How I replaced ManyChat with Claude

Why I wouldn’t pay for ManyChat

ManyChat does have a free tier and I tried it out, but many of the automations that I wanted to run were restricted to the paying tiers. I honestly felt that the cost of the service was kind of extreme once you start getting into significant contacts for a business. It’s like paying for a second email platform. So I decided to see if there’s a way that I could build my own ManyChat alternative using Claude, and it turns out… you can.

What "replacing ManyChat with Claude" actually means

For me it was a couple of hours of researching the solutions available and then setting up the various accounts you need to make what is essentially your own, private, software. To do this, you need a server so that your automation always stays on. Meaning if you ran just off your laptop, anytime you powered it down you would lose the ability to run the automation and people might, at best, experience a delay in the comment feature. Which is not a good customer experience.

It seemed worthwhile for the $6 a month to ensure that the automation was always turned on. Especially when you consider that the price of the server is not dependent on the number of contacts that you have. The automation is run via a program called n8n, Claude builds this for you, so you do not have to be technical. You can also add as many words into your automation as you want with no restrictions.

This automation is set up with the Instagram official API: you are creating your own personal application. So it is 100% official and legit from Instagram’s perspective.

1. Claude builds itSets everything up with you, once. You come back to Claude only for changes.
2. n8n runs itFree automation software on your own small server, on day and night.
3. Instagram sends itThe DMs go out through Instagram’s official API.

You also CAN do this for Facebook as well, however it has an individualized review instead of an automated review. So I cannot guarantee that you will pass their review, but in theory with a little more work, you can also respond to Facebook comments in the same way you would on Instagram if you chose to take on this extra work. (This isn’t part of my setup.)

If you use YouTube and would also like to respond to comments with specific words in YouTube, you can also add in a YouTube integration. This is great because ManyChat does NOT include YouTube at all and so YouTubers would need a separate software to achieve this same result.

Finally TikTok, I set it up so that the Chat Manager receives every TikTok comment, however there is NO WAY to respond back to comments on TikTok. Even ManyChat can’t send a DM from a TikTok comment. However, I did like this because it enables me to copy/paste from my Chat Manager into TikTok easily. ManyChat has recently received an approval to auto-respond to DMs in TikTok, this is not something that I have been able to re-create using the available official API integrations with Claude.

What mine does every day

Every day my Chat Manager is able to respond to commenters who use the keyword with their link. It responds both as a public comment and as a private DM.

I set mine up to also ask them to respond to me via DM before sending them the link. This enables me to be able to follow-up with them in the DMs instead of only being able to send the requested link.

If they forget, it sends them a follow-up DM.

I also have mine set up so that it auto-responds to YouTube comments with the requested link.

I also use Apify to load my TikTok comments, and draft replies in my Chat Manager. I then copy/paste them from my Chat Manager to the TikTok app manually.

1. They commentA keyword like MATH under your post.
2. They get a DMPlus a "sent you a DM" reply under the comment.
3. They get the freebieAnd their email joins your list.
4. You see it allOne inbox for Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Want to view an interactive demo of my personal software? Check it out →

What it costs compared with ManyChat

The cost is small and consistent with building your own Chat Management software using Claude. First of all, you need to have a paid Claude plan. The lowest Claude plan is currently $20. Then you need a server, I chose to use DigitalOcean, it’s $6 a month and straightforward pricing. Google also offers a "free" server, but it charges about $3.60 a month for its public IP address.

To scrape your account’s public TikTok comments you can use Apify, this can be done using free credit and if going into paid Apify scraping would cost $3 a month max, I am able to use the free plan though. Your server also needs a web address (Instagram requires one). If you don’t have one or want to purchase one, this can be free with DuckDNS. So my personal cost is $6 a month in addition to my existing Claude subscription.

Work out your own numbers with the ManyChat cost calculator.

If instead of building your own you want to simply create your accounts and be ready to go, you can copy my software instructions for Claude. My Chat Manager is $97 once (at launch), then only $6 a month for server hosting, regardless of how many people message you. See Chat Manager →

How the setup works

First you have to set up your various accounts. With Claude’s help this does take a few hours to set up and complete. Some users might have an existing website, but some will need to set up a free web address. Everyone will need to set up their server unless you are a super-techie and already had that beforehand. Then you need an account as a Meta developer to make this app official. If you wanted to also use this to respond to YouTube comments you will need to establish that connection through official API as well. You could optionally set it to respond to Facebook comments, however this requires a manual review so it is more work and not guaranteed to be approved.

Before you go live with the automations, you need to make sure that there is a privacy page for your new chat application (you can use a free Notion page if needed). At this point you can set up how the dashboard looks with Claude. This step might also require some significant tweaking to get it to fully replace ManyChat.

Then you are ready to start adding in your keywords and testing! Congratulations.

Setup traps that cost me time

Additionally it did take some use and tweaking for me to get the dashboard to function and display as I wanted as part of the testing process.

What Instagram won’t let any tool do

This tool can send 1 private DM per comment within 7 days. If the comments are older than 7 days they cannot go through the tool.

If it has been longer than 24 hours since their last message, you cannot use the tool to send them a follow-up DM.

You must have a creator or business account for this to work with Instagram.

This tool can’t auto-DM new Instagram followers. ManyChat has a Follow to DM beta for that, but Meta decides which accounts qualify, and accounts under about 1,000 followers usually don’t.

There is no way to automate the integration with auto-DMing in TikTok like you can with ManyChat.

Who should stay on ManyChat

ManyChat is still the best solution for users who rely on automated TikTok DMs, or WhatsApp automations to run their business as those cannot be officially replicated using Claude. At least, not yet…

Build it yourself or use my kit

If you have plenty of time on your hands and are scrappy you should be able to use this guide and your Claude to build your own Chat Manager.

However, if this feels confusing or overwhelming, or you would rather save yourself the time and just get posting, you can copy my work! I made a customer version of my personal software that you can use to re-create your own using Claude. It also has specific Claude setup instructions so that instead of taking a few hours to set up the accounts it should only take maybe 30 minutes of your active work while Claude does the rest!

I spent a lot of time after setting up the connections optimizing the layout of the Chat Manager so that it is easy to use and maintain. This is additional time that you will have to spend regularly tweaking if you choose to go the build your own route.