Most DM tools stop at the link.
This one runs the whole sale.
Comment to DM is the easy part, and every tool does it. What decides whether that comment turns into money is everything around it: catching the person who typed the keyword wrong, turning a stranger into a follower before the link goes out, following up with the one who nearly paid, and knowing which post actually earned. Here is all of it, in real screenshots.
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Four things can start an automation, not one
Most tools listen to comments on one post and stop there. Your audience is not that tidy. Somebody replies to your story. Somebody messages the word “price” straight into your DMs at midnight. Somebody tags you in their story after buying, which is the warmest moment you will ever get with that person, and almost nobody replies to it.
Creatly listens to all four, and you pick which one when you create the automation.
It already knows how people actually ask for the link
Here is the quiet killer of most comment automations. You set the keyword to LINK. Then the comments come in: “lnk”, “send link”, “link plz”, “link dedo”, “send me the link”. Every one of those is a person with their wallet out, and a strict keyword match ignores all of them.
Creatly expands your keyword the moment you type it, covering the shorthand, the misspellings and the other languages your audience actually comments in. You can add your own list on top, and any one of them fires the DM.
If you would rather not think about keywords at all, switch the trigger to Any comment and every single person who comments on that post gets the DM. Deduplication and daily limits still apply, so nobody gets messaged twice.
The follow gate that turns commenters into followers
This is the feature people upgrade for, so let us be precise about what it does rather than waving at it.
When someone comments and they already follow you, they get the link instantly, because making a loyal follower jump through a hoop is a good way to lose them. When they do not follow you, they get a warm opener first, then the gate message with a Visit Profile button. The link only goes out after they follow and tap to confirm. If they tap without following, they get a gentler nudge rather than silence.
Every message in that chain is yours to rewrite, including the button label.
And because a growth feature you cannot measure is just a hope, the funnel is on the insights page. Who already followed, who got the gate, who followed to get the link, who gave up.
The DM: your words, or product cards, or both
You write the message. Merge tags drop in the product title, the link and the commenter’s username so it reads like you typed it for them. If you would rather send something more shoppable, switch it to product cards: a swipeable carousel with the cover image, the price and a Buy button on each one.
One automation can carry up to three products plus your own custom links, so the same reel can send the course, the template pack and your free starter guide in one message.
Public replies that do not read like a bot
Here is the thing that gives automations away. Two hundred comments, and under every single one, the identical sentence. Anyone scrolling can see it in three seconds.
So Creatly rotates them. You write a handful of variants, and one gets picked at random for each comment. Same job, and your comment section still reads like a person was in there.
The follow-up for the person who nearly bought
Somebody commented, got the DM, opened your link, looked at the price, and got distracted. That person is not a lost cause. They are the warmest lead you had all week, and in most setups they are never heard from again.
Add a follow-up step and they get one more message on your timing, without you keeping a list of who to chase.
A shield on your comments while you are asleep
The moment a post of yours does numbers, the impersonators arrive. An account with your photo and one extra letter in the handle, telling your audience to DM them for guaranteed returns. Somebody dropping a phone number. A Telegram funnel in your replies.
Those comments do not just look bad. They take the buyer who was about to comment on your post and hand them to a scammer.
You choose where it works: every post, only the posts you pick, or just the ones running automations. Free covers your automation posts. Pro covers everything.
Run it on a schedule, cap it per day
Launching on Friday and closing on Sunday? Give the automation a start and a stop time and forget about it. Worried about a reel going wide overnight? Set a daily send cap.
The number no standalone DM tool can show you
Ask a DM tool how much money a post made and it cannot answer, because the checkout happened on somebody else’s platform. It can tell you how many DMs went out. That is not the same question.
Creatly runs the automation and the store, so the sale is written back against the exact automation that started it. Open any rule and you see what it earned, how many people clicked, and how many humans it actually reached.
Which means you stop guessing which content sells. The reel with four thousand comments and no sales stops looking like a win, and the quiet carousel that earned all month stops being ignored.
What Instagram AutoDM costs on Creatly
The Free plan is genuinely free, forever. One live automation on one Instagram account, one keyword, all four trigger types, product cards, rotating public replies, and the scam shield on the post your automation runs on. No card, no trial timer.
Pro at ₹499 a month is where the advanced half opens up: unlimited automations across two Instagram accounts, extra keyword matching, follow to unlock, timed follow-ups, the WhatsApp handoff, your leads list to export, the per automation funnel and revenue view, and the scam shield across every post. It also drops your platform fee from 6% to 2%.
Pro+ at ₹999 a month exists for people selling enough that the fee matters more than the features.
The full comparison is on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What makes an Instagram AutoDM tool advanced?
Most tools do one thing: someone types a keyword, they get a link. Advanced means the automation handles what happens around that. It catches the person who typed the keyword wrong, asks a non follower to follow before the link goes out, tries again if they do not, sends a different public reply each time so the comment section does not read like a bot, follows up with the person who opened the link but did not buy, and tells you how much money that one post made. Creatly does all of it in the same builder.
Is Instagram DM automation allowed?
Yes, when it runs on Meta's official Instagram API, which is how Creatly's AutoDM works. You connect your account through Instagram's own login flow, and every automated reply goes through the channels Meta provides for business accounts. Nobody asks for your password, and no unofficial app touches your account.
What can trigger an automatic DM?
Four things. A comment on a post, either a keyword you choose or any comment at all. A reply to any of your stories. A keyword sent straight to your DMs. And someone tagging you in their story, which gets an automatic thank you. All four are available on the free plan.
What is a follow gate and does it actually work?
A follow gate checks whether the commenter already follows you. If they do, the link goes out immediately. If they do not, they get a warm opener, then a message asking them to follow with a Visit Profile button, and the link only goes out once they follow and tap to confirm. If they tap without following, it politely tries again. Your insights page shows exactly how many people followed to get the link, so you can see whether it is working for you rather than taking our word for it.
Will my followers know it is automated?
Less than you would think, and that is deliberate. You write the DM in your own words. The public reply under the comment rotates between variants you wrote, so a hundred people scrolling your comments do not see the same sentence a hundred times. What gives most automations away is repetition, so the product is built to avoid it.
Do I need a paid plan for Instagram AutoDM?
No. The free plan runs one live automation on one Instagram account, matching one keyword, with all four trigger types, product cards, rotating public replies and the scam shield on the post your automation runs on. Pro at ₹499 a month lifts the automation limit to unlimited across two accounts, adds extra keyword matching, follow to unlock, timed follow-ups, the WhatsApp handoff, your leads list, the per automation funnel, and extends the scam shield to every post.
How is this different from a standalone DM tool?
A standalone tool ends at the link, because the store on the other end belongs to somebody else. Creatly runs both, so the link goes to your own storefront, the payment and delivery happen there, and the sale gets written back against the exact automation and post that started it. That is why the insights page can show you rupees and not just DM counts.
Connect your Instagram account, pick a post, and leave one automation running tonight. You will know by tomorrow whether this is worth the rest of your attention.
Guide: setting up comment to DM, step by step →
Guide: how to sell on Instagram without a website →
Start with the free automation →
Everything else Creatly does →
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