Instagram DM automation
Instagram DM automation that answers while you sleep
Comments become DMs, keywords get their answer, story replies get a reply, and the link goes out as a button — on the official Instagram API, with no cap on contacts.
$0 today · official Meta API, no password · cancel in two clicks
Ignix is for you if…
Not a feature list — the people it was built for. If three of these sound like you, you will feel at home.
- You answer the same five questions in your DMs every day — and you are the one doing it at 11 pm.
- You want the link to go out to the two-hundredth commenter as fast as to the first.
- You want the official Instagram API, not a browser extension pretending to be you.
- You would rather pay for the account you connect than for every person who writes to you.
- You want to be able to step into any conversation yourself, from one inbox.
A reel does its job and two hundred people write “link?”. On a normal night you answer thirty of them, the rest the next morning, and by then a good part have bought elsewhere or forgotten. DM automation is the fix for exactly that: the answer goes out in seconds, the same for the first commenter and the two-hundredth, and you read the results over breakfast.
Ignix runs it on Meta’s official API — the private-reply and messaging endpoints Instagram gives its partners — so nothing needs your password, nothing pretends to be you from a browser, and the limits are the ones Instagram publishes, not the ones a bot hopes to get away with.
What follows is what the engine actually does, node by node, and the rules Instagram imposes on all of it. Half the tools in this category sell the first paragraph and stay quiet about the second.
The comment-to-DM everyone starts with, and the four nodes that turn it into something worth building. These are the real node names — you will find them under these names in the builder.
comment
Someone comments your keyword on a post
comment_reply
A public reply goes out — three versions, rotating, so it does not read like a bot
follower
Checks whether they follow you, and asks first if they do not
button_message
The DM lands, with the link as a button
delay
Wait a day
condition
Did they open it?
↳ no
message
One nudge, then stop
↳ yes
handoff
The bot goes quiet and it lands in your inbox
Thirty node types in total, including A/B splits, tags, custom fields and an AI agent that answers in your voice. You draw this one from a template in about five minutes.
Live in three steps
From a connected account to the first automated DM, without a setup call.
- 01
Connect Instagram
A professional account — business or creator — linked to a Facebook Page, authorised from Instagram’s own login. Ignix never sees your password and you can revoke it from Instagram whenever you want.
- 02
Pick a trigger
A keyword in a comment, any comment on a post, a keyword in a DM, a reply to your story or a new conversation. Start from a template — “comment-to-DM with a link”, “ask for the follow first” — or from a blank flow.
- 03
Build the conversation
Messages, questions, buttons, files, conditions, delays, tags. Test it with your own account, switch it on, and watch each run in the activity log.
What an automation can do here
One capability per node in the flow builder. If it is on this list, it is built.
Comment → DM
A comment on a chosen post, on all posts or on the next one you publish sends a private reply — with an optional public reply in the thread so everyone else sees you answered.
Keyword replies
A word in a comment or a DM — “PRICE”, “GUIDE” — starts the right flow. Several keywords per flow, and the same keyword can open different flows on different posts.
Story replies and reactions
Someone replies to your story or reacts to it and the flow starts. Instagram and Facebook only: they are the two networks that deliver the reply as a message.
Ask for the follow first
Instagram tells Ignix whether the person follows you. Ask for the follow, check it, and only then send the link — or send it anyway to followers.
Links, files and images as buttons
Up to three buttons per message. Images go inline; PDFs, spreadsheets, ZIPs and other files up to 200 MB go out as a link button.
Questions that fill the contact
Ask for an email, a phone, a size, a budget. Each answer lands on the contact as a field you can filter and use later.
Vary with AI
Fifteen variations of one message, same meaning, rotated so two hundred people do not get the identical text. Written once, reviewed once.
Hand over to a human
A node that stops the automation and flags the conversation in your inbox — with everything the person said so far.
“Comment to DM has become one of our favorite features. We can turn a simple comment into an actual conversation without our team having to manually follow up with every person.”
What Instagram allows, said plainly
These are Meta’s rules, not ours. Ignix enforces them in the builder so a flow cannot promise what Instagram will not deliver.
- One private reply per comment
- Instagram allows a single private reply for each comment, within 7 days of the comment. It carries text and up to three buttons; images and files go out once the person answers.
- Buttons reach followers
- Instagram delivers the buttons in that first reply only to people who follow you. Everyone else gets the text — which is why the follow-first pattern exists.
- The 24-hour window
- After someone writes to you, you have 24 hours to send anything you like. Later than that, only when they write again. Sequences and follow-ups respect it automatically.
- Professional accounts
- Comment-to-DM and DM automation need a business or creator account connected to a Facebook Page. Personal accounts are not eligible on Meta’s side.
- Rate limits are Instagram’s
- Every tool sends through the same API with the same per-account limits. Ignix paces sends so a viral post queues instead of failing.
- No passwords, no extensions
- Everything runs through Meta’s official permissions. Tools that automate through a logged-in browser are the ones that get accounts restricted.
Why unlimited contacts is not a marketing line
Tools that grew up around DMs bill you per person you talk to: 2,500 contacts for $39, 7,500 for $99, 25,000 for $199, and an overage per person on top. The month a post takes off is the month the invoice jumps.
Ignix charges for what costs money — each connected account — and never counts the people who write to you. Contacts and messages are unlimited from the $39 plan; the $19 plan includes 1,000 automated replies a month, which is where most single-account creators start.
It is not generosity, it is arithmetic: a contact costs us nothing, so we do not charge for it.
One conversation, then the calendar and the inbox
The DM is the middle of a funnel, not the end. In Ignix the same flow can ask a question, save the answer on the contact, tag them, offer free appointment slots as buttons and write the booking into Google Calendar — and the whole thread stays in the unified inbox where you answer everything else.
That is the practical difference between a DM tool and a platform: no exporting leads to a spreadsheet, no second subscription for the scheduler that produced the comments in the first place.
Built for the day a post goes viral
Two hundred comments in an hour is the case the engine was designed for. Sends are queued and paced within Instagram’s limits, private replies that fail for a passing reason are retried at five and fifteen minutes, and a run that is waiting for an answer stays alive for seven days.
You see every run — which nodes it went through and how it ended — for thirty days, and the completion rate of each automation.
Included from $19 a month
Comment-to-DM, keyword replies and the flow builder are on every plan. The $19 plan covers one account and 1,000 automated replies a month; from $39 you get three accounts and unlimited contacts and messages, plus appointment booking and AI content. The AI agent that holds a free conversation is in the $79 plan or a $29 add-on. Cancel in two clicks.
Questions people ask
Is Instagram DM automation allowed?
Yes, through Meta’s official Messaging API, which is what Ignix uses. What Instagram restricts is automation that imitates a person from a logged-in browser or uses your password. Official API, professional account and the rules above — that is the allowed way.
Do I need a business account?
A professional account — business or creator — connected to a Facebook Page. Personal accounts cannot use the messaging API on Meta’s side. Switching is free and takes a minute in Instagram’s settings.
Can it send a link when someone comments?
Yes: the private reply carries text and up to three buttons, and a button can be a link. Instagram delivers buttons to followers, so the usual pattern is to ask for the follow first and then send the link.
How many DMs can it send?
As many as Instagram allows for your account — the limits are per account and the same for every tool. On the $19 plan Ignix counts 1,000 automated replies a month; from $39 there is no count.
Can I answer some conversations myself?
All of them, whenever you want. Every automated thread is in the unified inbox; a handover node can stop the automation and flag the conversation for a person, and replying yourself from the inbox never counts against anything.
Does it work on Facebook and WhatsApp too?
Comment-to-DM works on Instagram and Facebook Pages. DM flows with buttons run on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, and on the chat on your website. Same builder, one flow per channel where the rules differ.
Answer every DM tonight. Read the results tomorrow.
Comment-to-DM, keyword replies and story replies on the official Instagram API — with a flow builder, unlimited contacts from $39 and an inbox where you can always step in.
Start free for 7 daysPlans start at $19 a month. Cancel in two clicks.