WhatsApp Business app or API for website enquiries?

What is the difference between the WhatsApp Business app and the API?

The WhatsApp Business app is a free phone app that people in your business use to chat with customers by hand. The API, which Meta calls the WhatsApp Business Platform, is a way for software to send and receive messages from your business number. For website enquiries, what matters is that the app can't be connected to your website, and the API can, at a price.

What can the WhatsApp Business app do for website enquiries?

It's where the conversation carries on once the customer is talking to you. The app is free to download on Android and iPhone, and adds a business profile, lists to sort your contacts and messaging tools such as greeting and away messages.

Up to four other devices can be linked to the same account, so a colleague can answer from their own phone or a computer. The main phone has to log in to WhatsApp at least once a fortnight to keep them connected. The same number can't run personal WhatsApp and the Business app at once, though you can move a number from one to the other.

The app can't receive anything from your website automatically. There is no setting or add-on that lets a contact form post into it, so on its own it only helps once a customer has chosen to message you.

What does the WhatsApp Business Platform need?

It needs a Meta business portfolio, a phone number registered to the platform and pre-approved message templates. Many small businesses reach it through a provider such as Twilio, or through a plugin or automation tool that connects to it, because using the Cloud API directly means writing code.

The number is the first hurdle. Meta's documentation says a number already in use on WhatsApp can't be registered unless that account is deleted first, so many businesses use a new number. The second is templates. When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens, and you can reply freely inside it. Outside it, which is where a form alert usually falls, only pre-approved templates can be sent.

The third is cost. Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per template message delivered, priced by the template's category (marketing, utility or authentication) and the recipient's country. Replies inside an open customer service window are free, and so are utility templates sent inside one. Meta also expects you to have each person's permission before you message them, so a form that leads to WhatsApp messages needs a clear opt-in.

Providers add their own fees on top of Meta's, and many also charge a monthly subscription, so compare the total for the number of messages you expect. An alert about a new enquiry sent to your own team would normally be a utility template, but Meta decides each template's category when it reviews it [CHECK].

Can you use the app and the API on the same number?

Yes, through what Meta calls coexistence, offered by some providers. A business already on the WhatsApp Business app connects its number to the Cloud API through a Meta partner, and messages are then mirrored between the app and the API, so you can keep chatting on your phone while software sends from the same number.

Some app features change when you do. Meta lists disappearing and view-once messages as switched off, broadcast lists as read-only, and linked devices as disconnected until supported ones are linked again. It needs version 2.24.17 or later of the app. At the time of writing, not every provider offers it [CHECK], so ask before you sign up with one.

Where do click-to-chat links fit?

A click-to-chat link opens a WhatsApp chat with your number, from your website or an email, and works with either the app or the API. It's free and takes a minute: the address is wa.me followed by your full number in international format, without the leading zero, spaces or brackets. You can add a message for the visitor's chat box too.

https://wa.me/447700900123?text=Hi%2C%20I%27d%20like%20a%20quote

It replaces a form rather than forwarding one, so it suits visitors who would rather message than fill in fields. You can put one on the contact page beside the form and let visitors choose. Our guide to getting website enquiries on WhatsApp covers when a button works and when a form is better.

Which should a small business choose?

Most small businesses need the app and nothing more for talking to customers. The API earns its keep when your own software has to send messages from your business number, such as booking reminders or order updates, and you have someone to set it up and look after it.

• A sole trader whose enquiries come through a form: the Business app for chatting, and a separate alert for each submission.

• A small team sharing customer chats: the Business app, with colleagues on linked devices.

• A business sending reminders or updates to many customers: the Platform, through a provider, with opt-in on every form that collects numbers.

If all you want is to know about each form submission quickly, neither needs to change. The submission can be sent to the WhatsApp you already use by a plugin or service, which our post on sending Contact Form 7 submissions to WhatsApp compares for WordPress sites.

How do you get form alerts without a business account?

Use a form alert service that sends from its own number. Formcrier is one: you scan a QR code with your usual WhatsApp, personal or Business app, and each form submission arrives from Formcrier's number within seconds. You don't need a WhatsApp Business account, templates or a Meta portfolio, and you can send STOP at any time to pause the alerts. Each alert shows the main answers, and View submission opens every field so you can reply, call or copy the details.

It's free for 10 alerts a month. The WhatsApp page shows how it works.