How to Create a WhatsApp Store for Free (2026 Guide)

Short answer: you can create a WhatsApp store for free in two ways. The first is the catalog inside the free WhatsApp Business app, which holds up to 500 items that customers browse without leaving WhatsApp. The second is a free WhatsApp store builder, which gives you a web page with your products and sends each order to your WhatsApp as a written message.

Use the catalog if you sell a small range to people who already chat with you. Use a store page if customers find you on Facebook, Instagram or Google, and you want the delivery charge and the address inside every order. This guide compares the four real options, shows the setup step by step, and explains what changes in Bangladesh, where most orders are cash on delivery. We checked every WhatsApp feature below on WhatsApp's own pages on 2 October 2026.

What is a WhatsApp store?

A WhatsApp store is a list of your products with photos and prices, where the order ends up in your WhatsApp chat instead of a card checkout. The customer browses, picks items and sends you one message. You confirm the order, take payment your usual way and ship it.

There are two kinds. One lives inside WhatsApp: the catalog in the WhatsApp Business app. The other is a web page at its own link, made with a store builder, that opens WhatsApp when the customer taps order.

Is the WhatsApp Business catalog enough?

For many small sellers, yes, at the start. Here is what WhatsApp itself says about it:

• The WhatsApp Business app is free to download.
• A catalog holds up to 500 items. Each item can have up to 10 photos or videos, and a video can be up to 50 MB.
• Each item needs a name and a country of origin. Price, sale price, description, website link and product code are optional.
• You can group items into collections, and share a link to the catalog or to one item in a chat, on your Status, or in another app.
• With the cart, a customer adds items, changes the quantity and sends the cart to you as one WhatsApp message.

The catalog also has limits that sellers find out about later.

Every item waits for review

WhatsApp's help page says every photo and video is reviewed against the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy. An item stays hidden from customers until it is approved. If it is rejected, you see a red mark and can ask for another review. So a new arrival you post on Facebook in the morning may not be in your catalog yet when the first customer asks for it.

The cart does not carry the delivery details

WhatsApp describes the cart as items and quantities sent as a message. Its help page does not mention a delivery area, a delivery charge or an address. You still ask for the address in the chat and work out the total by hand, for every order.

One price per item

The item form has one price and one sale price. The help page lists no field for sizes or colours at different prices. If your XL costs more than your M, you either add separate items or explain the price in the chat.

The link is made for WhatsApp users

WhatsApp says a catalog link opens the catalog directly inside WhatsApp. In a browser, the customer is first asked how to open it. You also cannot change the link, which WhatsApp says can break if you try.

If you sell a small range to repeat customers, the catalog is enough. Set it up either way, since it is free.

What are the ways to create a WhatsApp store for free?

There are four real options. Here they are side by side.

Link-in-bio pages

A link-in-bio page puts several links on one page: your WhatsApp chat, your Facebook page, your catalog. It is useful in a social media bio. It does not hold a cart or work out a total, so every order is still a conversation from zero.

Website builders like Shopify

Shopify is a full online store with its own checkout, stock tracking and an app store. When we checked shopify.com/pricing on 2 October 2026, the Basic plan was $25 a month billed monthly, after a short trial. Shopify adds a 2% fee on Basic if you use a payment provider other than its own. Meta's WhatsApp app for Shopify sends order updates. This is the right tool if most of your customers pay by card. It is a lot to pay for if they pay cash at the door.

WhatsApp store builders

These give you a web page with your products and a checkout form. When the customer orders, WhatsApp opens with the full order written out, and it arrives in your chat. On their own websites, store.link says it is "100% free" with 0% commission and takes payments through Stripe, Razorpay or PayPal. Take App's free Basic plan has unlimited products and no commission, but saves only 50 orders a month to its dashboard. Orders past 50 still reach your WhatsApp.

Kommercly, which we make, is in this group too. Its free plan has 0% commission and up to 20 products. Read what we say about it with that in mind.

How do you set up a WhatsApp store, step by step?

These steps work with any of the options above. Step 4 is where they differ.

1. Use WhatsApp Business on a number for the shop. Fill in the profile with your shop name, hours and address. Save quick replies for the three questions you get most: the price, the delivery charge and how to pay. Our WhatsApp Business greeting message examples have greeting texts and quick replies you can copy.
2. Decide your delivery areas and charges first. For example: inside your city, the nearby suburbs, and the rest of the country. Base each charge on what your courier really costs you, including the parcels that come back.
3. Prepare your products. For each one you need a clear photo, a short name, the price, the sizes or colours, and how many you have. Take photos in daylight on a plain background. Weigh one packed parcel of each product type, because weight sets your courier charge.
4. Build the store. For the catalog, open the Tools tab in WhatsApp Business, tap Catalog, then Add new item. For a store builder, sign up and add the same products there.
5. Place a test order yourself. Order from another phone. Check that the message shows the right item, size, delivery charge and total.
6. Share the link where your buyers already are. Put it in your Facebook page button, every product post, your Instagram bio and your WhatsApp Status. A catalog item has an optional website link field, so you can point catalog browsers to your store page too.
7. Confirm every order before you ship. Reply in the chat with the order details and the total, or call the customer. Then book the courier.

What step 4 looks like with a phone store

On Kommercly, as of October 2026, it works like this. You sign up with your WhatsApp number and get a store at yourname.kommercly.com. You add products from your phone with a photo, a name and a price. You set your delivery areas and charges, offers, sizes with their own price, and stock. The customer picks items, chooses a delivery area and fills in a name, phone number and address. The order then opens in WhatsApp written out with the items, the delivery area and the total. An Orders page lets you mark each order New, Confirmed, Shipped or Delivered. There is no app to install.

It does not collect payments and it does not book couriers. You take cash on delivery, bKash or Nagad yourself, and you book the courier yourself. Paid plans are billed by bKash. The store setup guide shows each screen.

When is a WhatsApp store builder the wrong choice?

Be honest with yourself here. A WhatsApp-first store, ours included, is the wrong tool if:

• You need card payments before you ship. Our store leaves payment to you. Shopify, or a builder that takes Stripe or PayPal, fits better.
• You have hundreds of products and need stock synced with a warehouse system. Use a full website builder.
• You want courier booking done for you. We do not book couriers, so you still book Steadfast, Pathao, RedX or your local courier yourself.
• Your buyers do not use WhatsApp. Then a WhatsApp checkout adds a step instead of removing one.
• You need more than 20 products for free. Our free plan stops at 20. More needs a paid plan, or a builder with a bigger free limit.

How does a WhatsApp store work in Bangladesh?

In Bangladesh, most online selling starts on a Facebook page and finishes in WhatsApp or Messenger. A store link fits that path: the customer sees a post, taps the link, and the order lands in your WhatsApp with the delivery area and total written. Our guide to selling on WhatsApp in Bangladesh covers the full order conversation, from quick replies to dispatch.

Cash on delivery and advance payment

Most customers ask for cash on delivery, and refusing it costs sales. A common rule among sellers is cash on delivery inside Dhaka, and the delivery charge in advance by bKash or Nagad for outside Dhaka. Do not count on paying inside WhatsApp: WhatsApp says its payments are not available in all markets, and its launches have been in countries such as India and Brazil. Our post on COD vs bKash advance and fake orders shows how sellers mix the two.

Delivery areas and courier charges

On the couriers' own rate pages on 1 October 2026, a 0.5 kg parcel inside Dhaka cost ৳60 with Pathao and ৳65 with Steadfast or RedX. Outside Dhaka, the same parcel cost ৳110 to ৳120. Each courier also takes a cash on delivery charge of 0% to 1%. So set at least three delivery areas, for example Inside Dhaka ৳80, Dhaka suburbs ৳100 and Outside Dhaka ৳130, then adjust to your own costs. The Steadfast, Pathao and RedX rate comparison shows how to work out your real cost per parcel, returns included.

If you are comparing paid builders in taka, read our honest list of Shopify alternatives in Bangladesh.

What about sellers in other countries?

The steps above work anywhere WhatsApp works. A few details change by country.

• India: WhatsApp built its payments feature with NPCI on UPI, according to the WhatsApp blog. WhatsApp's help centre also has a page on following the laws for selling online in India.
• Brazil: since April 2023, people can pay a small business inside a WhatsApp chat, according to the WhatsApp blog. WhatsApp's Order Details feature is listed as only available for users in Brazil.
• UAE and elsewhere: our signup accepts UAE and Hong Kong numbers, and any other country code. You can set the currency your prices are in, such as AED. Our paid plans are billed by bKash only for now, so outside Bangladesh the free plan is the practical one.
• Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Malaysia and others: we have not checked local couriers or payment rules, so we will not guess. Use the same steps, and swap in your own couriers and payment apps.

Quick answers

Sources, checked 2 October 2026: WhatsApp Help Center catalog, cart, catalog link and Order Details pages (faq.whatsapp.com); whatsappbusiness.com; the WhatsApp blog on payments in India (2020) and Brazil (2023); shopify.com/pricing; apps.shopify.com; store.link; take.app. Courier rates are from our courier comparison, checked 1 October 2026.