{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "manychat",
 "name": "ManyChat",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "manychat.com",
 "category": "Growth & Revenue",
 "task": "Social media",
 "summary": "Comment-to-DM and chat funnels for Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS. Flows are button-and-script based, so an unexpected reply falls back.",
 "best_for": "creators and brands running comment-to-DM and multi-channel (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) marketing funnels — its killer feature works reliably",
 "skip_if": "you want true conversational AI support, or you have a fast-growing contact list — the flow logic is rigid and contact-based billing climbs fast",
 "honest_knock": "Flows are button-and-script based, not natural language — type something unexpected and the bot falls back. The AI add-on is closer to keyword-matching than real conversational AI, billing scales with contacts (a viral Reel can spike your bill), and support is email-only and slow.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "$17",
  "entry_price_terms": "per month, or $14/mo billed annually, at 250 contacts",
  "from_price_usd_month": 17.0,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "Read on their own pricing page, 6 September 2026, and again, unchanged, 25 September 2026. Free: $0, 25 active contacts, 2 channels, 1 user. Paid tiers are banded by active contacts and priced two ways — month to month, or the lower rate if you pay for the year. Essential $17/mo or $14/mo billed annually ($168, 18% off), 250 contacts, 2 channels, 2 users. Pro $39/mo or $29 annually ($348, 25% off), 2,500 contacts, 3 channels, 3 users. Business $99/mo or $69 annually ($828, 30% off), 7,500 contacts, unlimited channels, 5 users. Advanced $199/mo or $139 annually ($1,668, 30% off), 25,000 contacts, unlimited channels, 10 users. Going over your allowance does not stop your automations: each extra active contact is billed at $0.10, $0.05, $0.025 and $0.004 on monthly billing, or $0.082, $0.038, $0.018 and $0.0028 on annual. Essential and Pro carry a 14-day free trial.",
  "verified_at": "2026-09-25",
  "source_url": null,
  "schema_offer": {
   "price": 14.0,
   "currency": "USD",
   "description": "250 active contacts, per month; billed on active contacts, meaning anyone who sends or receives a message through ManyChat in the monthly billing period. Read on the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-25.",
   "page": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/manychat-review.html"
  },
  "source_quotes": null,
  "recent_change": null
 },
 "free_plan": true,
 "free_plan_evidence": "Free: $0, 25 active contacts, 2 channels, 1 user.",
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "The AI add-on is closer to keyword-matching than real conversational AI, billing scales with contacts (a viral Reel can spike your bill), and support is email-only and slow.",
   "verified_at": "2026-09-25",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Chatfuel or newer AI chatbots",
  "why": "the other chat-automation routes"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/manychat.json",
  "review": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/manychat-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/manychat/",
  "vendor_site": "https://manychat.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://manychat.partnerlinks.io/fgx8dlfq9szv",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "Being verified: free trial and refund terms are not yet matched to a verbatim line on the vendor's own pages. Not matched does not mean there is none.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "verification": {
  "price": "read",
  "free_trial": "being_verified",
  "refund": "being_verified"
 },
 "status_page": null,
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "manychat:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "manychat:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "manychat:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "manychat:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_checked",
   "detail": "We could not read the vendor's pages as plain HTML.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}