Manychat

What is manychat

Manychat is a conversational marketing platform that helps businesses automate messaging on social channels and messaging apps. It provides a visual Flow Builder, templates, and channel integrations to capture leads, answer common customer questions, and run commerce flows through Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS and other channels. The product targets creators, e-commerce teams, agencies, and marketing departments that need to scale one-to-one conversations into repeatable funnels.

The platform combines event-driven automations (comments, mentions, direct messages), broadcasts (targeted message sends), and audience segmentation to move people from discovery to purchase. Manychat stores contact attributes, conversation history and tags so teams can qualify leads and trigger follow-up flows based on behavior. It also provides reporting and conversion tracking to measure the effectiveness of flows.

Manychat places emphasis on ease of use: prebuilt templates, a drag-and-drop flow builder, and quick automations reduce the technical barrier for non-developers while the developer-focused API and integrations allow more advanced automation. The company positions itself as a partner for social-first businesses that rely on direct messaging for discovery and sales.

Manychat features

What does manychat do?

Manychat automates inbound and outbound messaging across multiple channels and converts conversational interactions into measurable customer actions. Core capabilities include message flows, triggered automations from comments or DMs, contact data collection (emails, phone numbers), and conditional routing based on tags or attributes. It supports two-way conversations so businesses can continue handoff to human agents when required.

Key feature areas include visual flow building, templates and snippets, multi-channel inbox and campaign management, and audience segmentation for targeted messages. The Flow Builder allows branching logic, delays, actions (add tag, subscribe to campaign), and integration actions (send email, call webhook). Templates cover use cases such as welcome sequences, FAQ automation, post-purchase follow-up, and contest/giveaway flows.

Integrations and channel support are central: Manychat integrates with Instagram and Facebook (Meta), WhatsApp (via Business API), TikTok, and SMS providers. It also connects to CRMs, email providers, and ecommerce platforms through built-in integrations or webhooks. Reporting covers message delivery, open rates, conversion events, and revenue attribution when flows are connected to checkout actions.

Other platform capabilities:

• Flow templates: prebuilt flows for common marketing and support tasks
• Audience tagging and segmentation: build audiences based on interactions and attributes
• Broadcasts and campaigns: scheduled and targeted sends with basic A/B testing
• Commerce actions: send product cards, checkout links, and coupon codes from flows
• Human takeover: seamless transfer of conversations to agents
• AI assistance: assistant tools to help generate flow content or replies

Manychat pricing

Manychat offers these pricing plans:

• Free Plan: $0/month with limited contacts, basic flows, and channel access
• Starter: $15/month (typical entry paid tier with higher contact limits and expanded features)
• Professional: $65/month (adds more advanced automations, multi-channel broadcasts, and priority support in many cases)
• Enterprise: custom pricing (scales with contacts and advanced security / SLA requirements)

Manychat’s actual billed price normally depends on the number of contacts or active subscribers; platform vendors in this category commonly charge more as contact lists grow. Annual billing often reduces total cost compared with month-to-month billing — many vendors in this space offer roughly 15–25% savings for annual commitments. There can also be add-ons for additional channels (for example, WhatsApp Business API fees) or premium support.

For channel-specific details Manychat publishes billing rules and examples showing how contact counts affect pricing. Check Manychat’s developer and pricing documentation for precise calculations and up-to-date tiers. Their official pricing page provides current plan definitions, per-contact thresholds, and enterprise options. Visit their official pricing page for the most current information.

How much is manychat per month

Manychat starts at $0/month with a Free Plan. Paid plans typically begin in the mid-teens per month and scale with the number of contacts and channels used. The most common entry paid tier for active small teams is often cited around $15/month, with higher tiers for more advanced automations and higher contact volumes. For precise month-to-month pricing by contact band, see Manychat’s contact-tiered pricing examples on their pricing page.

How much is manychat per year

Manychat typically offers discounted annual billing that lowers the effective monthly cost by roughly 15–25% versus month-to-month for many customers. Paying annually is a common way to reduce cost for businesses that commit to the platform long-term. For current annual rates, billing cycles, and any promotional discounts, consult Manychat’s official pricing page.

How much is manychat in general

Manychat pricing ranges from $0 (Free Plan) to enterprise-level custom pricing. Small users and creators commonly operate on the Free Plan or a lower paid tier, while growing businesses pay more as contact counts and channel requirements increase. Costs are influenced by active contacts, number of channels (Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS), and required support or security features. Check Manychat’s pricing documentation to calculate expected costs for your contact volume and channels.

What is manychat used for

Manychat is used for conversational marketing, customer support automation, lead capture, and direct commerce through messaging channels. Common use cases include converting social comments into lead captures, automating replies to common questions, cart recovery messaging, and running giveaways that grow contact lists. The platform is used by creators to grow followers and monetize audiences, and by small businesses to scale customer interactions without hiring large support teams.

Practical applications:

• Lead capture: collect emails and phone numbers via comment-to-DM flows and automated DMs
• Ecommerce conversion: send product cards, abandoned-cart flows, and broadcast promotions
• Support triage: respond to FAQs, route requests to agents, and collect order details before handoff
• Audience growth: automate engagement on Instagram and TikTok to amplify follower retention

Manychat’s multi-channel approach makes it useful for businesses that rely on social-first discovery and need to centralize messaging across Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS. Teams use it to maintain a persistent contact record, run timed marketing sequences, and attribute revenue back to conversational campaigns.

Pros and cons of manychat

Pros:

• Visual Flow Builder and templates reduce setup time and require minimal technical expertise
• Multi-channel support lets teams reuse flows across Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and SMS
• Audience tagging and segmentation enable targeted broadcasts and conversion tracking
• Commerce-oriented features let businesses send product cards, coupons, and checkout links from chat
• Developer API and webhooks allow custom integrations and deeper automation when needed

Cons:

• Pricing can scale quickly with large contact lists or multiple channels, especially WhatsApp Business API costs
• More advanced workflows sometimes require familiarity with event-based logic and tags to avoid list bloat
• Channel policies (Meta, WhatsApp, TikTok) change periodically and may require updates to flows or template approvals
• Handing over complex support to human agents requires workflow discipline to preserve conversation context

Practical considerations when evaluating Manychat:

• Integration effort: mapping contacts and events to your CRM needs planning
• Compliance: ensure opt-in consent and opt-out flows are in place for messaging regulations
• Operational model: decide whether marketing or support owns conversational campaigns

Manychat free trial

Manychat offers a free tier designed to let users evaluate core functionality before upgrading. The Free Plan includes basic flow building, limited active contacts, and primary channel access so creators and small businesses can prototype automations. Free-tier users can run simple welcome sequences, automate basic FAQs, and test comment-to-DM and auto-reply behaviors.

The Free Plan is useful for proof-of-concept and for creators who need basic automation without monthly cost. For production use — higher contact volumes, scheduled broadcasts, and advanced automations — teams typically move to a paid tier. Manychat also provides templates and onboarding materials so new users can go live quickly without building flows from scratch.

For larger teams or those needing service-level commitments Manychat provides enterprise options with dedicated support, SLAs, and custom onboarding. If you need guaranteed uptime, bespoke security controls, or high-touch onboarding, contact Manychat’s sales team for a tailored enterprise proposal via their pricing and enterprise information.

Is manychat free

Yes, Manychat offers a Free Plan that provides basic flow building, a limited number of contacts, and access to core channels so users can prototype automations at no cost. The Free Plan is suitable for small creators or businesses validating conversational flows, but it has limits on audience size, broadcast volume, and advanced features that paid plans unlock.

Manychat API

Manychat provides developer resources and APIs to enable programmatic control over subscribers, tags, flows, and message sending. The API supports actions such as creating or updating subscribers, triggering flows, sending custom messages, and reading message event logs. This allows engineering teams to orchestrate Manychat actions from backend systems, connect to CRMs, or enrich contact data from external sources.

Developers can implement webhooks to receive real-time events (new subscriber, replied message, conversion event) and call Manychat endpoints to trigger automations or update subscriber fields. For platform-specific channel requirements (for example, WhatsApp Business API or Instagram messaging policies), Manychat documents recommended patterns and payload structures. See Manychat’s developer resources and API reference for examples and rate-limit information on their developer site.

Manychat also supports common integration patterns via native connectors (ecommerce platforms, email providers, Zapier) and custom webhooks for systems that require bespoke event handling. Teams building complex conversational journeys often combine the Flow Builder with API-driven events to synchronize state across marketing, orders, and support systems.

10 Manychat alternatives

Paid alternatives to Manychat

• MobileMonkey — Focuses on multi-channel chat marketing with Facebook, Instagram, and web chat; includes omnichannel inbox and bot templates suited for marketing teams.
• Chatfuel — Visual bot builder primarily for Facebook Messenger and Instagram with strong templating and broadcast features for marketers.
• Intercom — Conversational platform oriented to product and support with a strong inbox, bots, and customer data tools; more support-focused and typically higher cost for larger teams.
• Drift — B2B conversational marketing and sales acceleration with AI-driven routing and account-based marketing integrations.
• HubSpot Conversations — Part of HubSpot CRM; integrates chat, bots and a shared inbox tightly with CRM records and marketing automation.
• Klaviyo — While primarily an email/SMS platform, Klaviyo increasingly supports messaging flows and deep ecommerce integrations that overlap with Manychat use cases.
• Tidio — Live chat and chatbot service with ecommerce-focused templates and multi-channel integrations for small businesses.

Open source alternatives to Manychat

• Botpress — Open source conversational platform with a visual flow editor and developer extensibility; suited for teams that want full control over deployment and data.
• Rasa — Framework for building contextual assistants with NLP; requires engineering resources but offers full customization and on-premise deployment options.
• Chatwoot — Open source customer messaging platform with shared inbox, automation rules, and integrations for teams that prefer self-hosting.
• Rocket.Chat — Open source team chat with bots and integrations; can be extended to manage customer conversations when integrated with external bot frameworks.

Frequently asked questions about Manychat

What is Manychat used for?

Manychat is used for conversational marketing and messaging automation. Organizations use it to convert social interactions into leads, automate FAQs, run commerce flows via chat, and scale one-to-one conversations across Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS.

How does Manychat connect to Instagram and WhatsApp?

Manychat connects through official channel integrations and the provider APIs. For Instagram and Facebook it relies on Meta APIs and for WhatsApp it uses the WhatsApp Business API — these connections allow triggers from comments, DMs, and story mentions to start automated flows.

Does Manychat require coding to set up flows?

No, Manychat does not require coding for most use cases. The platform provides a drag-and-drop Flow Builder, Quick Automations, and templates so non-technical users can create and deploy automations, while developers can extend functionality via the API and webhooks.

Can Manychat handle payments and ecommerce checkouts?

Yes, Manychat can support commerce actions. It can send product cards, links to checkout, and coupon codes from flows; integration depth with a given ecommerce platform determines how much of the checkout process can be automated directly inside chat.

Is Manychat compliant with platform policies and security standards?

Yes, Manychat operates as an official Meta Business Partner and maintains channel-compliant practices. The platform follows channel policies for messaging and recommends implementing consent, opt-out and data handling processes; for enterprise security details consult their partner and security documentation.

Why would a creator choose Manychat over email-only marketing?

Manychat enables real-time, conversational touchpoints that email cannot replicate. Creators use it to start immediate conversations from comments and DMs, capture contact details in-chat, and send timely, context-driven messages that increase conversion rates on social platforms.

When should a company upgrade from the Free Plan?

Upgrade when contact volume, required broadcast frequency, or feature needs exceed Free Plan limits. Typical upgrade triggers are growing audience size, the need for scheduled broadcasts, multi-channel campaigns, or advanced segmentation and reporting.

Where can I find Manychat tutorials and templates?

Manychat publishes templates and learning resources on its site and resource center. The platform provides flow templates for common use cases, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides to accelerate setup — see Manychat’s resources and template library for practical examples.

Does Manychat offer an API for developers?

Yes, Manychat provides an API and webhook support. Developers can programmatically manage subscribers, trigger flows, receive event webhooks, and integrate Manychat with CRMs and other backend systems; see Their developer documentation for endpoints and examples.

How much does Manychat cost per user or contact?

Manychat starts with a Free Plan at $0/month and paid tiers that scale by contacts. Entry-level paid plans are commonly in the mid-teens per month for small lists, with more advanced tiers and enterprise pricing for large contact bases. For exact per-contact pricing and potential annual discounts, visit their official pricing page.

manychat careers

Manychat maintains a careers site listing roles in product, engineering, growth, and customer success. Candidates can find remote and in-office opportunities, job descriptions, and information on company culture and benefits on Manychat’s careers page. Recruiting often emphasizes experience with conversational UX, product marketing for creators, and platform integrations.

manychat affiliate

Manychat runs partner and affiliate programs aimed at agencies, consultants, and creators who refer customers. Affiliate programs typically provide referral links, revenue share or credits, and partner resources for onboarding clients; interested partners should check Manychat’s partners and affiliate sections for program details and application requirements.

Where to find manychat reviews

Independent reviews and user feedback are available on software review sites and marketplaces where customers detail setup experience, support quality, and ROI. Look for Manychat reviews on review platforms and in marketing communities to see how creators and small businesses evaluate flows, scaling, and channel integrations. For verified customer case studies and metrics, Manychat’s site publishes selected examples and testimonials.