WhatsApp Business app vs the WhatsApp Cloud API, and how Coexistence lets you use both
How the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Cloud API differ, what Coexistence changes on your phone, and how to run both on one number.
There are three kinds of WhatsApp a business might use: WhatsApp Messenger (the personal app), the free WhatsApp Business app, and the WhatsApp Cloud API, which is part of Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform. The first two are apps on a phone. The Cloud API is not an app at all. It is a service Meta runs so that software can send and receive WhatsApp messages for a business. Coexistence is the Meta feature that puts one number on both the Business app and the Cloud API at the same time.
What are WhatsApp Messenger and the WhatsApp Business app?
These are the two WhatsApp apps that run on a phone, and they are what people usually mean by “normal WhatsApp”.
- WhatsApp Messenger is the personal app. It has no business profile, catalogue or business tools. Using it for a business works until there is more than one person, or more than a few dozen customers.
- The WhatsApp Business app is the free app for small businesses. It adds a business profile, a catalogue, labels, quick replies, and greeting and away messages. It runs on one phone, plus up to four linked devices such as WhatsApp Web.
The Business app is a good product, and for one person answering one number it is often all a business needs. Its limits are about scale. Every reply is typed by a person, and nobody can see who owns a conversation. Free broadcast lists hold at most 256 contacts and only reach people who have saved your number. In some countries the app also sells paid business broadcasts, which Meta reviews before they go out.
What is the WhatsApp Cloud API?
The WhatsApp Cloud API is part of the WhatsApp Business Platform. Meta hosts it, and businesses reach it through software, usually from a provider such as TicAte WhatsApp. There is no app to install. The number is answered from a browser, a CRM, a chatbot, or all of them at once.
The Cloud API comes with Meta's rules:
- The 24-hour window. You can reply freely for 24 hours after a customer messages you. After that you may only send a template Meta has approved. See the 24-hour window, explained.
- Templates. Each template is reviewed before you can use it, and it is categorised as marketing, utility or authentication.
- Per-message pricing. Meta charges for each template it delivers, by category and country. Replies inside the service window are free. See WhatsApp Business API pricing in India.
- Messaging limits. A new business can start conversations with a limited number of customers a day. The limit rises as you keep sending messages people want.
WhatsApp Business app vs Cloud API: side by side
| WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Cloud API | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An app on a phone | A Meta-hosted service used through software |
| Cost | Free | Meta charges per template sent; the software is paid |
| People answering | The phone, plus up to 4 linked devices | As many agents as the software allows |
| Who owns a chat | No assignment | Assignment, queues and notes, depending on the software |
| Broadcasts | Free lists of up to 256 people who saved your number; paid business broadcasts in some countries | Approved templates to opted-in customers, with delivery and read reports |
| Automation | Greeting, away and quick replies | Chatbots, flows, AI replies and integrations |
| Groups, calls, Status | Yes | Groups and Status: no |
| Rules | WhatsApp's terms | The 24-hour window, template approval and messaging limits |
Neither one is strictly better. The Business app is simpler, free, and has groups and Status. The Cloud API wins on teams, automation and reporting. For years a business had to pick one, because a number moved to the API stopped working in the app.
What is WhatsApp Coexistence?
Coexistence is Meta's feature for connecting a number that is already on the WhatsApp Business app to the Cloud API, without taking it off the phone. Meta calls it onboarding WhatsApp Business app users. The phone keeps working exactly as before, and the same number is answered from a shared inbox. A message sent from the phone appears in the inbox, and a reply from the inbox appears on the phone. The customer sees one ordinary chat.
It is set up by a Meta Tech Provider or Solution Partner through Embedded Signup, a Meta popup in which you log in, choose your business and scan a code with the Business app. You need version 2.24.17 or later of the WhatsApp Business app. Our Coexistence page shows the four steps.
What comes across when you connect?
- Chat history: up to six months (180 days) of one-to-one chats, if you choose to share them. Group chats are not included, and media is only included for roughly the last 14 days.
- Contacts: every contact with a WhatsApp number, plus later changes to them.
- Live messages: everything sent or received from the moment you connect, on either side.
History and contacts must be synced within 24 hours of connecting, so keep the Business app open while that happens.
What changes on the phone?
Coexistence costs a few things, and the full list is short:
- Disappearing messages, view-once messages and live location are turned off in one-to-one chats.
- Broadcast lists become read-only. You send broadcasts from the platform as templates instead.
- Linked devices are logged out once. You can link up to four again, but WhatsApp for Windows and WhatsApp for Wear OS are not supported.
- Group chats, calls, Status and channels stay on the phone. The inbox does not see them.
- A number used on both sides is limited to 20 messages a second. That is ample for a shop or a clinic, but not for very large campaigns.
- Open the Business app on the phone at least every couple of weeks. Meta disconnects a number whose phone app has been inactive for about 14 days.
How do you use both day to day?
The businesses that get the most from Coexistence split the work by who is doing it, not by which tool is better:
- The owner keeps the phone. Regular customers, groups, calls and replies on the move stay in the app, exactly as before.
- The team works the inbox. New enquiries are assigned, tagged and followed up from a shared inbox, and nobody replies twice because everyone sees the same thread.
- Automation covers the gaps. A chatbot answers the 11pm questions and hands over to a person in the morning.
- Broadcasts move to templates. Offers and reminders go out from the platform to opted-in customers, with delivery reports, instead of a 256-person list.
What does it cost?
Messages you send from the Business app stay free after Coexistence. Messages sent through the Cloud API are charged at Meta's standard Cloud API rates. Replies inside the 24-hour window are free on the API too, so a team that mostly answers customers pays Meta very little. A message sent from the phone does not open or extend the API's 24-hour window, because Meta counts the two sides separately.
Is Coexistence right for you?
Stay on the Business app alone if one person answers every chat and replies come within the hour. Choose Coexistence if a second person needs to answer the same number, if enquiries arrive out of hours, or if you want broadcasts to reach customers who never saved your number, but you do not want to give up the phone. If you are still deciding, read when a business actually needs to switch.
Coexistence is not a one-way move. To stop, open Settings, then Account, then Business Platform in the WhatsApp Business app, and choose Disconnect Account. The app carries on as a standalone Business app.
