ManyChat pricing 2026: every plan, the extra costs and what you'll really pay

ManyChat pricing starts at $0 for 25 active contacts a month, then $17 (Essential), $39 (Pro), $99 (Business) or $199 (Advanced) a month. Billed yearly, the paid plans cost $14, $29, $69 and $139 a month, and every contact past your plan’s limit costs extra.

We read every ManyChat figure in its help centre on 27 October 2026 and worked out the bills below with the same code as our ManyChat pricing calculator. We build meetalto.ai, a ManyChat alternative, and compare it in its own section.

ManyChat pricing at a glance

Prices are ManyChat’s US-dollar prices from its help-centre plan articles. ManyChat says plan availability can vary by region, so check its pricing page for yours.

Yearly billing is charged upfront and saves 18% on Essential, 25% on Pro and 30% on Business and Advanced. It also lowers the overage to 8¢, 3.8¢, 1.8¢ and 0.28¢.

What each ManyChat plan includes

The plans differ in four things: active contacts, users and Inbox seats, how many channels you can connect, and AI.

• Free, $0: 25 active contacts, 1 user and 1 Inbox seat, and 2 channels from Instagram, TikTok, Messenger and Telegram. Up to 4 automations can be live, and a “Powered by Manychat” message goes out the first time you message someone. No AI.
• Essential, $17 a month: 250 active contacts, 2 users, 1 Inbox seat and the same 2 channels, still without WhatsApp, SMS or email. Automations are unlimited, with email and phone capture, tags and Google Sheets sync. No AI.
• Pro, $39 a month: 2,500 active contacts, 3 users and 2 Inbox seats, and any 3 of ManyChat’s 7 channels, so WhatsApp, SMS and email open up. It adds AI-powered automation, integrations, WhatsApp broadcasts and the ManyChat API. It’s the cheapest plan with AI.
• Business, $99 a month: 7,500 active contacts, 5 users, 3 Inbox seats, every channel, and lead routing for teams.
• Advanced, $199 a month: 25,000 active contacts, 10 users, 5 Inbox seats, every channel and the lowest overage. ManyChat offers custom plans above it on request.

Extra Inbox seats cost $25 each, up to 3 seats on Pro, 5 on Business and 10 on Advanced. Essential and Pro come with a 14-day free trial; Business and Advanced don’t.

How ManyChat’s Active Contacts billing works

You pay for the people you message in a month, not for your followers or your contact list. ManyChat’s Active Contacts article sets out the rules:

• What counts: anyone who sends or receives a message through ManyChat’s automations, AI, broadcasts or Inbox during your billing month. Each person counts once, however many messages you exchange.
• It resets every month, even on yearly plans, and overage is billed monthly.
• Stored contacts are free. People who don’t interact that month stay in your list without counting, so deleting contacts doesn’t lower the bill. Imported contacts count only once you message them.
• One person can count twice. Someone who messages you on Instagram and on TikTok may count as two active contacts, unless ManyChat matches them by phone number or email.
• Overage is automatic. Past your limit, automations keep running and each extra contact is added to your next bill. ManyChat notifies you at 70%, 90% and 100% of the limit, and says automations may pause if you stay far past it without upgrading.
• You can cap it. Settings → Billing → Subscription lets you set a contact limit. Past it, automations answer only people already active that month, so new commenters get no reply. ManyChat explains the plans and billing periods in its guide to choosing a subscription.

Is ManyChat free?

Yes, but the ManyChat free plan covers only 25 active contacts a month. If 30 people comment on one Reel with a comment-to-DM automation, you’re already past it.

• Everyone is on the new Free plan, including free accounts opened before March 2026.
• There’s no overage on Free. ManyChat lists overage prices for its paid plans only, so growing past 25 means paying for a plan.
• The free trial is separate. Essential and Pro include 14 days free. Each channel, such as your Instagram account, can be used for one trial only, even on a different ManyChat account.
• Refunds: within 30 days of your first purchase, you can cancel and ask ManyChat’s support for a refund.

If you want a free plan you can run a business on, meetalto.ai’s Free plan covers 100 active contacts a month on Instagram and Facebook. Comment to DM, Story to DM and the inbox are included.

Why you’ll see different ManyChat prices online

Because ManyChat changed its pricing on 2 March 2026, and older paid accounts haven’t all moved yet.

• Before March 2026, Pro started at $15 a month for up to 500 contacts and grew with your total contact list, which never reset. Free covered 1,000 contacts, and AI was a paid add-on.
• Since 2 March 2026, new accounts get the five plans above, billed by active contacts.
• Older paid accounts move country by country. ManyChat emails each account when its switch is ready, and until then it stays on the old Pro, with AI still sold as an add-on.
• The mobile app sells only Free, Essential and Pro, billed through the App Store or Google Play.
• Monthly and yearly prices get mixed up. $29 is Pro’s price per month when billed yearly. Billed monthly, it’s $39.

So a guide that quotes “Pro from $15” or “a 1,000-contact free plan” describes the old plans.

What ManyChat costs at your contact count

With AI, ManyChat costs $39 a month up to 2,500 active contacts and $199 at 25,000, with overage beyond it. This table shows ManyChat’s cheapest plan for each count, overage included, as our calculator works it out:

Without AI, 250 active contacts cost $17 a month on Essential. The 50,000 row is an upper limit: ManyChat says Advanced’s overage drops “with higher usage”.

When to move up a plan

ManyChat bills overage automatically and leaves the upgrade to you. On monthly billing, the next plan becomes the cheaper choice at these points:

• Essential to Pro: above 470 active contacts.
• Pro to Business: above 3,700. At 5,000 contacts, staying on Pro costs $164 a month, against $99 for Business.
• Business to Advanced: above 11,500. At 15,000, Business plus overage is $286.50, against $199 for Advanced.

On yearly billing, the switch points are about 3,550 and 11,400 active contacts.

What ManyChat costs over a year

Pro costs $348 a year billed yearly, or $468 if you pay month by month.

Overage comes on top, billed monthly either way. A yearly plan can’t move to monthly billing, or down a plan, until its year ends.

Costs on top of the plan

Five things can make the bill bigger than the plan price.

1. Overage, from 10¢ to 0.4¢ per extra active contact, as above.
2. Extra Inbox seats, at $25 each.
3. WhatsApp messages. ManyChat charges each delivered template message from a prepaid wallet, priced by type and the recipient’s country. Since 1 October 2026, service messages, your replies while the 24-hour customer service window is open, are charged too, after 1,000 free a month per WhatsApp number. Messages customers send you are free.
4. Email, at $0.003 per email from the same wallet past any free allowance (ManyChat documents one only for its old plans).
5. SMS, which goes through your own paid Twilio account, so Twilio bills you for it.

In the US and Canada, ManyChat’s WhatsApp pricing guide lists a service message at $0.0034 and a utility template at $0.0039. Meta’s WhatsApp pricing confirms the service-message change: 1,000 free a month per number, then charged from 1 October 2026. ManyChat’s guide also notes that Meta paused marketing templates to people in the United States from 1 April 2025.

Older guides say service messages are free. That ended on 1 October 2026, for every business on Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform, not only ManyChat users.

ManyChat vs Chatfuel pricing

Chatfuel is cheaper to start: $20 a month with AI and unlimited contacts, against $39 for ManyChat Pro’s 2,500.

• Chatfuel Business costs $20 a month, or $18 billed yearly, with $20 of AI credits a month. More AI comes out of a prepaid wallet (Chatfuel pricing).
• ManyChat has no published AI usage cap and covers SMS, email and Telegram, but its price climbs with every active contact.

Our ManyChat vs Chatfuel comparison goes through channels, AI and which to pick.

ManyChat vs meetalto.ai: what you get for the money

Above about 2,700 active contacts a month, meetalto.ai costs less than ManyChat, and its Pro plan stays at $49 however many contacts you have. We build meetalto.ai, so judge it on these numbers:

Where meetalto.ai gives you more for the money:

• No contact meter on Pro. A Reel that takes off doesn’t change a $49 bill. On ManyChat, the same month adds overage or calls for Business or Advanced.
• AI on four channels. The AI DM Agent answers questions, sends products and books calls on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp. ManyChat’s AI Replies answer on Instagram only, though its AI Step can run inside flows on more channels.
• A free plan you can grow on: 100 active contacts a month, 4 times ManyChat Free’s 25.
• Free migration. New customers can ask Alto AI, and our team moves your ManyChat automations, keywords and lead magnets over at no charge.
• API and MCP access on every plan, Free included. ManyChat lists its API from Pro.

ManyChat is cheaper below about 2,700 active contacts (about 2,770 billed yearly): $39 against $49 on monthly billing, or $29 against $39.17 billed yearly. It also covers SMS (through your own Twilio account), email and Telegram, while meetalto.ai passes the emails and phone numbers it collects to tools you connect, such as Klaviyo, Kit and Beehiiv.

meetalto.ai meters AI instead of contacts: Pro includes 3,000 AI Credits a month, and heavier AI use needs the $99 plan with 6,500.

To see both bills for your own audience, run the ManyChat pricing calculator, one of our free tools.

Is ManyChat worth it?

Yes, if you need four or more channels in one tool; less so for a growing Instagram-first account.

• It earns its price if you run four or more channels from one place: Business, at $99, connects them all. It also wins under about 2,700 active contacts, where Pro at $39 with AI costs less than meetalto.ai’s $49.
• Look around if you don’t need SMS, email or Telegram, your contacts jump with viral posts, or you want AI that answers DMs on more than Instagram.

ManyChat is an official Meta Business Partner that uses Instagram’s official APIs, though its help centre says Meta’s systems can still flag accounts that push Instagram’s limits too hard. Within those limits, the deciding question is cost. For the other options, see our best ManyChat alternatives, and the guide to Instagram DM automation for how the category works.

How to lower your ManyChat bill

If you’re staying on ManyChat, these keep the bill in check:

1. Set a contact limit in Settings → Billing → Subscription.
2. Move up a plan at the switch point (470, 3,700 or 11,500 active contacts) instead of paying overage.
3. Pay yearly once your volume is steady. It saves up to 30% and lowers overage, but you can’t go back to monthly until the year ends.
4. Ask for an email or phone number early, so someone who messages you on two channels is more likely to count once.

How to cancel your ManyChat subscription

On a computer, open Settings → Billing → Subscription. If you subscribed in ManyChat’s mobile app, cancel in the App Store or Google Play instead.

• You keep your plan until the end of the billing period.
• Overage from that period is still charged.
• Within 30 days of your first purchase, you can ask support for a refund.

FAQ

How much is ManyChat per month? Free covers 25 active contacts a month. Essential is $17, Pro $39, Business $99 and Advanced $199 a month on monthly billing, or $14, $29, $69 and $139 billed yearly. Each contact past the plan’s limit costs 10¢ to 0.4¢ more.

How much is ManyChat Pro? $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly ($348 a year). It covers 2,500 active contacts, then 5¢ for each extra one (3.8¢ on yearly billing), with AI, 3 users, 2 Inbox seats and 3 channels.

Is ManyChat free? Yes, for 25 active contacts a month, 2 channels and 4 live automations, with “Powered by Manychat” branding and no AI. Essential and Pro also have a 14-day free trial.

Is ManyChat a paid app? Both. ManyChat Free covers 25 active contacts a month without AI; past that, or for AI, paid plans run from $17 to $199 a month.

What happens if I go over my ManyChat contact limit? Your automations keep running, and each extra active contact is added to your next bill. ManyChat warns you at 70%, 90% and 100% of the limit, and you can set a cap in your billing settings.

Why is my ManyChat bill higher than the plan price? Usually overage: each active contact past your plan’s limit is added to the next bill, monthly even on yearly plans. Extra Inbox seats ($25 each) and WhatsApp or email charges from your ManyChat Wallet come on top. Set a contact limit in Settings → Billing → Subscription.

Does deleting contacts lower my ManyChat bill? No. You pay for the people you message during the billing month, not the contacts stored in your account.

How much does WhatsApp cost on ManyChat? WhatsApp needs Pro or higher. On top of the plan, ManyChat charges each billable message to your ManyChat Wallet. In the US and Canada, a service message costs $0.0034 after 1,000 free a month per number, and a utility template $0.0039.

Are there free alternatives to ManyChat? Yes. meetalto.ai’s Free plan covers 100 active contacts a month, 4 times ManyChat Free’s 25. Several Instagram automation tools have free plans too, compared in our ManyChat alternatives guide.

Is there something better than ManyChat? Above about 2,700 active contacts a month, meetalto.ai costs less ($49 on Pro) and its AI DM Agent answers on four channels. Chatfuel is cheaper to start at $20. ManyChat stays the pick for SMS, email or Telegram.

What is the point of ManyChat? Automating conversations on Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, TikTok, Telegram, SMS and email: sending a link when someone comments a keyword, answering common questions and collecting emails and phone numbers.

Start on meetalto.ai’s Free plan with 100 active contacts a month, or ask Alto AI to move your ManyChat automations, keywords and lead magnets over for free.

How we checked

We read ManyChat’s help centre on 27 October 2026. That covered the five plan articles, Active Contacts, choosing a subscription, mobile subscriptions, the WhatsApp pricing guide and the billing FAQ for the old plans. ManyChat’s pricing page blocks automated reading, so every ManyChat figure comes from its help centre.

The costs at each contact count use the code behind our ManyChat pricing calculator. Chatfuel’s prices are from chatfuel.com/pricing, checked on 24 October 2026, and meetalto.ai’s from our own pricing. The chart’s prices were checked on 24 October and were unchanged on 27 October. We recheck these prices every quarter, and within a week of any change.