Glossary · WhatsApp for business
What is the WhatsApp Business API (Cloud API)?
In short
The WhatsApp Business Platform’s Cloud API is Meta’s official way for a business to send and receive WhatsApp messages from software instead of from a phone. It’s what lets a whole team, a chatbot and a CRM work from the same WhatsApp number.
Reviewed 9 November 2026. How it works in Axonave: WhatsApp Business.
The app, and the API
The WhatsApp Business app is built for one person or a small team answering from a phone. The API has no app of its own: you use it through software that connects to it, such as a shared inbox, a chatbot or a CRM.
That software is what makes it useful to a team. Several agents can answer the same number, a chatbot can reply at night, and every conversation can be saved on the customer’s record.
The API comes with Meta’s rules. Outside the 24-hour customer service window you can only send approved templates, and Meta charges per delivered message, by type and the customer’s country.
- Many people and a bot on one number
- Templates, approved in advance, to start a conversation
- Messages billed by Meta, per delivered message
How it works in Axonave
The official Cloud API, connected from inside Axonave.
Axonave runs on Meta’s official WhatsApp Cloud API. You connect a number with Embedded Signup from inside Axonave, without a developer, and a workspace can hold several numbers. Chats land in the shared inbox, bots and the AI answer with reply buttons and lists, and Meta bills your WhatsApp account directly: Axonave adds nothing per message.
- Embedded Signup: connect a number yourself
- Template messages with images and documents
- A WhatsApp spend estimate by Meta’s own rates (Meta’s invoice is final)
Aisyah asks on WhatsApp late at night, in Bahasa Malaysia, when her sofa will arrive; our demo workspace’s after-hours chatbot replies in her language.
WhatsApp Business API (Cloud API): common questions
Do I need a developer to use the WhatsApp API?
Not with Axonave. You connect your number with Meta’s Embedded Signup from inside Axonave, and the chats arrive in the inbox.
Who pays for WhatsApp messages?
Meta bills your WhatsApp account directly, at its own rates. Axonave adds no per-message charge, and Reports → Chats shows a spend estimate, with Meta’s invoice as the final word.
Can several people answer the same WhatsApp number?
Yes. In Axonave the number’s chats come into the shared inbox and are routed by skill, so each one reaches an agent who can answer it.
See it working with your own customers.
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