Wondering How Whatsapp Earns Money? Whatsapp is the largest Instant Messaging apps in the world. It is available for all popular operating systems such as Android, iOS, Windows, etc which makes it extremely popular.

It was originally developed and owned by founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum in early 2009.

Whatsapp provides advanced IM services to over 1 billion users worldwide at nearly no cost at all. Unlike other social media apps and platforms, Whatsapp is completely ad-free. So, you must be wondering, how Whatsapp earns money? Here’s how.

Early Whatsapp Revenue Strategy

Initially, Whatsapp charged new users $1 in some countries to download and install the app on their smartphones. These users had to pay an annual $1 subscription fee as well to update the app every year. Still, there were numerous countries where the app was available for download free of charge.

As large angel investors, such as Sequoia Capital began investing, the owners waived off the minimal $1 fee as well and Whatsapp became completely free to download and use.

This was a successful strategy by the owners to position Whatsapp as the leading instant messaging app worldwide.

Once Whatsapp had created an immense worldwide network, it attracted Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s attention, who finally bought Whatsapp for $19 billion in February 2014. Does WhatsApp make any money

Latest Whatsapp Revenue Strategy

These are the ways Whatsapp makes money:

  • User Data Generation Factory – After Facebook acquired Whatsapp, it had a readymade directory of user details for over 700 million users worldwide. This became an integral part of the Whatsapp User Agreement that allows it to share user data with Facebook.

  • Whatsapp Business Application – The Whatsapp Business Application is another way for the app to earn money. The Whatsapp Business App is designed for helping users create a professional-quality business profile and become verified Whatsapp users.

  • Whatsapp for Business API – After the immense success of the Business Application, Whatsapp launched the Whatsapp for Business API. This was its first active earning model. This add-on allows business owners to receive notifications for customer queries, respond and promote their services/products.

  • Payment Gateway – Whatsapp recently introduced a P2P payment option for its users. It charges a minimal fee for transactions that adds to its revenue.

These are all the strategies through which Whatsapp earns money currently. There are several other revenue-based plans in the pipeline by Facebook but these are set to be introduced later on.