Pricing Comparison
What each tool actually costs to start, and how the billing model changes as your account grows.
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| Tool | Free plan | Starting paid price | Billing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zaprep | Free — 1 account, 1,000 Active Contacts/mo | $5.99/month | Flat monthly rate — Active Contacts + account slots, $0.99 per extra 1,000 Active Contacts |
| ManyChat | Limited free tier (contact cap) | Varies by contact count | Contact-based — cost rises as your audience grows |
| Chatfuel | Limited free tier | Varies by conversation volume | Conversation-based tiers, broader bot-builder platform |
| Tidio | Limited free tier | $29/month | Website-chat-first; Instagram is one of several channels |
| Agorapulse | Free trial only | $49/month per user (Standard tier) | Per-user social inbox/scheduling suite, not automation-first |
Competitor figures based on publicly available pricing pages as referenced elsewhere on this site (see individual comparison pages linked below). Pricing changes — verify current rates directly with each vendor before switching. Zaprep figures are current and exact.
A tool that looks cheap at signup can become expensive fast if it bills by contact count — every follower who ever DMs you gets added to your bill, whether or not you message them again. This is the exact mechanic that makes contact-based tools spike in cost after a viral post: more comments and DMs means more contacts stored, which pushes you into a higher tier regardless of your actual message volume.
Zaprep bills by Active Contacts — the unique people your automations message in a month — plus connected account slots. Your follower count and stored contacts never affect the bill: with 100 followers or 100,000, you pay for the people you actually reach that month. Free includes 1,000 Active Contacts a month; Growth ($14.99/mo) includes 15,000+, with a small overage fee above that if a viral post pushes you past it. Solo is $5.99/mo for 1 account and 5,000 Active Contacts, with Follow Gate and email collection.
Zaprep's Free plan includes 1 connected account and 1,000 Active Contacts per month, with no credit card required and no time limit. Several competitors offer free trials rather than a permanently free tier, or free plans capped at a very small number of contacts.
The main billing models are contact-based (you pay for every contact ever stored, so the bill keeps climbing), active-contact (you pay only for the unique people you message in the current month, and the count resets monthly — Zaprep's model), and message-based or flat-rate (you pay for message volume or a fixed monthly fee). Stored-contact pricing ratchets up permanently after a viral post; active-contact and flat pricing track what you actually use that month.
No — price often reflects platform breadth (supporting many channels: website chat, WhatsApp, SMS, email) rather than Instagram-specific depth. A tool priced higher because it also does website live chat and email ticketing may have fewer Instagram-specific features (comment automation, follow gate, story reply triggers) than a tool built for Instagram alone.
Free forever plan. No credit card. Upgrade only when you need to.