Comment and DM automation tools price in two main ways. Per-contact plans charge by how many people you talk to, so a post that brings in a crowd moves you up a tier or adds charges. Flat plans charge the same each month and put limits on usage instead, so the bill stays put but automation can pause when a limit is reached. Neither is free of trade-offs; the right one depends on whether a surprise bill or a paused automation would hurt you more.
How per-contact pricing works
A per-contact plan includes a number of contacts, usually counted over a month, and the price rises with that number. ManyChat is the best-known example. When we checked its pricing page and help center on 18 October 2026, its paid plans were:
| Plan | Contacts included | Billed yearly, per month | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | 250 | $14 | $17 |
| Pro | 2,500 | $29 | $39 |
| Business | 7,500 | $69 | $99 |
| Advanced | 25,000 | $139 | not confirmed |
ManyChat counts active contacts each month, and going over a plan’s contacts is charged per contact. Its prices depend on your billing country and can change, so check its pricing page before you decide. We compare the two products in more detail in VivaDialog vs ManyChat.
How flat pricing works
A flat plan charges one price whatever your follower or contact count. VivaDialog charges per workspace: Silver is $7 a month, Gold $12, Platinum $20, and Diamond $35, with 20% off when billed yearly. Each plan has monthly quotas instead of a contact count, for example Silver includes 500 conversations and 200 AI replies a month. The full list is on the pricing page.
Usage limits for VivaDialog’s paid plans may still change before public launch.
When a post takes off
This is where the two models part ways. Say a post that usually gets a handful of comments suddenly gets a few thousand.
On a per-contact plan, the people your automation talks to are counted as contacts (each tool defines exactly who counts as active). If the month’s total passes your plan’s contact count, you move up a tier or pay for the extra contacts. Automation keeps running, and the cost shows up on the bill.
On a flat plan, the bill does not change. What changes is how much automation you can use that month. In VivaDialog:
- When the conversation quota is used up, replies to new conversations stop until the next month. Conversations you already replied to that month keep working.
- When the AI reply quota is used up, AI replies stop until the next month. Rules with fixed text and manual replies keep working.
- Incoming comments and DMs are never blocked; you can always read them in the inbox.
So a viral month costs the same, but the newest commenters may not get an automatic reply once the quota is gone. What counts as a conversation explains how the quota is counted.
Which one fits you
A per-contact plan suits you if automation must never pause, your contact numbers are steady and predictable, or you need channels a flat-price tool does not offer, such as WhatsApp.
A flat plan suits you if your volume swings from month to month, you would rather cap usage than be surprised by the bill, or you are paying for several client accounts and need to know the cost in advance.
Whichever you choose, look at three things on the pricing page: what the plan counts (contacts, conversations, or messages), what happens when you pass the limit (a charge, an upgrade, or a pause), and whether AI replies are included or bought as credits or an add-on.
How VivaDialog handles it
VivaDialog uses flat pricing with AI replies included in every plan, so there are no credits to buy. The trade-off is the monthly quotas described above. How VivaDialog pricing works has every plan and quota in one place.