WhatsApp marketing message limits: why some messages are not delivered
MRBy Mitesh Rao, Founder, CloudFigma· Updated
The short answer
WhatsApp limits how many marketing messages each person receives from all businesses, based on how many they read. When your message is held back, Meta reports error 131049 and does not charge for it. Opted-in customers, relevant offers and sensible timing get more messages delivered. Resending within 24 hours does not.
The limit on marketing messages per person
WhatsApp may limit how many marketing templates a person receives from all businesses over a period of time, when that person is less likely to read them. The limit is set for each customer, not for your business, and it changes as their reading habits change. Meta explains it on its per-user marketing limits page.
Meta weighs two things: how many recent marketing messages that person has read, and how many messages from friends, family and businesses are already in their inbox. A customer who ignores offers from many businesses may not get yours, even if you have never messaged them before.
- Only marketing templates count. Confirmations, reminders and login codes sent as utility or authentication templates are not held back by this limit.
- If a customer replies to a marketing message, a 24-hour service window opens, and marketing messages you send inside it do not count towards the limit.
- The limit is not currently active for business numbers in, or customers in, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Japan or South Korea.
- WhatsApp does not currently deliver marketing templates to United States numbers at all.
What error 131049 means
When the limit holds a marketing message back, Meta marks it failed with error code 131049 and the explanation “This message was not delivered to maintain healthy ecosystem engagement.” Nothing is wrong with your template or your account. That customer has received enough marketing messages for now.
Meta charges only for messages it delivers, so a message held back this way costs nothing. Meta’s advice is to wait at least 24 hours before sending that person another marketing template. Resending sooner will likely fail again, and repeated retries can stop delivery to them for up to 24 hours.
Other codes look similar but mean something else. These are the ones a small business meets most, from Meta’s error code reference.
| Error | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 131049 | Held back by the per-person marketing limit | Wait at least 24 hours before another marketing message to that person |
| 131050 | The customer chose to stop receiving marketing messages from you | Do not resend; respect their choice |
| 131047 | More than 24 hours since the customer last wrote, so a free-form reply cannot be sent | Send an approved template instead |
| 131026 | The number is not on WhatsApp, or the customer’s app is out of date | Check the number with the customer |
| 131048 | Sending restricted because earlier messages were blocked or reported as spam | Check your quality rating in WhatsApp Manager |
Messaging limits and tiers
Separately, Meta caps how many different people a business can message outside a 24-hour service window in any moving 24-hour period. This messaging limit is set for your whole business portfolio and shared by all its numbers. Replies to customers who wrote to you do not count.
| Tier | People in 24 hours | How you get there |
|---|---|---|
| Starting | 250 | Every new business |
| Second | 2,000 | Complete Meta’s business verification, or send 2,000 delivered templates to different people in 30 days with high-quality templates |
| Higher | 10,000, then 100,000 | Raised by Meta, usually within 6 hours, when quality is high and you used at least half your limit in the past 7 days |
| Highest | Unlimited | The same, at the top |
- Meta sets out the tiers on its messaging limits page. A business that messages fewer than 2,000 different people a day never meets the tier once verified; for it, the per-person marketing limit is what holds offers back.
Quality rating: how customers’ reactions count
Meta judges message quality from how people received your messages over the past seven days, weighted towards the most recent. The signals are blocks, reports, mutes, archives, and the reasons people give when they block you.
Each template also has its own quality rating in WhatsApp Manager: green for little or no negative feedback, yellow or red when several people gave negative feedback or few read it, and unknown until there is enough data. A template that keeps getting negative feedback or low engagement can lose its approved status, and then it cannot be sent.
Low quality also stops growth: Meta raises a messaging limit only for businesses sending high-quality messages.
How to get more marketing messages delivered
None of these limits can be switched off, by you or any provider. But the per-person limit and quality ratings both follow whether people read your messages, and people read messages they want. Meta’s opt-in rules and its best practices for marketing messages come down to five habits.
- Opt-in: message only people who agreed to hear from your business, by name. Ask for offers separately from order updates, so a customer who wanted delivery news is not surprised by promotions.
- Relevance: send each offer to the customers it suits, such as past buyers of a product or regulars due a visit, rather than to everyone. Start with the customer’s name, and keep it short: WhatsApp folds anything longer than five lines behind “Read more”.
- Timing: send around moments that matter to your customers, such as a festival or the end of a season, at an hour they are likely to read, and avoid days when every business is competing for attention.
- Rest: count how many marketing messages each customer gets in a week, and give those who have stopped reading a break.
- Opt-out: make stopping easy, and honour it at once.
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Questions people ask
Am I charged for a message that failed with error 131049?
No. Meta charges only for template messages it delivers, and a message held back by the per-person marketing limit is not delivered.
How long should I wait before resending a held-back message?
At least 24 hours, as Meta advises. Resending sooner will likely fail again, and repeated retries can block delivery to that person for up to a day.
Do these limits apply to order updates and reminders?
The per-person limit applies only to marketing templates. Order updates, booking reminders and login codes sent as utility or authentication templates are not held back by it, which is one more reason to keep them free of offers.
Can a WhatsApp provider get around the marketing limit?
No. WhatsApp applies it to every business on the platform. Pulse labels a held-back message in plain words, “Held back by WhatsApp’s marketing limit”, so you know not to resend it straight away.
Where do I see my quality rating?
In WhatsApp Manager, inside Meta Business Suite. The phone numbers tab shows your number’s quality rating and messaging limit, and the templates tab shows each template’s rating and read rate.
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