ManyChat Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees and What Coaches Pay

ManyChat pricing, as listed in October 2026, has five plans: Free at $0, Essential at $17 a month, Pro at $39, Business at $99 and Advanced at $199. Annual billing lowers the paid plans to $14, $29, $69 and $139 a month. Each plan includes a set number of monthly Active Contacts and charges per contact above that number, so your real bill depends on how many people you message, not only on the plan you pick.

For most coaches the honest answer is Pro. It is the first plan with Manychat AI and most email and CRM integrations, and on the listed rates it becomes cheaper than Essential at roughly 470 Active Contacts a month. But ManyChat only handles the conversation. It has no booking calendar, client records, programs or courses, so its price is one line in a larger stack.

We make Coachful, which includes Instagram DM automations inside a full coaching platform, so read our recommendation with that in mind. On sourcing: ManyChat's live pricing page and help center blocked our fetcher on 28 October 2026, so these figures come from the official pricing page's own plan data as captured by the Wayback Machine on 9 October 2026. Prices exclude tax and depend on your billing country, so confirm the final number at checkout.

What are ManyChat's plans and prices?

ManyChat sells five plans, and the jump between them is mostly about included contacts, channels and AI. Here is every plan as listed in October 2026, in US dollars.

Third-party reviews say this five-plan structure started on 2 March 2026, and that older accounts may still sit on legacy pricing: Pro from $15 a month for 500 contacts plus a $29 monthly AI add-on. We could not verify that on an official page. If you signed up before March, check your billing page before comparing yourself to the table above.

What does each ManyChat plan add?

Each step up adds a specific capability, and for coaches two of those steps matter most: Essential for collecting contact details, and Pro for AI and integrations.

Free: comment-to-DM with a very low ceiling

The Free plan includes more automation than its price suggests: Comment to DM with a public reply, keyword triggers, story reply and story mention replies, Follow to DM, Live to DM, conversation starters, a default reply, auto-sent links, PDFs and images, referral links and QR codes, 60+ templates and the unified Inbox. You can run up to 4 live automations.

The limits are what shape it. You get 25 Active Contacts a month, and "Powered by Manychat" text appears the first time you message a contact. Collecting emails or phone numbers, the follower status check, AI and integrations are all excluded. A single post that draws keyword comments from 26 different people is past the allowance, so treat Free as a way to test the builder.

Essential: the plan that collects leads

Essential removes the automation cap and the branding. It adds Data Collection (emails, phone numbers and text responses inside DMs), the Follower Status Check that can prompt someone to follow you, tags, conditions, randomizer A/B tests, DMs from Meta ads and boosted posts, Google Sheets, Inbox reminders and scheduled replies, and email support.

Two limits catch coaches here. WhatsApp, SMS and email are not available, and most CRM and email integrations need Pro, so captured leads reach your email tool only by way of a spreadsheet or by hand. And 250 included contacts go quickly, with extras at $0.10 each on monthly billing.

Pro: AI, integrations and broadcasts

Pro is where ManyChat becomes a marketing system. It includes Manychat AI (replies to DMs and FAQs from your saved business knowledge, AI comment replies, AI goals, an AI step for lead qualification and intent recognition), broadcasts, WhatsApp template messages, and integrations with Zapier, Make, the API, ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Twilio, Flodesk, Mailchimp, Kit, ActiveCampaign, Hotmart, Stripe and PayPal. Broadcasts are not available on Instagram or TikTok, which matters if Instagram is your main channel.

Business: the shared team Inbox

Business adds a shared team Inbox with conversation assignment and priority support, along with 7,500 included contacts and all channels. A solo coach rarely needs the Inbox features, but may still want this plan for the contact allowance, as the numbers below show.

Advanced: volume and fastest email support

Advanced keeps the Business features and adds ManyChat's fastest priority email support, with 25,000 included contacts and the lowest overage rate. It suits a large audience or a team, and few individual coaches will reach it.

How do Active Contacts and overages change the bill?

ManyChat bills by monthly Active Contacts: one person counts as one Active Contact for the month, and anyone you message that month is included. Going over your allowance does not stop your automations. It adds a per-contact charge, which you can limit by setting an overage threshold.

That makes the sticker price misleading. Because overage rates are high on lower plans, moving up often costs less than staying put. These break-even points are our own arithmetic from the listed rates, rounded to the nearest contact.

Here is what a single strong post can do, using example numbers. Say you normally stay inside your allowance, then a giveaway reel pulls in far more keyword comments than usual:

• Essential, monthly billing, 1,000 contacts that month: 750 extra at $0.10 adds $75, so the month costs $92 instead of $17.
• Pro, monthly billing, 5,500 contacts that month: 3,000 extra at $0.05 adds $150, so the month costs $189 instead of $39.
• Pro, annual billing, same month: 3,000 extra at $0.038 adds $114, for an effective $143 against the usual $29 a month.

The count also starts again each month: as we read "one person = one Active Contact for the month", someone you message in both October and November counts in both. Long nurture sequences therefore keep using allowance, month after month, for the same people.

What fees does ManyChat charge beyond the plan price?

ManyChat states no transaction fee of its own on its pricing page, but extra contacts, extra Inbox seats and WhatsApp messages can all add to the bill. Tax is separate as well.

ManyChat is not a billing system. The Stripe and PayPal integrations let you take payments through chat, while subscriptions, invoices and payment plans for your coaching still need another tool. ManyChat's own subscription is paid by Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover.

What does a coach actually pay for ManyChat at three sizes?

On listed rates, an example coach pays $17, $39 or $99 a month on monthly billing at the three volumes below, before any of the other tools a coaching business needs. The sizes are illustrative, so swap in your own monthly count of people messaged.

Those ManyChat figures leave out the rest of the stack. Before you compare, add the current price of each tool you would keep. A coach using ManyChat usually also needs a scheduler (see our Calendly pricing breakdown), an email tool (Kit pricing), contracts and invoices (HoneyBook pricing) and somewhere to host a course or sales page (Kajabi pricing or Stan Store pricing). Then add up the monthly total and count the logins your clients have to learn.

What hidden costs and gotchas should coaches expect?

The biggest surprise is usually a contact spike, but several plan limits also change what you can actually do with the leads you collect. These are worth checking before you build.

• Your best content costs the most. Billing follows people messaged, so a viral post on comment-to-DM raises the bill in the month it performs. Set the overage threshold before you publish anything you expect to travel.
• The Free plan lacks the lead-capture step. Comment-to-DM works, but collecting an email or phone number starts on Essential.
• Follow-gating needs a paid plan. The check on whether someone follows you starts on Essential as well.
• Integrations sit mostly behind Pro. Essential's listed integration is Google Sheets. Sending leads directly to Kit, Mailchimp, Flodesk or ActiveCampaign needs Pro.
• Broadcasts exclude Instagram and TikTok. Even on Pro, a list built on Instagram cannot receive a ManyChat broadcast on Instagram.
• Channel limits apply on lower plans. Essential allows 2 channels and Pro allows 3, so a coach using Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and email needs Business or Advanced.
• Getting data out takes work. The help center documents no one-click full contact CSV export. Data Collection responses export as .csv, but exporting all contacts means pushing fields and tags to Google Sheets through an automation sent as a broadcast (limit 250 Google Sheets requests per 100 seconds), or using External Request or the API. Broadcasts are listed from Pro up, so plan any export before you downgrade.
• Instagram account type matters. The help center requires a professional account: Creator up to 500k followers, Business above.
• Trials are limited. "Try 14 days for free" applies only to Essential and Pro. Business and Advanced have no trial, and paid plans need a card. You can cancel within 30 days of buying a plan for a refund.
• Consent rules still apply. Phone numbers and emails gathered in DMs can carry marketing consent duties that vary by country, so check with an attorney before you add people to SMS or email lists.

Public reviews are worth reading as well. ManyChat showed a Trustpilot score of 2.1 from 309 reviews when seen on 28 October 2026. That score does not measure pricing specifically, so read recent reviews for the complaints that would affect you.

Is ManyChat worth it for your kind of coaching?

ManyChat is worth paying for when DMs are a main lead source and you need its channels or lead-capture features. It is weaker value when you only want a keyword comment to send one link, or when the real gap is what happens after the DM.

New coach with a small audience

Probably not yet. Free's 25 contacts are too few to learn much, and Essential solves only the first conversation. A new coach usually gets more from one place to book, get paid and deliver. See Coachful for new coaches, and use the package pricing calculator before you spend on lead generation.

Content-led coach with an active Instagram

Often yes, if you need email capture inside the DM or a follow-gate, which is where ManyChat is stronger than Coachful. If your flow is "comment a keyword, get the booking link", Coachful's Instagram automations do that and put the person in your lead records, so a second subscription may not earn its place.

Coach selling across TikTok, WhatsApp or Messenger

Yes, this is ManyChat's clearest case. Coachful's DM automations cover Instagram only, and the same goes for Inrō. LinkDM covers Instagram and Facebook. If WhatsApp or TikTok conversations drive your sales, ManyChat Pro or Business fits, used alongside your coaching platform.

Consult-led business or executive coach

Usually not as the main purchase. Fewer leads at higher fees means you rarely reach volumes that justify the automation, and the work sits in intake, agreements and sessions. See our page for business coaches and executive coaches.

Fitness coach running challenges

It can work for the launch, since a challenge keyword is a natural comment-to-DM. Spikes are also where overages bite. Delivery still needs workouts, logging and check-ins elsewhere, which is what Coachful's Fitness & Nutrition pack covers for fitness coaches.

Small coaching team

Business's shared Inbox with assignment is useful if several people answer DMs. Team delivery is a different need, with per-coach availability and staff permissions; see Coachful for teams.

How does ManyChat pricing compare with the alternatives?

ManyChat is not the cheapest route to comment-to-DM, but it covers more messaging channels than LinkDM, Inrō, Metricool or Coachful. The table compares entry prices as listed in October 2026 and what makes each bill grow. For the longer ranking, see our ManyChat alternatives for coaches.

LinkDM is the plain low-cost pick if all you need is links in DMs. Its Free plan allows up to 1,000 DMs a month on one Instagram account, with LinkDM branding on the DMs, while ManyChat's counts 25 Active Contacts. Our LinkDM vs ManyChat comparison goes through the differences.

Inrō is Instagram-only and has a Coaches & Experts page describing an AI Agent that answers offer questions, qualifies leads and sends a Calendly link. Pro scales by activated contacts, from €12.99 a month for up to 500, through €149.99 at 9,001 to 10,000, levelling off at €999.99 above 70,000. Prices are in euros, so your cost moves with the exchange rate if you bill in another currency.

Metricool is a social planner first, with comment-to-DM as a paid-plan extra. It fits a coach whose larger problem is scheduling posts across networks.

GoHighLevel is built around agency sub-accounts and metered usage, and has no habit tracking, client check-ins or structured program engine. Our GoHighLevel pricing article covers those costs in detail.

What does Coachful include instead of a separate DM tool?

Coachful is a coaching platform with Instagram automations built in, so the person who comments a keyword lands in the same records you use to book, bill and coach them. That is why we recommend it over a standalone DM tool for most coaches whose DMs run through Instagram.

What it is. One subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. Current plans: (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). Plans are flat and monthly, lower plans cap the number of clients, Pro is unlimited, and team plans add seats.

Who it is for. Coaches who deliver programs and not only sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing 4 to 6 tools. Our coaching software overview shows the full product, and our comparison pages set it beside other tools.

How Coachful's Instagram automations work

You connect your Instagram professional account under Connections, then build automations under Manage, Your client experience, Automations. Triggers are a DM, a comment on a post (optionally only when it contains chosen keywords), a story reply, a mention, or a new follower where Meta supports it. Actions send a DM, reply publicly to the comment, send a DM with buttons or quick replies, or send an AI-written reply at 1 AI credit per reply.

A typical setup: someone comments a keyword, gets your booking link, lead magnet or checkout in a DM, and appears in the same lead and client records as everyone else.

This walkthrough shows how funnels are built, which is where those DM links usually point.

What happens after the DM

This is the part a DM tool cannot reach. Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers and time zones, with two-way Google, Apple and Outlook calendar sync.

Payments run through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, covering one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, coupons and refunds. There is a 0% Coachful platform fee, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and stay on the client record.

Clients then get multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits and check-ins, plus courses and a community with cohort groups created on enrollment. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data to build programs, draft emails and brief you before sessions. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.

What it does not do. Coachful's DM automations do not cover WhatsApp, Messenger, TikTok or SMS, and it has no follow-gate and no email capture inside the DM. There is no unified social inbox. It is not HIPAA-certified, so clinical records and insurance billing belong in a clinical system. It has no PayPal and no permanent free plan. The client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding, not your own App Store account.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, then "We'll build it for you", you describe what you want built: a website, funnel, sales page, program, course outline, email sequence, lead quiz or automation. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours, and nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices. It does not include recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing. One recent build gave a business mentor for beauty professionals a 12-week mentorship sales page, a free start-up-guide funnel and rewritten follow-up emails. Read more about the white-glove service.

How to start. Begin with a free trial, connect Instagram, and request a white-glove build for your funnel or website. Clients, programs and content are imported for you during onboarding. On public reviews, Coachful showed Trustpilot 4.5 from 21 reviews, which is a small sample.

How can you save money on ManyChat?

The largest savings come from matching your plan to your real contact count and from limiting who triggers a message. If you stay on ManyChat, these steps make the most difference.

1. Count before you choose. Run the 14-day trial on Essential or Pro and see how many Active Contacts your normal month produces, then use the break-even table above.
2. Move up instead of paying overages. Past about 470 contacts on monthly billing, Pro costs less than Essential. Past about 3,700, Business costs less than Pro.
3. Buy annual once volume is steady. Annual billing saves $36 a year on Essential, $120 on Pro, $360 on Business and $720 on Advanced against 12 months of monthly billing. Overage rates are lower as well.
4. Set an overage threshold. Do this before any launch or giveaway. Check in your billing settings exactly what happens when it is reached.
5. Use keywords, not every comment. A keyword trigger messages people who asked for the thing, so fewer casual commenters use up your allowance.
6. Trim long sequences. As we read the billing rule, re-messaging someone next month counts them again. Move warm leads to email or booking rather than keeping them in DMs.
7. Do not buy seats you can skip. Each extra Inbox seat is $25, so check whether the seats your plan includes already cover the people answering DMs.
8. Use the 30-day refund window deliberately. Cancel within 30 days of buying a plan if it is not paying its way, and export what you need first.
9. Remove what overlaps. If you would pay for ManyChat, a scheduler and an email tool only to get people from a comment to a booked call, price a single platform against that total.

ManyChat pricing FAQ

How much does ManyChat cost per month?

As listed in October 2026, ManyChat costs $0 on Free, $17 on Essential, $39 on Pro, $99 on Business and $199 on Advanced with monthly billing. Annual billing brings those paid plans to $14, $29, $69 and $139 a month. Overages, tax, extra seats and WhatsApp messages can add to that.

Is ManyChat really free?

Yes, the Free plan is $0 with no credit card required, but it is limited to 25 Active Contacts a month, 4 live automations and 2 channels. It shows "Powered by Manychat" the first time you message a contact, and it cannot collect emails or phone numbers. Most coaches will outgrow it quickly.

What counts as an Active Contact?

ManyChat says one person equals one Active Contact for the month, covering anyone messaged that month. Messaging the same person ten times in a month still counts once. As we read it, someone messaged again next month counts again in that month.

What happens if I go over my ManyChat contact limit?

On paid plans your automations keep running and you pay per extra contact, from $0.10 on Essential monthly billing down to $0.0028 on Advanced annual billing. You can set an overage threshold to limit this. Check it before publishing a post you expect to spread.

Does ManyChat take a cut of my sales?

The pricing page states no ManyChat transaction fee. If you take payments through the Stripe or PayPal integrations on Pro and up, those providers charge their own processing fees. WhatsApp template messages are billed separately from a prepaid Manychat Wallet.

Is Manychat AI included or an extra charge?

On current plans Manychat AI is included in Pro, Business and Advanced, with no separate add-on listed. Free and Essential do not include it. Third-party reviews report an older $29 monthly add-on on legacy accounts, which we could not verify on an official page.

Does ManyChat offer a free trial or refunds?

Essential and Pro offer "Try 14 days for free", while Business and Advanced have no trial. Paid plans need a card. If you cancel within 30 days of buying a plan, ManyChat lists a refund.

Which ManyChat plan should a coach choose?

Choose Essential if you stay under about 470 monthly contacts on monthly billing and only need to capture leads into a sheet. Choose Pro for AI replies, email tool integrations or WhatsApp. Choose Business once you pass about 3,700 contacts or need a shared team Inbox.

Can Coachful replace ManyChat?

For Instagram keyword flows that send a booking link, lead magnet or checkout, yes, and the lead lands in the same records you coach from. It cannot replace ManyChat for WhatsApp, Messenger, TikTok or SMS DMs, follow-gating, or collecting an email inside the DM. Compare current plans at the Coachful plans page.

What is Coachful's white-glove service?

It is a free build service on every plan. You describe a website, funnel, program or other asset, attach your references, and the team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. It leaves gaps for you to fill and does not cover recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing.