Can I use the official WhatsApp API without a CNPJ, as a person or a MEI?

In short: yes. Connecting your number to the official WhatsApp API through Coexistence needs no CNPJ: Meta asks for the WhatsApp Business app on the number and a Facebook account. A CNPJ only matters for Meta's business verification.

What you need to connect

• A personal Facebook account with two-factor authentication on. Meta's window uses it to create your business portfolio and WhatsApp Business Account if you don't have them yet.
• The WhatsApp Business app on the number, version 2.24.17 or newer and in regular use. That version is the only requirement Meta publishes for Coexistence: business verification is not on the list.
• A ZapClaw account. Sign-up asks for no CPF, no CNPJ, no address and no card, and the free plan has no end date.

From there ZapClaw works the same as for any company: incoming messages reach your webhook, you send through the REST API, and the number keeps working in the app on your phone.

What business verification changes

Without verification you use the same API and the same app. What changes are some limits Meta sets:

• Conversations you start. A new business portfolio can send template messages to 250 different people in any 24 hours. Replies to a customer who wrote to you in the last 24 hours do not count.
• Raising that limit. Meta considers a raise to 2,000 when you verify your business or, with no CNPJ at all, after you deliver 2,000 template messages to different people within 30 days using high-quality templates. From 2,000 it keeps rising on its own while your quality stays high and you use at least half of it.
• One-time code templates. Meta only lets a verified business create authentication templates, the ones that send login and verification codes.
• Official Business Account. Meta's blue checkmark for official accounts needs a verified business, and Meta does not grant it to WhatsApp Business app numbers, so a Coexistence number goes without it, CNPJ or not. Verification alone gives no badge.

A person, a MEI or a company

• A person, no CNPJ. You connect and use the API like anyone else. Meta's business verification asks for a business registered with the authorities, so your way to a higher limit is the one that needs no CNPJ.
• MEI or company. You have the CNPJ that Meta's business verification asks for. When your business portfolio is eligible, Meta checks that the legal name, address, phone and an HTTPS website match your registration, and can take up to 14 business days to decide.

These limits and reviews are Meta's: it decides each case and can change the rules.

Before connecting, see all the requirements and what to do if Meta says the number is not eligible.