{
  "id": 13661196,
  "title": "A Free ManyChat Alternative for Instagram Creators? We Built It Open Source + FREE!",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/a-free-manychat-alternative-for-instagram-creators-we-built-it-open",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-11T06:31:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/amitdas4321/a-free-manychat-alternative-for-instagram-creators-we-built-it-open-source-free-jca"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "There has been a growing trend in creator marketing involving the use of a common phrase: \"Comment LINK and I'll DM it to you.\" This strategy allows creators to share resources, product pages, or newsletters by asking followers to comment a specific keyword on their Instagram posts or Reels. However, setting up this type of comment-to-DM automation often requires paying for a paid marketing platform like ManyChat, which can be considered excessive for simple needs. To address this, a team decided to build a free and open-source alternative called EngagePilot.\n\nEngagePilot is an open-source Instagram automation project that turns comments into DMs. Users create a campaign and select a keyword, such as \"LINK.\" When someone comments that keyword on an Instagram post or Reel, EngagePilot receives the event and automatically sends a private reply containing the creator's message and link. Additionally, EngagePilot allows for public replies under the comment. This simple workflow eliminates the need for complex funnel builders, making it suitable for specific use cases like sharing downloadable resources, product links, collecting interest, distributing guides, or moving users from public comments into private conversations.\n\nThe project aims to provide creators and developers with a way to manage automation workflows using the official Meta Instagram API, rather than relying on scraping or browser automation. EngagePilot focuses on Instagram engagement and automation, offering developers a way to manage these workflows without relying entirely on a closed SaaS platform. The project is open-source, available on GitHub, and allows developers to inspect, modify, and contribute to the source code. EngagePilot serves creators who frequently use Instagram for distribution and agencies that want to adapt the project to their workflows. Developers can also benefit from working with the project to gain experience with APIs, webhooks, queues, databases, or background workers. The goal of EngagePilot is to provide an alternative to SaaS platforms, allowing users to explore the code, understand how things work, and adapt the software to their requirements.",
  "summary": "There’s a feature I kept seeing everywhere in creator marketing: “Comment LINK and I’ll DM it to you.” It’s a genuinely useful workflow. A creator posts a Reel, someone comments a keyword, and they automatically receive a private message with a link, resource, product page, newsletter, or anything else the creator wants to share. The interesting part is that this simple workflow usually lives…",
  "key_points": [
    "EngagePilot is a free, open-source Instagram automation tool.",
    "Users create campaigns with keywords to turn comments into DMs.",
    "Project uses official Meta Instagram API for automation workflows."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}