My new branch needs its own WhatsApp number
Before adding a number, one thing has to be cleared up, because it is the misunderstanding that most often makes people pay when they did not need to: one number can be answered by all of your staff, however many there are, at no extra cost. Adding people does not add cost. A second number is not for adding people.
When a second number really is needed
- A branch wants its own number because it is already printed on the signage, the business cards, or that branch's map listing.
- Two different lines of business under one company, a beauty clinic and a dental clinic for instance, whose customers should not be mixed.
- A hard split between teams, for example sales separate from complaints, because different people handle them to different response targets.
When it is not needed
- Because staff numbers grew. One number already covers any number of people.
- Because the chats got busy. Volume is handled with assignment and labels inside one inbox, not by splitting the number. A second number adds another place that has to be watched.
- Because you want to separate morning and evening shifts. That is assignment, not numbers.
The cost
US$10 per month per additional number. Later months join your regular subscription invoice automatically. one invoice, one date, no separate bill to keep track of. Message fees are still paid directly to Meta and do not change.
Because numbers are usually added mid-cycle, you choose how to pay when opening the slot:
- Pay only the remaining days (usually the sensible one), up to your next renewal date. Example: your renewal falls on the 16th and you add the number on the 8th → you are billed for 8 days only, roughly US$2.60. From the 16th the number is billed in full, US$10, like any other.
- Pay a full month (US$10): the number is counted for a full month from that day. Days running past your renewal date are not lost: they become a credit on your next subscription invoice, shown as a line reading "Credit for the extra number already paid".
Either way, no single day is ever charged twice, and your billing stays on one date.
The steps
- In the dashboard, open Connect. Because your number quota is already used, the page offers Add a WhatsApp number.
- Choose how to pay (remaining days, or a full month), then complete the payment.
- Once paid, the same page opens the connection flow to Meta automatically. It works exactly as it did for your first number, including the option to connect a number already in use on the WhatsApp Business app, see coexistence mode.
Not ready to pay? The offer can be cancelled from the same page and expires by itself if left alone. Nothing is billed quietly.
Releasing a number you no longer use
Connected the wrong number, or closed a branch? Open Settings, find the number and click Disconnect this number. Your number slot frees up immediately, so a replacement connects as an ordinary number rather than a paid extra one.
Only the link to WACO is removed. Your existing conversation history is kept, and the number can be connected again at any time through Connect number. New messages stop arriving from the moment you disconnect.
One AI assistant is still enough
If you use the AI Operator, a second number selling the same product does not need a new assistant. Just tick the new channel on the Assistant page, and the quota stays as one. A second assistant only makes sense when the product is genuinely different.