Chatfuel is an AI agent that answers and qualifies leads on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok and a website widget. In 2026 the vendor rebuilt it around a language model called Fuely AI and aimed it at small sales teams and marketing agencies. It charges a flat subscription plus a wallet of US-dollar credits that pays for every AI reply and for Meta's WhatsApp fees.
Bottom line
- Best for: Agencies and small sales teams that want an AI agent answering leads on WhatsApp and Instagram
- Not for: Buyers who need scripted button flows, EU data hosting or a bill they can predict before signing up
- Paid plans from: $20 per month
- The catch: Chatfuel does not publish what one AI reply costs, and when the wallet reaches zero the bot stops replying until you add money.
Score breakdown
Chatfuel scores 6.3 out of 10 on rubric v1.0. The rubric rates what can be verified from public documentation, not how well a bot built on it performs.
Plan prices are public, but the metered unit is not defined or the price beyond the allowance is not published.
A permanent free plan, but it cannot run a live bot in practice (no publishing, no AI, or a cap too low for a small site).
A visual flow builder or an AI agent, but not both, and no way to call your own systems.
Website, WhatsApp and at least one Meta channel, with a built-in inbox or documented help-desk handoff.
A DPA and a stated hosting region, or SOC 2 / ISO 27001, but not both.
Key facts
- Vendor
- Chatfuel
- Type of tool
- AI agent for support
- Pricing model
- Credits
- Paid plans from
- $20 per month
- What the bill grows with
- credits
- Free plan
- Partly
- Free trial
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
- Visual flow builder
- Partly
- Extensible with code
- Partly
- Choose or bring your own AI model
- Not documented
- Bot export
- Not documented
- Self-hosting
- No
- Built-in inbox for human handoff
- Yes
- Channels
- Website widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, TikTok
- Languages
- 15+ languages · German: Not documented · Spanish: Yes
- EU data hosting
- No
- Compliance
- GDPR DPA + SCCs, HIPAA BAA on request
- Integrations
- Google Sheets, Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, Meta Pixel / Conversions API, JSON API (REST)
- Named customers
- GoSky AI Agency, Tacobot, CodeYE Media, GrowthBond
What the documentation supports
- Every paid plan includes every channel, unlimited contacts and unlimited teammates, and the plans documentation says there are no seat fees, channel fees or feature add-ons.
- A live chat inbox is built in, and the documentation says the AI stops as soon as a teammate replies in the conversation.
- One subscription covers WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and a website widget, so there are no separate plans per channel.
- The billing documentation says every wallet charge is itemized by day and by type, and that low-balance warnings go out by email and in the app.
- The subscription price does not change with traffic; only the wallet moves.
What to watch
- The price of one AI reply is not published anywhere, so the monthly cost at a given volume cannot be worked out from the vendor's pages.
- Included credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, and at a zero balance the documentation says all automated processing stops.
- The current platform has no flow or button builder; the documentation says decision trees are not offered, so answers cannot be scripted step by step.
- Data is hosted only in the United States, and the ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certificates on the hosting page belong to Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, not to Chatfuel.
- The vendor's own pages disagree on the trial card requirement, Zapier, using your own OpenAI key and whether a visual flow builder exists.
What you can build
New Chatfuel accounts have no flow canvas. According to the documentation you fill in a structured knowledge base (company details, catalog, orders and bookings, FAQ and uploaded files) and switch on automations, either in a dashboard or by chatting with an assistant the vendor calls the AI Co-Worker. One article states plainly that button menus and decision trees are not offered. The drag-and-drop builder survives only in older Legacy accounts for Messenger and Instagram, and those have no AI. The pricing-page FAQ still says you can build flows visually, so the vendor's pages disagree; the documentation is newer and more specific. If you need scripted paths, read rule-based vs AI chatbots first. Fuely AI runs on OpenAI's GPT-5.2 according to the documentation. The same article says you cannot plug in your own OpenAI key, while the vendor's limits page offers a personal key as a way around a fair-use cap, so treat model choice as unconfirmed. The agent can book appointments at four autonomy levels, from collecting intent to booking without review, and the documentation says new bots default to full autonomy. It can also send payment links, follow up and score leads. A JSON API plugin calls external REST services, and the home page advertises a white-label SDK for agencies. There is a test chat. Research found no documentation of versioning, environments or bot export, and the documentation says conversation history cannot be exported as a file. Handoff is built in: the AI passes the chat to live chat when a customer asks for a person, a teammate can take over by replying, and the bot can return after a period of silence. The documentation says Zapier is not supported, although the pricing-page FAQ still lists it.
Pricing
Chatfuel's plans documentation lists seven tiers, and they differ in credits and bot count, not in features. Free costs $0 and only answers comments. Business is $20 a month on monthly billing, with $20 of credits and 1 bot. Agency is $100 a month with $100 of credits and up to 3 bots. Four larger agency tiers have unlimited bots: Agency S at $225 with $250 of credits, Agency M at $440 with $500, Agency L at $850 with $1,000, and Agency XL at $2,050 with $2,500. Yearly billing takes 10% off. A promotion was running when we read the pricing page on September 18, 2026: it showed Business at $18 a month billed yearly ($216 a year) next to a crossed-out $69, labeled a limited offer that saves 74% until September 30. The page does not say what Business costs after that date, so read the Business prices here as what the vendor showed on that day, not as a standing list price. The pricing page also gives the tier with 3 bots, shown at $90 a month billed yearly ($1,080 a year), the name Agency S, while the documentation calls it Agency and uses Agency S for the next tier up; we follow the documentation because it is the only complete list.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Included each month | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per month | — | — | Source |
| Business | $20 per month | $18 per month | — | Source |
| Agency | $100 per month | $90 per month | — | Source |
| Agency S | $225 per month | — | — | Source |
| Agency M | $440 per month | — | — | Source |
| Agency L | $850 per month | — | — | Source |
| Agency XL | $2,050 per month | — | — | Source |
Chatfuel pricing explained · What counts as a conversation in chatbot pricing?
What the free plan really allows
The plans documentation lists a Free tier at $0 that covers automatic comment replies on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. It includes no credits, so there is no AI agent in direct messages, no WhatsApp and no AI on the website widget. The pricing page does not show this tier at all; the documentation describes it as the state an account returns to after a trial or a cancellation. The full product comes as a 7-day trial with $15 of credits. The vendor's pages disagree on the trial: two documentation articles say you must enter a card to start it and are billed when it ends, while the pricing page says no credit card is required. Plan for the card. The pricing FAQ says you can ask for a downgrade refund within 3 days of a monthly invoice or 30 days of an annual one. Account data, including the agent's training and conversation history, is deleted 60 days after a subscription lapses.
Claims and who backs them
| Figure | Source | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | No figure published |
Chatfuel publishes no resolution or containment rate, so there is no performance claim to check. Its marketing claims are about scale and speed: the pricing page says more than 150,000 businesses trust it, while the home page cites more than 25,000 clients. The home page also claims 99% WhatsApp account ban protection, native links to 136 CRMs, more than 15 conversation languages and 60 minutes from start to live. None of these come with a method or a source. The only customer figures are agency testimonials on the vendor's home page, such as 8,000 leads a month; they are hosted by the vendor and not tied to a documented case study. We found no independent or named-customer study with figures. The home page describes pricing as a flat subscription, which leaves out the wallet that pays for AI replies and WhatsApp fees.
Verdict
Pick Chatfuel if your leads arrive on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger, you want an AI agent rather than a scripted flow, and you can watch a prepaid balance. Agencies get the clearest deal: unlimited teammates, several bots per plan and no seat fees. Skip it if you need to forecast the bill, because the price of an AI reply is not published and the bot goes silent at a zero balance. Skip it as well if you need EU hosting, a security certificate in the vendor's own name or button-based flows; Manychat covers the same Meta channels with a flow builder.
Related pages
Frequently asked questions
Is Chatfuel free?
Only in part. Chatfuel's documentation lists a Free tier at $0 that replies to comments on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, but it includes no credits, so the AI agent and WhatsApp do not run on it. The full product is a 7-day trial with $15 of credits. Chatfuel's documentation says the trial needs a card, although its pricing page says it does not.
How much does Chatfuel cost?
Chatfuel's documentation lists the Business plan at $20 a month with $20 of credits, and agency plans from $100 to $2,050 a month. On September 18, 2026, the pricing page showed Business at $18 a month billed yearly beside a crossed-out $69, as an offer ending September 30, and did not state the price after that. On top of the plan you pay for AI replies and WhatsApp fees from a prepaid wallet, and Chatfuel does not publish the price of one AI reply. See how chatbot pricing models work.
Does Chatfuel work with WhatsApp?
Yes. Chatfuel's pricing page describes it as a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, and every paid plan includes WhatsApp along with Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and a website widget. Meta's message fees are not part of the subscription: Chatfuel attaches its credit line to your WhatsApp Business Account and deducts the fees from your wallet. From October 1, 2026, Meta also charges for service messages inside the 24-hour window, and Chatfuel says those run through the wallet too. Our WhatsApp chatbot rules guide explains the windows.
Does Chatfuel host data in the EU?
No. Chatfuel's security documentation says the platform is hosted in the United States, on Google Cloud in Oregon and Microsoft Azure in Virginia. Transfers from the EU rely on a data processing agreement with standard contractual clauses. The ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certificates listed on that page belong to the cloud providers; we found no certificate issued to Chatfuel itself.
Does Chatfuel still have a flow builder?
Not for new accounts, according to Chatfuel's documentation. The current platform is an AI agent set up through a knowledge base and automations, and one help article says button menus and decision trees are not offered. The drag-and-drop builder remains only in older Legacy accounts for Messenger and Instagram, without AI. The pricing-page FAQ still mentions building flows visually, so the vendor's pages disagree.
Sources
- Chatfuel pricing — Chatfuel · September 18, 2026
- Chatfuel home page — Chatfuel · September 18, 2026
- Chatfuel plans and pricing — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- How your wallet and credits work — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Plan usage notifications — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Pricing FAQ — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- How long is the free trial? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Can I get a plan for just one feature? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Data retention after non-payment — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Chatfuel plan limits — Chatfuel · September 18, 2026
- How Fuely AI sessions work — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Can I integrate ChatGPT with Chatfuel? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- AI autonomy levels — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Why Chatfuel does not use buttons — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- How to stop AI during active conversations — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Is a Legacy account the same as a Panel account? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- How to test before migrating from Legacy — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Supported channels — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Set up the chat widget for your website — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Can I export chats? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Zapier is unavailable — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- Where is my data stored? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- What regulations does Chatfuel comply with? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- How is my data protected? — Chatfuel Docs · September 18, 2026
- WhatsApp pricing: non-template (service) messages — Meta for Developers · September 18, 2026
- WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy — WhatsApp · September 18, 2026
- Messenger Platform policy overview — Meta for Developers · September 18, 2026
Researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on this page. We have not built or tested bots on these platforms yet. Method: How we review