Messages Pricing
Outbound messages bill per message per month. The first 10,000 are free, then $1 per 10,000 across every inbox channel, starting 1 October 2026.
The message meter starts 1 October 2026. From that date every message Zernio delivers to a recipient on your behalf meters, whichever endpoint sends it: the Inbox API, the Broadcasts API, sequences, workflows and the per-platform send endpoints. The first 10,000 each month are free, then $0.0001 per message ($1 per 10,000). One meter covers every inbox channel. Sends before 1 October 2026 are counted but never billed, and nothing pauses at the free allowance until then.
What counts as a message
Only messages leaving your account count. Everything you receive is free, replies to comments and reviews are free, and the 2 channels that already bill per message are excluded.
| Action | Meters? |
|---|---|
| DM sent, on any channel except X and SMS (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Reddit, Bluesky, Discord) | Yes |
| WhatsApp broadcast, per recipient | Yes |
| WhatsApp flow or sequence message sent | Yes |
X (platform value twitter) DM sent | No, billed at X's pass-through rate |
| SMS sent | No, billed per segment |
| Any message received | No |
| Comment reply, review reply | No |
| Reading conversations, messages, comments and reviews | No |
| Typing indicators, read receipts, marking a conversation read | No |
X DMs and SMS are excluded outright: they do not bill on this meter and they do not consume your 10,000. A failed send does not bill either.
Broadcasts count per recipient. A broadcast is one API call, but it meters once per contact it reaches. A broadcast to 5,000 recipients is 5,000 messages, so it uses half the monthly allowance in a single send. Meta's template fees are unchanged and still bill directly to your WABA; this meter is Zernio's line on top.
Examples
| Messages sent per month | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| 8,000 | Free |
| 10,000 | Free |
| 50,000 | $4.00 |
| 250,000 | $24.00 |
| 1,000,000 | $99.00 |
Scope and mechanics
- The allowance is per team, not per account: sends from every connected account and from every team member roll up to one team total on the team owner's invoice. Free teams (1 to 2 connected accounts) get the same 10,000.
- It resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each calendar month and does not roll over. Unlike connected accounts, messages are not prorated: you get the full 10,000 in the month you sign up, and every message either counts this month or it does not.
- No endpoint reports the running count today.
GET /v1/usageandGET /v1/usage-statscarry connected accounts and X API calls, not messages. Two signals exist instead: with no card on file, Zernio emails the team owner at 7,500 messages, and the send that would pass 10,000 fails with403, codemessage_allowance_exceeded. With a card on file nothing pauses and the overage meters at $1 per 10,000. - It appears on your invoice as Managed Messages, itemized like every other meter. See How billing works for the mechanics.