Free auto DM for Instagram
Auto-reply to keyword DMs, story replies and comments, without a message count behind any of it. No card, and no expiry date.
A free auto DM tool for Instagram sends a direct message automatically when someone messages you a keyword, replies to your story, or comments on a post. On inDM all three run on the free plan at $0 with no card, and none of them are metered: no monthly allowance, no contact count, no cap. One connected Instagram account, and every DM ends with a one-line inDM credit.
Auto DM means something narrower than most people expect, and the boundary is Meta's rather than any tool's: automated DMs go to people who contacted you first. There is no sanctioned way to send auto DMs to strangers, to a follower list, or to everyone who liked a post. Any tool advertising that is describing something the API does not permit.
What you can auto DM on the free plan
Three triggers, all included, all unmetered.
Keyword DMs. Somebody sends you a DM containing "price" or "link" and the right answer goes back immediately. Unlimited keywords per automation, case-insensitive, with a match-anything mode for an account where every incoming DM should get the same first reply. This is the shape that behaves most like a classic auto-responder.
Story replies. Somebody replies to your story and gets an answer. A story reply is a warmer signal than a comment and it opens a full 24-hour messaging window, so this is the trigger with the most room to have an actual conversation afterwards.
Comment to DM. Somebody comments a keyword on a post or reel and the DM goes out. This is the highest-volume trigger by a wide margin and it has its own page.
On top of those: the follow gate and the email capture gate, a live preview of the DM before anything sends, per-automation analytics, a unified inbox, and contacts with export. All on the free plan.
Can you auto DM new followers on Instagram?
No, and no tool can, whatever it advertises. A follow is not a message, so it does not give anyone permission to DM you, and Meta's API has no trigger for it. This is the most common thing people arrive looking for and the honest answer is that it is not available on any tool on the official API.
What works instead is a trigger the person actually initiates: they comment, they reply to a story, or they DM you. The nearest thing to a new-follower welcome is a follow gate on a link, which asks for the follow and then delivers what they came for, so the follow and the message happen in the right order. Auto DM new followers on Instagram sets out why the trigger does not exist and what to do instead.
What "free" costs on other tools
Every tool in this category runs on the same official Instagram API, so a free plan is not a throttled version of the platform. What differs is the unit each one counts, and it is worth knowing which before you build on it. Figures read from each vendor's own pricing page on the dates shown.
| Tool | Free auto DM allowance | What it counts | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| inDM | No allowance, nothing metered | Nothing | ours |
| ReplyRush | 1,500 DMs/mo, no comment auto-reply, no follow gate | DMs sent | 2026-08-14 |
| LinkDM | 1,000 DMs/mo, LinkDM branding on | DMs sent | 2026-08-14 |
| CreatorFlow | 500 DMs/mo | DMs sent | 2026-08-04 |
| InstantDM | 500 DMs/mo, Reels and Story automation | DMs sent | 2026-08-14 |
| SuperProfile | AutoDMs on Reels and Posts, 10 leads, branding stays | Leads captured | 2026-08-14 |
| Zorcha | DMs uncapped, 15K AI credits, 3 automations | AI credits | 2026-08-14 |
| ManyChat | 25 active contacts/mo, branding on the first message | Contacts activated | 2026-08-04 |
| Inro.social | 100 active contacts/mo | Contacts activated | 2026-08-04 |
| GRO.co | Free below 15K followers, GRO branding on | Your follower count | 2026-08-14 |
Two things that table does not show. A DM allowance is spent twice per converted comment by any tool that holds the link behind a button tap, so 1,000 DMs can be closer to 500 completed conversations. And branding removal, which is what most of these plans actually sell, ranges from $19 on LinkDM to $30 on GRO.co, with SuperProfile keeping its branding on the $29 Creator tier entirely. The full comparison is in the best free Instagram DM automation tools.
What Growth adds
$4.99 the first month, then $14.99/month. It puts your name on the messages alone, connects as many Instagram accounts as you like, lifts the automation limit, carries several links in one automation, sends a follow-up message hours after the first, lets an automation wait for a post you have not published yet, and shows you who opened your links and the countries they came from.
Nothing is metered on that plan either. Paying does not buy volume, because volume was never the thing being sold.
Set up your first auto DM
- Connect Instagram through Instagram's own login. A Business or Creator account is required, and switching is free.
- Choose the trigger: a keyword DM, a story reply, or a comment on a specific post.
- Add the keywords people will send. Keywords are case-insensitive and you can set several.
- Write the reply, with a live preview of the thread before anything sends.
- Set it live and test it from a second account.
Start free, or read what the free plan runs in full.
Questions, answered plainly
Is there a free auto DM tool for Instagram?
Yes. inDM's free plan runs auto DM on three triggers at $0 with no card and no expiry, and none of them are metered: keyword DMs, story replies and comment-to-DM, with unlimited messages and unlimited keywords on one connected Instagram account. Every DM ends with a one-line inDM credit. Several other tools offer a free auto DM tier and count the messages instead, typically 500 to 1,500 a month, and most put their own branding on the message until you pay to remove it.
Can you auto DM new followers on Instagram?
No, and no tool on the official API can, because Meta provides no trigger for a follow. A follow is not a message, so it does not create permission to send one. Automated DMs may only go to people who contacted you first, by commenting, replying to a story, or messaging you. The nearest working alternative is a follow gate on a link: the automation asks for the follow and then delivers what the person came for, so the follow and the message happen in an order Instagram permits.
How do I set up an auto reply for Instagram DMs?
Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account through Instagram's own login, choose the keyword DM trigger, add the words people are likely to send such as price or link, write the reply, and set it live. Keywords are case-insensitive and you can add several to one automation, or use a match-anything mode so every incoming DM gets the same first reply. On inDM this runs on the free plan with no message count behind it.
How many auto DMs can you send for free?
On inDM there is no limit, because nothing is metered on either plan. The only ceiling is Instagram's own: 750 private replies per hour per account, which is a platform limit applying to every tool on every tier. On tools that count DMs the free allowance is usually 500 to 1,500 a month. Work out whether the tool spends one message or two per converted comment before comparing those numbers, because a tool that delivers the link behind a button tap spends two.
Are Instagram auto DMs against the rules?
Not when they run on Meta's official API and reply to people who engaged with you first. Meta built the private reply mechanism for exactly that. Two rules bound it: no automated messages to people who never engaged, and free-form replies only inside 24 hours of that person's last inbound message, story reply or button tap. What breaches Meta's terms is a tool that holds your Instagram password and operates your account by impersonating you, which is a different thing from API automation.