# What is a WhatsApp carousel template? > A WhatsApp carousel template is a marketing template that sends, in a single message, a text followed by 2 to 10 swipeable cards, each with an image or a video and up to two buttons. ## The definition in two minutes A carousel template is a marketing message template shown as a strip of cards that the customer swipes through. They receive a single message: an introductory text, then the cards. Each card carries an image or a video, possibly a short text, and buttons. In its documentation, Meta calls it a media card carousel template. Like any template, it must be approved by Meta before you send it. ## What a carousel contains - **The introductory message**: It is the main text of the template. It is compulsory, accepts variables and appears above the cards. - **The cards**: From 2 to 10. You set their number when you create the template, and an approved template will never send a different number of cards. - **The image or video**: Each card has one. Meta crops it to a wide format to fit the customer’s screen. - **The card text**: Optional and short. If one card has it, every card must have it. - **The buttons**: Up to two per card: quick reply, call or link to a website, which can be mixed. ## Meta’s rules - The carousel only exists in the marketing category. It cannot be utility or authentication. - Every card has the same components. For example, if one has a text, all of them do. - It can be sent at any time, including outside the 24-hour window, but only to customers who have agreed to receive your messages. - A link button opens the website in the phone’s browser, so outside WhatsApp. Meta does not tell your software about an order placed on the website. - [Ready-to-copy templates, by trade](https://wyp.chat/en/guides/whatsapp-message-templates) - [WhatsApp campaigns](https://wyp.chat/en/features/whatsapp-campaigns) ## What it means for a small business A carousel suits you when you have several things to show at once: this month’s new arrivals, the dishes of the week, several properties to view. Each card has its photo and its button, and the customer taps the one that interests them. It falls in the marketing category, so at its rate, and needs the customer’s consent beforehand. For an order confirmation or an appointment reminder, a simple utility template is enough: there is no utility carousel. If you want customers to order without leaving WhatsApp, Meta offers another template, the product card carousel. It relies on the business’s catalogue: the customer opens the listing, fills a basket and orders within the conversation. - [The WhatsApp Business catalogue guide](https://wyp.chat/en/guides/whatsapp-business-catalog) ## Not to be confused with - **Reply buttons and lists**: They are free-form messages: they go out without approval, but only during the 24-hour window. The carousel is a template: it needs Meta’s approval and can go out outside the window. - **The product card carousel**: It relies on a catalogue and lets the customer order inside WhatsApp. The media card carousel, by contrast, sends people to a website. ## Example Illustrative case: a bookshop prepares a carousel of its five new arrivals of the month. Each card shows the book cover, with a “Reserve” button and a “View on the website” button. It sends it to customers who have agreed to receive its new arrivals. A customer taps “Reserve”: their reply arrives in the conversation, and the team can reply freely for 24 hours. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many cards can a WhatsApp carousel have? From 2 to 10. The number is set when the template is created, and an approved template can only send that number of cards. ### Can a carousel be a utility template? No. Meta reserves carousel cards for marketing templates. ### Can you send a carousel outside the 24-hour window? Yes. It is a Meta-approved template, which can go out at any time, to customers who have agreed to receive your messages. ### Can the customer order inside WhatsApp with a carousel? Not with the media card carousel: a link button opens the website in the browser. To order without leaving WhatsApp, Meta offers the product card carousel, linked to a catalogue. ### Can the cards differ from one another? In content, yes: the image, the text and the link change from card to card. In structure, no: every card has the same components. ## Related terms - [Message template](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/modele) - [Template categories: marketing, utility, authentication](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/categories) - [24-hour window (customer service window)](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/fenetre-24h) - [WhatsApp catalogue](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary#catalogue) - [Opt-in (consent)](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/opt-in) - [Per-message billing](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/facturation-au-message) **Read more** - [WhatsApp campaigns](https://wyp.chat/en/features/whatsapp-campaigns) - [All glossary terms](https://wyp.chat/en/glossary) ## Sources 1. Meta, media card carousel templates: [developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/marketing-templates/media-card-carousel-templates](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/marketing-templates/media-card-carousel-templates) ( checked on 20 October 2026) 2. Meta, product card carousel templates: [developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/catalogs/product-card-carousel-template-messages](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/catalogs/product-card-carousel-template-messages) ( checked on 20 October 2026) 3. Meta, message template components: [developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/components](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/components) ( checked on 20 October 2026) 4. Meta, service messages and the customer service window: [developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messages/send-messages](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messages/send-messages) ( checked on 20 October 2026) --- Source: https://wyp.chat/en/glossary/carrousel · Updated on 20 October 2026