# How to Auto Reply to Instagram DMs With AI (2026) > Set up AI auto replies for Instagram DMs in six steps, no coding: connect your account, add knowledge, switch on AI Replies. Compared with Meta's instant reply and keyword automation, with Meta's rules built in. How-to # How to auto reply to Instagram DMs with AI Six steps, no coding, on the official Instagram API. Connect your account, give the AI your knowledge, switch it on — and every 'how much?' DM gets a real answer while you sleep. $14/mo (₹799 in India), AI included. Updated September 2026 · Human-verified [Start free ](/app/?src=seo&page=how-to%2Fauto-reply-instagram-dms-with-ai)[See pricing](/#pricing) Meta-compliant · $14/mo (₹799 India) · cancel anytime 1Setup is connect Instagram → add knowledge → switch on AI Replies → optional goal → watch the Activity feed. About ten minutes. 2The AI answers only inbound DMs, inside Meta's 24-hour window, from knowledge you gave it. It never first-contacts anyone and never invents a price or link. 3AI replies are on Reachlee Growth, $14/mo (₹799 in India), 1,000 AI credits. One credit per reply sent; skips are free. ## The short answer To auto reply to Instagram DMs with AI, use a tool built on Meta's official Instagram API, connect your Business or Creator account through Instagram's login, give the AI a knowledge base (your website, your FAQ, your prices), and switch on AI replies. The AI then answers inbound questions inside Meta's 24-hour messaging window. In Reachlee this takes six steps and no code; AI is included at $14/mo. How it works ## Set up AI auto replies in six steps 01 ### Connect your Instagram account Sign in to Reachlee with Google, then connect your Instagram Business or Creator account through Instagram's own login. No password is shared with us — this is the OAuth flow Meta requires for every compliant tool. Growth supports 3 Instagram accounts; Business supports 10. 02 ### Add knowledge Open Reachlee AI → Knowledge and add sources three ways: scan a website link (we extract the text and you edit it), paste text (your price list, FAQ, policies), or answer a short interview that we compile into an editable source. The AI answers only from what is here. It never reads your private conversations to build knowledge. 03 ### Set the AI's role and voice Write one line describing the role — 'Fitness coach selling a 12-week program' — and generate a brand-voice paragraph you can edit. Guardrails come prefilled: no promises, no medical, legal, or financial advice, never invent prices or links, and say the creator will get back to you when unsure. Language defaults to matching the sender, so a Hinglish DM gets a Hinglish reply. 04 ### Switch on AI Replies One toggle. From now on, every inbound DM is first checked against your keyword automations — those always win, so there are never two replies to one message. If no automation matches, the AI classifies the message. Questions, buy intent, and support issues get an answer; greetings, friend chat, and spam are skipped and cost nothing. 05 ### Add a goal (optional) Give the AI one job beyond answering: share a link (your booking page, product, or lead magnet, sent as a tracked short link), capture a lead (email or phone), or grow followers. Success is measured by our instrumentation — a click, a captured email or phone, a follow within 7 days — not by the AI saying it did well. Support issues never get a sales goal attached. 06 ### Watch the Activity feed Every AI reply appears in Activity with the message it answered, the text it sent, the classification, and a jump-to-thread link. In the Inbox, AI-touched threads carry a badge. Mute the AI on any thread, or pause it globally. Once you reply to someone yourself, the AI stays out of that thread for 48 hours. ## Three ways to auto reply to Instagram DMs | Method | What it can answer | Setup | Cost | Best for | | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Meta Business Suite instant reply | One fixed greeting to every new conversation | Two minutes in Business Suite | Free | Setting expectations ('we reply within a day') | | Keyword automation | A fixed reply when a DM contains a word you chose ('price', 'link') | Pick keyword, write reply, go live | Free on Reachlee (1,000 DMs/mo); Pro $9/mo unlimited | Predictable asks: link delivery, lead magnets, comment-to-DM | | AI replies from knowledge | Open questions your knowledge covers — price, delivery, timings, fit — in the sender's language | Connect, add knowledge, switch on | Reachlee Growth $14/mo (₹799 India), 1,000 credits | The twenty questions you answer by hand every day | Use all three together. Instant reply sets expectations, keyword automations handle the predictable asks and always win over the AI on the same message, and the AI covers the questions in between. Knowledge ## What to put in the AI's knowledge The AI is exactly as good as what you give it. Six things to add before you switch it on. 01 ### Prices, as numbers Every product, plan, or service with its current price and currency. The AI never invents a price, so if a price is missing it will say you will get back to them instead of guessing. Update this source when prices change. 02 ### What you sell and who it is for One paragraph per offer: what it includes, who it suits, what it does not include. This is what lets the AI answer 'is this for beginners?' honestly. 03 ### Logistics and policies Shipping regions and times, cash on delivery, refunds, cancellation, opening hours, where you are located. These are the most repeated DMs for shops, salons, and restaurants. 04 ### The links you allow The AI sends links only from your knowledge or a live Share-link goal. Add your booking page, product pages, and link-in-bio as sources so it has something legitimate to send — and nothing else. 05 ### How to buy or book The exact steps: 'DM your city, we confirm availability, pay via the link'. The AI can walk someone to the door but cannot take payments or book calendars, so tell it where to send people. 06 ### What not to answer Add to the guardrails anything you want kept off-limits — medical claims, collaboration rates, personal questions. The AI defaults to silence over a wrong answer when a question falls outside your knowledge. Pricing ## AI included at $14/mo Reachlee Growth is $14/mo (₹799 in India) with AI Replies, AI Comments, AI Goals, 1,000 AI credits, and 3 Instagram accounts. Business is $29/mo (₹1,499 in India) with 2,500 credits, 10 accounts, and 5 seats. Free and Pro cover keyword automations without AI. [Start free ](/app/?src=seo&page=how-to%2Fauto-reply-instagram-dms-with-ai) FAQ ## AI auto reply setup — FAQ Is it allowed to auto reply to Instagram DMs with AI? Yes, when the tool uses Meta's official Instagram API and follows the messaging rules: reply only to people who messaged you, within the 24-hour window, never as first contact. Reachlee's AI is built on those rules — it only answers inbound DMs inside the window. Anything that asks for your Instagram password is a browser bot and risks your account. [Full rules for AI replies](/guides/is-ai-auto-reply-allowed-on-instagram/) Will the AI make things up? It answers only from the knowledge you add — scanned website links, pasted text, or an interview you opt into. It never invents prices or links, sends links only from the allowed list, and says the creator will get back to you when unsure. Every reply is logged in the Activity feed, and you can mute the AI on any thread. Can I auto reply to Instagram DMs with AI for free? Meta's Business Suite instant reply is free but sends one fixed message. Reachlee's Free plan includes keyword automations (1,000 DMs/mo) without AI. AI replies from your knowledge are on Growth at $14/mo (₹799 in India) with 1,000 AI credits; there is no free AI tier because every reply costs us model time. Will the AI reply to everyone who DMs me? No. It skips greeting-only messages, friend chat, spam, and anything it cannot classify as a question, buy intent, or support issue. Skipped messages cost no credits. If a keyword automation matches the message, the automation replies instead of the AI — never both. What happens when I reply to a DM myself? The AI stays out of that thread for 48 hours after your manual reply. You can also mute it per thread from the Inbox thread header, or pause it globally from the Reachlee AI overview. Can the AI start a conversation or follow up with people later? No. Meta's rules permit replies only to inbound messages inside the 24-hour window, so no compliant tool can first-contact or re-engage someone who has gone quiet. Reachlee's AI answers what comes in; it does not send outreach. Does it work in Hindi and Hinglish? Yes. Language matching is on by default: the AI replies in the language the sender wrote in, across Hindi, Hinglish, regional Indian languages, and 20+ others. You can also fix a single reply language in Behavior settings. Keep exploring ## Next steps [Reachlee AIThe hub: what the AI does and what it never does.](/ai/)[Instagram AI auto replyThe feature page for AI Replies.](/ai/instagram-ai-auto-reply/)[AI comment repliesReply to substantive comments in your tone.](/ai/instagram-ai-comment-replies/)[How to automate Instagram DMsThe non-AI foundations: keywords, comment-to-DM, stories.](/how-to/automate-instagram-dms/)[AI credits explainedWhat counts as a credit and what is free.](/guides/ai-credits-explained/) --- Source: https://www.reachlee.co/how-to/auto-reply-instagram-dms-with-ai