WABA (WhatsApp Business Account): what it is, how to create one and connect it to Kommo

What is a WABA?

A WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) is your company’s account on Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform. It brings together your phone numbers, message templates and billing. Without a WABA you cannot send or receive messages through the official WhatsApp API or create message templates.

Many people read the acronym as “WhatsApp Business API”, but in Meta’s documentation the WABA is the account (WhatsApp Business Account). The API is the technical way to use that account: CRMs, chatbots and platforms like AnyLinga connect to the API on behalf of your WABA. How the official API connects to Kommo.

Every WABA belongs to a business portfolio (formerly Business Manager) in Meta Business Suite. According to Meta’s documentation, a portfolio starts with a limit of 2 registered numbers, which can grow to 20, and up to 20 WABAs.

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WABA vs official API vs WhatsApp Business app

In short: to use the official API you need a WABA. If your team works in the WhatsApp Business app today and wants conversations in Kommo without migrating, AnyLinga also connects the number by QR code — and that is the channel where AnyLinga handles WhatsApp groups inside Kommo.

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What the WABA ID is and where to find it

The WABA ID is the numeric identifier of your WhatsApp Business Account. Providers, CRMs and Meta support often ask for it to locate the account, and it is used in the API calls that manage numbers and templates.

In Meta Business Suite

1. Go to business.facebook.com and pick the business portfolio in the top menu.
2. Click the gear icon (Settings).
3. Open Accounts → WhatsApp accounts.
4. Select the account or click Details. The ID is shown next to the account name.

With the Meta API

If you have a system user token, list the portfolio’s WABAs with:

GET https://graph.facebook.com/<version>/<PORTFOLIO_ID>/owned_whatsapp_business_accounts

The response includes the id of each WABA.

WABA ID, Phone Number ID and portfolio ID: don’t mix them up

• Business portfolio ID (formerly Business Manager ID): identifies the company in Meta Business Suite. One portfolio can hold several WABAs.
• WABA ID: identifies the WhatsApp account inside the portfolio.
• Phone Number ID: identifies each number inside the WABA. This is the ID the API uses to send messages.

When you connect through AnyLinga you don’t need to copy any of these IDs: the connection uses Meta’s Embedded Signup, which fetches the WABA details automatically.

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Stage 1. Preparation: what you need

Before creating the WABA, make sure you have:

• A Meta business portfolio (Meta Business Suite), ideally already verified
• A phone number that is not active in any WhatsApp app, personal or Business
• Your company’s legal details: full legal name, address, website and tax ID (for example, an EIN in the US, or the equivalent in your country)
• Access to a company email on your business domain: it speeds up verification
• Admin rights in the portfolio (if you work as a team)

Important: if the number is in use in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, deactivate it in the app before registering it in the WABA. Meta also offers a coexistence mode (app and API on the same number), but the AnyLinga connection currently requires a number that is not active in the app.

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Stage 2. Business portfolio in Meta Business Suite

Everything starts in Meta Business Suite, Meta’s portal for your company’s ad accounts, pages, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Step 1. Create the portfolio or open it

Go to business.facebook.com and log in with your personal Facebook profile. The personal profile is only used to sign in and is not shown publicly.

If you don’t have a portfolio yet, click “Create account” and enter:

• Business name
• Your name
• Business email

Step 2. Complete the business profile

In Settings → Business info, fill in every field:

• Official legal name
• Registered address
• Business phone
• Website
• Business category

The more complete the profile, the faster the verification in the next stage.

Step 3. Add a payment method

Meta bills paid API messages to the WABA. Add a credit card in the Payments section (Billing Hub).

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Stage 3. Business verification

Business verification is Meta’s check that your business is real. It is not required to get started: an unverified portfolio starts with up to 2 phone numbers and a limit of 250 customers per day for template messages. Verification is one of the ways to raise those limits.

Step 4. Start verification

In Meta Business Suite, go to Settings → Security Center → Start verification.

Meta offers three ways to confirm:

• Website domain: add a meta tag or an HTML file to your site
• Business email: Meta sends a code to an address like name@yourcompany.com
• Documents: certificate of incorporation, tax registration or an equivalent document

Verifying by business email or domain is the fastest. Document verification can take 2 to 7 business days.

Step 5. Submit documents (if you chose that option)

• Certificate of incorporation or tax registration certificate
• Business register extract or equivalent
• Invoice or tax document showing the company details

The document must show the official legal name, exactly as you entered it in Business Suite. A name mismatch is the most common reason for rejection.

Step 6. Track the status

The status appears in the Security Center:

• Unverified: the process has not started yet
• In review: Meta is processing the request
• Verified: you can move on to the next stage

If verification is rejected, Meta shows the reason. In most cases it is a difference in the company name or a technical error in the domain confirmation. The seven most common reasons, with a fix for each, are in the Meta verification rejection guide.

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Stage 4. Creating the WABA and registering the number

Step 7. Create the WhatsApp Business Account

In Meta Business Suite, open the WhatsApp section (or Add products → WhatsApp) and choose Create WhatsApp Business account. You will need to provide:

• The business profile on WhatsApp (name, category, description)
• The phone number

Step 8. Add and confirm the number

Enter the number in international format (for example, +1 415 555 0132). Meta checks that it is not in use in another WhatsApp account and sends a confirmation code:

• by SMS;
• or by voice call (useful for landlines).

After you enter the code, the number is registered in the WABA but not yet activated for sending messages.

Key point: registering the number with Meta and activating it for sending are separate actions. Activation happens when you connect the number to a platform through the Meta API; in AnyLinga it is automatic.

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Stage 5. Connecting the WABA to AnyLinga and Kommo

With the number registered, all that is left is to connect it. AnyLinga uses Meta’s official Embedded Signup, which activates the number during the connection, with no manual requests and no waiting.

Step 9. Click “Connect WABA”

Open AnyLinga, log in and click “Connect WABA” in the WhatsApp Business integrations section.

Step 10. Authorize with Meta

1. Log in with the Facebook profile linked to your portfolio
2. Select the portfolio where the number is registered
3. Confirm the permissions for AnyLinga (access to the WhatsApp Business account)

Step 11. Done: the number is activated

After authorization, AnyLinga fetches the WABA details and activates the number through the Meta API. The number starts sending and receiving messages with no extra steps.

Step 12. Set up the profile, templates and Kommo

• WhatsApp profile: name, description, photo and links, in the WhatsApp section of Meta Business Suite.
• Message templates: required to start conversations. They are created and approved in Meta Business Suite (usually within 1 to 24 hours).
• Kommo: link Kommo in the AnyLinga integrations section (WhatsApp CRM integration: connect the official API to Kommo). Conversations arrive in Kommo as leads, with automatic distribution across the team and in the pipeline and stage you choose.

That’s it: the WABA is connected and working. See every channel AnyLinga connects to Kommo on the home page and the step-by-step setup for each one in the knowledge base.

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How much a WABA costs in 2026

Creating a WABA is free. What Meta charges for are messages sent through the official API. Since July 1, 2025 the charge is per delivered template: the old per-conversation model (with 1,000 free conversations a month) no longer exists. The price depends on the template category and the recipient’s country.

Rates for North America (US and Canada, Meta rate card)

Utility and authentication have volume discounts, calculated per month and per market. Until September 30, 2026, free-form replies inside the 24-hour customer service window (service messages) were free.

What changes on October 1, 2026

• Service messages start being charged. Each business number gets 1,000 delivered service messages per month free; after that, each message costs the same as a utility message in the customer’s country (US$0.0034 in North America).
• The free allowance is shared between one-to-one chats and groups; when you send to a group, each recipient who gets the message counts as one. Unused messages do not roll over to the next month.
• Utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window, free since July 2025, are charged again.
• Reactions (an emoji in reply to a message) stay free and do not use the allowance.
• Some markets get new rates, for example marketing in Mexico and utility and authentication in Peru.

Example calculation

A number that, in one month from October 2026 onward, sends 3,000 support replies and 500 marketing messages to customers in the US:

• Service: 3,000 − 1,000 free = 2,000 × US$0.0034 = US$6.80
• Marketing: 500 × US$0.0250 = US$12.50
• Total paid to Meta: US$19.30

Rates change often. The values above were checked on September 30, 2026 on Meta’s pricing page, which has the rate tables for every country.

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Common mistakes when creating a WABA

• The number is still active in the app. Registration fails. Deactivate the number in WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business first.
• A different legal name on the documents. This is the main reason verification is rejected. Use exactly the name on your company registration.
• Number registered, but no messages go out. Registering is not activating: connect the number to a platform through the API.
• Utility template rejected. Promotional text inside a utility template gets rejected; change the category to marketing.
• Mixing up the WABA ID and the Phone Number ID. See the difference above.

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Full checklist: from zero to an active WABA

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What changed in 2026

• January 2026 — chatbot restriction: Meta banned general-purpose chatbots on the WhatsApp Business API. Numbers that answer every message with a generic LLM risk reduced limits or a block. Assistants focused on business use cases are still allowed.
• April 2026 — stricter template approval: promotional language in templates marked “utility” started getting rejected. Vague variables like {{1}} with no context are flagged automatically.
• July 2026 — billing in reais (Brazil only): businesses billed in Brazil can create WABAs in BRL.
• October 2026 — paid service messages: 1,000 free per number per month, utility charged inside the 24-hour window, and new rates in some markets (details in pricing).
• Throughout 2026 — stricter business verification: see the seven rejection reasons and how to fix them.

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Calculate your cost: WhatsApp API pricing calculator — Meta’s rates for every country, volume discounts and the 1,000 free service messages per number.