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Meta is charging Pages to post links. What about Groups?

Meta One caps most Facebook Pages at two link posts a month unless they pay. Groups aren't named in the rule, but they've had their own changes. Here's what's different for each, and what it means if you run both.

If you run a community on Facebook, you've probably seen the headlines: Facebook now charges you to post links. That's partly true. The actual rule is narrower than the headlines, and it lands differently depending on whether you run a Page, a Group, or, like a lot of organizers, both.

I went through Meta's own help pages and announcements to sort out what actually changed. Here's the short version:

  • Pages can include links in only 2 posts or comments a month unless they pay for Meta One. More links start at $49.99 a month.
  • Groups aren't mentioned in the rule at all. Their changes have been slower: features removed, tools moved to a separate app, and reach that admins say keeps shrinking.
  • If you run both, your Page is probably where you promote, and that's the side that just got squeezed.

What Meta One is

Meta One launched on September 15, 2026. It's Meta's subscription across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with personal plans and business plans. Meta's position is that the core apps stay free and the paid plans add tools on top.

For Pages, the business plans are where links come in:

PlanPrice (US)Posts or comments with links, per month
No planFree2
Essential$14.99/mo2
Advanced$49.99/mo8
Expert$149.99/mo20
Max$499.99/moUnlimited

Notice Essential. Paying $14.99 a month gets you a verified badge and some other perks, but not a single extra link.

If you run a Page

Here's the rule from Meta's help center: where the limit applies, a Page can include links in up to 2 organic posts or comments per month. The count resets on the 1st, and unused links don't roll over.

What counts and what doesn't:

  • Counts: links in posts and comments you publish as your Page.
  • Doesn't count: extra links in the comments of a post that already has a link, links to Meta's own apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads), links through Facebook's affiliate program, and ads.

Two caveats. First, it's officially still a test. Meta's help page says the limit "may not apply to all Pages," but doesn't say which. When the test started in December 2025, Meta told TechCrunch that publishers weren't included. The help page doesn't mention them. Second, the comment rule has already changed. Back then, Meta also said links in comments weren't affected. The help page now says they count.

Meta's stated reason for the test was to learn "whether the ability to publish an increased volume of posts with links adds additional value" for paying subscribers. For context, links already got very little reach. Meta's own numbers for Q3 2025 said more than 98% of feed views in the US came from posts without any links.

In practice, if your Page exists to send people somewhere (an event signup, a Zoom room, your website), you now get two of those a month for free.

There is one workaround built into the rule itself: put your link in one post, then add any other links as comments on that same post. Those extra comment links don't count.

If you run a Group

Meta's help page on the link limit only talks about Pages. It doesn't mention Groups, and I couldn't find anything official saying group posts are limited, or that they're safe. Right now nothing suggests that links posted in a group are capped. Meta just hasn't promised that they won't be.

Groups have had their own changes, just quieter ones:

  • Community chats are gone. Meta shut down chats inside Groups on October 5, 2025, and pointed admins to Messenger or WhatsApp instead.
  • Scheduling tools stopped working in 2024. Meta removed the API that let outside tools post to Groups. If your scheduler stopped posting to your group, that's why.
  • Reach is thin. In the same Q3 2025 numbers, Meta said link posts shared by friends and groups made up a "minimal" share of feed views. Admins have been reporting falling engagement for a couple of years, although those reports are anecdotal.
  • New admin tools are going to a separate app. Forum is Meta's standalone Groups app, currently US only. In October 2026 it got AI-drafted posts, automatic checks against your group rules, custom moderation rules (including rules based on link usage), and a shared content calendar. Meta hasn't said whether those tools are coming to the main Facebook app.
  • Some smaller changes: admins can now turn on nicknames for members, and private groups can switch to public without exposing old posts.

None of the Meta One plans include anything for Groups.

If you run both

This is where it gets real for a lot of organizers. A common setup is a Page that promotes and a Group where people gather. The Page posts the event and the link to RSVP or join the call, and nudges people toward the Group.

That promotional side is exactly what the link limit hits. Two link posts a month doesn't cover a group that meets every week.

Here's what I'd consider:

  • Move event and call links into the Group, posted by you rather than by your Page, since the limit is written around what Pages publish.
  • On the Page, make each link post count. Use one post, and put any additional links in its comments.
  • Collect a way to reach your members outside Facebook. Facebook doesn't give you your members' email addresses. If you want them, you have to ask, and membership questions are one place to do that.

The bigger picture

Every one of these changes was Meta's call, made on Meta's timeline. Chats arrived and then disappeared. Scheduling worked until it didn't. Links were free until they weren't. When you run a community on someone else's platform, that's the deal: you get their reach and their tools, and they set the rules.

That doesn't mean everyone should leave Facebook. For a lot of groups, it's still where the members are. But it's worth knowing which parts of your community you'd lose if the rules changed again, and having a plan for those parts.

Are you happy where your group is?

Some organizers are. Their members are on Facebook, and none of this has touched them much. If that's you, good. Hopefully this helped you see what's coming for Pages.

Others are tired of rules changing under them, want tools Facebook doesn't offer, or have started wondering what it would take to move their community somewhere they control.

If that's closer to where you are, I'd like to talk. I build software, including Dayoff, my own app built around private conversation instead of public comments. Depending on your group, that could mean moving to Dayoff, building something around how your group works, or simply figuring out whether moving makes sense at all.

Tell me about your group

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