Can I DM everyone who comments, for free?
Yes, up to 2,500 DMs a month. The HookSend Free plan runs comment-to-DM on posts and reels: somebody comments your keyword, your account sends them a DM with your link inside it, and the Free plan covers 2,500 of those a month on 1 Instagram account with no end date. Read from the plan catalogue on 30 September 2026.
The opening greeting and the link DM are both included free, which is the whole exchange somebody receives. What is metered is volume rather than time: 3 active campaigns and 2,500 DMs a calendar month, resetting on the workspace's own monthly anniversary rather than on the first. Nothing counts against the allowance except a DM that actually went out, so a campaign sitting on a quiet post costs nothing at all, and a comment that did not match the keyword costs nothing either.
What is not free about comment-to-DM?
8 things, and they are the ones creators expect to find. The Free plan does not include any of these: follow gate, product carousels in DMs, lead capture, follow-up sequences, AI copy assistant, build a campaign from an Instagram link, knowledge bases for AI DM answers, or DM flows with buttons and questions. So the DM goes out free; DMs that only go to people who follow you, that ask for an email address, that chase up two days later, or that answer the question the person sends back, do not.
Naming those plainly is more useful than burying them. A free comment-to-DM campaign delivers a message and a link and stops there — no follow gate on the front of it, no lead capture inside it, no follow-up behind it, and no AI reading your documents to answer whatever comes next. Story replies and the follow gate start on Starter at $3.50 (₹99 in India) a month, carousels on Pro at $9 (₹249 in India), and knowledge bases with DM flows on Growth at $25 (₹899 in India).
Is 2,500 DMs a month enough?
Enough for a few good posts a month, not for one that takes off. 2,500 DMs is 2,500 people, so a single reel pulling a thousand keyword comments spends the entire month in an afternoon. A creator posting a lead magnet weekly and collecting a couple of hundred replies each time fits comfortably.
Sending pauses when the allowance is gone and resumes on the workspace's own anniversary date, with nothing billed for going over: the limit is checked before every DM rather than after. Extra DMs are sold on the Free plan as well as on paid ones, 3,000 for $5 (₹100 in India), spent only once the month's own allowance has run out. Where a post reliably eats the whole month, Starter at $3.50 (₹99 in India) a month raises the allowance to 10,000 and is the cheaper answer than topping up every month.
What does Meta allow, and what will it refuse?
Four rules, all Meta's, and identical on every plan and in every tool. Meta allows exactly one private reply per comment, accepts that reply for up to seven days after the comment, requires a professional Instagram account, and measures a 24-hour messaging window from the person's last message to you.
The one-reply rule is the one that surprises people: a comment gets one private reply ever, across every campaign and every tool, so two campaigns matching the same comment means only the first delivers. Meta also documents 750 private replies an hour per professional account for comments on posts and reels, which a good post will pass — HookSend queues the overflow across the hour rather than dropping it, and Meta's seven-day window is what lets that backlog clear. None of these four limits is something a different tool can remove.
Will a free comment-to-DM tool get my Instagram account banned?
No, when the tool uses Instagram's official API, and HookSend does on every plan including the free one. HookSend is built by HOOKSEND SOFTWARE, an approved Meta Tech Provider: Meta reviewed the app and approved every permission it uses.
The distinction that matters is not free against paid, it is official against not. You connect the account on Instagram's own screen, so HookSend never sees your password and never signs in as you — which is exactly what the tools that do get accounts restricted are doing. Every DM leaves through the documented private-reply call, paced inside Instagram's own hourly limits rather than pushed at them. The Free plan is the same pipeline as Agency, with a smaller allowance.
How many free comment-to-DM campaigns can I run?
3 at once, on 1 Instagram account. Only live campaigns count towards the 3, so a paused one costs nothing and an old campaign can be parked to make room. Read from the HookSend plan catalogue on 30 September 2026.
Three is usually three offers rather than three posts, because a single campaign can watch every post you publish or bind itself to your next reel. If a workspace drops from a paid plan to Free holding more than 3 live campaigns, the oldest 3 that fit keep running and the rest pause with a message naming the limit, rather than all of them quietly running for free. Starter at $3.50 (₹99 in India) a month raises the cap to 10, and campaigns are unlimited from Business.
