you
A WhatsApp template goes through Meta's approval on any path. What changes is who connects your number and who bills you for each message: Salesforce, a third-party provider or Meta, directly to your account. Here are the three paths and what Salesforce documents for its own channel.
How do WhatsApp templates work in Salesforce?
On the Salesforce WhatsApp channel, templates are created in Salesforce in the utility and marketing categories (authentication templates are not), and Meta has to approve them before the first send, which according to Salesforce usually takes up to a day. They go out from a flow, to customers who gave their consent, and they require the WhatsApp Outbound Messages SKU. On that channel, each WhatsApp Business account supports up to 250 templates.
With that channel, Salesforce connects your number to Meta and bills you for messages under your contract. There are two other paths: a third-party provider (BSP) integrated with your org, or an agent with its own number, such as Sellium, whose messages you pay Meta for directly. Vantegrate does not sell or implement Salesforce licenses or channels: what follows about the native channel is for information only.
Who your BSP is on each path
The BSP is the provider that connects your number to Meta's WhatsApp platform. With Salesforce there are three paths, and on each one a different party plays that role. The difference is not only technical: it decides who invoices you for each message and where templates are managed.
- Native channel: the WhatsApp Business account (WABA) is created and connected from Salesforce Setup, with the Meta login, the profile and the number verification. If the number was with another provider, Salesforce documents how to move it to its channel.
- Third-party BSP: another provider connects the number and joins your org with its own app. Twilio, for example, offers a connector on AppExchange for Flex, its contact center, which supports WhatsApp according to its documentation. Flex is a Twilio product that Vantegrate does not implement; the Twilio integration page has the details.
- Your own number: the number stays in your own WhatsApp Business account, on Meta's official API, and an AI agent like Sellium handles it and writes every conversation into your Salesforce. You pay Meta directly for the messages.
A shared cap: according to Salesforce, the numbers in your Meta portfolio are capped (2 without business verification, 25 with it) and numbers from another BSP count too. If you add a number to the same portfolio, it counts toward that cap.
Three paths and who bills you for each message
The template and its approval belong to Meta on all three paths. What changes is who invoices and in what unit: Salesforce credits, a provider's fee plus Meta's rate, or Meta's rate alone.
| Path | The number | Who bills you for each message |
|---|---|---|
| Salesforce native channel | Salesforce connects it from its Setup | Salesforce, under your contract. With the Agentforce Contact Center Digital add-on, in messaging credits shown in Digital Wallet (Salesforce Help) |
| Third-party BSP integrated with Salesforce | The provider connects it, Twilio for example | The provider: its fee plus Meta's rate. Twilio charges $0.005 per message sent or received, plus Meta's rate (Twilio pricing) |
| Agent with its own number, such as Sellium | It stays in your own WhatsApp Business account, on Meta's official API | Meta, directly to your account and with no markup from Vantegrate. It does not consume Salesforce messaging credits |
Your Salesforce account executive confirms when Salesforce bills each type of message, as its help pages say. Other providers' fees depend on each provider.
What each template costs: Meta's rate by country and by category is in WhatsApp Business API pricing. With messaging credits, Salesforce applies its own multiplier by category and by country, according to its message credit rate cards, and the messages your customers send you do not consume them.
How a template is categorized and approved in Salesforce
A WhatsApp template is the only type of message a business can start outside the 24-hour window, and Meta has to approve it before it goes out. Meta sets the category based on the content and purpose of the message, and the cost of each send depends on it.
On the Salesforce WhatsApp channel, the template is created in Salesforce and, when you activate it, Salesforce submits it to Meta. Salesforce recommends creating and managing them in Salesforce, not in Meta, to avoid sync issues. These are the rules it documents:
- Categories: you can create utility and marketing templates in Salesforce. Authentication templates are not created there.
- Approval: Meta reviews every new template and can change its category when approving it. That change is appealed in the WhatsApp Business account, not in Salesforce.
- Editing: editing an approved template sends Meta a new template, with a name that starts with SFDC, and that approval takes 24 to 48 hours. Meta accepts one change per template every 24 hours.
- Not editable: Salesforce does not let you edit authentication templates, media card templates, templates that ask for a phone number or location templates with a header. To change one, you replace it with another.
- Cap and language: up to 250 templates per WhatsApp Business account, and each one applies to one language and one country.
- One WABA per org: the same WABA cannot be linked to two orgs, and a sandbox counts as another org, so you need another account for testing.
- Metrics: templates created in Salesforce do not get Meta's template metrics (template insights).
Templates from another provider: Salesforce lets you copy them from the original WhatsApp Business account to the channel's account, without writing them again.
What it takes to send templates from Salesforce
Automated templates go out from a flow, to customers who gave their consent, at any time. For that to work, Salesforce asks for these pieces:
- SKU: Salesforce requires the WhatsApp Outbound Messages SKU to send automated template messages.
- Credits: with the Agentforce Contact Center Digital add-on, you have to buy messaging credits to create the channel. On the enhanced channel, every automated message counts as outbound, inside or outside the 24-hour window.
- Consent: WhatsApp requires the customer's explicit opt-in, collected outside WhatsApp, before you send them notifications.
- Verification: Salesforce recommends completing Meta business verification before creating the account.
- Recipients: WhatsApp limits how many different people you can send templates to in 24 hours, the messaging limit. Replying to someone who wrote first does not count.
The app and Salesforce on the same number
Meta lets you use the same number in the WhatsApp Business app and in the API at the same time: that is coexistence. According to its documentation, contacts and the last six months of 1:1 chats are synced, what the app sends stays free and what goes out through the API is billed. It is turned on by a provider that is a Meta Solution Partner or Tech Provider.
Salesforce does not document coexistence for its WhatsApp channel, and its channel setup guide warns of the opposite: once the channel is created, you should not log in to the WhatsApp app with that number, on a phone or on a computer. If you do, the channel cannot be activated.
Before you pick a provider that offers it, it pays to know what changes on the number according to Meta:
- Broadcast: broadcast lists are disabled, and existing ones become read-only.
- Groups: group chats are not synced with the API.
- Sending: the number is fixed at 20 messages per second.
- App: it takes WhatsApp Business 2.24.17 or later.
Two ways out without coexistence: move the whole number to the API with a full migration, without the app, or keep the app on its number and add another number for the channel or for the agent: Salesforce supports several WhatsApp channels, each with its own number.
A sales agent with its own number
Sellium, Vantegrate's AI sales agent for WhatsApp, runs inside your Salesforce and handles conversations on a number that stays in your own WhatsApp Business account. You pay Meta directly for the messages, with no markup from Vantegrate, and they do not consume Salesforce messaging credits, even if your company has the Salesforce WhatsApp channel.
That way, the service channel you already have stays as it is and sales go through another number. One possible split between the two agents is in Agentforce on WhatsApp, and how each lead enters your CRM with its source campaign is in integrating WhatsApp with Salesforce.
Agentforce pricing is a separate charge and uses other credits, Flex Credits, which are different from WhatsApp messaging credits. The Agentforce pricing guide explains it.
Templates in Salesforce, by the numbers
Rules that Salesforce and Meta publish for the WhatsApp channel. They are not Vantegrate results.
250
Templates per WhatsApp Business account on the Salesforce enhanced channel
Up to 1 day
Typical time for Meta to approve a new template created in Salesforce
24 to 48 h
Approval time for an edited template, which reaches Meta as a new one
20
Messages per second, fixed, on a number that uses the app and the API at the same time
Caveats: the approval times are the ones Salesforce gives for its enhanced channel, and Meta can change a template's category when approving it. The rules of both platforms change: check the rules in effect in their documentation before you plan a campaign.
Sellium: the path with your own number
If your team already works in Salesforce, Sellium adds a WhatsApp sales agent without touching the channel you already have: it handles chats on its own number and writes every conversation into your org.
Sellium
AI sales agent for WhatsApp
Sellium is Vantegrate's AI sales agent for WhatsApp: it answers, qualifies and quotes over the official API, and logs every lead in your Salesforce with its source, around the clock.
Explore SelliumSecure AI agents
Sellium runs 100% on Salesforce and Oracle Cloud infrastructure, certified SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. Vantegrate enables, the customer operates and certifies.
See the security modelISV and Consulting PartnerRuns inside your Salesforce
Sellium reads and writes your objects, respects your profiles and permissions, and works alongside Agentforce and your existing flows.
Vantegrate and SalesforceFrequently asked questions about WhatsApp templates in Salesforce
What Salesforce admins and sales teams ask before choosing a path.
Can you create authentication templates in Salesforce?
Can you create authentication templates in Salesforce?
No. You can create utility and marketing templates in Salesforce; authentication templates, which carry verification codes, are not created there. Salesforce also lists them among the templates that cannot be edited.
How long does Meta take to approve a template created in Salesforce?
How long does Meta take to approve a template created in Salesforce?
According to Salesforce, approval of a new template usually takes up to a day. Editing an approved template sends Meta a new template, with a name that starts with SFDC, and that approval takes 24 to 48 hours. Meta accepts one change per template every 24 hours.
Is Salesforce a WhatsApp BSP?
Is Salesforce a WhatsApp BSP?
On its native channel, Salesforce plays that role: it connects the number to Meta from its Setup, and its help pages document how to bring over a number that was with another provider. If you use a third-party BSP, such as Twilio, that provider connects the number and integrates with your org through its own app.
Can I use the WhatsApp Business app and Salesforce with the same number?
Can I use the WhatsApp Business app and Salesforce with the same number?
Meta allows it with coexistence, but Salesforce does not document it for its channel and warns that, if you log in to the app with the channel's number, the channel cannot be activated. The alternatives are to move the whole number to the API or to keep the app on its number and add another one for the channel or for the agent.
Do Sellium messages consume Salesforce credits?
Do Sellium messages consume Salesforce credits?
No. With Sellium, the messages on its number are paid directly to Meta, with your own WhatsApp Business account, and they do not consume Salesforce messaging credits, even if your company has the Salesforce WhatsApp channel. Meta's rate for each country is in WhatsApp Business API pricing.
Do I need the customer's consent to send them a template?
Do I need the customer's consent to send them a template?
Yes. WhatsApp requires the customer's explicit consent, collected outside WhatsApp, before you send them notifications, and Salesforce documents sending automated templates to customers who gave it. Replying to someone who wrote to you first, inside the 24-hour window, does not need a template.
Sell on WhatsApp from your Salesforce with your own number
Tell us how you use WhatsApp and Salesforce, and we will show you how Sellium handles sales on its own number, with messages billed to your Meta account. If you would rather start with Sellium's price, request a quote.
Francisco Morales, co-founder, takes your call. We reply on WhatsApp within 4 business hours, no strings attached.