WhatsApp Catalogue Limits: Products, Images and Collections

The WhatsApp Business app catalogue holds up to 500 items, each with up to 10 photos or videos, and a video can be up to 50 MB. On the WhatsApp Business API the catalogue lives in Meta Commerce Manager instead, where WhatsApp doesn’t publish the same 500 cap, and the limits that matter are on the messages: up to 30 products in one multi-product message and up to 10 cards in a product carousel.

This page collects every catalogue limit Meta and WhatsApp state on their own pages, in one place, with what to do when you hit each one. Where Meta doesn’t publish a number, we say so rather than guess.

WhatsApp catalogue limits at a glance

Not on the list because WhatsApp doesn’t publish them: a maximum number of collections, a maximum number of items in one collection, or character limits for item names in the Business app.

Limits in the WhatsApp Business app catalogue

The free Business app has its own catalogue, built on the phone under Business tools. WhatsApp’s own pages give these limits:

• 500 items. WhatsApp’s catalogue page says you can upload up to 500 items for customers to browse without leaving the app.
• 10 photos or videos per item. You can mix them, up to 10 in total.
• 50 MB per video. WhatsApp’s Help Center gives this as the size limit for a catalogue video.
• Country of origin is required for every item you add or edit.
• Review. Items and collections are reviewed before they show. WhatsApp says a collection’s review should take no more than 24 hours.

Collections group items, such as “Gift boxes” or “New in”, and can be shared in a chat. WhatsApp doesn’t state a limit on how many you can create, so the practical limit is what a customer can scan on a phone screen.

Limits for catalogues on the WhatsApp Business API

With the API, you don’t build the catalogue in WhatsApp. You create an ecommerce catalogue in Meta Commerce Manager, add products, and connect it to your WhatsApp Business Account. Meta’s rules here are:

• One catalogue per WhatsApp account. Meta says you can only upload one catalogue per WhatsApp account hierarchy, so all your numbers on that account share it.
• No published item cap for WhatsApp. Meta’s WhatsApp pages don’t give a maximum number of products in the connected catalogue.
• Images only on product pages. When a customer opens a product from a multi-product message, WhatsApp shows its images. Meta says videos and GIFs added to the product aren’t displayed there.

Setting up and connecting the catalogue is covered in WhatsApp catalogue for business.

Product data limits in Commerce Manager

Each product in a Commerce Manager catalogue is a set of fields. These are the limits from Meta’s catalogue field reference that most often trip people up:

For photo sizes and fixing blurry images, see WhatsApp catalogue image size.

How many products you can send in one message

On the API you show products by sending them in messages. Each type has its own limits, from Meta’s developer docs:

Two details worth knowing. A product carousel template approved with two cards can be sent with up to 10. And if some products in a multi-product message don’t match your catalogue, Meta drops the unmatched ones and sends the rest; if none match, the message isn’t sent. More on the buttons these templates use is in WhatsApp template buttons.

Cart limits

Customers who open your catalogue or a product message can build a cart and send it to you as an order. Meta sets these rules:

• 99 units of any single item.
• No limit on the number of different items.
• One cart per chat, per device. Carts don’t move between a customer’s phone and their linked devices.
• No expiry. The cart stays until it’s sent, then it’s cleared.
• No edits after sending. A customer who wants to change an order has to send a new cart, so confirm orders before you pack them.

Meta also notes that messages sent through the Cloud API don’t show a cart icon in the chat header, so tell customers how to view and send their cart.

App version limits

Product messages need a recent WhatsApp app. Meta lists these minimums:

If a customer’s app is too old, they get a note saying the message couldn’t be shown, and you get a failure for that message. It’s worth checking when one customer says they “can’t see the products”.

Catalogue limits in Automate AI

Automate AI works with the catalogue connected to your WhatsApp Business Account in Commerce Manager, so Meta’s limits above apply as they are. What you can do with it:

• Show the catalogue and allow the cart. In Settings › WhatsApp › WhatsApp Shop, an owner or manager can show the catalogue on your WhatsApp profile, let customers use the cart, and turn on product sharing.
• Share products in a chat: the whole catalogue, one product, or up to 30 products you pick, within the 24-hour window. Customers’ carts show in the chat with items and total.
• Send products in a chatbot with the Products step, also within 24 hours of the customer’s last message.
• Send product templates in campaigns. Approved catalogue and multi-product templates can be sent from campaigns, picking the products each time, once Share products is turned on in WhatsApp Shop (it’s off by default).

If you’d rather not manage a Meta catalogue, Automate AI’s own Online Store gives you a store page with categories and products, and customers can send their cart to you on WhatsApp. It’s included in the AI + Automation Plan and Series 4; see Online Store. If your catalogue isn’t appearing at all, start with WhatsApp catalogue not showing.