--- title: "Viber 101: branded messages where Viber is the everyday app" summary: "How Viber Business Messages, chatbots and business accounts work, how Rakuten Viber prices them, and which markets make Viber worth adding." canonical: https://cpaas.co/en/learn/viber-101 kind: explainer depth: foundation origin: original published: 2026-10-13T16:26:18.899Z updated: 2026-10-14T16:26:19.792Z topics: ["Messaging", "Fundamentals", "A2P"] language: en --- # Viber 101: branded messages where Viber is the everyday app Viber is a messaging and calling app owned by Rakuten, the Japanese internet group. In the countries where it is part of daily life, businesses use it to send branded messages to customers' phone numbers, to run chatbots people subscribe to, and to keep a business profile people can find and message. This primer explains how each of those works, what it costs, and where Viber is worth the effort. ## At a glance Viber is an [OTT](/en/learn/glossary#ott) app: messages travel over the internet, not through a mobile operator's SMS network. Rakuten Viber runs the app and sets the rules for business messaging; most businesses reach it through one of Viber's official messaging partners.[^16][^12] ```diagram:compare | Business Messages | Chatbots | Business accounts What it is | Branded messages to customers' phone numbers | An automated account people subscribe to | A business profile in the app's directory Who starts the conversation | The business, with the customer's prior opt-in | The person subscribes; the bot may then write | Mostly the customer How it is priced | Per message, by country and message type | Monthly fee per bot plus bot-initiated messages | Free self-serve hub for small businesses Best for | Codes, transactional updates, promotions | Subscriptions, support, simple flows | Small businesses answering customers Avoid for | Markets where few customers use Viber | Large unsolicited sends | High-volume sending > As of October 2026, from Rakuten Viber's own pages as cited in the text. ``` ## How it works ### Business Messages Business Messages are messages a company sends to a customer's phone number, inside Viber, from a verified sender that carries a blue tick.[^8] A business applies for the service through one of Viber's official partners, which provide the connection and the sender setup; standard bot messages, by contrast, address users by a Viber user ID rather than a phone number.[^12][^16] Viber describes the service as secure two-way communication between brands and consumers: a customer can reply.[^23] Viber's rate card separates two families of message: one-time password and transactional messages, such as a code or a delivery update, and promotional messages.[^15] Since November 2024 Viber has offered dedicated verification messages for one-time passwords ([OTP](/en/learn/glossary#otp)), with ready-made templates, a button to copy the code and a delivery time limit the business sets.[^8] ### Chatbots A Viber [chatbot](/en/learn/glossary#chatbot) is an automated account. The business creates it, receives a secret key (an authentication token) and registers a [webhook](/en/learn/glossary#webhook), an address Viber calls with events such as a new message, a subscription, an unsubscription, a delivery and a "seen" notice.[^13][^12] The webhook must use HTTPS with a certificate Viber trusts.[^12] When a subscriber writes to the bot, a 24-hour **session** opens; messages inside the session are not billed. Messages the bot sends outside a session are "chatbot-initiated" and are billed.[^14] Since 5 February 2024, new Viber bots can only be created on commercial terms.[^12] ### Business accounts Since October 2023 Rakuten Viber has offered small and micro businesses a free, self-serve business account: a profile people can find, with a business inbox for answering customers.[^6] Customers find businesses through Viber's directory and can stop receiving their messages at any time.[^22] ### What the customer sees On the customer's phone, a Business Message arrives in its own chat under the business's name, marked with the blue tick that shows a verified sender.[^8] An OTP can be copied from a button in the chat without retyping it.[^8] The customer can reply in the same chat,[^23] and can block the business at any stage; Viber can disable senders whose messages are blocked unusually often.[^22][^17] That last point is worth remembering: on Viber, an unwanted message costs more than one customer, because a high block rate can cost the sender its access. ```diagram:path # A Business Message, from your system to a customer Your system | Decides to send a code, an update or an offer | A request with the customer's phone number Official partner | Checks the sender and the customer's opt-in, then submits it | The message, tagged transactional or promotional Rakuten Viber | Finds the Viber account for that number and delivers it | The message from a verified sender The customer | Reads it, taps a button or replies | Delivered and seen events Your systems | Record the status, or try another channel if it failed ``` ## A short history Viber launched on 2 December 2010, first as a free calling app for the iPhone.[^1] In February 2014 Rakuten announced it would buy Viber Media for US$900 million; at the time Viber reported about 280 million registered users and more than 100 million monthly active users.[^2] The deal completed in March 2014.[^3] Rakuten says Viber was the first messaging app to offer business messaging, which it dates to about 2015, nine years before its January 2024 announcement.[^7] In November 2016 Viber launched Public Accounts, which let brands be found without being saved as a contact and opened the app to third-party bots.[^4] In February 2019 Viber announced plans to charge businesses to operate chatbots, a change TechCrunch called controversial.[^5] Recent years brought tools for smaller firms and new message types: the free business toolkit in October 2023,[^6] business calls in January 2024,[^7] the current chatbot commercial model from 5 February 2024,[^14] and verification messages for OTPs in November 2024.[^8] In December 2024 Russia's communications regulator blocked Viber.[^20] ```diagram:timeline # Viber for business, oldest first December 2010 | Viber launches | Free calls on the iPhone February 2014 | Rakuten agrees to buy Viber | US$900 million; completed in March 2015 | Business messaging begins | Rakuten's own dating November 2016 | Public Accounts | Brands and third-party bots February 2019 | Plans to charge for chatbots | The start of paid bots October 2023 | Free toolkit for small businesses | Profile and business inbox January 2024 | Business calls | Brands can be called inside Viber February 2024 | Current chatbot commercial model | Monthly fee plus bot-initiated messages November 2024 | Verification messages | OTPs with a delivery time limit December 2024 | Blocked in Russia | The regulator cites non-compliance ``` ## Where it is used Viber's reach is concentrated. Rakuten does not publish a recent global active-user figure in the sources we could check; the 2014 numbers above are historical.[^2] What Rakuten does publish is market by market: - **Europe.** Rakuten describes Viber as Ukraine's most widely adopted messaging app, installed on 98% of mobile phones there (January 2024).[^9] Ukraine, Bulgaria and Poland were among the first countries to receive Viber's AI chat summaries in April 2024, alongside the US, the Philippines and Japan.[^11] Viber's business rate card prices messages country by country, including Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Ukraine.[^15] In Russia, the regulator blocked the app in December 2024.[^20] - **Asia-Pacific.** Rakuten describes Viber as the leading messaging app in the Philippines, where it opened a Manila office in October 2024.[^10] - **Middle East, Africa and the Americas.** We found no market-level figures from Rakuten Viber for these regions; check your own customers before assuming reach. The pattern matters more than any single number: in a handful of countries Viber is the everyday messenger, and in most others it is a secondary app. The useful question is which of your countries fall into the first group. ## What businesses use it for - **Verification codes:** OTPs delivered inside Viber, often with SMS as the fallback. See [OTP](/en/ecosystem/use-cases/otp). - **Transactional updates:** deliveries, bookings, payments and account alerts with images and buttons. See [notifications](/en/ecosystem/use-cases/notifications). - **Promotions:** offers to customers who opted in, labelled as marketing. See [marketing](/en/ecosystem/use-cases/marketing). - **Support and chatbots:** a bot or a business inbox answering questions, with replies free inside a 24-hour session.[^14] See [support](/en/ecosystem/use-cases/support) and [chatbots](/en/ecosystem/use-cases/chatbot). - **Sensitive documents:** Rakuten's "SecurePlus" option checks whether a recipient's number has been flagged for possible fraud before delivering details such as bank statements; it was first built for a bank, Eurobank.[^8] ## What it costs Viber charges for business messaging in two separate models. **Business Messages: per message.** Rakuten Viber publishes a rate card with a price per message for each country, split between OTP and transactional messages on one side and promotional messages on the other.[^15] A rule on the card matters for any business that sends across borders: **domestic** rates apply only when the sending entity is headquartered in the same country as the recipient; every other message is charged at **international** rates.[^15] Partners resell the service and add their own fees.[^16] Rakuten positions verification messages as cheaper than SMS, but the comparison depends on the country and the SMS price you pay.[^8] **Chatbots: a monthly fee plus bot-initiated messages.** Under the model in force since 5 February 2024, a bot owner pays a maintenance fee of €115 per bot per month, unless a signed agreement says otherwise, and pays for each delivered chatbot-initiated message; the welcome message is excluded, and messages inside a 24-hour session are included in the fee.[^14] The price of a chatbot-initiated message depends on the country code of the subscriber's phone number.[^14] Bots created before that date stay on the previous model.[^14] **Business accounts:** the self-serve hub for small and micro businesses is free.[^6] Its terms define a small business account as one sending no more than 10,000 business messages per calendar month.[^18] Any SMS fallback a partner adds is charged as SMS. Ask how a message is billed when it fails on Viber and goes out as SMS, so you do not pay twice for one notice. ## Rules and regulation This section describes rules; it is not legal advice. **Opt-in is a contract term, not only a law.** Viber's partner guidelines require the recipient's consent before any Business Message is sent. The consent must say the person is opting in to messages over Viber, must name the business, and the sender must keep proof of it; messages sent without it are treated as spam.[^17] The partner or the business, not Viber, is responsible for meeting each country's legal consent rules.[^17] See [opt-in](/en/learn/glossary#opt-in) and [consent is a data model](/en/learn/consent-is-a-data-model). **Business account terms.** Businesses may only start chats with their own customers, must label marketing messages and must hold the consents needed to process customers' data.[^18] Customers can block a business at any time.[^22] **Data protection.** For users in the European Economic Area and the UK, Viber Media S.à r.l., a Luxembourg company, is the controller of users' personal data under the GDPR, and users can complain to Luxembourg's data protection authority (the CNPD) or their own.[^19] The business remains the controller of the customer data it holds and sends; Viber's role does not replace the business's own duties. **National access.** Availability can change by country: Russia's regulator blocked Viber in December 2024, citing non-compliance with Russian rules for information distributors.[^20] ```diagram:checklist # Before you send Business Messages on Viber The customer opted in to messages over Viber, naming your business | Required by Viber's partner guidelines You keep proof of that consent | The sender must be able to show it Marketing messages are labelled | Required by the business account terms You know whether domestic or international rates apply | It depends on where your sending entity is headquartered [!] Sending to lists without opt-in | Treated as spam ``` ## Limits and pitfalls - **Reach outside its strongholds is thin.** Adding Viber where few customers use it adds cost and work without reach. - **Cross-border pricing.** A company headquartered outside the recipient's country pays international rates.[^15] - **Bots are no longer free.** Every new bot carries a monthly fee, and messages outside the 24-hour session are billed.[^14] - **Opt-in records.** Without stored proof of consent, a campaign can be treated as spam and the partner held liable.[^17] - **Fallback design.** If SMS fallback is unclear, one notice can be billed twice. - **Only Viber users.** A Business Message reaches only people with a Viber account on that number, and delivered and seen events exist only for them;[^12] everyone else needs another channel. - **Country availability.** A national block, as in Russia in 2024, can end a channel overnight.[^20] ## Strengths and weaknesses ```diagram:compare | Strengths | Weaknesses Reach | Everyday app in a few countries, such as Ukraine and the Philippines | Secondary or absent in many others Trust | Verified senders with a blue tick | Requires sender setup through a partner Status | Delivered and seen events reported back | Only for people who use Viber Cost | Rakuten positions OTPs as cheaper than SMS | Per-country rates; international rates across borders Bots | Free replies inside a 24-hour session | A monthly fee per bot since 2024 Small firms | Free self-serve business account | Volume limits on small business accounts ``` ## What comes next Only what Rakuten Viber has announced: - **2026 policy changes.** Rakuten Viber says it is introducing Viber eSIM services, new AI-powered features and expanded business tools, adds automated business categorisation as a ranking factor in its business directory, and brings business accounts under a single fair-usage policy.[^21] - **Verification and security.** Verification messages and SecurePlus (November 2024) mark a push into codes and sensitive notices, positioned against SMS.[^8] - **Calls and AI.** Business calls (January 2024) and AI chat summaries (April 2024) show Viber adding features inside the same chat where customers already talk to businesses.[^7][^11] ## When to choose it Choose Viber when a meaningful share of your customers live in countries where it is the everyday app, such as Ukraine or the Philippines on Rakuten's own figures, and when you want branded, trackable messages for codes and updates, with SMS kept as the fallback (see [SMS 101](/en/learn/sms-101)). Add a chatbot when people will subscribe for ongoing service and you can live with a monthly fee per bot. A practical way to decide is a small test: send one kind of transactional message on Viber in one country, with SMS as the fallback, and compare how many customers it reaches and what each delivered message costs against SMS alone. Look elsewhere when your customers are spread across markets where Viber is rare, or when you cannot collect and keep Viber-specific opt-in. For comparisons, see [channels are not interchangeable](/en/learn/channels-are-not-interchangeable), [choosing a channel per message](/en/learn/choosing-a-channel-per-message), the [Viber channel page](/en/ecosystem/channels/viber) and the Channels 101 chooser, [which channel for which need](/en/learn/which-channel-for-what). ```diagram:decision # Is Viber right for this message? Do many of your customers in this country use Viber every day? | | Use a channel they already use Has the customer opted in to messages from you over Viber? | | Collect that consent first, or use another channel Is it a code or a transactional update? | Send a Business Message, with SMS as the fallback | Send it as a labelled promotional message, or through your bot ``` ## Sources [^1]: [Viber is 10!](https://www.viber.com/en/blog/2020-12-02/viber-is-10/) — Rakuten Viber, 2020-12-02 [^2]: [Announcement of 100% Acquisition of Viber Media Ltd.](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2014/0214_04.html) — Rakuten Group, 2014-02-14 [^3]: [Announcement of Completion of Acquisition of Viber Media Ltd.](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2014/0314_01.html) — Rakuten Group, 2014-03-14 [^4]: [Viber follows Messenger, launches Public Accounts for businesses and brands](https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/09/viber-follows-messenger-with-the-launch-of-public-accounts-for-businesses-and-brands/) — TechCrunch, 2016-11-09 [^5]: [Rakuten's Viber chat app plans to charge to operate chatbots in controversial move](https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/22/viber-chatbot-charge/) — TechCrunch, 2019-02-22 [^6]: [Rakuten Viber Debuts Giant Leap Forward in Global Strategy with Its Toolkit for All Businesses](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/update/2023/1010_01.html) — Rakuten Group, 2023-10-10 [^7]: [Rakuten Viber Rings in a New Era of Business-User Connection with Business Calls](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/0123_01.html) — Rakuten Group, 2024-01-23 [^8]: [Rakuten Viber Launches New Security Solutions for Businesses](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/1113_09.html) — Rakuten Group, 2024-11-13 [^9]: [Rakuten Expands Commitment to Ukraine with New Office in Kyiv](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/0115_03.html) — Rakuten Group, 2024-01-15 [^10]: [Rakuten Viber Expands Operations with New Manila Office to Boost Services for Filipino Users](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/1022_04.html) — Rakuten Group, 2024-10-22 [^11]: [Rakuten Viber's New AI-powered Feature Summarizes Group Chats in an Instant](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2024/0411_01.html) — Rakuten Group, 2024-04-11 [^12]: [Viber REST API](https://developers.viber.com/docs/api/rest-bot-api/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^13]: [API Access White Paper](https://developers.viber.com/docs/general/api-access-white-paper/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^14]: [Bot commercial model](https://help.viber.com/hc/en-us/articles/15247629658525-Bot-commercial-model) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^15]: [Business Messages Rate Card](https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/documents/business-messages.pdf) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^16]: [Messaging Partners](https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/en/messaging-partners/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^17]: [Business Messages Partner Guidelines for SMS partners](https://www.viber.com/app/uploads/Business-Messages-Partner-Guidelines-for-SMS-Partners.pdf) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^18]: [Viber Business Accounts Terms and Conditions](https://www.viber.com/en/terms/viber-business-terms-and-conditions/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^19]: [Privacy Notice for Users in the EEA and UK under the General Data Protection Regulation](https://www.viber.com/en/terms/gdpr-privacy-rights/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^20]: [Russian authorities block Viber messaging app](https://kyivindependent.com/russian-authorities-block-viber-messaging-app) — The Kyiv Independent, 2024-12-13 [^21]: [Rakuten Viber's 2026 Policy Changes](https://help.viber.com/hc/en-us/articles/34551077996189-Rakuten-Viber-s-2026-Policy-Changes) — Rakuten Viber, 2026 [^22]: [Find and connect with businesses on Viber](https://help.viber.com/hc/en-us/articles/9755182032669-Business-accounts-on-Rakuten-Viber) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 [^23]: [Viber Business Messages](https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/en/business-messages/) — Rakuten Viber, accessed 2026-10 --- Published by the company behind five products in this category. 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