Green API for WhatsApp

Green API (styled GREEN-API) is a third-party HTTP API for WhatsApp. It connects to a regular WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business account and lets your code send messages, receive messages, and react to events.

Developers use it to connect WhatsApp to CRMs, helpdesks, chatbots, and no-code workflows. It works without joining Meta’s official WhatsApp Business Platform.

TL;DR: Green API turns one WhatsApp account into a programmable gateway called an instance. You link the account by QR code or phone-number code, then call REST methods or receive webhooks. One instance serves one number, so every extra account needs its own instance and its own number.

How Green API works

Green API is built around the instance: a gateway tied to exactly one WhatsApp account.

1. Create an instance in the Green API console. You get an idInstance and an apiTokenInstance, which authenticate every request.
2. Link the account. The instance joins your WhatsApp account as a linked device. Scan a QR code in WhatsApp > Linked Devices, or request a code to link by phone number. The QR code refreshes every 20 seconds.
3. Send requests. Call HTTP methods in the format {apiUrl}/waInstance{idInstance}/{method}/{apiTokenInstance}.
4. Receive events. Pull incoming notifications through the HTTP API, or have Green API push them to your webhook endpoint.

The WhatsApp account must already exist. Register it first in the official WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app with a phone number that can receive the verification code.

What Green API offers

• Messaging: text, images, video, audio, and documents up to 100 MB, plus locations, contacts, polls, and interactive buttons.
• Groups and statuses: create groups, manage members, post statuses, and read status statistics.
• Number checks: confirm whether a phone number has WhatsApp before you message it.
• Message history: journals of sent and received messages.
• SDKs: Python, Node.js, PHP, Go, Java, C++, 1C, and HTML, plus a gRPC contract.
• Integrations: n8n, Make, Zapier, Slack, GoHighLevel, MS Excel, and others.
• AI chatbots: ready-made GPT chatbot libraries for Python, Go, and Node.js.

The same company also sells GREEN-API: WABA (built on the official WhatsApp Business API) and a Telegram API.

Green API vs. GREEN-API: WABA

Choose the linked-device product for quick integrations and low fixed costs. Choose WABA when you need the official Meta channel and its template rules.

When you might need Green API

• CRM and helpdesk integration: route WhatsApp conversations into the tools your team already uses.
• Chatbots: answer common questions automatically, including GPT-based replies.
• Transactional notifications: send order updates, reminders, or codes instead of SMS.
• Lead capture: push new WhatsApp leads into n8n, Make, or Zapier workflows.
• Multi-number teams: agencies and support desks that run one instance per client or regional number.

Limits to know before you start

• It is not the official Business Platform. WhatsApp can restrict numbers that send bulk or unsolicited messages. Green API publishes its own warm-up and mailing recommendations for this reason.
• One instance, one number. Ten numbers means ten instances and ten paid plans.
• The phone side still matters. Each account lives in the official app on a phone. Green API’s setup docs advise keeping that phone charged and online.
• A phone number is required. Green API does not provide numbers; you bring your own.

Running the WhatsApp side at scale

Green API handles the messaging logic. Each account still needs a device that runs the official app and stays available.

Teams with many numbers can keep each WhatsApp account on its own Multilogin cloud phone for WhatsApp. Each cloud phone is a real Android device in the cloud with its own app data, location, and IP, so you don’t keep a shelf of handsets charged and online.

To add more numbers, follow the guide on how to create multiple WhatsApp accounts. Multilogin cloud phones cannot receive SMS or calls, so the sign-up code must go to a number you control, such as your own phone or an external SMS provider.

Network setup counts too, especially when numbers belong to different regions. A WhatsApp proxy gives each account its own IP. Multilogin includes built-in residential proxies, so each profile gets its own IP and matched location.