What is the difference between the WhatsApp Cloud API and the On-Premises API?
The Cloud API is hosted by Meta: you call their endpoint and they run the infrastructure. The On-Premises API was a container you hosted and maintained yourself. New integrations use the Cloud API — it is free to access, receives features first, and removes the hosting work — and Meta has been retiring the On-Premises version.
What actually differs
Hosting. On-Premises meant running and updating a container, managing its database, and owning its uptime. The Cloud API has none of that.
Access cost. Meta does not charge for Cloud API access itself — you pay for messaging. On-Premises carried the same messaging charges plus whatever the hosting cost.
Features. New capabilities land on the Cloud API first, and some never arrived on On-Premises at all.
Why businesses used to choose On-Premises
Data residency: message content passed through infrastructure the business controlled, which mattered in some regulated industries.
Latency and throughput at the very top end of volume.
For most businesses neither reason applied, and the maintenance was a real cost paid for a benefit they did not use.
What this means when choosing a tool
Almost every WhatsApp tool sold today is built on the Cloud API. A provider saying "official API" is nearly always saying Cloud API.
The more useful question is not which API, but whether the WhatsApp Business account is yours. If the provider owns the account, your number, templates and history live under their business — and moving away later means starting again.
PingPlug is built on the Cloud API and connects to a WhatsApp Business account you own. Your number, your templates and your Meta billing stay yours, which is what makes leaving possible without losing them.