WhatsApp API number or InBetween: which do you need?

What is a WhatsApp API number?

A WhatsApp Business API phone number is a normal phone number, mobile or landline, that is registered on Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform instead of in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app. Messages to that number arrive in software: a provider's inbox, a CRM or your own code. There is no phone app where you simply open the chat. That is the main difference from the free Business app, and the reason teams, bots and integrations run on the API.

How to get a WhatsApp Business API phone number

1. Choose how you connect: directly through Meta's Cloud API (you need a developer) or through a provider, often called a BSP, such as Twilio, 360dialog, Trengo or Superchat.
2. Create or use a Meta Business account and a WhatsApp Business Account inside it.
3. Add the phone number and verify it with a code by SMS or voice call. A landline works if it can receive the call.
4. Set a display name. Meta checks it against your business, and business verification raises your sending limits.
5. Connect the number to the inbox or tool your team will use and set up message templates if you want to start conversations yourself.

Can you use your existing number on the API?

Usually yes, but traditionally the number had to leave the WhatsApp or Business app first. Your chat history in the app does not move to the API. Some providers now offer coexistence, where a number stays in the Business app and is also connected to the API. Availability, supported features and limits differ per provider and country, so ask before you migrate. Many businesses therefore take a separate number for the API and keep their known number in the app.

What the API can do: multiple users, auto replies and calls

Because the API has no app of its own, multiple users always work through a platform: a shared inbox where several agents log in, see conversations and assign them. Auto replies and bots are built in that platform or in your own code, for example a welcome message, an answer outside opening hours or a menu. One Business Account can hold several numbers, which suits brands or branches. Meta has also added business calling to the platform; whether you can use voice calls depends on your provider. All of this is powerful, and for a team of agents it is the right tool. For an owner who wants one coworker to answer, it is a lot of setup.

Choose the Business API if

• You need an official Meta integration, for example for compliance or a CRM integration.
• You send templated messages or campaigns at scale.
• Several agents answer at the same time and you need reporting.

Choose InBetween if

• You want to keep the number your customers already use, in the app you already have.
• Each customer should be handled by one person at a time.
• You want to be live today, without verification or a developer.

InBetween connects your existing WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business number by QR code, like WhatsApp Web. Each customer message goes to one coworker, the reply goes back from your business number, and the customer's number stays hidden by default. The dashboard is currently only in Dutch. Third-party prices are indicative and change; check them with the provider.

Frequently asked questions