Instoly vs ManyChat: Instagram auto DM compared

ManyChat and Instoly both send an automatic DM when someone comments a keyword on your Instagram post. The difference is scope and how you pay. ManyChat automates conversations across Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and Telegram, adds WhatsApp, SMS and email on Pro, and charges by the number of people you talk to each month. Instoly is built only for Instagram creators, charges in rupees, and counts the messages you send.

If you need several channels, lead capture or AI-run conversations, ManyChat covers more. If you are a creator in India who wants comment-to-DM with a link-in-bio store, click tracking and invoices without paying in dollars, Instoly costs less.

How do ManyChat and Instoly compare at a glance?

Why do ManyChat and Instoly prices grow differently?

ManyChat bills by active contacts: each real person you interact with in a month counts once, however many messages you exchange. Free stops at 25 of them, Essential includes 250 for $14 a month billed yearly, and Pro includes 2,500 for $29 a month billed yearly, with each extra contact charged on top.

Instoly bills by what you send. A creator whose reel pulls 5,000 comments in a week needs 5,000 to 10,000 credits, which the ₹149 Pro plan covers within its 40,000. On ManyChat, those 5,000 commenters are 5,000 active contacts, which is above Pro's 2,500.

Does ManyChat have a store or link-in-bio page like Instoly?

ManyChat doesn't offer a store or link-in-bio page on its plans.

Instoly includes one on every plan. You get instoly.store/<your name> to put in your Instagram bio, where followers see each post with the products used in it, and a tap goes straight to the product through a tracked link. The same products can go out as cards inside the auto DM, so someone who comments gets the products in their DMs. Free shows up to 6 posts; Pro and Business add unlimited posts, your own look, categories and Featured. The store links out to where you sell; it doesn't take payments itself.

Where is ManyChat stronger?

• More channels: Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and Telegram on every plan, and WhatsApp, SMS and email from Pro.
• More triggers on the free plan: story replies, story mentions, Instagram Live comments, new followers and keywords in DMs.
• Lead capture and logic from Essential: collect emails and phone numbers in the DM, check whether someone follows you, tag contacts, branch on answers and A/B test messages.
• AI from Pro that answers questions from your saved business details and starts conversations by intent rather than exact keywords, plus a mobile inbox app.

Where is Instoly stronger?

• Low prices, billed in rupees (or US dollars outside India): Pro is ₹149 a month or ₹999 a year for 40,000 credits, and Business is ₹399 a month for 3,50,000.
• Rich DMs and public replies on every plan: up to 3 buttons, carousels of up to 10 cards, product cards from your store, and public comment replies from your own list or a rotating pool.
• Auto DM analytics on every plan, per flow: comments matched, DMs sent and opened, top keywords and failures.
• Every link is tracked: see clicks and click-through rate for each Auto DM, store post and product, on every plan, with Instagram's own link scanners filtered out.
• A link-in-bio page on every plan: instoly.store/<your name> shows your posts with the products used in them, and each tap goes straight to the product through a tracked link. Free shows up to 6 posts; Pro and Business add unlimited posts, your own look, categories and Featured.
• More than auto DM: invoices with GST or UAE VAT in six currencies, and AI that writes captions, scripts and flows.
• AI writes your DMs and custom comment replies in 12 languages on Pro and Business, including Hindi, Hinglish, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Arabic.
• Credit packs you buy never expire and work on the free plan too, so a viral week doesn't force an upgrade.

What doesn't Instoly do?

Instoly doesn't lock a link behind a follow (you can add an optional follow request to the DM), and it has no email or phone capture inside the DM, no follow-up sequences, no Instagram Live triggers and no Facebook automation today. If one of those is the reason you are choosing a tool, pick a tool that has it.

One thing to read carefully on any plan: Instoly counts a DM and a public comment reply as one credit each. A flow that replies in the comments and sends a DM uses two credits per comment, so 1,000 free credits cover 500 comments handled that way, or 1,000 if you only send the DM.

Should you choose ManyChat or Instoly?

Pick ManyChat if you run chat automation on several channels, need lead capture or follower checks, or want AI to handle conversations. Pick Instoly if Instagram is where your audience is and you want rupee pricing for high comment volume, with a link-in-bio store, click tracking and invoices included.

Instoly is free to start, with 1,000 DM and comment credits a month and no card. Set up your first comment-to-DM flow in a few minutes and see how it fits.