Official vs unofficial WhatsApp: differences and questions

According to Meta's documentation, the WhatsApp Business Platform lets businesses communicate with their customers at scale, and its Cloud API lets you message and call on WhatsApp programmatically.

The documentation distinguishes a WhatsApp account, which is your business presence on WhatsApp with its phone numbers, and a messaging account, where templates, billing and payment methods are managed.

According to Meta's documentation, templates are customisable messages built before sending and generally need approval first.

According to their public documentation, the two open-source tools below offer connections based on WhatsApp Web, and one of them also documents the official Cloud API. What each one's documentation says follows; this is not a ranking.

Evolution API: Supports two connection types: Baileys, based on WhatsApp Web (the README notes it relies on the web version of WhatsApp and may differ from official APIs), and Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API.

WAHA: Offers the WEBJS, WPP, GOWS and NOWEB engines; the documentation describes WEBJS as a real WhatsApp Web instance run with Puppeteer. The engines page does not mention the official WhatsApp Business API.

The same product can offer both kinds of connection. That is why official or unofficial is a property of the connection you choose, not of the tool's name.

The next section quotes what Meta and WhatsApp say about unofficial apps in general, not about these tools.

According to the WhatsApp Business messaging policy, among other conditions, the person's prior opt-in permission is required to contact them on WhatsApp, and you must give clear instructions for how to stop receiving messages.

According to the same policy, WhatsApp may limit or remove a business's access to WhatsApp for Business, and its systems may limit the number of messages a business can send.

According to WhatsApp's terms for the Business Platform, WhatsApp may modify, suspend or terminate a business's access to its platform services, including if it determines that the business violates those terms.

According to the WhatsApp Help Center, unofficial WhatsApp apps are developed by third parties, and using them or linking a WhatsApp account to unofficial versions violates its Terms of Service.

According to the WhatsApp Help Center, the account may be temporarily or permanently blocked, or face restrictions, including on linking devices.

That page is a help article written for people who use the WhatsApp app and talks about unofficial apps in general; it does not refer to any tool named in this guide.

Meta's and WhatsApp's terms can change. Before deciding, read the current ones on their pages.

Have them answer in writing:

Is the connection to WhatsApp Meta's official one (Cloud API), or is it built on WhatsApp Web?

In whose name do the WhatsApp Business account and the number stay? What happens to both if you change provider?

How are templates created and what is the approval flow? Who sends them for review?

How is each person's permission to receive messages recorded, and how are opt-outs handled?

What does the provider charge and what does Meta charge separately?

Textra sends its WhatsApp messages through Meta's official API. Each template carries a category, and for marketing, contacts with no consent are skipped.

The categories guide details how to pick each template's one; the comparison page lists facts from each tool's own sources, tool by tool. This guide does not rank products.