LINE Messaging API
The programmatic interface to a LINE Official Account, the business surface of the messenger that dominates Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. Run by ly-corporation. Hunted for growth edge 6 — the markets where a different app is the default — where telegram-bot-api had supplied the permissive extreme and the East Asian super-apps were still guessed at.
LINE is not the restrictive extreme the edge expected. It is the first channel in this spoke that splits the gate in two and charges for one half.
How it works
A business creates a LINE Official Account, then a Messaging API channel for it. Bot server and LINE Platform exchange webhook events over HTTPS in JSON. Two sending modes: reply messages to users who added the account as a friend, and push messages "at all times" without user initiation — so LINE has no equivalent of WhatsApp's 24-hour service window. Eleven message types, including stickers, coupons, imagemap and Flex Message.
The gate is optional, and it is the discovery gate
Anyone can open an account and message immediately. An account is issued unverified, and it works.
Verification is a separate, applied-for review — "5〜10営業日" (five to ten business days) — which grants a green badge beside the account name and, decisively, membership of the search results inside the LINE app. An unverified account can be messaged but not found. Verification also unlocks friend-add advertising across LINE NEWS and LINE VOOM, coupon placement, invoice billing and membership features. The account name must be the business's official name, and it cannot be changed after applying.
This is a third arrangement, distinct from both poles the spoke had (sender-verification):
- Blocking — WhatsApp, Apple and RCS gate sending. No approval, no messages.
- Absent — Telegram gates nothing. Token, then send.
- Two-tier (LINE) — sending is ungated; being findable is gated. Identity verification is sold as distribution rather than imposed as permission.
Pricing is a subscription with a message allowance
Rates from line-official-account-plans, LY Corporation's Japanese rate card:
| Plan | Monthly | Free messages | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | ¥0 | 200 | not available |
| Light | ¥5,000 | 5,000 | not available |
| Standard | ¥15,000 | 30,000 | ¥3 → ¥2.8 → ¥2.6 by volume |
The shape matters more than the numbers. WhatsApp charges per message or conversation with no subscription; LINE charges a monthly fee that buys a quota, and on two of three plans you simply cannot exceed it. See per-message-pricing.
Related
sender-verification · per-message-pricing · telegram-bot-api · line-official-account-plans · ly-corporation · whatsapp-business-platform · synthesis