Can an AI receptionist answer your Instagram DMs?

Yes, there is. An AI receptionist for DMs is software that reads each Instagram or Facebook message, answers from facts you give it and hands you the rest. BetterSocials is best for a small business whose DMs ask for prices and openings, at $29 a month for four accounts.

Meta Business Suite is the free option, and it sends templates you write. ManyChat is the pick if you also sell on WhatsApp, Telegram or SMS. Whichever you choose, Instagram's 24-hour reply window sets the clock.

Instagram's rules decide what any AI receptionist can answer

Instagram only lets a business reply to a DM within 24 hours of the person's last message. After that, the conversation stays closed until they write again, and BetterSocials and most other tools can't send. We took the rules angle for this piece, because those windows, caps and counts shape every receptionist you can buy.

A receptionist does three jobs. It answers what your facts cover, such as prices, hours and the booking link. It hands back what your facts don't cover, and it answers fast enough to land inside the window.

Comment-to-DM, where a keyword in a comment sends the person a DM, has its own rule. Meta's developer documentation allows one private message to the person who commented, sent within 7 days of the comment. The conversation only continues once they reply, inside the 24-hour window.

That first message lands in their Inbox folder if they follow you and in Requests if they don't. Speed matters for the same reason. Answer within the minute and the person books while they're still asking, and answer that evening and they've often booked somewhere else.

Meta Business Suite covers the basics for free

Meta Business Suite is free on desktop and in its mobile app, and its inbox holds messages from your Facebook Page, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp Business account. Its keyword automations send templates you write. You set them up on desktop, and they wait 15 minutes before sending unless you reply first.

Each automation takes up to 5 keywords, and matching is case-sensitive. A template only answers the question you predicted, so everything else waits for you. Turning on Meta Business Agent, Meta's business-side AI, pauses the automations you already have.

Instagram adds two tools of its own. You can add up to four frequently asked questions that people tap to start a chat, and their message lands in Requests, where you accept it before you reply. Instagram's AI auto replies answer from a creator AI you build in Meta AI Studio.

That feature needs a professional account, runs in the mobile app and "is being gradually introduced", so it may not be on your account yet. Meta warns that "messages generated by AI may not be accurate or appropriate." Meta also says some organic messaging features for businesses are unavailable to and from Europe and Japan.

Stop at Meta's tools if most of your DMs ask the same few questions and you can answer the rest the same day. A free template covers that.

Five DM tools compared on who writes the reply

BetterSocials leads our comparison, because the question is an AI that answers DMs from your own facts, and that's the job its AI replies do. Prices are as of September 2026.

BetterSocials answers Instagram, Facebook and TikTok DMs in your voice, from AI rules you write. Creator is $29 a month, or $24 billed yearly, for four accounts with unlimited contacts. Pick it when your DMs ask for prices, hours and openings.

Meta Business Suite is free and holds Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox. Pick it when a few templates answer most of what you get.

ManyChat Pro is $39 a month, or $29 billed yearly, for 2,500 active contacts, with AI included from Pro. You build an automation for each keyword. Pick it when you sell on WhatsApp, Telegram or SMS as well.

InstantDM has a free plan of 500 credits a month and paid plans at $9.99 and $24.99, with a 7-day trial and no card. Its AI agents run on ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Pick it for low-cost comment-to-DM on Instagram and Facebook.

ReplyRush's free plan covers 1,500 DMs a month, and Lite is $10, Boost $25 and Max $100. Its AI auto replies handle common DMs, with templates at the core. Pick it to start keyword DMs at no cost.

Chatfuel builds no-code bots for Facebook and Instagram as well. For a longer list, see 10 Instagram DM tools for small businesses in 2026.

Where the AI stops and you take over

BetterSocials sends a DM to Needs reply, its queue of messages waiting for you, when your AI rules don't cover what someone asked. The AI doesn't guess at a price, a size or an order detail. Questions wait there too unless you turn on Answer questions too, which only switches on once you've written at least one AI rule.

After five AI replies in one conversation in a day, the rest of that conversation waits for you. Story replies and voice notes land in the Inbox with a plain label, such as "Replied to your story", and get no AI reply.

The AI answers DMs that arrive after you turn it on. It reads the conversation so far, so it doesn't ask for something the person already said.

Once Instagram's 24-hour window closes, BetterSocials and most other tools can't send. You can still answer in the Instagram app.

The monthly bill at 4,000 contacts

Meta Business Suite costs $0, and no paid tool beats that. ManyChat bills by active contacts each month. Pro at $39 a month includes 2,500 of them, so 4,000 contacts cost $39 + 1,500 x $0.05 = $114.

On yearly billing, ManyChat Pro is $29 a month, and extra contacts cost $0.038 each, still charged monthly. The same 4,000 contacts then come to under ninety dollars a month.

BetterSocials Creator is $29 a month, or $24 billed yearly, for four accounts with unlimited contacts, so 4,000 contacts cost $29. Each AI reply uses one of Creator's 1,000 AI credits a month, and when credits run out the AI pauses instead of charging more.

Below 2,500 contacts, ManyChat Pro billed yearly is $29 a month against $24 for Creator billed yearly. InstantDM and ReplyRush both start cheaper than either. What the BetterSocials price buys is AI replies in your voice and a bill that stays flat when a post brings in more people.

For the wider sums, see what a chatbot, a scheduler and an AI manager cost a small business in 2026.

Setting up BetterSocials as your DM receptionist

BetterSocials takes three steps to answer DMs on its own.

1. 1Connect your Instagram and Facebook accounts from Connected Accounts, signing in on each platform's own screen. Every DM then lands in one Inbox.
2. 2Open Settings, then AI voice, and write your prices, hours and booking link as AI rules. Every answer comes from those facts, and the reply filter keeps links you write into your own rules.
3. 3In the DMs section of AI replies, pick Reply in my voice, then turn on Answer questions too. Pick Draft for me instead if you'd rather approve each reply before it sends.

On Reply in my voice, a DM gets an answer about a minute after it arrives. The trial covers four accounts for seven days, and it needs a card.

What BetterSocials adds next to the free tools

BetterSocials puts Instagram, Facebook and TikTok DMs in one Inbox next to your comments. Its AI replies are written in your voice, from a profile built from your past replies plus the AI rules you write. TikTok DMs are reply-only, need a Business account and work for accounts outside the UK and Europe.

Every new DM gets a tag when it arrives, and Lead marks one asking about price, booking or availability. A new lead sends a push notification to your phone, and an unanswered lead gets at most one reminder email a day.

Creator is $29 a month, or $24 billed yearly, for four accounts and one login. Pro is $49 a month, or $39 billed yearly, for six accounts. Team is $99 a month, or $79 billed yearly, for twelve accounts and unlimited teammates.

Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial on the BetterSocials pricing page. Its help center has a setup guide if you'd rather see how it works first.