Switching from ManyChat

The ManyChat alternative that never charges per contact

Start your free trial

Free for 7 days, no credit card required

Your reel takes off, a few thousand people comment, and every one of them is an Active Contact on next month’s ManyChat bill. CommentWatchDog runs the same Instagram and Messenger automations with unlimited contacts, from $29 a month.

  • Meta's official API, no password, nothing installed
  • Unlimited contacts on every plan
  • AI replies in your customer's language
  • From $29 a month
ManyChat’s published monthly rates, read October 7, 2026, on the cheapest ManyChat plan at each count. Starter’s fair use is 100,000 people a month.
Why people switch

What ManyChat meters or leaves out, included

CommentWatchDog is a ManyChat alternative for Instagram and Facebook Messenger: comment to DM, keyword and story automations, a visual flow builder with AI and HTTP requests, AI answers checked against your own knowledge, and comment moderation, from $29 a month with unlimited contacts. ManyChat bills per Active Contact (as of October 7, 2026).

What decides it
ManyChat
CommentWatchDog
Contacts and DMs
Priced per contactPro: 2,500 included, then $0.05 each
UnlimitedContacts and DMs, on every plan
Your bill at 10,000 contacts
$161.50 a monthBusiness $99 + 2,500 extra × $0.025
$29 a monthStarter, the same at any count
Spam and scam comments
Not hidden or deletedIts help centre documents replies only
Hidden or deletedBefore any DM goes out
Old spam on past posts
StaysNo bulk cleanup
ClearedEvery past post and ad, in bulk on Growth
AI that reads your files
Text and public linksNo files, no subpages, Instagram only
Site, text, FAQs, filesFiles from Growth, on Instagram and Messenger
Inbox translation
Not in the inboxYou reply in their language yourself
Both waysRead theirs, reply in yours, 61 languages
HTTP request answers
JSON only, 200 onlyAn error answer cannot be mapped
Status, headers, bodyBranch on the status code
Teammates in the inbox
2 Inbox seats on Pro$25 for each extra seat
3 on Starter, 5 on GrowthNo price per seat
Switch free for 7 daysTry it free

ManyChat’s side is its own help centre, read October 7, 2026: Active Contacts, Pro, Business, AI Comments, AI Knowledge, Text Improver, Dev Tools. The $161.50 is worked out from the Business plan’s monthly rates. Logos belong to their owners.

What you keep

The automations you run today, in the app’s words

Using ManyChat for Instagram? You keep the automations: a DM when someone comments on a post, a reel or an ad, keyword replies, story replies and mentions, ice breakers and your ig.me link. What changes on Instagram is the bill, which never counts contacts, and the spam under your posts, hidden or deleted before any DM goes out. Each is below, with the label you will see here and the rule behind it.

The starts you already use

Every way a conversation begins on Instagram and Messenger.

Post or reel commentsComment to DM

A keyword, an exact phrase or any comment under a post, a reel or an ad sends the one private reply Meta allows, plus a public reply if you want one. How comment to DM works.

Up to 50 keywords; capitals and accents don’t matter.

Instagram messageKeyword replies in DMs

A message with your keywords, an exact phrase or any message at all starts a flow, on Instagram and on Messenger.

Only one automatic answer goes to one message.

Story reply or mentionStory replies and mentions

A reply to your story or a mention in theirs starts a flow, on every story or the ones you choose.

Instagram only; Meta sends no event for GIF or sticker replies.

Ice breakers and first messagesWelcome and ice breakers

Their first message ever, or one of up to four questions Instagram and Messenger show above an empty chat.

An ice breaker is up to 80 characters.

ig.me linkLinks that open a chat

Your chat link with a name of your choosing, for a bio, an ad, an email or a QR code, starts its own flow.

Also m.me links on Messenger.

The steps you build with

The same canvas idea, a step for each job.

MessageText, buttons and quick replies

Up to 3 buttons and 13 quick replies on one message, both on the same message if you like, and up to five ways to say it.

Meta’s limits: 1,000 characters on Instagram, 2,000 on Messenger.

Ask a questionAnswers saved to the contact

Ask for an email, a phone number or any answer; it is checked when they reply, asked again up to 3 times, or skipped if you allow it.

ConditionBranch on anything you know

Tags, saved answers, custom fields, whether they follow you, and more, matched all or any.

HTTP requestYour own systems

Call any API with GET, POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE, keep the status, headers or any field of the answer, and branch on it. The HTTP request step.

Starter and up.

AI agent answersAI inside the flow

One answer from what your agent knows, then the flow goes on, or a person takes it when it does not know. AI answers in your DMs.

An answer uses 5 AI credits; “not enough knowledge” uses none.

Where it all lands

The people and the conversations, in one place.

All pagesOne inbox for every page

Instagram DMs and Messenger chats of every connected page in one list, each message marked with who sent it: a teammate, the automation or the AI agent.

TranslateTranslated both ways

Read their message in your language with one click and send your reply in theirs.

61 languages; one translation uses 1 AI credit.

PeopleContacts, tags and fields

Everyone an automation reached, with what they gave you, their tags, custom fields and whether you can message them now.

Unlimited contacts; CSV export from Growth.

How to switch

Switch over in an afternoon

Four steps, page by page, with your ManyChat flows still running until yours are tested. The first automation you rebuild from screenshots adds 500 AI credits to your wallet, once per Instagram account or Facebook Page.

  1. 01

    Connect your pages

    Sign in with Facebook’s own login and pick your Instagram accounts and Facebook pages. Meta’s official API: no password shared, nothing installed.

    7-day free trial, no card

  2. 02

    Bring each automation over

    In Build with AI, choose “Bring an automation from another tool”. Add screenshots of your current setup, up to 4 a message, and type the links your buttons open. You get a draft flow with the same start, keywords, wording and buttons.

    A draft: nothing is live until you save

  3. 03

    Test it on your phone

    Scan the code or open the test link and the flow runs for you only. A comment flow, you test by commenting on your own post.

    The test link works for 30 minutes

  4. 04

    Switch it on

    Turn the ManyChat version off and this one on, so one tool answers each comment. Your contacts arrive as people write.

    Unlimited contacts from the first day

Build with AI

Your flow, rebuilt for you

Add screenshots of the automation you run today and the links its buttons open; the steps appear on the canvas as a draft, with their reasons, and nothing goes live until you save.

Checked each way through
After building, it walks every path and says what it found.
Undo this turn
Take back one turn, or the whole build, in one click.
What it costs

One flat price, whatever your reach

Contacts and DMs are never metered on any plan. What is metered is what costs us: the comments moderation reads, and the AI credits AI answers use.

Starter, $29 a month
Everything on the card, for one business. CommentWatchDog pricing has every plan.
Growth, $49 a month
Adds files as AI knowledge, bulk cleanup of past posts, exports and 5 teammates.
AI credits
The pool grows with the plan and resets each month; packs that never expire are there if you run out.

Starter$29a month, or $290 a year

  • Unlimited contacts and DMsFair use: 100,000 people a month

  • DM automation and the flow builderWith the HTTP request step and links that open a chat

  • 1 AI agent, 1,000 AI credits a monthA DM answer uses 5 credits

  • Comment moderation, 1,000 comments a monthSpam hidden or deleted before any DM

  • The inbox, translated both waysEvery Instagram account and Facebook page

  • 3 teammates, 3 pagesNo price per seat

Start your free trial

Free for 7 days, no credit card required

Questions

Questions before switching

What ManyChat users ask before they move.

For a business whose ManyChat bill grows with its contacts, CommentWatchDog: comment to DM, keyword, story and welcome automations and a visual flow builder on Instagram and Messenger, with unlimited contacts on every plan from $29 a month, AI answers checked against your own knowledge, and comment moderation included.

ManyChat prices by Active Contacts: Pro is $39 a month for 2,500, then $0.05 for each extra contact; Business is $99 for 7,500, then $0.025 each (billed monthly, as of October 7, 2026). At 10,000 contacts the cheapest ManyChat plan comes to $161.50 a month. CommentWatchDog Starter is $29 a month at any number of contacts. ManyChat pricing, explained.

ManyChat’s Free plan covers 25 Active Contacts a month and 4 live automations, and shows a “Powered by Manychat” message the first time it messages each contact. CommentWatchDog has no free plan: a 7-day free trial without a card, then from $29 a month with unlimited contacts.

ManyChat’s AI Knowledge learns from text and single public pages; its help centre says it cannot read files or images. CommentWatchDog’s AI agent learns from links (whole pages, rewritten as facts), text, FAQs and, from the Growth plan, files, and a second model checks every answer against them, so what it does not know goes to a person. AI answers in your DMs.

Yes, by rebuilding them from screenshots. On the New automation screen choose “Moving from another tool? Bring your automation”, or the card “Bring an automation from another tool” in Build with AI. Add screenshots of your current setup (the post, the keywords, each message and its buttons), up to 4 a message, and type the links your buttons open, because a screenshot never shows where a button goes. You get a draft flow with the same start, keywords, wording and buttons; nothing is live until you save. It is a rebuild, not a file transfer, and contacts, tags and history do not move. The first time a rebuild from real screenshots changes the flow, 500 AI credits are added to your wallet, once per Instagram account or Facebook Page.

It runs on Meta’s official API: you connect with Facebook’s own login, no password is shared, nothing is installed and nothing is scraped. It sends only what Meta allows, such as one private reply per comment within 7 days, and nothing more until the person taps or writes back.

Yes, on every plan. Your moderation rules run before any automation, so scam links, fake support accounts and spam are hidden or deleted before anyone gets a DM, and you can delete spam comments on past posts and ads in bulk from the Growth plan. Looking at moderation tools instead? See CommentWatchDog vs CommentGuard.

Bring your flows over this afternoon

Meta API approved Start your free trial

Free for 7 days, no credit card required

No contact meter, from $29

Try free