WhatsApp Business API
Also called: WhatsApp Business Platform · Cloud API
Programmatic access to WhatsApp for businesses — not an app you log into, but an interface a platform connects to on your behalf.
The WhatsApp Business API, now officially the WhatsApp Business Platform, is how businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale. The critical thing people get wrong is that it is not an application. There is no API you log into: you connect a platform to it, and the platform is what you actually use day to day.
Almost everyone now means the Cloud API, which Meta hosts. The older On-Premises API, which you ran on your own infrastructure, is being wound down. If someone offers you WhatsApp access that is neither of these, it is an unofficial bridge, and that is where ban stories come from.
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Related terms
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WABA (WhatsApp Business Account)
The Meta-side account that owns your phone numbers, message templates, quality rating and messaging limits.
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BSP (Business Solution Provider)
A company authorised by Meta to provide businesses with access to the WhatsApp Business Platform.
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Cloud API
Meta-hosted version of the WhatsApp Business Platform, and the route essentially everyone uses today.