WhatsApp Transcription Bot 'Eliezer' Relocates After Meta Price Hike

The popular WhatsApp transcription bot 'Eliezer,' a volunteer project by ivrit.ai, has been forced to relocate its services and lost 87.5% of its users following a significant price increase by Meta. Previously, Meta offered a free 24-hour service window for businesses using WhatsApp Business API. However, as of October 1, Meta shifted to a per-message payment model, drastically increasing costs for services like 'Eliezer.'

This change has escalated the monthly cost for 'Eliezer' from approximately $1 to an estimated $5,000. To cope, the project has moved its transcription delivery to Telegram and a dedicated app, resulting in a user drop from 20,000 daily to about 2,500. Founder Yair Lipschitz criticized Meta's move as "monopolistic behavior," noting the heartbreaking responses from users, particularly those with hearing impairments, who relied on the service.

'Eliezer' was launched in April 2025 by Lipschitz and partners Yinir Marmor, Kineret Misgav, and Yoed Sapir. The ivrit.ai initiative aims to improve AI's Hebrew language capabilities and has built extensive Hebrew audio databases and developed advanced transcription models. Despite the challenges, 'Eliezer' continues to operate for free, albeit with usage limits, including 10 messages per hour and a total of 20 minutes of transcription per hour, with individual recordings capped at 10 minutes.

Lipschitz explained that while the core functionality remains, users now receive transcriptions via the Communicator app or Telegram instead of directly within WhatsApp. He also pointed out that 'Eliezer' offers superior accuracy compared to the built-in iPhone transcription and is essential for the majority of Android users in Israel, who lack a native transcription feature. The project is sustained by community donations, with Lipschitz emphasizing that the funds are solely for service operation and expansion, not personal gain.