Official WhatsApp API vs unofficial workarounds.
If you're being sold "WhatsApp automation" for a suspiciously low price, ask one question: is it on the Cloud API? If the answer is anything other than "yes, and here's our Meta Business Partner ID," walk away. Here's the full comparison.
| Factor | Official Cloud API (Stitch) | Unofficial gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Sanctioned by Meta | Yes, Cloud API | No, violates WhatsApp ToS |
| Risk of number ban | Zero | High, bans are silent + permanent |
| GDPR data residency | EU-hosted, contractually guaranteed | Unknown / opaque |
| Verified green tick profile | Available | Never |
| Access to Broadcast, Flows, Payments | Yes | No |
| Message delivery SLA | 99.99% | Best-effort |
| Enterprise procurement / DPA | Standard | Not possible |
| Long-term viability | Meta-endorsed roadmap | Being actively shut down through 2026 |
The silent ban problem
When Meta bans a number using an unofficial gateway, there's no warning and no appeal. The number is gone. Every chat history it held is gone. Every customer who has that number saved gets "this contact is no longer on WhatsApp." Businesses that discover this the hard way spend months rebuilding what took years. The official API, accessed through a Meta Business Partner, is the only way to guarantee this can't happen to you.
Centralise WhatsApp first. Automate everything after.
Book a 20-minute walkthrough. We'll show you how Stitch pulls every WhatsApp chat into one shared workspace, synced to your CRM, owned by the team, ready for automation to layer on top.