ManyChat pricing in 2026: plans, active contacts and real costs
ManyChat pricing has five plans, from Free to Advanced at $199 a month. Since 2 March 2026, ManyChat bills by active contacts: the people you interact with each month. Here is what each plan costs, what counts as an active contact and three worked examples.
By the DM Flow teamUpdated 8 min read
ManyChat’s plans and prices
ManyChat changed its pricing on 2 March 2026. Every plan now includes a number of active contacts per month, and you pay a fee for each contact above that. Here are the plans as ManyChat’s pricing page listed them on 21 October 2026.
| Plan | Paid monthly | Paid yearly, per month | Active contacts per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 25 |
| Essential | $17 | $14 ($168 a year) | 250 |
| Pro | $39 | $29 ($348 a year) | 2,500 |
| Business | $99 | $69 ($828 a year) | 7,500 |
| Advanced | $199 | $139 ($1,668 a year) | 25,000 |
ManyChat says its prices do not include tax and that the price is determined by your billing country. So you may see different numbers from where you live. Check ManyChat’s pricing page before you buy.
What counts as an active contact
ManyChat defines it like this: “An Active Contact is a contact who has interacted with you through Manychat during your current billing month.” A contact counts when messages are sent or received through ManyChat, by automations, AI, broadcasts or the inbox.
- One person counts once a month. Ten messages from the same person in a month are still one active contact.
- The count resets every month, even on a yearly plan.
- Followers are not contacts. ManyChat says your follower count is not the same as your active contact count. Only people who interact through ManyChat count.
- Imports do not count by themselves. Contacts you import by hand do not automatically count as active.
- Two platforms can mean two contacts. Someone who contacts you on Instagram and on TikTok may be counted separately.
What happens when you go over
ManyChat says your automations “don’t suddenly shut off” when you pass your plan’s active contacts. Instead, you pay a fee for each extra one. These are the fees on the pricing page:
| Plan | Paid monthly | Paid yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No overage | No overage |
| Essential | $0.10 | $0.082 |
| Pro | $0.05 | $0.038 |
| Business | $0.025 | $0.018 |
| Advanced | $0.004 | $0.0028 |
Two help articles show slightly different numbers. The Essential plan article lists $0.08 for yearly billing, and the Active Contacts article calls Advanced overage “custom”. This guide uses the pricing page’s numbers.
There is a limit to growing on overage. ManyChat’s help center says that if your account grows well beyond your plan’s maximum cap without upgrading, automations may eventually pause. You can also set an overage threshold in ManyChat.
The Free plan
The Free plan is a real plan, not a trial, with these limits:
- 25 active contacts per month, with no overage.
- Up to 4 live automations at the same time.
- A “Powered by Manychat” branding message.
- 1 user and 1 inbox seat, so you can reply in real time from ManyChat.
- Any 2 channels, but not WhatsApp, SMS or email.
ManyChat says all Free accounts, including older ones, have moved to this new Free plan. 25 active contacts is enough to test an automation. A post where 100 different people comment your keyword in a month would go far past it.
Monthly or yearly billing
The yearly prices are monthly amounts billed once a year. ManyChat says: “When you choose an annual plan, the full amount is charged upfront for the year.” The saving is 18% on Essential, 25% on Pro and 30% on Business and Advanced.
Three more billing facts from ManyChat’s pages:
- Free trial: 14 days on Essential and Pro. Business and Advanced have no free trial.
- Refunds: the pricing page says you can cancel and get a refund if it has been under 30 days since you bought your plan.
- One Instagram account per ManyChat account. Each ManyChat account can have only one connected account per channel type, and each ManyChat account is billed separately. So two Instagram accounts need two ManyChat accounts, each with its own plan.
What each plan includes
The plans differ in more than contacts. These rows come from the comparison table on ManyChat’s pricing page and its plan articles.
| Free | Essential | Pro | Business | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Users | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| Inbox seats included (most) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 2 (3) | 3 (5) | 5 (10) |
| Channels | Any 2* | Any 2* | Any 3 | All | All |
| AI features | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ask people to follow (follower check) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Instagram ads trigger | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Assign conversations automatically | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| 14-day free trial | — | Yes | Yes | No | No |
* Not WhatsApp, SMS or email. Extra inbox seats cost $25 each on Pro, Business and Advanced.
Is AI extra? On the current pricing page, AI features are part of Pro, Business and Advanced, and no separate AI price is shown. Some older help articles still mention a “Manychat AI add-on”, without a price. ManyChat’s AI Replies feature works only on Instagram and is in beta.
All plans include the core Instagram triggers, such as comment to DM, DM keywords, story replies, story mentions and Live comments, and one inbox for your connected channels. For a feature-by-feature view, see our ManyChat alternative comparison.
Three cost examples
These examples use the monthly prices and overage fees from ManyChat’s pricing page, before tax. They are examples, not quotes: your country and your real contact count decide the bill.
A creator who talks to 200 people a month
200 active contacts fit inside Essential’s 250. The bill is $17 a month, or $14 a month if paid yearly ($168 up front). The Free plan’s 25 contacts would not be enough.
A shop that talks to 3,000 people a month
Pro includes 2,500, so 500 contacts are extra. 500 × $0.05 = $25, so Pro costs $39 + $25 = $64 that month. Business would cost $99 for up to 7,500 contacts, so Pro with overage is cheaper here.
A brand that talks to 10,000 people a month
Business includes 7,500, so 2,500 are extra. 2,500 × $0.025 = $62.50, so Business costs $99 + $62.50 = $161.50 that month. Pro would cost $39 + 7,500 × $0.05 = $414, and Advanced $199. Picking the right plan matters more than the headline price.
Tip
Count the people who message or comment through your automations in a normal month, not your followers. That number decides your plan.
Older ManyChat plans
The new plans are the default for accounts created on or after 2 March 2026. ManyChat says it is gradually moving older paid accounts to the new model, country by country. Under the old model, Pro started at $15 a month for up to 500 contacts, and the contact count did not reset each month. If your account is older, you may still be on the old model.
Is ManyChat worth it?
It depends on what you need. To be fair to ManyChat, it is the stronger choice when you:
- build multi-step flows in a visual flow builder;
- use several channels, such as Messenger, WhatsApp, TikTok, Telegram, SMS or email;
- want AI replies (Pro and up), a follower check before sending (Essential and up), or story, Live and ad triggers;
- work as a team and want conversations assigned automatically (Business and up).
Note that ManyChat’s pricing page lists broadcasts “excluding Instagram and TikTok”, so broadcasts are not a reason to choose it for Instagram.
A simpler tool is enough when you mainly answer keyword comments and DMs on one Instagram account. Meta’s free Inbox automations can do the basics: see how to set up auto reply on Instagram. DM Flow covers comment to DM, keyword auto-replies and one inbox that shows the time left to reply, on Instagram only. It has no flow builder, broadcasts, AI or integrations. You can sign up without a card.
To compare more tools by what they actually do, read our guide to the best Instagram DM automation tools.
Frequently asked questions
Is ManyChat free?
How much does ManyChat cost per month?
What is an active contact in ManyChat?
What happens if I go over my plan’s active contacts?
Is ManyChat AI included?
Can I get a refund from ManyChat?
Sources
Every price and rule on this page comes from ManyChat’s own pages:
- ManyChat pricing: plans, prices, overage fees, the comparison table, trials and refunds.
- How to choose the right subscription: the 2 March 2026 change and yearly billing.
- Active Contacts: what counts, monthly resets and going over the cap.
- Plan articles: Free, Essential, Pro, Business and Advanced.
- Manychat AI Replies: Instagram only, in beta.
- Billing FAQ: the older pricing model.
- Managing ManyChat accounts: one connected account per channel type.
Prices checked on 21 October 2026. ManyChat can change them at any time, so check ManyChat’s pricing page before you buy. DM Flow is not affiliated with ManyChat.