Meta does not sell WhatsApp messaging as a turnkey product to every business. Companies either integrate Meta's Cloud API directly or go through a Business Solution Provider — a partner vetted and listed by Meta that packages API access into a usable service.
What a BSP actually does. A BSP registers your WhatsApp Business Account, guides business verification through Meta, provisions phone numbers, and routes messages between your systems and WhatsApp. Most also layer commercial features on top: shared team inboxes, template management, campaign tools, analytics, and chatbot or AI-agent builders.
The Cloud API changed the role. BSPs originally hosted Meta's on-premises API software on their own servers. Meta sunset that architecture in October 2025, so all traffic now runs through Meta's hosted Cloud API. Modern BSPs are software and service layers rather than infrastructure hosts, which shifted competition toward product quality, support, and pricing transparency.
How to evaluate one. Compare markup on Meta's per-message rates, feature parity with the latest Cloud API releases, uptime and support commitments, and portability — whether you can take your number and approved templates with you if you switch providers.
Why it matters for brands
Your BSP determines real messaging costs, available tooling, and how fast you can adopt new WhatsApp features. Because Meta bills per delivered template message, an opaque BSP markup compounds across every campaign — transparent pass-through pricing is worth prioritizing.