The change

Kustomer keeps the fees for its add-on features in supplemental terms. Customers on usage-based plans used to have their own version, last updated October 28, 2025, with a note sending seat-based customers to a separate page. At the time of publication, the usage-based terms page shows the same text as the seat-based terms page, “Last Updated: September 28, 2026,” and the note is gone.

Both pages say changes “will become effective as of the first day of the calendar month following the month in which they were first posted.” For usage-based customers, that brings in fees their old version did not have.

What changed for usage-based plans

• WhatsApp fee. WhatsApp usage now includes Meta’s rate card “and a per message Kustomer fee equal to 20% of the applicable per message WhatsApp fee that will be applied in the aggregate to your monthly bill.”

• Free WhatsApp pool. A paragraph about “a monthly pool of user-initiated conversations provided to you without charge” was deleted.

• KIQ Customer Assist. The old line “use of this Feature will not incur the fees described here” is gone. Now “Kustomer shall bill and invoice Client on a monthly basis in arrears at the end of each month based on the number of KIQ Conversations occurring in that month.”

• Agent Assist. The clause saying “Agent Assist is included at no additional cost per user” on Professional AI, Enterprise AI, Ultimate AI, and bundle plans was removed.

• AI Attributes and AI QA. “Your use of AI Attributes (e.g. Conversation Intelligence) and/or AI QA is subject to usage based fees on a per Execution basis.”

• Premium AI models. Kustomer “reserves the right to charge additional fees should Client select a premium AI model.”

What 20% means on a WhatsApp bill

The fee sits on top of what Meta charges per message under its WhatsApp pricing. For every $1,000 of WhatsApp fees under Meta’s rate card, the Kustomer fee adds $200.

There is one way around it. “The per message Kustomer fee will not be applied toward your WhatsApp by Kustomer usage during the consumption period applicable to your pre-purchased WhatsApp Consumption Dollars.” Those prepaid dollars have their own catch: they “will expire and become void automatically at the end of the consumption period set forth in your Order and shall not roll over into any subsequent consumption period.” Once they run out, usage switches to monthly billing at the rate card.

Usage Credits can bring your invoice forward

The September 28 version also adds Kustomer Usage Credits, a prepaid balance that metered features such as AI Attributes and AI QA draw from. This section is new for seat-based customers too. Two lines matter most.

• Expiry. “Any unconsumed portion of the Prepaid Usage Credits expires and becomes void automatically at the end of each applicable Commitment Period.”

• Early invoice. For customers who pay in installments, “if Client’s usage of the Usage Credits hereunder exceeds the portion of the Usage Credits allocable to such period by more than 15%, then Kustomer reserves the right to accelerate the next invoice on the date such excess usage occurs.”

In plain terms, a busy month can move your next bill forward, and credits you do not use by the end of the period are lost. Usage above the prepaid amount is billed monthly “at the then published list price.”

What did not change

• Seat-based customers already had the 20% WhatsApp fee and per-conversation billing for KIQ Customer Assist in their June 30, 2026 version.

• Kustomer still gives notice before its own WhatsApp price changes: they “take effect in the next full calendar month that follows thirty (30) days after such update.”

• Meta can still change its WhatsApp Rate Card monthly, and those changes still flow through to your bill.

Why this matters

Usage-based pricing moves cost from seats to activity, and the terms decide what counts as activity. Atlassian added usage-based billing to its paid plans, on by default, Mixpanel added 150% overage fees, and DigitalOcean made spend commitments non-cancelable. On WhatsApp, the price can now move at two layers, since Meta dropped the 30-day notice from its WhatsApp Business terms.

Kustomer’s change also shows a pattern that is easy to miss: a vendor folding two versions of its terms into one. The page address stays the same, but customers on the plan with the gentler version inherit the stricter one. Catching that is the job of vendor contract monitoring.

Potential impact

If your team uses Kustomer, the update raises five practical questions:

• Are you on a usage-based or seat-based plan, and which version of the supplemental terms does your Order follow?

• How much do you spend on WhatsApp through Kustomer each month, and what does 20% add to that?

• Do you use KIQ Customer Assist, Agent Assist, AI Attributes, or AI QA, and are those now on your bill?

• If you buy Usage Credits in installments, how close does your usage run to the 15% line?

• Do you hold prepaid credits or WhatsApp Consumption Dollars that could expire unused?

How Venpo detected it

Venpo tracks both versions of Kustomer’s supplemental terms. It flagged the seat-based update on October 13 and the usage-based page switching to the same text on October 20, with every inserted and deleted line marked. The records are on the Kustomer change pages for the usage-based terms and the seat-based terms. Every quote in this article was checked against the redlines.

Business outcome

A team that sees this change can ask Kustomer which terms apply before the next invoice, plan WhatsApp volume around the new fee, and size prepaid purchases so credits do not expire unused. That is what continuous vendor risk monitoring is for.

Key takeaway

Kustomer’s usage-based plans now run on terms dated September 28, 2026 that add a 20% fee on WhatsApp messages, bill AI features that used to be free, and let Kustomer bring invoices forward when usage runs high, so check which version your contract follows.