ManyChat vs Chatfuel: Which Is Better, by Situation (2026)

ManyChat or Chatfuel: which is better, by situation

Neither wins everywhere, so start from the job you want done. A common one is a Reel that asks people to comment a word you choose, say GUIDE, and a link sent to them by DM, Instagram's private message. The facts on this page come from each company's pricing and help pages, read on 4 November 2026 unless a date says otherwise.

The picks are this page's own judgment. Nobody tested either service on a live Instagram account for this page, so each opinion on ease of use is credited to the person who gave it.

Here is the same choice, case by case. Prices are billed monthly, read on 4 November 2026 for Chatfuel and on 26 October for ManyChat.

• One link, up to about 280 people a month: ManyChat. Its free plan covers 25 people. Essential covers 250 for $17, and each extra person costs $0.10, so it reaches Chatfuel's $20 at about 280. Essential sends the email addresses you collect only to Google Sheets. A direct connection to your email service takes Pro, at $39.
• One link, more than about 280 people, nothing after it: Chatfuel. You write one fixed DM, a message that goes out word for word with no AI. Chatfuel's $20 doesn't count people, and its pricing page lists no charge for fixed DMs, which is worth checking in the trial. At 9,000 people, this costs $20 against $136.50 on ManyChat. To stay at $20, set Chatfuel not to answer, so anyone who writes back waits for you to reply by hand.
• A script with follow-up messages, at any size: ManyChat. Think of a sequence that asks two questions, labels the person in your contact list and sends them down one of three paths. ManyChat's flows, conversations drawn as a map, do this. Pro at $39 covers 2,500 people, and from Essential you can test two wordings against each other. Chatfuel's AI writes its own wording, within the instructions you give it.
• Short AI replies after the first DM, more than about 280 people: Chatfuel. By its own estimate, a short chat uses about $0.008 of credits, so the $20 lasts about 2,600 chats. At 9,000 people, that comes to $64 to $90, against $136.50 on ManyChat.
• Customer questions you can't predict, on Instagram only: Chatfuel up to about 640 chats a month, ManyChat above that. ManyChat's AI replies come with Pro at $39, with no charge per reply listed. Chatfuel's estimate for this kind of chat is about $0.061, which reaches $39 at about 640 chats ($39 ÷ $0.061). ManyChat labels these replies beta, meaning still being developed with some capabilities limited, so try them on your own questions first.
• An AI that answers on WhatsApp: Chatfuel. Its AI works there from its cheapest plan, from one set of facts used on all its channels. ManyChat's WhatsApp starts at Pro, where its AI answers only inside a step of a script you build.
• A script on WhatsApp: ManyChat. Its WhatsApp automations start at Pro, $39. Chatfuel's current version doesn't offer scripted paths or buttons.
• SMS, email or Telegram next to Instagram: ManyChat. Pro connects any three channels, including SMS, email and Telegram. ManyChat Business connects all of them. Chatfuel's help page lists WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and website chat, and says it works only with those.
• Chat on your own website: Chatfuel. You paste a short piece of code into your site, or ask whoever runs it to, and the same AI answers there. ManyChat lists no website chat, only a link or a button that opens a conversation in a messaging app.
• Booking appointments inside the chat: Chatfuel. Its AI offers times and books them, and you choose whether a person approves first. ManyChat's plan table lists no booking, so you would send a link to your calendar.
• Several people answering messages: Chatfuel. A seat is the access one person needs to answer chats. Chatfuel has no seat fees and no limit on teammates. ManyChat Pro includes 2 seats and allows a third at $25.
• Trying it without a card: ManyChat. Its free plan needs none. Chatfuel's 7-day trial comes with $15 of credits. Its help page says you enter a card to start it, and that the card is charged when the 7 days end unless you cancel. ManyChat's Essential and Pro also have 14-day trials, with a card.
• Several client businesses: Chatfuel's Agency plans. They start at $100 a month for 3 businesses, each of which Chatfuel calls a bot. One balance of credits pays for all three.
• An old ManyChat plan you already pay for: stay unless the new one costs less. ManyChat emails you when it plans to move you to its new plans. Joren Wouters, a consultant who builds chatbots for clients and earns a fee when viewers sign up to either service, says you can reply to stay. He also says you can't go back once you switch.

Still unsure? Test your most common question. On each service, set up the answer to that question. ManyChat's AI needs its Pro trial. Send the question from a second Instagram account, then ask something your setup doesn't cover.

Chatfuel vs ManyChat, side by side

The first line, "Best for", is this page's judgment. ManyChat's monthly prices were read on 26 October 2026 and its help pages on 27 October. Everything else was read on 4 November.

Three terms come back in the table. ManyChat bills by active contacts, which the table calls people: anyone who interacts with you through ManyChat during your billing month, counted once however often they write. Chatfuel bills in credits, the balance in dollars that comes with your plan each month and that AI replies spend. An API is the access other software uses to talk to a service.

A script you write, or an AI you brief

Both began as services for drawing chatbot conversations by hand, and they have since split. That split matters more than the price, because it decides what you do each week.

ManyChat is built around the flow. A trigger starts it, such as a comment with a given word. Messages, buttons and conditions follow, and you draw each path. The person reads what you wrote. A question you didn't plan for goes to a default reply, if you set one.

Chatfuel has moved away from flows. In a February 2024 podcast, Fedor Pak, its CEO since October 2022, said the chatbot market "as it was, it's dead", because ChatGPT had changed what AI could do. Chatfuel's help pages now call flows "the legacy approach". They say that on its current platform, where new accounts land, "You don't write scripts or build flows".

Its help pages add that it doesn't offer menus, buttons or quick replies, which are suggested answers shown as buttons. They call that "by design". Your work there looks like this:

• You give it your facts. A Knowledge Base holds your company details, your products or services with prices, and your frequent questions.
• You switch on automations. There is one for each place a conversation can start, such as Instagram DMs or comments on one post. Each can have its own tone and rules.
• You can add a fixed reply to a comment. It goes out word for word with no AI, under the comment, by DM or both.
• You can do all this by chatting. AI Co-Worker is a second AI, separate from the one that answers customers, and it changes these settings for you. By Chatfuel's estimate, the setup uses about $10 of credits once per bot, half of the cheapest plan's $20 and two thirds of the trial's $15.

This is why other comparisons can mislead. Many still describe Chatfuel as a drag-and-drop builder. That's its older version, called Legacy. A July 2026 tutorial by the YouTube channel Toolysto still walks through it. If you sign up today, you land on the current version, a separate account from any Legacy one.

Chatfuel's pricing page also still says you can "build flows visually". So if you need a drawn flow there, look for it in the trial before you count on it.

The same goes for opinions on ease of use. The tester at Zapier, a service that connects apps, found ManyChat's screens cleaner, in a comparison last updated in February 2025. Chatimize, Joren Wouters's site, found ManyChat's builder a bit easier and Chatfuel's slow on large automations. Both compared the flow versions, so they say little about Chatfuel's AI setup.

The choice comes down to the risk you prefer. A script does only what you wrote, so it never invents a price, and it can't answer a question you didn't plan for. An AI answers the unexpected. It can also get things wrong or, when it isn't sure, pass too many chats to you. Test it on your own questions before you trust it with customers.

Instagram comments and DMs on each

Sending a DM to people who comment is a common reason to buy these services. Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, sets the rules, and they apply to both.

• One DM per comment. Meta's rules let a business send one DM, which Meta calls a private reply, within 7 days of the comment. If the person answers, the business has 24 hours from that answer to send more.
• Only the first comment counts. ManyChat's help page says its trigger runs on a person's first comment under a post. It says this limit comes from Instagram and applies to every service.
• People who don't follow you see it in their requests. Meta puts the DM in their Request folder, not their inbox. Chatfuel adds that no notification appears.
• After 24 hours, only you can answer. Automated messages stop 24 hours after the person's last message. You or your team can still answer by hand for 7 days after that message, and Chatfuel's Instagram rules say the same.
• The person acts first. On Instagram, that means a comment, a follow, a Story reply or a DM. Mike Yan, ManyChat's CEO, said in a 2024 talk that DM automation can't start a conversation. So neither service can write first to strangers, as cold email does.

A public reply tells people where to look. Chatfuel's own video and Corbin Sylk, who sets up DM sequences for coaches, give the same advice: reply under the comment and tell the person to check their DM requests. Both services can post that reply. ManyChat can rotate several versions of it.

The first DM is where the two services differ, because that one message has to earn an answer.

On ManyChat, you add a button. Tapping a button or a quick reply counts as answering, so the 24-hour window opens and the next message can go out. An "Open website" button doesn't count: the person gets your link, and you can't write to them again unless they do something else. That's why Stephy Chen, who teaches DM automation to creators, sends a button first and the link in the second message.

On Chatfuel, you choose between two setups. Neither has a button.

• One fixed DM with your link. Going by Chatfuel's pricing page, it uses no credits, and it ends there. Anyone who writes back waits for you to answer by hand.
• An AI that asks a question. Chatfuel's September 2026 video has the first DM ask "What are you looking for?" instead of sending a link. The answer goes into the person's record in your contact list, where your team can see it. Each AI reply uses credits.

Typing asks more of the person than a tap, and it tells you more. As far as this page can tell, no public test compares the two. If that first reply is how you get most of your customers, try both.

The two also differ on what else starts a conversation. Both reply to Story replies and to ads that open a DM. ManyChat's plan table adds replies to comments on Instagram Live and a welcome DM to new followers, on every plan. Chatfuel's help page says its follower DM is an early test for a limited group.

When a post takes off

Meta allows 750 private replies an hour per Instagram account, for comments on posts and Reels. Its page doesn't say what happens to reply 751. ManyChat's help page says that on accounts with many comments, it switches on a mechanism that keeps replies from triggering spam detection. An answer in its community says it spaces them out. Chatfuel's pages don't cover this.

Apart from that cap, Instagram can limit an account for how it behaves. A restriction usually means the account can't send DMs for a while, and Stephy Chen cites blocks of 3, 7 or 30 days. ManyChat's help page names three causes: too many automated messages too quickly, public replies that look copied, and several accounts behaving alike. Corbin Sylk said in August 2026 that clients who had sent 10,000 to 20,000 automated messages were reporting restrictions, without saying over what period.

Neither company can lift a restriction. ManyChat says it "can't reverse bans or account restrictions", and Chatfuel says each business is responsible for staying within Meta's policies. These habits come from people who run these setups on ManyChat:

• Vary the wording. Sylk rotates four versions of the first DM with ManyChat's randomizer, a step that sends each person one version at random. It also shows him which version works best. On Chatfuel, the AI writes its own wording, and its pages mention no rotation for a fixed DM.
• Drop the public reply on a post that takes off. Public replies that look copied are one of the causes ManyChat names. The same community answer describes keeping two versions of the trigger, and switching to the one without a public reply. On Chatfuel, you set the public reply to "Don't reply".
• Hold the link back. Stephy Chen sends a button first. In her view, a tap shows Instagram that the person wants what comes next, so the link doesn't look like spam. On Chatfuel, that means the AI's question first, because the fixed DM puts the link in the first message.

AI replies on each

Both now have AI. In ManyChat it's an addition to your scripts, and in Chatfuel it's the product.

ManyChat's AI starts at Pro, $39, and its plan pages list no charge per AI reply. It comes in two parts:

• Three features work without a flow, on Instagram only. AI Replies answers questions from a library of facts you add as text or as links, one page per link. AI Comments answers positive comments. AI Goals then steers the chat toward one aim you set: a link, a follow or an email address. ManyChat labels all three beta.
• AI Step works inside a flow, on more channels. You write its goal and the background it needs. It then handles that part of the conversation on Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok or Telegram.

ManyChat's help page says the library of facts works only on Instagram. A user in its community said in September 2026 that on WhatsApp and Messenger, the facts therefore go into each step. Each step has a length limit, so a whole support conversation takes many steps.

Mike Yan presented this AI in November 2025 as the answer to what scripts can't predict, such as comments and DMs no script was written for. Joren Wouters said in June 2026 that he uses ManyChat for 95% of his clients. He finds its AI features "a bit limited", and he uses them for none of those clients.

Chatfuel's AI comes with every plan, and each reply uses credits. It's called Fuely AI, and it's what Chatfuel calls an AI agent, software that decides its own next step toward a goal. It answers on all five channels.

It listens to voice messages and answers in text. It sends product photos, follows up with people who go quiet and hands a chat to a teammate. For appointments, you choose how far it goes, from only collecting the request to booking with no person involved.

Chatfuel's pricing page has a calculator that shows what this costs. These are its results on 4 November 2026, billed monthly. A chat means one person's conversation until their question is settled. For customer questions, the calculator gave the same cost per chat on WhatsApp as on Instagram and Facebook, before Meta's own fees.

These are estimates, and Chatfuel calls them "not quotes". A longer set of facts costs more, because the AI rereads your facts, your instructions and the conversation for each reply.

"$20 with unlimited contacts" is true of people, not of AI work. Many comparisons sum up Chatfuel with that phrase. If the AI answers customer questions, the $20 runs out at about 330 chats a month. At about $0.061 a chat, the bill passes ManyChat Pro's $39 at about 640 chats ($39 ÷ $0.061). Above that, ManyChat can cost less, if Instagram is your only channel and its beta AI answers well enough for you.

WhatsApp on each

WhatsApp has a cost that neither plan price covers: Meta charges per message. Both services pay Meta for you and take the money from a prepaid balance. On ManyChat that's a Wallet, separate from your plan. On Chatfuel, the fees come out of the same wallet as your credits.

There are two kinds of paid message:

• A reply within 24 hours is a service message. These were free from November 2024. Since 1 October 2026, Meta charges for them after the first 1,000 a month per phone number. ManyChat's table, read on 27 October, gives $0.0034 each for the US and Canada. So 3,000 replies in a month cost (3,000 − 1,000) × $0.0034 = $6.80.
• A message you start is a template, which Meta approves in advance. You need one once 24 hours have passed since the person last wrote. ManyChat's table gives $0.0039 for a utility template, such as an order update, in the US and Canada. It gives $0.0287 for a marketing template.

These fees won't decide between the two. Chatfuel's calculator says templates are billed at "Meta's rate plus 10%". Chatfuel also says a service message costs the same as a utility template at Meta. So a utility template to the US comes to about $0.0037 on Chatfuel ($0.0034 × 1.1), against $0.0039 in ManyChat's table. That table doesn't say whether its rates include a margin.

In the US, marketing messages are on hold. Meta, which calls them marketing templates, paused them for US numbers on 1 April 2025. ManyChat's help page, updated in October 2026, gives no date for their return. The pause comes from Meta, so it applies on both services.

You can still send a marketing message to numbers outside the US, and a utility template to US numbers. A chat that starts from an ad that opens WhatsApp can stay free for up to 7 days. Chatfuel calls these ads the cheapest way to start a conversation.

ManyChat or Chatfuel spares you the hardest part of Meta's setup. I tested automatic WhatsApp messages by connecting directly to Meta, without ManyChat, Chatfuel or anything like them. It was hard to set up, and Meta's own screens for doing it directly are a nightmare, so going through a service like these is worth it. Even then, Chatfuel's steps have you sign in to Facebook, name your business and verify a phone number.

What ManyChat and Chatfuel cost

ManyChat's yearly prices below were read on its pricing page on 4 November 2026. Its monthly prices and extra-person charges come from the same page's plan table on 26 October. ManyChat's prices exclude tax, and Chatfuel's pages don't mention tax.

Paying yearly lowers ManyChat's plans by 18 to 30%. The Free plan has no paid extras, so past 25 people, new people stop getting your automations until the count resets.

Chatfuel's prices below were read on its pricing page on 4 November 2026. Paying yearly lowers them by 10%. Agency plans start at $100 a month, or $90 billed yearly, for 3 businesses, with $100 of credits.

What one month costs, by case

The cases below are examples to show the arithmetic, billed monthly and before any WhatsApp fees. ManyChat counts people. Chatfuel's calculator counts chats, so each case assumes one chat per person. On ManyChat, follow-up messages in your script add nothing to these prices.

Here's how the ManyChat figures work. At 9,000 people, ManyChat Business costs $99 plus 1,500 extra people at $0.025, which is $136.50. Pro would cost $39 plus 6,500 at $0.05, which is $364. At 1,950 people, Essential would cost $17 plus 1,700 at $0.10, which is $187, so Pro is the right plan at $39, since it covers up to 2,500 people.

Chatfuel's figures use the credits its calculator estimates. A range runs from a top-up to a bigger plan, a top-up being extra credits you buy. For 9,000 people with short AI replies, the low end is its $45 plan, with $50 of credits, plus the missing credits at $1 per $1 of credits: $69 − $50 = $19, and $45 + $19 = $64. The high end is the $90 plan its calculator proposes, which leaves room for a busier month.

The $20 rows rest on a fixed DM using no credits. Chatfuel's pricing page charges only for AI replies, WhatsApp templates and reports sent to Meta if you run ads, and it lists no charge for fixed DMs. Check that in the trial. If the person then writes back, the automation answers with AI unless you set its incoming messages to "Don't reply". With that setting, the chat waits for your team and uses no credits.

To price your own month, count the people who commented on the posts you'd automate or sent you a DM last month. A rough count by hand is enough. Once you use ManyChat, it shows this number under Insights.

When you go past the limit

On ManyChat, your bill grows. Its Active Contacts page says automations keep running, and extra people go on your next bill. Alerts arrive at 70, 90 and 100% of your limit. If you upgrade within the same billing cycle, ManyChat cancels the extra charges so far.

You can also set a cap under Settings, Billing, Subscription, "Set your contact limit". Past that cap, automations run only for people already active that cycle, so new commenters stop getting your DM. I set spending caps wherever I can, because they spare me bad surprises. On a post that's taking off, weigh that against the leads you'd miss.

Three details surprise people, and all three come from how ManyChat counts:

• Deleting contacts doesn't lower the count. A ManyChat community moderator confirmed this in July 2026.
• An ordinary DM counts too. Anyone who writes to you counts as active, even if no automation answers, so the free plan's 25 people can go quickly.
• The count resets each month. It resets on the day of the month your billing started, even on a yearly plan.

On Chatfuel, your replies stop when the balance runs out. Credits don't carry over to the next month. When they run low, Chatfuel warns you. You can then buy a pack of credits, or turn on auto-top-up, which charges your card an amount you choose.

Its help page says that at zero, automations stop replying and messages stop going out, while you can still answer by hand and your data stays. Its pricing page says AI replies pause. So fixed DMs may stop too: check in the trial, and turn on auto-top-up before a post you expect to do well.

Why other pages show other prices

Both companies changed their prices in 2026, so check the date on any price you read, this page included.

ManyChat replaced its plans on 2 March 2026. Before that, the free plan covered 1,000 contacts, and Pro started at $15 for 500 contacts, counting everyone in your account. Pages that still show those figures predate the change. The free plan is now 25 people a month.

Chatfuel's lowest price has moved several times. Internet Archive copies of its pricing page show $23.99 in March 2026, $69 in April, and $49 in early September. By the end of September it was $20. So a page quoting any of these may simply be older.

If you already pay ManyChat on an old plan

An old plan can cost more or less than a new one. Joren Wouters compared two of his clients in August 2026. One has 729 active contacts, and pays $25 on the old plan against $39 on the new one. Another has about 18,000 active contacts out of 78,000 in the account.

That second client pays $454 on the old plan, including a $99 add-on for team chat, and would pay about $200. Wouters says ManyChat moves you automatically if it thinks the new plan is cheaper for you, that you can reply to its email to stay, and that there's no way back once you switch. Work out both bills first.

Your team, your other software and support

Answering as a team costs less on Chatfuel. All its plans include unlimited teammates. On ManyChat, Free and Essential include one seat, Pro 2, Business 3 and Advanced 5. From Pro, each extra seat costs $25, up to 3 seats on Pro, 5 on Business and 10 on Advanced.

Sending chats to the right person works differently on each. ManyChat assigns conversations automatically from its Business plan, at $99. On Chatfuel, you write rules such as "Route Spanish-speaking customers to Maria", and the AI applies them. When a chat goes to a team rather than a person, Chatfuel picks a teammate at random, without looking at how busy each one is.

ManyChat's connections depend on your plan. Essential sends data only to Google Sheets. Joren Wouters calls that the trap of this plan, because you then move leads to your email service by hand. From Pro, ManyChat connects to HubSpot for customer records, Klaviyo for email marketing, Twilio for SMS, and Stripe and PayPal for payments. Its API also starts at Pro.

Chatfuel's pricing page lists Google Sheets, Zapier, Stripe and its API, and its plans don't vary by feature. AI Co-Worker can also connect Slack, Notion or HubSpot through a link you approve. Connecting an AI to your other apps lets it act there, and strangers' messages reach that same AI, so give it only what the job needs.

Help is easier to find for ManyChat. Google Ads figures read in October 2026 show about 110,000 US searches a month for its name, against about 1,000 for Chatfuel's, and more interest usually means more tutorials. Its public community has moderators who answer billing and setup questions. It adds email support from Essential and priority support from its Business plan. Chatfuel advertises 24/7 support, and AI Co-Worker answers product questions in the app.

Related jobs that usually start with other software

ManyChat and Chatfuel are built for conversations in messaging apps. A few related jobs usually start elsewhere:

• Reminders to shoppers. Cart reminders and first-order messages usually start with email and texts, as in marketing automation for an online store.
• Messages inside your software. If you sell software, the first messages follow what users do in the product, as in SaaS marketing automation.
• Design, video and the rest of your marketing. Each of those jobs has its own AI tool.