SendPulse for Instagram DM automation
Updated:
Multichannel marketing platform whose chatbot builder covers Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and Viber, with a free tier of 3 bots and 500 subscribers and a Pro plan priced by subscriber count. Comment-to-DM costs $22 a month for 1,000 contacts and $74 for 10,000 on monthly billing.
- 1K contacts
- $22
- 10K contacts
- $74
- Free plan
- Yes
- Billing
- Per contact
- Meta status
- Business Partner
- Type
- Chatbot platform
Our take
SendPulse fits a small business that sells through Instagram DMs. Comment-to-DM automation, a built-in CRM and payment buttons in the chat sit in one account, and 1,000 subscribers cost $22 a month. No other tool here includes a CRM and payment buttons for less.
You can start for free. The free plan covers Instagram with 3 bots and 500 subscribers, which is enough for a first giveaway. Payment buttons and team tools need Pro, from $12 a month for 500 subscribers. The ChatGPT integration is on Pro too.
Payments work with 13 providers, such as Stripe and Mercado Pago. The buyer taps a button in the DM and pays on the provider’s page, and the flow can create a deal in the CRM for each order. The guide to selling in Instagram DMs walks through the setup.
Check the billing model before you commit. SendPulse counts every subscriber stored in your bots, including people who have not written in months, and it has no 1,000 tier, so an account that size pays for 2,000. If a giveaway brings in many contacts who never come back, ManyChat’s active-contact billing can cost less. The comparison with ManyChat works through that case.
One Instagram gap is worth testing. The help center documents triggers for post comments, live comments and story mentions, but not for replies to your own stories or for new followers. Creators whose audience mostly answers stories should try that flow before moving.
Instagram features
| Feature | SendPulse |
|---|---|
| Send a DM when someone comments | Yes |
| Keyword triggers | Yes |
| Public reply under the comment | Yes |
| Auto-reply to incoming DMs | Yes |
| Trigger on replies to your stories | No |
| Trigger on story mentions | Yes |
| Trigger on live video comments | Yes |
| Message new followers | No |
| Multi-step flow builder | Yes |
| Broadcast messages | Yes |
| AI agent that replies on its own | Yes |
| Hand the chat to a person | Yes |
| Shared team inbox | Yes |
Pricing
| Plan | Per month | Contacts included | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (Basic) | $0 | 500 | Yes |
| Pro - 500 subscribers | $12 | 500 | Yes |
| Pro - 2,000 subscribers | $22 | 2,000 | Yes |
| Pro - 5,000 subscribers | $48 | 5,000 | Yes |
| Pro - 10,000 subscribers | $74 | 10,000 | Yes |
| Pro - 20,000 subscribers | $119 | 20,000 | Yes |
Free plan. 3 chatbots. Up to 500 subscribers. Up to 10,000 messages per month across all bots. 10 variables. 10 chatbot triggers. Unlimited flows. Templates. Deals in flows. Limited API. In-chat payments, teamwork tools and branding removal are Pro features, so the free plan does not include any of them. No credit card required.
Trial. Free plan with no credit card. The help center has a 'Free trial basics' article but paid-trial terms for chatbots were not verified on the pricing page.
The 1,000 and 10,000 contact figures use the cheapest plan that includes comment-to-DM, on monthly billing. The method is on how we compare.
SendPulse pricing in detail, with yearly prices and the price at every audience size.
Meta status
- Uses the official Instagram API
- Yes
- Claims Meta Business Partner status
- Yes
- Listing confirmed in Meta's partner directory
- No
CRM and payments
- Built-in CRM
- Yes
- Payment links
- No
- Take payment inside the chat
- Yes
Payment providers. Stripe, PayPal, Klarna, Mercado Pago, Flutterwave, Cryptomus, Whitepay, plata by mono, RozetkaPay, NovaPay, LiqPay, Fondy, WayForPay.
Channels and AI
Channels. Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, TikTok, Email, SMS, Website chat, LinkedIn.
- AI agent
- Yes
AI providers. OpenAI.
Chatbot feature page describes an AI assistant and OpenAI integration (response generation, flow generation, speech recognition). 'ChatGPT and Google Sheets integrations' are listed under the Pro plan on the chatbot pricing page. No separate AI usage price is shown on the chatbot pricing page.
Reviews elsewhere
We do not publish our own star ratings. These are the public scores we could read in October 2026.
| Site | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Capterra (opens in a new tab) | Rated 4.6 out of 5 | 773 |
| G2 (opens in a new tab) | Rated 4.6 out of 5 | 721 |
| Trustpilot (opens in a new tab) | Rated 4.4 out of 5 | 2,870 |
Strengths and limits
Where it is strong
- Free plan includes Instagram with 3 bots, 500 subscribers and 10,000 messages a month, and the vendor's own comparison page lists Instagram among free-plan channels.
- Pro pricing scales by subscriber list in low steps: $12 (500), $22 (2,000), $48 (5,000), $74 (10,000) per month on monthly billing, with 20% off yearly.
- In-chat payments on paid plans through 13 payment providers, including Stripe, PayPal and Mercado Pago, with payment completed on the provider's page, plus a free built-in CRM (5 team members).
- Documented Instagram triggers for post comments, live-stream comments and story mentions. An MCP server and public API are available.
Where it falls short
- No 1,000-subscriber Pro tier: a 1,000-contact account pays for the 2,000 tier ($22/mo).
- Free plan excludes in-chat payments, teamwork tools, branding removal and full API. Limited to 10 variables and 10 triggers.
- A story-reply (reply to your story) trigger and a follow-to-DM trigger are not documented in the Instagram knowledge base. Only story mentions and a follower check are.
- Billing is by total subscribers stored, so inactive subscribers still count toward the tier.
Skip it if you want billing based only on monthly-active contacts rather than total subscriber list size. Or if you need a documented story-reply or follow-event trigger on Instagram. Or if you need a chatbot-only vendor. SendPulse is a wider marketing suite, with email, SMS, courses and landing pages in the same account as the chatbots.
