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Manychat
- Free forever plan
- 10 popular integrations
- User-friendly interface
- Powerful automation features
- Manual setup required
- No multilingual support
Manychat is a powerful chatbot builder designed to enhance customer engagement on Facebook Messenger.
- But how effective is it, really?
- What features does it offer, and is it user-friendly?
Our Manychat review seeks to answer these pressing questions and more. Read on as we delve into the nitty-gritting of Manychat’s offerings.
SMB Guide’s Verdict for Manychat
We gave this one a 8.2 out of 10 because there’s room for improvement. Yes, it works with multiple channels and has plenty of integrations.
The user interface is friendly and easy to understand. But, there are a lot of features to understand, and a distinct lack of customer support unless you’re on the Pro plan.
When you combine this with the horrid English in the templates, it just makes more work for you, and we couldn’t rank it any higher.
SMB Guide utilizes a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria for reviewing software to keep our reviews unbiased for our readers. For more information, see our evaluation criteria.
Pricing & Plans
Manychat offers three plans to choose from, depending on what you need: Free, Pro, and Premium. You can scale up or down as needed.
Free
This plan gives you basic access to features to engage up to 1,000 contacts for free.
Price
- $0/month
- $0/year
Features
- Instagram Direct Messages
- Facebook Messenger
- Automate conversations – unlimited custom follows for up to 1,000 contacts
- Acquire new customers with basic growth tools
- Segment contacts
Who it’s for: Startups and businesses who want to test the features without committing to a paid plan.
Pro
This plan offers advanced pro-level features, with pricing that scales based on the number of contacts you engage with.
Price
- Starts at $15/month for 500 contacts and scales to $8,835 for 2,000,001+ contacts. Each tier has a price for an additional 1K contacts, ranging from $30 on the cheapest plan to $4.42 on the largest.
Features
- Everything in the Free plan, plus:
- SMS text messaging
- Unlimited contact engagement with pricing scale based on volume
- Unlimited growth tools and keywords
- Build advanced campaigns with unlimited tags, custom fields, and advanced segments
- Analytics and insights tools
- Save time with integrations with tools you’re already using
- No Manychat branding
- Email customer support
Who it’s for: Businesses that want more features and messaging channels.
Premium
This plan is for businesses that want premium live chat support and 1:1 onboarding and no price scaling.
Price
Custom pricing based on your company’s needs. Rather than scaling based on the number of contacts like with the Pro plan, you get a fixed monthly rate.
Features
- Everything in Pro plus:
- White glove 1:1 product onboarding and premium live chat support
- Unlimited training with a customer success manager
- Priority access to Manychat automation experts
- No price scaling with contact growth
- 24/7 ticket support
- Live chat technical support available from 3A to 7P EST Monday through Friday
Who it’s for: Businesses who want the most support in their chatbot journey.
Drive more sales and conversions on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger using automation.
Real-Time Messaging & Canned Responses
Once you connect the channel to your account, when someone messages your Page, you’ll get a notification. From there, you can use short codes to send canned responses you create ahead of time, or message back and forth in real-time.
The conversation gets assigned to you as a user, and you can close it out when it’s finished. You can also turn on email notifications to make sure you don’t miss a single message.
Live Chat AI & NLP
It’s up to you to build the real-time messaging workflows and canned responses. There are plenty of templates available to help you get started.
You can also build a workflow from scratch. I wasn’t impressed with the standard messaging for the “Build an Ambassador Program” template.
Sure, you can edit it to suit your needs, but for an American-based company, the verbiage on the template doesn’t read like a conversational native speaker.
“Glad to talk to you!
For dedicated customers like you we have an ambassador program 🤩
You will get the following benefits:
💰 permanent 20% discount;
✍️ be the first to know about new products and promos;
🤫 become a part of a cool community.
To join, you’ll just need to make 2 small steps:
- Buy 3 products with the discount coupon;
- Tell your audience about our products.
Are you ready to become a part of the ambassador program and get all the benefits?” (No, that’s not a typo – it’s a legit grammar error in the text.
It’s missing the word “the” before “benefits” and before the words “ambassador program”). You’ll definitely need to spend some time editing and personalizing the content to meet your needs and match your brand voice.
When testing the live chat, all I could do was add existing automations and canned responses that I created. Since the automation builder allows you to edit the content, I don’t think AI is a valuable tool here.
It could be that I was on the free plan, but I didn’t see a way to put AI to work for me.
Customizable Chat Widgets
ManyChat offers two types of embeddable widgets – a button or a box. You’ll create the widget you want, set it to match your website’s style, and then embed it wherever you want on your website to direct traffic to start a conversation.
I could not personally test this feature, because it’s not included in the Free Plan. It’s part of the Growth Tools feature set, which is only available in the paid plans.
Visitor Tracking and Analytics
This is another area I couldn’t personally test because I wasn’t using MyChat Pro. According to the company blog, there’s a Metrics tab available in the dashboard for those users.
To make it work, you’ll need to install the ManyChat Pixel. It will track actions on your site, and help you see things like earned revenue, average payment amount, average payment count, sales, and buyers.
User Interface and User Experience
Onboarding was really easy – a few screens to ask questions about the way you intend to use the platform and what kind of business you run.
From there, it was intuitive to figure out what was where, but there are a lot of features to learn about before you can truly leverage the platform to the fullest of its abilities.
So, there is a bit of a learning curve for sure.
Integrations and Compatibility
Manychat supports Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp on the free plan. If you want to add SMS and Email, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
It also offers integrations with other tools like Google Sheets, Hotmart, ChatGPT, Mailchimp, and more. It’s a web-based platform you can access from any device with an internet connection.
That said, building a workflow from a smartphone will be much more difficult than with a desktop.
Customer Support
Unless you’re on the Pro plan, you have limited customer support options – email only. The Pro Plan gives you 24/7 ticket support.
Live chat technical support is available from 3a to 7p EST Monday through Friday.
Manychat — Unique Features
The pre-built templates and drag-and-drop automation builder make it easy for people to build out the workflow they want without any technical knowledge.
What the Experts Say About Manychat
At the time of this writing, Manychat had the following reviews:
- G2 rating: 4.6/5 (140+ ratings)
- Capterra rating: 4.6/5 (65+ ratings)
- TrustRadius rating: 7.9/10 (27+ ratings)
Overall experience excellent: we are dealing with a product that does many things and does them well. After an initial start a bit quiet and with few integrations, ManyChat has been able to conquer and establish itself in the market for advanced features, such as integrations and templates. This is the platform that I recommend to anyone who is starting from scratch.
Luciano, ChatBot and Automation Consultant – Verified Capeterra review
I really love the platform as I learned and made more than 200 highly conversational chatbots by myself in different Occasions. Having made and used these many chatbots, I found no issues with its execution neither any customer complaints. We are still using Manychat in our company to address new and existing clients with new launches and Broadcasting Offers.
Gaurav, Sr. Ecommerce Marketing Manager – Verified Capeterra review
Manychat Alternatives
Not sure Manychat is right for you? Dive into these alternatives.
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4.3
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4.5
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4.1
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$65/mo - $424/mo
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$99/mo - $299/mo
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$14.39/mo - $300/mo
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ChatBot
Chatbot is a more general-purpose chatbot platform that supports integrations with multiple channels outside of Facebook Messenger, including Slack and LiveChat.
It stands out with its AI and machine learning capabilities, allowing you to create more intelligent and responsive bots. It offers features like a drag-and-drop bot builder, templates for various industries, and rich analytics.
It, too, uses a tiered pricing model, with the basic plan starting at $52/month on the annual subscription, after a 14-day trial.
Start your free trial of ChatBot today!
Respond.io
Respond.io is a messaging CRM that consolidates all your messaging channels into a single platform. This makes it a perfect fit for businesses employing multiple messaging channels and needing a centralized system for overseeing customer communications.
It ensures a smooth and integrated experience in managing customer communications. Respond.io offers a starting price of $99/month ($79/month for annual subscription) and a 7-day free trial with no required credit card.
Start your free trial of Respond.io today!
Chatfuel
Chatfuel is another tool specializing in creating chatbots for Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Its easy-to-use interface and no-coding-required bot-building experience stand out, making it user-friendly even for those without technical expertise.
It also offers features like AI and machine learning capabilities, e-commerce integrations, and analytics. It offers plans starting at $14.39/month.
Other options: Best Manychat Alternatives
Getting Started with Manychat
Manychat offers an impressive suite of features designed to make Facebook Messenger marketing more effective. With its user-friendly interface and flexible pricing plans, it’s a worthwhile investment for businesses looking to enhance their social media engagement and lead generation.
If you want to streamline your customer communications and increase conversion rates, we highly recommend trying Manychat.
Get started with Manychat for free today!
FAQs
Is it safe to use Manychat?
Yes, it is safe to use Manychat. The platform is officially approved by Facebook and Instagram and is a Meta Business Partner, indicating that it adheres to strict standards set by these major social media platforms.
Manychat has a large user base and is generally well-regarded as a reliable and powerful tool. However, as with any online tool, users should follow best practices for online safety, such as using strong passwords and regularly updating their software.
What is the best use of Manychat?
The best use of Manychat is to enhance customer engagement and automate responses on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
It’s particularly effective when it comes to creating user-friendly chatbots that can answer customer questions in real time.
Is Manychat a Russian company?
Manychat is an American company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It does have an office in Moscow, though. Forbes recognized the company as one of America’s Best Startup Employers.
Related reading:
Drive more sales and conversions on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger using automation.
Manychat
Engage your customers instantly. Automate interactive conversations in Instagram Direct Messages, Facebook Messenger, and SMS to grow your brand.
Product Brand: Manychat
4.1
