Green tick, blue tick, Meta Verified: which badge can your business get?

Arjun Menon runs an eight-person travel agency in Hyderabad. Last month a customer booking a Umrah package stopped mid-chat and asked: “How do I know this is really your office? There is no green tick.” A cousin had lost money to a fake travel agent on WhatsApp the year before.

Arjun went looking for the green tick and found page after page of agencies offering to get him one. Most of what they described no longer exists in that form.

The tick is blue now

WhatsApp’s verified badge used to be green. Meta’s page on Official Business Accounts now says those numbers “have a blue checkmark beside their name in the contacts view”. If someone offers you a “green tick” in 2026, they’re selling an idea that’s a few years out of date.

There are three different ways a business can end up with a badge on WhatsApp, and which one is open to you depends on how your number is set up:

Your number runs on	Route to a badge	Paid?
WhatsApp Business Platform (through a provider)	Official Business Account	Meta’s page lists no fee
WhatsApp Business app	Meta Verified for Business	Monthly subscription
WhatsApp Business app	Meta One business plan (since 15 Sep 2026)	Monthly subscription

If you’re not sure which you use: if your team replies from a phone running the WhatsApp Business app, it’s the app. If you reply from a shared inbox or software connected by a provider, it’s the Platform. If one number runs on both, which Meta calls coexistence, the Official Business Account page doesn’t say how a request is treated, so ask your provider before you plan around it. Our app vs Platform guide explains the difference, and the glossary covers the terms.

Official Business Account: the Platform badge

This is what most people mean when they search for the green tick. It’s a status Meta grants to a phone number on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Meta’s page lists five conditions, and you need all of them:

1. The business complies with the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
2. The business has been registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform for at least 30 days.
3. The business portfolio that owns the number is verified through Business Verification.
4. The phone number has two-step verification turned on.
5. The number’s display name has been approved.

You request it yourself in WhatsApp Manager, under the phone number’s profile, or your provider can request it through Meta’s API. If the option doesn’t appear even though you meet the conditions, Meta says to contact your Meta contact, your provider’s support or Meta Support. The page mentions no fee. An agency can save you some clicks, but it can’t buy you a faster decision.

Meta won’t grant the status to employees’ numbers, test accounts or WhatsApp Business app numbers.

Meeting the conditions isn’t a promise

Older guides talk about “notability”, meaning press coverage or a well-known brand. The current page doesn’t use that word. It does say that a denied request means Meta “determined that it does not meet the eligibility requirements at this time”, and that you must wait 30 days before asking again. So a small business can tick all five boxes and still be refused, and Meta doesn’t publish more detail than that.

A sensible order of work

For a business new to the Platform, the 30 days are the part you can’t speed up, so start the other steps inside them:

• Week 1: connect the number and start Business Verification. Verification is also the usual way to move your messaging limit from 250 to 2,000 people a day, covered in our messaging limits guide.
• Week 1: turn on two-step verification for the number and check the display name is the name customers know you by, since that’s the name the badge will sit next to.
• Day 30 or after: request the badge in WhatsApp Manager.
• If refused: note the date, fix anything obvious, and ask again after 30 days.

What it actually changes

Two things, according to Meta’s page. The blue checkmark appears next to your name. And your number becomes findable: a number that isn’t an Official Business Account doesn’t show up when people search inside WhatsApp, unless they’ve saved it. For Arjun, whose customers often come from a referral who says “search for us on WhatsApp”, that second point matters more than the tick.

There’s one Platform feature tied to the status. Since 3 February 2026, WhatsApp groups run through the Cloud API are available to every business with an Official Business Account.

Meta Verified for Business: the Business app badge

Meta sells Meta Verified as a subscription through the WhatsApp Business app. Meta announced on 12 September 2024 that it was available to all eligible small businesses in India on the app. Subscribers who pass verification get a verified badge, impersonation protection and account support. The same badge appears on their WhatsApp channel and business web page.

The WhatsApp help page describes four levels, and the main difference between them is the number of linked devices:

Level	What the help page lists
Business Standard	Badge, impersonation protection, support, a verified channel, a web page, 4 devices
Business Plus	6 devices, business broadcasts
Business Premium	8 devices
Business Max	10 devices, 50 protected accounts

The help page doesn’t show Indian prices, and whether you’re offered it depends on Meta’s view of your business activity. Check the current price inside the app before you believe a figure on someone’s blog. Price reports we’ve seen don’t agree with each other.

Meta One: the newest option

On 15 September 2026 Meta announced Meta One, a subscription with plans for individuals and businesses. The business plans start at $14.99 a month (Essential), then $49.99 (Advanced), $149 (Expert) and $499 (Max), in US dollars. Meta says Essential includes “a verified badge, verified channel on WhatsApp Business app, and impersonation protection”, pending successful verification, and that Advanced adds more linked devices and business broadcast credits on WhatsApp.

Parts of it aren’t settled. Meta’s announcement says the plans are “now available globally”, while WhatsApp’s help page says Meta One is in limited testing and not available everywhere. The two pages also disagree on which plan first adds more linked devices. Neither says whether Meta One replaces Meta Verified or runs next to it, and we found no rupee prices.

If you already pay for Meta Verified on the app, there’s no reason to switch in a hurry. Wait until the app shows you both, with prices in rupees.

What no badge will do

A badge is about trust at the moment a customer is deciding whether to reply. It doesn’t change how WhatsApp treats your messages:

• It doesn’t raise your messaging limit. That moves with verification and your sending history.
• It doesn’t change what Meta charges per message, and it doesn’t exempt you from the per-person marketing cap behind error 131049.
• It doesn’t stop a fraudster messaging your customers from a different number with your logo as the profile photo. Customers only see your badge when they’re talking to your number.

That last point is the one Arjun fixed first, and it cost nothing. His booking confirmations now end with one line: “We only message you from this number. We never ask for payment to a personal UPI ID.”

Which one to go for

If you’re on the Platform, or moving to it, aim for the Official Business Account and start Business Verification this week, because it helps with your messaging limit as well. If you’re staying on the Business app, open the Meta Verified or Meta One screen in the app, see what you’re offered and at what rupee price, and decide on that basis. Don’t pay anyone who promises a green tick.