ManyChat Alternatives for Ukraine 2026: What to Choose After Free Pro Ended
ManyChat's free Pro program for Ukraine ended on January 31, 2026: the relief program is closed, the free tier collapsed from 1,000 to just 25 active contacts, and AI is sold as a separate +$29/mo add-on. For shops selling through Instagram Direct and Telegram, there are five realistic paths: SendPulse (a flow builder with a Ukrainian-language interface), MyChatBot (a Ukrainian AI agent with metered replies), Kommo (a per-seat CRM with an AI agent), Mercon (an autonomous AI seller with a built-in CRM — our product), or staying on paid ManyChat. The choice comes down to one question: do you need comment-and-broadcast automation — or orders created in your CRM without a human?
What actually changed at ManyChat
Since 2022, ManyChat had been giving Ukrainian businesses free Pro accounts as a relief program — thousands of Instagram shops grew up on it. The program ended on January 31, 2026, and it coincided with a cut to the global free tier: it now covers only 25 active contacts, down from 1,000. For a shop with a live Direct inbox, that's a demo, not a plan.
Paid plans start at ~$14/mo (Essential), but as of June 2026 there are two catches worth doing the math on before you commit:
- Billing per active contact. Everyone who messages your bot in a given month counts toward the bill. Audiences usually grow faster than sales — and so does the invoice.
- AI is a separate +$29/mo add-on. Core ManyChat is a button-and-branch flow builder. If you want the bot to understand free-form text, Manychat AI costs extra — so the minimum "bot + AI" setup lands around $43/mo before any contact growth.
And the part that matters most for product e-commerce: ManyChat has no integration with Nova Poshta (Ukraine's dominant parcel carrier) or KeyCRM (a popular Ukrainian e-commerce CRM), and it does not create orders. It runs the scripted conversation; checkout, shipping labels, and payment follow-ups stay manual.
Comparison table: 5 alternatives (as of June 2026)
| Platform | Price | AI included? | Creates CRM orders? | Nova Poshta / KeyCRM | Ukrainian UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ManyChat (paid) | from ~$14/mo + $29/mo for AI; billed per active contact | Add-on only (+$29/mo) | No | No / No | No |
| SendPulse | own pricing grid; the ChatGPT step runs on your own OpenAI key | Partially (AI step on your key) | No (scripted funnels) | n/a | Yes |
| MyChatBot | $49/mo for 600 AI replies (≈75 dialogs), $99 for 1,200, $199 for 3,000; overages ~$40 per 1,000 replies | Yes, with a reply cap; no BYO key | n/a | n/a / Yes (among integrations) | Yes |
| Kommo | $15–45 per user/mo; 6-month minimum commitment | Yes (replies, scheduling) | No evidence of autonomous order creation | n/a | No |
| Mercon (our product) | Starter $49/mo or $29 with a BYO key; Growth $139 or $79 BYO (includes Instagram + Facebook) | Yes: platform key or your own OpenAI/Gemini key with no markup | Yes, autonomously | Yes / Yes | Yes |
"n/a" means we found no public confirmation as of June 2026 — verify with the platform's sales team for your specific case.
Each alternative in detail
SendPulse: funnels and broadcasts
SendPulse is a mature chatbot flow builder with a Ukrainian-language interface. Its strength is scripted funnels: warm-up sequences, lead capture, broadcasts, trigger-based chains. The AI caveat: the ChatGPT step inside a flow runs on your own OpenAI API key — you pay the provider directly for tokens. It is not an autonomous seller: the bot walks the customer through scripted branches, the AI answers within a single node, and it does not create CRM orders itself. If your sales model is a sequence of triggered messages, SendPulse covers it well.
MyChatBot: a Ukrainian AI agent with a reply meter
MyChatBot is the closest Ukrainian take on a "real" AI agent: it answers free-form text rather than only following a script, and KeyCRM is among its integrations. Pricing is metered per AI reply: Standard at $49/mo includes 600 replies. At a typical dialog length of ~8 messages, that's ≈75 dialogs, or ≈$0.65 per dialog — the lower end of the market's $0.5–1.4 band. Overages run ~$40 per extra 1,000 replies, and there is no bring-your-own-key option. The practical consequence of a metered model: during seasonal peaks like Black Friday, the bot budget becomes a moving target you have to watch so the bot doesn't go silent mid-sale.
Kommo: a per-seat CRM with AI, if you run a sales team
Kommo (formerly amoCRM) is first and foremost a CRM with a messenger inbox; the AI agent is a layer on top — it answers messages and schedules meetings. Pricing is $15–45 per user per month with a 6-month minimum commitment, as of June 2026. There is no Ukrainian interface, and we found no evidence that its AI creates e-commerce orders autonomously. Kommo makes sense for service businesses with several managers living in a deal pipeline; for a product shop running on Instagram traffic, it's the most expensive scenario on this list.
Mercon: an AI that takes the chat all the way to an order (our product)
Full disclosure: Mercon is our product, so read this section critically. The fundamental difference from flow builders: Mercon is not a script — it's an autonomous AI seller plus a CRM. The AI chats 24/7 in Telegram, Instagram Direct, and Facebook Messenger, detects the customer's intent (search, comparison, objection, purchase), recommends products from your catalog via semantic search, builds the cart, and creates the order in the CRM without a manager. From there: a Monobank or LiqPay payment link, a Nova Poshta shipment with tracking, automatic delivery-status updates, and abandoned-cart and unpaid-order reminders. It syncs with KeyCRM, imports catalogs from CSV/XLSX, and supports a knowledge base. We broke down the order-creation mechanics separately in "How an AI agent creates CRM orders".
Pricing: Starter is $49/mo on the platform AI key (≈600 dialogs) or $29/mo with your own key; Growth is $139 or $79 BYO with ≈2,500 dialogs plus Instagram and Facebook; Scale is $399 or $199 BYO (≈12,500 dialogs). On Growth, a dialog costs ≈$0.06 — versus the typical market rate of $0.5–1.4 per AI dialog (full math in our 2026 breakdown of AI dialog pricing). BYO key means you pay OpenAI or Gemini directly for tokens, and Mercon adds no markup and no message caps.
Staying on paid ManyChat
The honest answer: sometimes that's the right call. ManyChat is still the strongest tool for comment automation: the "comment a keyword, get a link in your DMs" mechanic, giveaways, story-reply triggers. If your Instagram is primarily content marketing and lead capture, and you process orders manually anyway, Essential from ~$14/mo on a small contact base pays for itself. Just do the math honestly: per-contact billing plus $29 for AI on a growing audience produces a bill that rises regardless of sales — and still without Nova Poshta or CRM orders.
How to choose: a short decision tree
- Broadcasts, warm-up sequences, comments, leads → paid ManyChat or SendPulse.
- AI replies with a fixed cap → MyChatBot.
- A sales team living in a deal pipeline → Kommo.
- A shop where a chat should end in an order with a tracking number → Mercon.
There's a sixth path — commissioning a custom Instagram bot from an agency, with typical setup fees starting around ~$200. The downside is the same as with flow builders: the script goes stale with every catalog change, and maintenance lands on you.
FAQ
Does ManyChat still have a free plan?
Yes, but a symbolic one: 25 active contacts per month (it used to be 1,000). The Ukrainian relief program with free Pro ended on January 31, 2026. For a working shop, the practical minimum is Essential from ~$14/mo, or around $43/mo with the AI add-on, as of June 2026.
How much does one AI dialog cost in 2026?
The typical market band is $0.5–1.4 per dialog: Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per resolution, Gorgias $1.00 per resolved conversation, Tidio Lyro from ~$0.65 per conversation. MyChatBot's Standard plan works out to ≈$0.65 per dialog. Mercon's Growth plan comes to ≈$0.06 per dialog, and with a BYO key you only pay the provider for tokens. All figures as of June 2026.
Will I lose my audience if I leave ManyChat?
Your Telegram bot subscribers and Instagram followers belong to your channels, not to the automation platform: you simply connect the same accounts to a new tool. What doesn't transfer is your ManyChat flows, tags, and in-platform conversation history — those have to be rebuilt.
What is a BYO key and why does it matter?
BYO (bring your own key) means you connect your own OpenAI or Gemini API key and pay the provider directly for tokens — no platform markup, no message caps. Mercon's BYO plans are significantly cheaper: Starter $29/mo instead of $49, Growth $79 instead of $139. Among the alternatives reviewed here, no one else offers this model as of June 2026.
If what you need after ManyChat is not another flow builder but an AI that takes a Direct conversation all the way to an order with a tracking number — try Mercon: 14 days free, no credit card. Connect Telegram or Instagram, import your catalog, and see what the first order created without a manager looks like. Plan details are on the pricing page.