--- title: "WhatsApp broadcast limit: 256 and the saved rule - Eventi" description: "The WhatsApp broadcast limit is 256 recipients per list, and only people who saved your number get it. The workarounds, and when you need answers back." canonical: https://ueventi.com/whatsapp-broadcast/limit last-updated: 2026-11-08 --- ![](/media/photos/party-confetti-800.webp) ![](/media/photos/host-phone-800.webp) ![](/media/photos/ai-host-planning-800.webp) ![](/media/photos/party-confetti-800.webp) ![](/media/photos/host-phone-800.webp) ![](/media/photos/ai-host-planning-800.webp) WhatsApp broadcast limit # WhatsApp broadcast limit: 256 recipients, and a rule that matters more. The WhatsApp broadcast limit is 256 recipients per broadcast list. That number is the one everyone searches for, but the rule that actually shrinks your audience is the other one: a broadcast only reaches people who have your number saved in their contacts. This page explains both limits, how people stretch them with several lists or the WhatsApp Business app, what that costs you in time and missed replies, and what to use when the real job is reaching more people and finding out what they said. [Reach more than 256 and count the answers](/solutions) Free to start, no credit card. ## The two limits on a WhatsApp broadcast The first limit is size. A broadcast list holds at most 256 contacts. If your roster has 300 names, WhatsApp will not let you add the last 44, and you will need a second list. The second limit is reach. WhatsApp delivers a broadcast only to recipients who have saved your phone number. A contact who has not saved you is counted toward the 256 but never receives the message, and WhatsApp does not tell you. On a list of parents, patients or customers who found you recently, that can quietly remove a third of the audience before you have typed a word. Most people hit the second limit long before the first. A studio with 90 members does not care about 256. It cares that 30 of those members never saw the schedule change because they texted once and never saved the number. ## How people work around the 256 limit ### Several lists Split the roster into List A, List B and List C and send the same message three times. It works, and it triples the chance of a typo in one copy, a missed send on a busy day, and three sets of replies to read. ### The WhatsApp Business app Broadcast lists in the WhatsApp Business app have the same 256 limit and the same saved-contact rule. Labels help organize contacts, but the ceiling does not move. In 2025 WhatsApp Business started charging for broadcasts beyond a free monthly allowance, so check the app's current terms before planning around it. ### A group instead Groups hold far more people, but every member sees every other member's number and every reply. For clients, patients or parents who do not know each other, that is usually not acceptable. ### A second phone number Some businesses run broadcasts from two numbers. Now half the audience has to save a different number, and replies are split across two devices. ### Asking everyone to save you Worth doing anyway, with a line in your welcome email and a sign at the desk. In practice a share of any list never does it, and you cannot see which share. ## What the workarounds cost you Each workaround adds a manual step, and manual steps get skipped on the days that matter. The real cost is not the sending, it is what comes after. If the message asked a question, the replies are now scattered across several lists and several chats. Working out who confirmed, who declined and who said nothing means opening each conversation, and nudging the silent ones means writing to everyone again, including the people who already answered. ## When you need to reach more people and get an answer If the message is an announcement, several broadcast lists are a fine answer and this page can end here. If the message is a question, the limit you are fighting is not 256, it is the lack of a count. Eventi has no recipient ceiling of 256 and no saved-contact rule. You paste or import the full list, write one message, and choose up to three reply buttons. Each contact gets an individual WhatsApp from Eventi's verified number with your name in the first line and taps an answer. The count updates live, can be exported, and reminders go only to people who have not replied yet, on the schedule you pick, stopping the moment they do. Contacts without WhatsApp receive the same message as a text, and the ones who still do not answer can get an AI phone call. Setting up an account and a list is free, with no credit card, and the cost of a send is shown in the dashboard before you confirm. ## Choosing between the two ### Use a WhatsApp broadcast when The list is under 256, everyone has saved you, and the message needs no reply. Closures, schedule links, thank-you notes. ### Use one message per person with buttons when You need a count, the list is large or growing, or you cannot be sure who has saved your number. Confirmations, headcounts, shift pickups, votes. ### Use a group when The people know each other and conversation among them is the point. A team, a committee, a family. ## WhatsApp broadcast limit: common questions Straight answers before you send anything. ### What is the WhatsApp broadcast limit? ### Is the broadcast limit higher on WhatsApp Business? ### Why did fewer than 256 people get my broadcast? ### Can I get around the limit by sending to several lists? ### Does Eventi have a recipient limit? ## Keep going [WhatsApp broadcast: how it works](/whatsapp-broadcast)[WhatsApp broadcast list: create, edit and manage](/whatsapp-broadcast/list)[WhatsApp broadcast message samples](/whatsapp-broadcast/message-sample)[Lead follow-up on WhatsApp](/solutions/lead-follow-up) [Start free](https://app.ueventi.com/login)