Can the agent sit on a personal WhatsApp?

Not in a stable way that follows the platform rules. A customer agent sits on the Business API.

What does each message cost?

Meta's price at the time, paid to them. It is not part of the 9,500 NIS.

Ordinary WhatsApp versus the WhatsApp Business API

A wa.me link opens a chat and a person presses send. An agent that answers a customer without someone sitting on the phone needs WhatsApp's business platform, not the ordinary app.

Two different tools

In the ordinary app the account is tied to a phone. A message leaves when someone sends it. You cannot put a stable automatic reply for customers on it, with a log and a handoff, without breaking the platform rules.

The WhatsApp Business API is Meta's connection for businesses. The number is verified, the display name is reviewed, and messages leave through a server. The account is registered to the business, not to the person who built the agent.

Ordinary versus API
	Ordinary WhatsApp	Business API
Who sends	A person on a phone	The system, by a rule
Whose account	A personal or app business number	The business, after verification
A night reply	Only if someone is awake	Only inside the rules
A message you start	A person writes	An approved template, billed by Meta

A one-day window, then a template

After a customer writes, a window opens in which you can answer inside the conversation. Outside that window Meta requires an approved message template, and bills it on its price list. A reminder two days after silence is not the same cost as an immediate reply.

Verification is submitted from the business account. We guide it. The approval does not sit with us, and the display name is not guaranteed for a particular day.