# 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)

> WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do messaging whatsapp. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do messaging whatsapp.

- 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP: grade D, 52/100, rank #498 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/360dialog.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/360dialog.json
- WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API): grade B, 67.1/100, rank #201 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.json

## Which one, for what

### 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP (D)

Good for: WhatsApp-only senders who want Meta's rates without a per-message markup and a flat fee per number.

Watch for: No changelog, official SDK or standalone OpenAPI download

### WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) (B)

Good for: The direct route to WhatsApp for a business messaging its own customers, with no reseller fee.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 70
- Agent ergonomics, 67 against 53
- Security & auth, 67 against 35
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 34 against 8
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 48

Watch for: A person has to create a Meta account, a developer app, a business portfolio and a system user in a browser before any token exists


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 80 | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 82 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 67 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 67 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +32 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 8 | 34 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +26 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 82 | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) +34 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52 · D** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | 360dialog | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://waba-v2.360dialog.io` | `https://graph.facebook.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform. The OpenAPI document in facebook/openapi is MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-08-11 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | 2025-08-22 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP.** Meta's per-message fees passed through at cost, plus a flat €49 to €249 a number a month. No changelog, official SDK or standalone OpenAPI download.

**WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API).** The first-party WhatsApp API has a public OpenAPI document, Markdown docs with llms.txt, numeric rate limits and a test number that sends without a payment method. Setup needs a person in three Meta dashboards, no idempotency key was found for sends, and Meta's terms restrict general-purpose AI assistants on the platform.

## Before you call either

### 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP

1. Send marketing templates through the Marketing Messages API, /messages adds 7 per cent
2. Ask a docs page a question with `?ask=` before reading the whole page
3. Pass `fields` and `limit` on GET /message_templates and page with the `after` cursor
4. Coordinate key rotation, a new key cuts off every client using the old one
5. Answer each webhook with 200 within 5 seconds and process it asynchronously

### WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)

1. Check when the user last wrote. Free-form messages are accepted only within 24 hours of the user's last message. After that, send an approved template.
2. Record the message id from each send and match it to `messages` webhook statuses. Many failures arrive only by webhook, and no idempotency key was found.
3. On error 130429 or 131056 wait and retry. Meta's guidance for the per-recipient limit is 4^X seconds, with X rising by one per failure.
4. Verify `X-Hub-Signature-256` with the app secret on every webhook, and deduplicate, because failed deliveries are retried for up to 7 days.
5. Request `health_status` on the phone number before a campaign to see whether the app, business, account, number and template can send.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP or WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API)?

WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) need an API key?

360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) without installing anything?

Yes. 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://waba-v2.360dialog.io and WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) at https://graph.facebook.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-whatsapp-cloud-api.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "360dialog", "b": "whatsapp-cloud-api"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare 360dialog whatsapp-cloud-api`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/360dialog.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/whatsapp-cloud-api.json

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